John Beck: Mormon Athlete
John Dalton Beck is a former professional football quarterback and coach. He played for the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football league from 2014 until his retirement in 2015. He started his professional career with the Miami Dolphins, having been drafted in the second round of the 2007 National Football League draft.
The Dolphins signed him to a four-year contract. He remained third-string quarterback for two seasons and was released in April 2009. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens in May and traded to the Washington Redskins in August 2010 but didn’t start until October 2011. In April 2012 he was cut and in May he agreed to a deal with the Houston Texans but was released in October. Beck was out of professional football for over a year before he signed with the British Columbia Lions in March 2014.
After his retirement from playing professional football, Beck co-founded, along with Tom House and Adam Dedeaux, the 3DQB quarterback training program in 2013 that takes place in Huntington Beach, California. In October 2021, Beck contracted to work on-site as a New York Jets special assistant for quarterback mechanics and fundamentals for the season.
Beck was born on August 21, 1981, in Hayward, California. He attended high school in Mesa, Arizona, where he was honored as Outstanding Male Scholar Athlete at his high school. He also lettered in football each year and led his team to a state championship his senior year. He also garnered first-team All-Region, first-team All-State, USA Today All-American honorable mention, Dairyman first-team All-American, region Offensive Player of the Year, first-team Super All-State, and Super All-State Player-of-the-Year honors. He was recognized as the Arizona High School Football Player of the Year and received both the Ed Dougherty and Fred Enke Awards (Arizona Quarterback of the Year). While a senior, he was named the MVP during the state championship game and selected as the Arizona All-Star game Most Valuable Player. In addition to his football recognitions, he also lettered as a baseball pitcher and infielder.
Before moving onto Brigham Young University, Beck served as a full-time Missionary to Portugal for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which he is a member.
At BYU, Beck was the second true freshman to start as quarterback in the history of BYU. He earned Academic All-Mountain West Conference honors, first team and second team throughout his four years playing for the Cougars. College Football News included Beck in its list of the top-30 players in the Mountain West Conference, and he was ranked as one of the top-40 quarterbacks in the country by Phil Steele’s while College Football Preview. He was both a Davey O’Brien Award finalist and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist his senior year. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communication studies.
Beck and his wife, Barbara, are the parents of four sons.
