Beathard was born in Zanesville, Ohio, and relocated to El Segundo, California, when he was four years old. He went to El Segundo High School but didn’t start playing football until his sophomore year as a tailback. He accepted a scholarship to play football for LSU in college, but he returned home after summer practices due to homesickness.
He then attended El Camino Junior College for a year before transferring to Cal Poly, where he played football as a backup running back and then as the starting quarterback and defensive back, leading Cal Poly to back-to-back 9-1 seasons.
He went undrafted in 1959 and had pre-season stints with two professional teams, but was unable to secure a position, spending his early post-college years playing semi-pro football and working various non-football jobs.
Beathard began his career in pro football as a part-time scout for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963. He briefly left the Chiefs to scout for the American Football League before returning to Kansas City full-time in 1966. As a member of the 1966 Chiefs, he won his first AFL championship ring.
From 1968 to 1971, Beathard worked as a scout for the Atlanta Falcons. On February 22, 1972, he was named director of player personnel for the Miami Dolphins, succeeding Joe Thomas, whose contract dispute with team owner Joe Robbie resulted in his resignation three days earlier. The Dolphins went on to win the next two Super Bowls.
Bobby Beathard Son: Meet Casey Beathard
Casey Beathard is the son of Hall of Fame NFL executive Bobby Beathard and an award-winning country music songwriter.