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Scott Fujita

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Scott Fujita speaking at an event in New York City.

Scott Fujita
No. 51, 50, 55, 99
Position:Linebacker
Personal information
Born: (1979-04-28) April 28, 1979 (age 45)
Ventura, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight:250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
High school:Rio Mesa (Oxnard, California)
College:California (1997–2001)
NFL draft:2002: 5th round, 143rd pick
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games played:143
Total tackles:942
Sacks:23.5
Forced fumbles:11
Fumble recoveries:3
Interceptions:7
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Scott Anthony Fujita (/fuːˈdʒiːtə/;[1] born April 28, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears. He was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2002 NFL draft. He played in the NFL for the Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, and Cleveland Browns. He was a member of the 2009 Saints team that won Super Bowl XLIV, defeating the Indianapolis Colts.

Early life

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Scott Fujita was adopted as an infant by Rodney Fujita, who is a third-generation Japanese-American, and his wife Helen, who is white.[2][3]

He attended Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California.[4] In football, he was a two-way player at safety and tight end; during his senior season in 1996 he tallied 118 tackles, 4 sacks, 5 interceptions, 15 receptions for 350 yards and 6 touchdowns. He also lettered in basketball and in track and field, competing in the 400 meters, long jump, and triple jump. Fujita received first-team all-Channel League and all-Ventura County honors in both football and basketball. He earned Defensive MVP honors in the Ventura County All-Star football game, and won the half-time slam dunk contest at the Ventura County All-Star basketball game.[5]

College career and education

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Fujita walked on[6] at the University of California, Berkeley in 1997. As a redshirt freshman in 1998, he was converted from a safety into an outside linebacker, playing mostly on special teams and collecting 8 defensive tackles as a backup.

As a sophomore in 1999, he made his first 2 starts, making 15 tackles. During the spring of 2000, Fujita underwent career-threatening neck surgery.[7]

As a junior in 2000, he started 11 games, making 41 tackles (13 for loss) and 4 sacks. As a senior in 2001, he started 11 games, posting 60 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. He finished his college career after appearing in 39 games with 24 starts, while registering 124 tackles, 7 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Fujita was a Verizon District VIII Academic All-American and a two-time 1st team All-Academic Pac-10 selection.[8] [9]

Fujita graduated with honors in Political Science and a minor degree in Business Administration in 2001, and earned a Masters degree in Education in 2002.[10][11]

Professional career

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NFL Combine

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At the pre-draft NFL Combine in 2002, Fujita was clocked at 4.43 seconds in the 40-yard dash and had a 42 inch vertical jump.[12]

Kansas City Chiefs

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Fujita was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fifth round (143rd) of the 2002 NFL draft.[13] As a rookie, he started 9 of 16 games, recording 63 tackles, 6 passes defensed, one sack and 15 special teams tackles (tied for second on the team). He was subsequently awarded the Mack Lee Hill Award as Chiefs' rookie of the year and named to the PFWA NFL All-Rookie Team.

In 2003, he started all 16 games and led the team with 151 tackles (fifth most in club history), while also registering 4 sacks, 6 passes defensed, one forced fumble and one interception. In 2004, he posted 112 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 3 passes defensed.

Fujita underwent offseason ankle surgery in the spring of 2005 and was traded to the Dallas Cowboys before the start of the 2005 season.[14]

Dallas Cowboys

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In the 2005 season, he played in 16 games, recording 58 tackles, 2 sacks, one pass defensed, 2 forced fumbles and 9 special teams tackles. His sack and forced fumble of former Chiefs teammate Trent Green was a turning point in the Cowboys win against Kansas City.[15] He was declared a free agent at the end of the season.

New Orleans Saints

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On March 13, 2006, he signed with the New Orleans Saints, reuniting with former Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator, now head coach Sean Payton. He was the first free agent to join the Saints when they returned to New Orleans after their year-long absence in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.[16] In his first year with the Saints in 2006, Fujita let the team in tackles on their way to a NFC South Division Championship. He was named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Week after his performance against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football on September 25, 2006, which signified the Saints return to the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina.

Fujita was named defensive captain at the start of the 2007 season. In Week 1 of the 2008 season, Fujita caught a crucial game-winning interception in the closing seconds of the Saints win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the 2009 season, he earned a Super Bowl ring as a member of the Saints team that won Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010, defeating the Indianapolis Colts 31–17 to win the team's first NFL championship.

Cleveland Browns

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Fujita was a free agent after the 2009 season, and on March 7, 2010, he signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns, who coveted his leadership qualities.[17] In September, he was elected one of the Browns' defensive captains for the 2010 season.[18] Through nine games, Fujita was second on the team in tackles and sacks, but he was injured in a November 14 game against the New York Jets and missed the remainder of the season.[19] Fujita was among the team's leaders in tackles during the 2011 season when he was placed on the injured reserve list with a fractured hand he suffered in the eleventh game against the Cincinnati Bengals. In the 2012 season after the Week 6 game against the New York Giants, Fujita was placed on injured reserve with a career-ending neck injury on October 24.[20]

Saints "bounty" scandal

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Fujita was suspended by the NFL for the first 3 games of the 2012 season because of his alleged participation in the Saints' so-called "bounty" scandal. On September 7, his suspension was lifted.[21] On October 9, 2012, four weeks and three days after an internal appeals panel vacated suspensions imposed on Fujita, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, Saints defensive end Will Smith, and free-agent defensive end Anthony Hargrove, the league re-issued the discipline, with reductions to the suspensions of Fujita and Hargrove. Vilma's suspension remained a full season, Smith's remained four games, Hargrove's reduced from eight games to seven, and Fujita's suspension was reduced from three games to one when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell declared Fujita did not contribute to a so-called "bounty" pool.[22]

Fujita issued the following statement following the Commissioner's ruling: "I'm pleased the commissioner has finally acknowledged that I never participated in any so-called 'bounty' program, as I've said for the past seven months. However, his condescending tone was neither accurate nor productive. Additionally, I am now purportedly being suspended for failing to confront my former defensive coordinator for his inappropriate use of language. This seems like an extremely desperate attempt to punish me. I also think it sets a bad precedent when players can be disciplined for not challenging the behavior of their superiors. This is an absolute abuse of the power that's been afforded to the commissioner. For me, the issue of player health and safety is personal. For the league and the commissioner, it's about perception and liability. The commissioner says he is disappointed in me. The truth is, I’m disappointed in him. His positions on player health and safety since a 2009 congressional hearing on concussions have been inconsistent at best. He failed to acknowledge a link between concussions and post-career brain disease, pushed for an 18-game regular season, committed to a full season of Thursday night games, has continually challenged players' rights to file workers compensation claims for on-the-job injuries, and he employed incompetent replacement officials for the start of the 2012 season. His actions or lack thereof are by the league’s own definition, 'conduct detrimental.' My track record on the issue of player health and safety speaks for itself. And clearly, as I just listed, the commissioner's does, too."[23]

On December 11, 2012, it was announced that former commissioner Paul Tagliabue exonerated Fujita of all culpability and wrongdoing in the Saints pay-for-play scandal, vacating his suspension and clearing his record.[24]

NFL Players Association

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Fujita served as Vice President of the NFL Players Association and represented the players union during negotiations with NFL league management during the 2010-2011 labor dispute and NFL lockout.[25] He also joined fellow union executive committee member Drew Brees in calling on the NFL to end the lockout of referees.[26]

Retirement from football

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On April 22, 2013, Fujita signed a one-day contract with the New Orleans Saints while sitting atop Machu Picchu in Peru with his former teammate Steve Gleason, announcing his retirement immediately after[27] with a mock press conference above Machu Picchu.[28] The Team Gleason expedition was accompanied by an NFL Films crew who produced a documentary film as part of its "A Football Life" series.[29]

NFL statistics

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Year Team Games Total Tackles Assisted Tackles Special Teams Tackles Sacks Forced Fumbles Fumble Recoveries Interceptions
2002 KC 16 78 14 15 1.0 0 1 0
2003 KC 16 151 41 0 4.0 1 0 1
2004 KC 16 113 41 1 4.5 0 0 0
2005 DAL 16 67 15 9 2.0 2 0 0
2006 NO 16 119 44 0 3.5 1 0 2
2007 NO 15 119 40 0 3.0 2 2 0
2008 NO 14 104 46 1 0.0 1 0 2
2009 NO 11 75 26 0 1.0 2 0 0
2010 CLE 9 51 15 0 3.5 2 0 1
2011 CLE 10 51 37 0 0.0 0 0 1
2012 CLE 4 14 4 0 1.0 0 0 0
Career 143 942 323 26 23.5 11 3 7

[30]

Post-football career

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Media and entertainment

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In August 2013, Fujita joined the new Fox Sports 1 sports network as an analyst on its Fox Football Daily program.[31] He was also a regular contributing writer to Fox Sports' digital platforms, including columns detailing the "emotional infancy" defining NFL cut day,[32] as well as a humorous take on the Cleveland Browns drafting of Johnny Manziel in 2014.[33]

Fujita co-hosted the Fox Sports podcast series "Unconventional Wisdom" with retired NFL player Brendon Ayanbadejo and retired MLB baseball player Gabe Kapler.[34]

Fujita wrote a series of columns for The New York Times in 2013-14, including essays about marriage equality[35] and the complexities surrounding the NFL's concussion settlement.[36]

Fujita served as a producer on the award-winning documentary film, Gleason, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016 and opened in theaters that summer.[37]

Career as an educator

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In 2018 Fujita became the athletic director of All Saints Day School, in Carmel, California[38] at which point he added flag football, cross country, and track and field to the school's athletic offerings.[39] On January 30, 2019, the school announced Fujita as its Head of School.[40] Fujita transitioned into the role of Chair of the school board following the 2024 school year.[41]

Japanese-American family history

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Fujita's father, Rodney, was born at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Phoenix, Arizona where his father Nagao, a 442nd Infantry Regiment combat veteran who later became an attorney, was one of many Japanese-Americans whose family was interned during World War II.[42] Fujita grew up in a traditional Japanese household, celebrating Japanese festivals and holidays, and considers himself "half-Japanese at heart".[43] In 2006, Fujita's family story was detailed in the ESPN Magazine feature, Hello, I'm Japanese.[44]

While serving as a Head of School, Fujita hosted an electronic field trip for the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to illustrate the experiences of Japanese Americans during the war.[45]

In 2024, Fujita was featured in the NFL Films documentary film, Scott Fujita: Fear, Football and the Theft of Freedom, which was filmed at the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming.[46]

Personal life

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Fujita is married with three children and lives in Carmel Valley, California.[16] During his playing career, he went on record as a supporter of marriage equality and served as an advocate for adoption, wetlands preservation, cancer awareness and access to cancer screenings, and other causes; he was named the Saints "Walter Payton Man of the Year" in 2009 for his charitable activities.[47][48][49] Fujita was inducted into the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.[50]

References

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  1. ^ "2004 Kansas City Chiefs Rosters and Depth Chart[dead link‍]". p. 6.
  2. ^ "Tackling adoption not issue for Fujita". The Dallas Morning News. December 17, 2005.
  3. ^ Silver, Michael (February 3, 2010). "Saints' Fujita defies stereotypes". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  4. ^ Youngmisuk, Ohm (February 6, 2010). "Raised Japanese, New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita's tale is the American dream". Daily News (New York).
  5. ^ "Scott Fujita Bio - The University of California Official Athletic Site". California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  6. ^ Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer (September 13, 2013). "Former Cleveland Brown and Cal Bear Scott Fujita, unlike many Ohio State players, thought outside the box and outside the football lines: Bill Livingston". cleveland. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  7. ^ "ESPN.com: Page 2 : A linebacker with a conscience". www.espn.com. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  8. ^ Verizon (2001). "Verizon Academic All-America Team" (PDF).
  9. ^ "Scott Fujita Bio - The University of California Official Athletic Site". California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  10. ^ Green, Dan (February 2019). "Anchor". www.ksbw.com. Hearst. Retrieved February 2, 2019. Fujita comes from a family of teachers and he's ready for this next big role.
  11. ^ Templeman, Kristin (January 30, 2019). "Communications Director". asds.org. All Saints' Day School. Retrieved February 2, 2019. Scott Fujita has been an integral part of the school for the past 7 years, first as a parent, then Board member, and most recently as part of the faculty.
  12. ^ Oz, Drake. "2011 NFL Draft: 15 Most Impressive Combine Performances Ever". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  13. ^ "2002 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  14. ^ "Chiefs trade LB Scott Fujita to Cowboys". The Rams Nation Forums. September 4, 2005. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  15. ^ "Cowboys edge Chiefs in thriller 31-28". NFL.com. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  16. ^ a b Anderson, Mark C. (September 23, 2009). "Fujita's Warrior Heart: New county resident Scott Fujita uses the game to attack everything from quarterbacks to social injustice". Monterey County Weekly. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  17. ^ Grossi, Tony (March 7, 2010). "Cleveland Browns sign first two free agents, linebacker Scott Fujita and lineman Tony Pashos". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  18. ^ Florjancic, Matt (September 8, 2010). "Browns name 2010 captains". ClevelandBrowns.com. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  19. ^ Cabot, Mary Kay (November 15, 2010). "Scott Fujita 'could be a little while' with knee injury, guard Billy Yates on IR: Browns Insider". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  20. ^ "Season, maybe career, over for Browns' Fujita". Yahoo! Sports. October 24, 2012. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  21. ^ "Saints player bounty suspensions overturned on appeal". NFL.com. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  22. ^ Brooks, Matt. "Report: NFL re-issues bounty suspensions for Saints players". The Washington Times. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  23. ^ "Former Saints LB Scott Fujita on Roger Goodell's punishment: 'I'm disappointed in him'". CBSSports.com. October 10, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  24. ^ Tom Reed, Cleveland com (December 12, 2012). "Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue overturns Saints bounty suspensions, clears Cleveland Browns' Scott Fujita". cleveland. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  25. ^ staff, Associated Press sports (March 21, 2011). "NFL Lockout 2011: Can (mostly rich) players learn to budget during work stoppage?". cleveland. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  26. ^ SportsFans.org. "NFLPA to NFL Owners: "Your Actions" in Ref Lockout Look "Like Simple Greed"". Business Insider. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  27. ^ Jeff Duncan, "Scott Fujita retires from NFL as a New Orleans Saint", Times-Picayune, April 22, 2013.
  28. ^ Scott Fujita (April 25, 2013). Scott Fujita's retirement "Press Conference" -- LIVE from Machu Picchu. Retrieved March 13, 2025 – via YouTube.
  29. ^ "'A Football Life': Team Gleason climbs Machu Picchu". NFL.com. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  30. ^ "Scott Fujita Stats - 2012 Cleveland Browns Media Guide".
  31. ^ Tim Baysinger, "Fox Sports 1 Sets Roster for Pair of Studio Shows", Broadcasting & Cable, August 12, 2013.
  32. ^ "Emotional infancy defines NFL cut day". FOX Sports. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  33. ^ "Simply put, I was sucked back in by the draft". FOX Sports. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  34. ^ "Podcast: Inside the drug culture in professional sports". FOX Sports. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  35. ^ Fujita, Scott (March 23, 2013). "Acceptance by Example, on the Field and at Home". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  36. ^ Fujita, Scott (September 2, 2013). "Mixed Feelings Over N.F.L. Concussion Settlement". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  37. ^ The Rich Eisen Show (July 15, 2016). Super Bowl Champion & Producer Scott Fujita on New Documentary "Gleason" in Studio - 7/15/16. Retrieved March 14, 2025 – via YouTube.
  38. ^ Fairies, Dave. "Scott Fujita". Monterey County Weekly. Milestone Communications, Inc. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  39. ^ "Scott Fujita named new Head of School". All Saints' Episcopal Day School - CA. January 30, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  40. ^ Juan, Reyes (February 2, 2019). "Former NFL linebacker to head Carmel Valley school". Monterey Herald. Retrieved January 4, 2020. "I feel fortunate to join that team," Fujita said. "And to be able to go outside on that beautiful campus and experience the physical surroundings with those kids, it's a dream job."
  41. ^ "Head of School transition in 2024". All Saints' Episcopal Day School - CA. October 27, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  42. ^ "A linebacker with a conscience". ESPN, Page 2 section. November 10, 2006.
  43. ^ "Fujita proud to discuss family's Japanese heritage". The Japan Times. February 6, 2010.
  44. ^ "Scott Fujita and his suprising life and appearance". ESPN.com. November 20, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  45. ^ "Japanese American Experiences in WWII Electronic Field Trip". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  46. ^ NFL (May 28, 2024). Scott Fujita: Fear, Football and the Theft of Freedom. Retrieved March 14, 2025 – via YouTube.
  47. ^ Lapointe, Joe (February 2, 2010). "The Saints Linebacker Who Speaks His Mind". The New York Times.
  48. ^ Zirin, Dave (March 18, 2010). "Why I Support the National Equality March": NFL's Scott Fujita Speaks Out for Gay Rights". Huffington Post.com.
  49. ^ Withers, Tom (August 25, 2010). "Browns LB Fujita wants to save Louisiana wetlands". AP in The Washington Post. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  50. ^ "Scott Fujita". VC Sports Hall of Fame. June 5, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
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