Bill Donckers

Pierce County Bengals

Quarterback

1973-1979

New England Patriots, Honolulu Hawaiians, Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Cardinals

1973-1977

When your career keeps getting interrupted, that is usually a bad thing.  But, the life of a semi pro football player is one of striving for those interruptions when the "big leagues" call for you.

Bill Donckers had one of those careers.  The former Renton star moved around from Columbia Basin Community College as the two-year starter from 1969-1970 to San Diego State's starter in 1972 after backing up Brian Sipe during the '71 season.  Sipe went on to be drafted by the Cleveland Browns eventually becoming the 1980 NFL MVP.  In his last game with San Diego State, Donckers sustained an injury to his eye that hospitalized him.  During his recovery, he had five tryout offers but could not make it to the workouts and thus went unsigned until he received a brief tryout in March of 1973 with the New England Patriots, one of five QBs in camp including Stanford's Jim Plunkett.

Following his time with New England, Donckers returned to Washington and jumped aboard the newly formed Pierce County Bengals for 1973.  Bill ripped off 1,002 yards passing in his first five games amassing 17 touchdown tosses along the way including back-to-back 4 TD games to start the season.  In the second half of the season, Donckers showed that he wasn't just a drop-back QB, as he tallied 4 scores on the ground including dashes of 59 and 42 yards.  For the season, he was 104/206 for 1,768 yards and 25 touchdowns through the air, 209 yards and four TDs on the ground at a near 6-yard per carry clip, even catching a 22-yard bootleg pass for a score from his tight end.

Donckers would get his first pro work with the World Football League Honolulu Hawaiians in April of 1974.  Released in July, he was immediately picked up by the Oakland Raiders and kept through the early portion of September as one of the final two players released.  Donckers was a training camp backup to Kenny Stabler who went on to claim the NFL MVP award and a Super Bowl title.  Upon his release from the Raiders, Donckers rejoined the Bengals passing for 169 yards, two TDs and a 2-pt conversion on 13 of 19 passing in his first outing.  Bill injured a knee in his third outing and wisely took his time with rehab, making sure not to ruin any chances at making an NFL roster.  His shortened season led to 9 touchdown passes and a couple of 2-pt conversion passes as the Bengals retained their NIFL crown and added the 1974 Can-Am Bowl title with a 14-13 victory over the Burnaby Barons on Donckers TD pass and two-pointer to Ira Hammon.

The conservative move paid off as the St. Louis Cardinals with his former Aztec coach Don Coryell at the helm, signed Donckers in March of 1975 to a free agent contract.  Donckers was cut in August, but resigned to the practice squad and became the back up to Jim Hart in 1976 and 1977.  Released in July of 1978 after seeing action in five games during the 1977 season, Donckers returned to the NIFL, but instead of piloting the Bengals again who were helmed by Dan Graham and the lanky 6'6" Jeff Smith, he briefly joined the Burien Flyers creating a QB controversy with incumbent Dave Lutes.  Lutes was able to maintain his starting job, and the Flyers went on to unseat the Bengals as NIFL champions.  Bill had "semi retired" for the 1978 season.

Bill returned to the Bengals for the 1979 campaign where he backed up and split time with Dan Graham and Ron Baines following a knee injury he aggravated after leading the league in passing through the first seven games.  Donckers would finish with 11 touchdown passes and a rushing score as the Bengals set a scoring record averaging 41 points per game winning the 1979 NIFL and Pro Football Weekly National Championships.

Coach Steve Harshman was able to coax Donckers out of retirement again in 1980 to help add depth to a struggling QB room.  Blessed with an outstanding defense and the return skills of Steve Levenseller, Harshman was in need a game general and turned to Bill to add that leadership element.  He would debut as the 3rd QB on Sep 6, 1980, and followed up the next week with a 3 TD performance over the Van-Port Thunderbirds.  But, injuries and turnovers would pile up as the Bengals would remain undefeated, but father-time was catching up to Bill Donckers.  His 1980 season would end with 7 touchdown passes and a gut wrenching loss to the Twin City Cougars in the West Coast Regional Championship 28-23, a pick-six interception haunting Bill and the Bengals.

Most astonishing after-the-fact tidbits about Donckers playing career, is that he suffered from serious hearing loss and relied on being an expert lip reader to get his play calls from coaches during his career.  While quarterback of the Bengals, Donckers' team was 36-3-1 retiring as one of the winningest QB's in franchise history.  Donckers career was that of a guy just on the cusp as he was a backup QB to two future NFL Super Bowl champions (Stabler, Plunkett), an NFL MVP (Sipe) and in camp competing against a Heisman Trophy winner (Plunkett).

Bill was inducted into the Northwest Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Renton High Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.

Bill Donckers passed way from cancer in 2012.

Career Honors

1970 NWAACC Champions (Starting QB - Columbia Basin College)

1972 - All-Pacific Coast (Starting QB - San Diego State University)

1973 NIFL Champions (Starting QB - Pierce County Bengals)

1974 NIFL Champions (Starting QB - Pierce County Bengals)

1974 - Can-Am Bowl Champion (Starting QB - Pierce County Bengals)

1975 Pierce County Bengals Hall of Fame

1979 All NIFL 1st Team (QB)

1979 NIFL Champions (QB - Pierce County Bengals)

1979 Pro Football Weekly National Champions (Pierce County Bengals)

1980 NIFL Champions (QB - Pierce County Bengals)

1994 Northwest Athletic Conference Hall of Fame (Columbia Basin College)

2011 Renton High Athletic Hall of Fame