Georgia two-sport star, top-5 MLB draft pick, dies
· Yahoo Sports
Jeff Pyburn, a two-sport standout at the University of Georgia who became the highest MLB draft pick in Bulldogs history, died March 29. He was 68.
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The son of Jim Pyburn, who played three seasons for the Baltimore Orioles (and was an accomplished football player at Auburn before that), Jeff Pyburn was chosen fifth overall by the San Diego Padres in the 1980 draft.
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Pyburn arrived on the Georgia campus as a Parade All-American quarterback from Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, part of a recruiting class that saw promise in his arm and poise. By 1977, he was Georgia’s starting quarterback, holding the job into the 1979 season.
Pyburn led the Bulldogs’ run-first offense with what one account described as “resilience and leadership.”
Football wasn’t his only lane. Pyburn was an All-SEC outfielder who finished his college baseball career with a .345 batting average. He hit .400 in 1980 with 15 homers — including three grand slams — an SEC-leading 54 runs scored and 66 RBIs.
Pyburn hit .295, reached base at a .385 clip, and stole 74 bases in three seasons in the San Diego Padres’ organization. He topped out at Triple-A Hawaii in 1982, his final season of professional baseball.
Remarkably, Pyburn was invited to the Buffalo Bills’ training camp as a defensive back nearly four years after he last played football.
Instead of continuing his career in football, Pyburn enrolled in Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, graduating in 1986.
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“After my third year in the Padres organization, the Buffalo Bills called me,” Pyburn said in a 2019 interview. “They drafted me after my senior season, and had retained the rights to me. A few years later (summer of 1983), the Bills had gotten some guys hurt in their defensive secondary and, I thought, not many guys get to do this (play in the NFL), so I went up to Buffalo.
“Just before the season started, I tore my knee up again but, this time, it was a career-ending injury — no more football or baseball. In retrospect, I probably should’ve just continued playing baseball, but I didn’t. It was just one of those things — injuries happen.”
Pyburn went on to become a trial attorney, handling both plaintiff and defense cases for nearly 40 years.