Neil Lomax

Neil Vincent Lomax (born February 17, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), playing his entire career for the St. Louis / Phoenix Cardinals. He played college football for the Portland State Vikings, setting numerous National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) passing records running head coach Mouse Davis's run and shoot offense. Lomax was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

From Lake Oswego, Oregon, a suburb south of Portland, Lomax was a standout college football player at Portland State University, going from fifth-string freshman quarterback in 1977 on a partial scholarship to emergency starter to NCAA legend in the run and shoot offense of head coach Mouse Davis.^[2] By the end of his college career in 1980, he held 90 NCAA records, including seven touchdown passes in the first quarter against Delaware State, which ended in a 105–0 shutout for the Division I-AA Vikings.^[2][3] Two weeks earlier, independent Portland State crushed Division II Cal Poly Pomona 93–7.^[4] In his final collegiate game, Lomax threw for 474 yards with five touchdown passes as PSU waxed Weber State 75–0 to finish at 8–3; he ended his college career with more than 13,200 yards (7.5 miles) passing and over a hundred touchdown passes.^[5]

Lomax also had a game at Division II Northern Colorado in 1979 where he was 44/77 for 499 yards passing.^[6] As of 2012, that game ranks fourth all-time at Portland State for yards thrown in a game. He graduated with a degree in communications in 1981. He was inducted into the Portland State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997 and had his #11 retired by the university.^[7]

Lomax was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft, the 33rd overall pick. After playing in college, he had a nine-year career for some Cardinals teams, which included two Pro Bowl years (1984 and 1987).

Lomax entered his rookie season as backup to the 15-year veteran Jim Hart. A knee injury to Hart in Week 1 led to immediate playing time for Lomax. He started Week 2, going 14-for-41 for 295 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 30-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. After the Cardinals struggled to a 3-7 record, Lomax was installed as the starter for the last six games of the season. Lomax led the Cardinals to four straight victories, bringing the Cardinals back to 7-7, before two losses to end the season. For the year, Lomax was 119-of-236 (50.4%) for 1,575 yards while throwing four touchdowns against ten interceptions.

In the strike-shortened nine-game season of 1982, Lomax started every game, passing for 1,367 yards for five touchdowns and six interceptions while having a 53.2 completion percentage. Lomax started the playoff game that the Cardinals had against the Green Bay Packers, throwing 32-of-51 for 385 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, but the Cardinals lost 41–16. It was his only playoff appearance.

Lomax suffered a shoulder injury in the season opener and did not play in the next three games. He went 7–5–1 while throwing for 2,636 yards with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for a 59.0% completion percentage, but the team failed to return to the postseason, finishing 8–7–1 after starting the season 1–5.

On January 3, 1984, the Cardinals released Jim Hart and Lomax became the permanent starter, starting in every game, and he had his best season yet, throwing for 4,614 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions on a 61.6% completion percentage, all career highs. His passing yards rank 20th all-time for a season. He was named to the Pro Bowl that year. Although the Cardinals finished 9–7, the head-to-head record with the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys (for which the Cardinals went a combined 2–2, along with losing the season finale against the Washington Redskins) meant that St. Louis lost out on a playoff spot.

Lomax started in each game again in 1985, but the team went 5–11, as he threw for 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on 3,214 yards and a 56.3% completion percentage.

For 1986, Lomax started 14 games while Cliff Stoudt started the other two, with the former going 4–9–1 over the latter's 0–2 record. He threw for 2,583 yards while having 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on a 57.0% completion percentage.

The 1987 season was both Lomax's penultimate year as a Cardinal and the final year for the team in St. Louis. The 1987 NFL season was marred by a players strike which cancelled Week 3 and which featured replacement players for Weeks 4 - 6. He started in 12 games, with Shawn Halloran (who started two games and went 1–1) and Sammy Garza (who started one game, losing it) performing quarterback duties for the replacement team games. Lomax went 6-6 while throwing for 3,387 yards with 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for a 59.4% completion percentage. He was named to the Pro Bowl that year.

In his final year in 1988, the Cardinals' first in Arizona, Lomax started 14 games (while Cliff Stoudt started two others) and went 7–7, throwing for 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for 3,395 yards and a 57.6 completion percentage.

Lomax did not play a snap for the Cardinals in the 1989 season due to a severely arthritic hip. At seasons end, he announced his retirement in January 1990. In 1991, he underwent hip replacement surgery. Lomax finished with a team record of 47–51–2. In his career, he completed 1,818 passes in 3,153 attempts for 22,771 yards and 136 touchdowns in 108 games. Lomax's statistics place him second behind Jim Hart in almost all measurable categories for Cardinal quarterbacks.

Lomax was the head coach for Fort Vancouver High School in Vancouver, Washington for two seasons before resigning in January 2020. He resigned as his commute from Wilsonville, Oregon was too much.^[8] He was the quarterbacks coach at George Fox University from 2021 to 2024.

• Neil Lomax at the College Football Hall of Fame
• "Neil Lomax". The Oregon Encyclopedia.
• Career statistics from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference
• George Fox profile