Black History Month Profile(Day 16)(4 of 4)

BlackHistory Month Profile(Day 16)(4of 4): Jerome Abram Bettis Sr. (born February 16, 1972), nicknamed The Bus and The Battering Ram is a former American football halfback who played for the Los Angeles Rams/St. Louis Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Bettis is sixth on the list of NFL rushing yards leaders.At the University of Notre Dame, Bettis finished his career with 337 rushing attempts for 1912 yards (5.7 yards per attempt), and made 32 receptions for 429 yards (13.4 yards per reception). In his last game as a junior, a 28-3 win by Notre Dame over Texas A&M in the 1993 Cotton Bowl, he rushed 20 times for 75 yards, including three total touchdowns. In his sophomore year, he set the Notre Dame touchdown record with 20 in one season, with 16 rushing, and 4 receiving (23 total touchdowns including the 1992 Sugar Bowl, a record which still stands).Bettis was picked in the first round (10th overall) of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. On July 22, 1993, Bettis signed a three-year $4.625 million contract with a signing bonus in excess of $2 million.On April 20, 1996, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 3rd round pick in the 1996 NFL Draft in exchange for a second round selection in the same draft and a fourth round selection in the 1997 NFL Draft.Bettis finished his 13 NFL seasons as the NFL's 5th all-time leading rusher with 13,662 yards and 91 touchdowns. He also caught 200 passes for 1,449 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, and 2004. Bettis won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 1996, and in 2002 he was the recipient of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. While Bettis finished with 1,542 more yards than Franco Harris on the NFL's all-time rushing list, Harris remains the Steelers all-time leading rusher because 3,091 of those yards came while Bettis was with the Rams. He retired in 2006 after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL in his native Detroit, Michigan.In February 2006, at the 2006 Winter Olympics, NBC Sports announced that Bettis had been signed as a studio commentator for NBC's new Football Night in America Sunday night pregame show where he was through the 2008 season.Bettis opened a restaurant called "Jerome Bettis' Grille 36" on June 5, 2007 on Pittsburgh's Northside.Bettis is currently the host of The Jerome Bettis Show on WPXI-TV, filmed at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, airing Saturdays at 7:00 PM and 1:00 AM. He is an NFL analyst for different ESPN programs, such as SportsCenter. and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.