USC, 1975
• 1973 Academic All-America® First Team
• 1974 Academic All-America® First Team
Pat Haden was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 1988.
After a career that placed him into the National High School Hall of Fame, Pat Haden took the helm at quarterback for the USC Trojans. During his career there he made three Rose Bowl appearances and led his team to two national championships. During his senior season, in his final college game at the 1975 Rose Bowl, Haden was awarded co-MVP and was again honored for that performance in 1995 as an inductee into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. Also during his senior season, Haden was the recipient of the Today’s Top V Award, which honored five senior top-athletes.
Upon graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a degree in English, Haden made the decision to put his studies first, though it hurt him in the NFL draft. As a Rhodes Scholar, he studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University before returning to the United States to play one season for the World Football League with the California Sun. After his season with the Sun, Haden made the Los Angeles Rams roster in 1976 as third-string, quarterback, but got his chance to play in the fifth game of the season when both quarterbacks ahead of him were injured. He led the Rams to the NFC Western Division title and an upset of the defending NFC champs, the Dallas Cowboys and was named Rams’ Rookie of the Year. In his 1977 NFL season, Haden once again took over midway through the season and led his team to the playoffs. That year he was both an All-Pro and Pro-Bowl selection. In his next season in 1978, he was voted as the Washington DC Touchdown Club NFC Player of the Year after once again leading the Rams to the NFC Championship game.
After retiring from professional football in 1981 due to injuries, Haden earned his Juris Doctorate at Loyola Law School. In 1990, he joined Turner Sports as an analyst for TNT’s coverage of NFL games and has since worked at NBC sports college football, CBS, and as a CBS NFL radio commentator. As a trustee, Haden remained an active member of USC, chairing such projects as the Molecular & Computational Biology Building in 2005. Haden later served as a partner in the Los Angeles venture capital firm Riordan, Lewis, & Haden.