Dave Kocourek’s pro career began in 1959 with a brief stop in the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before he landed with the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFL’s first year. He quickly became one of the more productive offensive pieces on Sid Gillman’s early teams, lining up as a flanker and later settling in at tight end. He was a reliable target who could stretch the field and also contribute as a blocker, and from 1961 through 1964 he earned AFL All-Star recognition each season. In 1961, he led the team with 55 catches for 1,055 yards, and he remained a consistent option in the passing game even as the Chargers moved to San Diego and built one of the more explosive offenses in the league.

He was part of the 1963 squad that won the AFL Championship, and he collected four Second-Team All-AFL selections across his time with the team. Kocourek’s size and receiving ability made him a difficult matchup in an era when tight ends were still evolving into more than blockers, and he held up as a starter through the Chargers’ strongest early years. 

After the 1965 season, he joined the Miami Dolphins, although his most productive years were already behind him. During his six seasons with the Chargers, he recorded approximately 3,720 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns. He later played briefly for the Raiders, earning a second championship ring, but most of his contributions came in San Diego. He was named to the AFL All-Time Second Team and is remembered as one of the early Chargers who helped establish the franchise’s offensive identity in the 1960s.

When the Chargers took Quentin Jammer fifth overall out of Texas in the 2002 draft, they made him the highest-selected defensive back in the class, banking on a physical, long-armed corner who had locked down receivers in college. Other players taken later (including Ed Reed) earned bigger individual hardware, but Jammer gave San Diego a durable starter who rarely came off the field. He earned All-Rookie recognition and settled in as the starting left cornerback for most of his time with the team, using his size and physicality at the line to disrupt routes even as the rules of the era limited how much contact corners could make downfield.

He was never a pure ball-hawk—interceptions came in modest bunches rather than in bunches of six or seven—but he was consistently around the football and rarely missed games. He was particularly effective in run support and against shorter routes, where his willingness to come up and hit made him more than a pure cover corner. Quarterbacks did not always avoid him, but he held up well enough over a long stretch that the Chargers kept him as a foundational piece of the secondary through multiple coaching staffs.

After the 2012 season he left for the Denver Broncos, where he played one final year. In his 11 seasons with the Chargers, he played in 172 games, starting 161, and recorded 21 interceptions and roughly 720 combined tackles. He never earned a Pro Bowl nod, but his availability and steady production made him one of the more reliable cornerbacks the franchise had in the 2000s.

He was later named to the Chargers’ 50th-anniversary team, a nod to the fifth-overall pick who held down left corner for more than a decade and gave the defense a physical, durable presence on the outside.

Billy Shields spent most of his NFL career with the San Diego Chargers after they selected the Georgia Tech tackle in the sixth round of the 1975 draft. He played mostly as a backup as a rookie, then won the starting left tackle job the following year and held it through the prime of the Air Coryell era. From 1976 through 1983, he was the consistent presence on Dan Fouts’ blind side, giving the quarterback the time he needed to survey the field and launch the deep throws that defined those offenses. He never made a Pro Bowl, but he posted three seasons with an Approximate Value of at least 10 and rarely missed games, anchoring an offensive line that helped the Chargers become one of the league’s most productive passing attacks.

He was a tall, long-armed tackle who relied more on technique and positioning than pure athleticism, and he held up well enough against the pass rushers of the era to keep Fouts upright through the team’s most explosive seasons. The Chargers reached the playoffs multiple times during his run, and Shields helped protect the franchise’s signature air attack. He remained a starter through the 1983 season before a contract dispute led to his departure.

After leaving San Diego, he played brief stints with the 49ers, Chiefs, and Jets in 1984 and 1985. Over his nine years with the Chargers, he started most of his games and provided the steady left-tackle play that let Fouts and the rest of the offense operate at a high level for nearly a decade.

He was later inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame, but he never received the same recognition from the Chargers. Still, the sixth-round pick who locked down left tackle for most of the Air Coryell years remains one of the more durable and reliable offensive linemen the franchise had in that era.

Dick Harris was one of those undrafted long shots who found a home when the AFL opened up new opportunities in 1960. Coming out of McNeese State, he made the inaugural Los Angeles Chargers roster and quickly became a cornerback starter for Sid Gillman. In that first season, he picked off five passes and earned First-Team All-AFL honors, then followed it up the next year with seven interceptions (three returned for touchdowns) and another First-Team selection. He was a ball-hawking corner who played tight man coverage, baited quarterbacks into throws, and then closed on the ball with enough speed and timing to create turnovers.

The production kept coming. He had five more interceptions in 1962 and then a career-high eight in 1963, the year the Chargers won the AFL championship. Across those first four seasons, he totaled 25 interceptions and earned Second-Team All-AFL recognition in 1963 and 1964. He was the kind of defender who could take away half the field and still jump routes when the quarterback tried to force something into his area, giving the early Chargers a reliable presence in the secondary during their most successful stretch. Injuries began to limit him after that. He appeared in only six games in 1964 and saw reduced action in 1965 before retiring following the season. 

Over his six years with the Chargers, he finished with 29 interceptions in 76 games, still ranking among the franchise’s all-time leaders in picks and among the better totals for a cornerback from the AFL era. He never earned a Chargers Hall of Fame induction, but the undrafted corner who arrived with the franchise’s first roster and helped it win its only championship remains one of the team's most productive defensive backs in its early years.