Michael Anthony Muñoz (born August 19, 1958 in Ontario, California), is a former offensive tackle for the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals.
Muñoz grew up with sports, playing basketball, baseball, and football for Chaffey High School. He earned a scholarship to USC, where he earned a degree in business. He was selected by the Bengals in the first round of the 1980 NFL draft (the third pick overall), despite missing much of his senior season at the University of Southern California due to knee injuries. Muñoz's selection was viewed by many as a risk, but he became a starter in his rookie season and was a fixture at left tackle for thirteen seasons, and even caught seven passes during his career(4 for touchdowns) on tackle-eligible plays. At 6'-6" and 280 pounds, Muñoz was extremely agile and excelled at both pass-blocking and run-blocking. His blocking was a big reason for the Bengals emergance as an elite team in the 1980's, and assisted them to 2 Super Bowl appearences; Super Bowl XVI and Super Bowl XXIII
Considered by many peers and fans alike to be one of the finest offensive tackles ever, Anthony Muñoz was a perennial Pro Bowl selection, a three-time Offensive Lineman of the Year (1981, 1987, and 1988), and was named to the team 11 consecutive times. In 1994, Muñoz was named to the National Football League's 75th anniversary all-time team.
In 1998, Anthony Muñoz was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shortly after receiving the honor, Muñoz's hometown of Ontario renamed its Colony Park "Anthony Muñoz Hall of Fame Park". The renaming ceremony was held on June 26, 1998, and was attended by Muñoz, his family, and city officials, and Ontario residents.[1] The park, incidentally, is the place where Muñoz met his wife DeDe after a pickup softball game during his youth.
In 2004, Muñoz served on a panel to select the year's Walter Payton Man of the Year.
He is the father of Michael Muñoz, a standout offensive lineman who played for the University of Tennessee. It was believed that Michael Muñoz would follow his father's footsteps to the National Football League in 2004, but ten operations over as many years made professional teams shy away from him. After graduating with a degree in political science, the younger Muñoz, who is also director of development for his father's charity, the Anthony Muñoz Foundation, entered the political arena and was elected to the office of trustee in Hamilton Township.
Anthony Muñoz lives near Cincinnati and continues to work in the community and can be heard locally in radio advertisements for a local furniture chain.
External links
- The Anthony Muñoz Foundation
- Anthony Muñoz at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Template:Pro-football-reference
 | This biographical article relating to an American football player, coach, or other figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |