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Stephen John Walsh (born December 1, 1966 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League.

College career

After graduating from Cretin-Derham Hall High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Walsh attended and played college football at the University of Miami. He posted a incredible record of 23-1 in his two seasons as the team's starting quarterback and led the Hurricanes to the 1987 national championship. As a Junior the following season Walsh would finish 4th in the Heisman Trophy balloting. A pro-sized passer, Walsh also held the school record for career touchdown passes from 1988-2002 before being surpassed by Ken Dorsey.

Statistics

Professional career

Walsh was selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the first pick in the 1989 NFL Supplemental Draft. With the Cowboys Walsh was reunited with his former head coach at Miami, Jimmy Johnson, who had just taken over the Cowboys' reins. However, Dallas had also selected quarterback Troy Aikman in the regular draft that same year and Walsh was never able to move out of the role of Aikman's backup. And the pickup of Walsh in the first round of the supplemental draft forced Dallas to give up their first round pick of the 1990 NFL Draft, which would in turn be the #1 pick overall (Jeff George) after the Cowboys finished 1-15. The year after his rookie season, Walsh was traded to the New Orleans Saints for three draft picks.

Walsh went on to have a mediocre 11-year NFL career, playing for the Cowboys, Saints, Chicago Bears, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Indianapolis Colts, but was never able to attain the remarkable success in the NFL that he had in college. He retired after the 1999 season.

Walsh finished his career with 713 completions in 1317 attempts (54.1%), 7,875 yards, 40 touchdowns, and 50 interceptions, for a passer rating of 66.4.

Coaching career

Walsh is now coaching high school football. He began his job in December 2008 as head coach at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida.