Gene Washington

Gene Washington is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions. He played college football for Stanford University, and is a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity. He was one of two wide receivers in the NFL with the same name during the first five year of his career as an active player, but neither were ever teammates. He was the director of football operations for the NFL from 1994 to 2009. He is also a former board member of the National Park Foundation. He has two children, Daniel and Kelly. Living and playing in California gave Washington the opportunity to appear in a number of films and television series. He also served as a commentator for NBC's NFL coverage in the early 1980s and sports anchor at KABC-TV in the late 1980s. He was the guest of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a State Dinner for Elizabeth II and a State Dinner for Ghanaian President John Kufuor. In 2015, the Professional Football Researchers Association named Washington to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2015.