Pro Football Historian (PFH) is a blog page written by Flint Given. Pro Football Historian or PFH is a page to inform people on prior NFL events that people might not know about. Learning about teams from the 1920s or even the first few NFL World Championships in the 1930s fascinates me. It's these kinds of events that I want to discuss in this blog. Hopefully you are interested and will continue to check up on my blogs.
William Layton Roaf, nicknamed "Nasty", is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League for 13 seasons. He played college football for Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, where he earned consensus All-American honors. He was a first-round pick in the 1993 NFL draft, and played professionally for the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. An 11-time Pro Bowl selection and nine-time All-Pro, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
He began his professional football career with the NFL's New Orleans Saints, who selected him with the eighth pick of the first round in the 1993 NFL draft. The draft pick was acquired from the Detroit Lions for the rights to Pat Swilling. Roaf played nine seasons for the Saints; he was named to seven Pro Bowls, and won a spot on both the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team and the 2000s All-Decade Team, making him the most awarded player in Saints history. Roaf suffered a season-ending injury in 2001 and then was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in March 2002 for a conditional draft choice. He played four more seasons with the Chiefs, and was selected for the Pro Bowl in each of those four years, for a total of 11 Pro Bowl selections. His election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame was announced on February 4, 2012. Roaf played a pivotal role in the run block on the offense with the most rushing touchdowns back to back seasons in NFL history. #1,4 & 5.
On July 28, 2006, Roaf told the Kansas City Star that he was retiring from football. General manager Carl Peterson said he was holding out hoping that Roaf would reverse his decision, but Roaf said he was "solid" on retirement. In 2009 Roaf took his first coaching job, as the offensive line coach at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California.
Roaf has been elected to Sports Halls of Fame for Louisiana Tech Athletics (in 2003), Arkansas (in 2007), Louisiana (in 2009), Greater New Orleans (in 2012), and the New Orleans Saints (in 2008). East West Shrine (2018) He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on February 4, 2012, in his second year of eligibility. Roaf went into the Saints Ring of Honor (2013) Arkansas Black Hall of Fame along with his mother, a legacy inductee. (2013) Roaf was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014. Roaf is also in the Kansas Chiefs Chiefs Hall of Honor (2011), was as NFL 100th Anniversary Team finalist (2019), and has been inducted to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame (2022).
Roaf has two sisters and one brother. His sister Phoebe Alison Roaf is the Episcopal Bishop for the Diocese of West Tennessee.
Roaf has four children and one step daughter. He is married to Angela Hernandez Roaf.
