Ian Book went from Oak Ridge to Notre Dame and then to the New Orleans Saints. At right, Pleasant Valley of Chico’s Aaron Rodgers is in the running to be MVP of the NFL for the second straight year. Photos: fox40.com & Sportsnaut.com.
One day after longtime NFL QB and Oakland Tech grad Josh Johnson made a start for the Baltimore Ravens, Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills grad Ian Book is making his first-ever NFL start for the New Orleans Saints. Earlier this year, Bakersfield Liberty’s Jordan Love made his first for the Green Bay Packers. Here’s the updated all-time list of every starting QB from a California high school in NFL history.
FOR A GOLD CLUB COMPANION COLUMN TO THIS LIST WRITTEN WHEN IT WAS FIRST COMPILED IN 2018 THAT GOES OVER MANY OF THE TOP YEARS FOR CALIFORNIA QBS, WHERE CALIFORNIA QBS STAND IN THE NFL RECORD BOOKS AND FOR LIST OF SCHOOLS WITH THE MOST STARTING QBS, CLICK HERE.
This also is a list for Gold Club members only on CalHiSports.com. To get many more lists and stories, all-time state record updates and more, please consider becoming a Gold Club member today. Rates are as low as 6.8 cents per day. For details, CLICK HERE.
Notes: This is not a list of every quarterback from a California high school who has been a back-up or has been on an NFL roster. This is a list of those who have started at least one game during one season. We are including American Football League teams prior to its merger into the NFL, but we are not including those from any other pro football league (USFL, etc.). There didn’t start to be more than one California QB starting for those very early NFL teams until 1945 so that is when this list begins. We believe the first starting QB for an NFL team that still exists would be Roy “Bullet” Baker of Long Beach Poly, who played for the Green Bay Packers in 1928-29. Another starter from before 1945 was Roy Zimmerman of Arcadia Duarte (school now known as Monrovia). He started at QB in 1943 for the Steelers and then in 1944 and 1945 for the Eagles. Chuck Fenenbock (Pittsburg) also got a start as a QB in 1945 for the Lions.
