Bobby Douglass grew up in El Dorado because his father, Bob, was the Junior College football coach. Bobby's first love was football, but like all kids that era, he participated in all sports. The lefthander excelled in football and baseball but found time to play basketball and participate in track while attending El Dorado High School.
Bobby played in El Dorado midgets, junior and senior league baseball recreation programs. From 1962-1965 Bobby was a El Dorado High School pitcher and first baseman and two time All AVL starting QB and All-State QB his senior year. He played American Legion baseball in 1964 and 1965. In 1964 he pitched a 2-1 victory over Oklahoma state champions Ponca City. In 1965 he pitched every inning but two in the week-long American Legion District Tournament in Augusta to lead El Dorado to a berth in the State Tournament in Salina. They lost the first game to Salina 2-1 with Bobby on the mound giving up just 1 earned run. They were eliminated the next day. His statistics for the 1965 season were 11-3 with 80 innings pitched, 130 strikeouts and a 1.05 ERA.
From 1965 to 1968 Bobby quarterbacked at the University of Kansas. In 1968 Kansas went 10-2 losing to Penn State in the Orange Bowl (famous for the 12 men on the field fiasco) and Bobby was selected as an All-American at the completion of that season.
In 1969 Bobby played in the All American Bowl in Tampa, Florida and was voted the MVP of the game. He played in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama and played in the last college All-Star game ever played in Chicago. He was drafted in the second round of the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears that year.
Bobby went on to play professional football for the Bears, Chargers, Saints and Packers. Douglass held the NFL record for single season rushing yards by a QB from 1972-2006, 34 years.
Following his 10 year run as an NFL QB Bobby signed a professional baseball contract to pitch for the Chicago White Sox AAA Iowa Oaks team as a pitcher. He made four relief appearances totaling seven innings pitched.