Derrick Gaffney, after playing at UF, played eight seasons with the New York Jets. (Photo: Courtesy of NewYorkJets.com.)
Remembering Former Gators, NFL Receiver Derrick Gaffney
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — He always seemed to be in the shadows, but that never stopped Derrick Gaffney from finding a way to stand out.
He grew up in Jacksonville in a family of football players, starting with his oldest brother, Don Gaffney. There was also Derrick, Warren, Johnny and Reggie. All but Reggie, who played football and baseball at Florida A&M, suited up for the Doug Dickey Era Gators of the 1970s. Derrick Gaffney during his college career.
Their parents, George and Louise Gaffney, attended the Florida-Georgia game at the old Gator Bowl for eight consecutive years to watch one or more of their sons play in the annual border rivalry.
Derrick starred at Raines High in Jacksonville before signing with the Gators. His name began popping up in newspaper reports 50 years ago when as a member of the 1975 UF junior varsity team – the Baby Gators – he became a favorite target of quarterback John Brantley. By then, older brother Don was the UF varsity team's starting quarterback.
Meanwhile, when Derrick moved up to join the Gators in 1976 and '77, he played in a wishbone offense that featured a star receiver: future NFL All-Pro Wes Chandler. The Gators also had Terry LeCount, another future NFL receiver and a former high school teammate of Gaffney's, at the position.
Still, Gaffney persevered and remains the record-holder on a pass play that can only be tied, never broken. In the 1977 season opener against Rice, a freshman quarterback who later became a star receiver threw the first pass of his college career. Cris Collinsworth's throw to Gaffney went for a 99-yard touchdown.
Scouts told the 6-foot, 180-pound Gaffney that he might be better off getting a real job than pursuing an NFL career when college ended. They told him he had good hands but lacked speed. He ignored the doubters and became an eighth-round pick of the New York Jets in 1978. As a rookie, Gaffney had 38 catches for 691 yards and three touchdowns, launching the start of a continuous eight-year career with the Jets.
According to NewYorkJets.com, Frank Ramos, the team's longtime public relations director, remembered Gaffney as "a sure-handed possession receiver who was never afraid to go over the middle to get a needed first down. He was a quiet guy who was raised in a football family and had a good career for the Florida Gators."
Jabar Gaffney, left, and his father, Derrick Gaffney, right, as judges at beauty pageant in 2015.
Even as a professional, Gaffney was known for his sure hands but never viewed as a go-to receiver, playing in the shadows of Wesley Walker and Lam Jones. He did have a signature moment in a 1982 playoff win over Cincinnati – the Jets' first playoff win since their historic upset of the Colts in Super Bowl III. Gaffney caught a 14-yard pass from running back Freeman McNeil that swung momentum in New York's favor on the way to a 44-17 victory.
"A lot of people didn't know how good Derrick was until he got to the NFL,'' Don Gaffney told the Florida Times-Union in 1999 when the newspaper ranked Gaffney as the 30th-best athlete of the 20th Century produced by Jacksonville.
Derrick never strayed far from his hometown or family, returning in the offseason to work out at Raines and Scott Park, where the Gaffney boys played countless pickup games growing up.
"A lot of people forget where they came from,'' he once told the Times-Union. "Well, not me."
Gaffney's final taste of playing came during the 1987 strike when he left a job running an office supply store for a brief return to the Jets. He finished his NFL career by playing in 100 games (69 starts) with 156 receptions, 2,613 yards and seven scores.
In the late 1990s, when Derrick Gaffney Jr. signed with the Gators, he started using his middle name to establish his own identity. Jabar Gaffney had a better college and NFL career than his father, who often said his son was more talented than he ever was.
Derrick Tyrone Gaffney, born May 24, 1955, died this month. He was 69.
His nephew, Reggie Gaffney Jr., is a Jacksonville City Council member who shared the sentiments of so many in his hometown.
"His passing is a tremendous loss, not only to our family but to the countless lives he touched," Reggie Gaffney Jr. said. "While we grieve, we also honor the life he lived and the example he set. His influence will live on in our hearts, in records across America, and in the great city of Jacksonville."
A viewing for Gaffney is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville.
