WACO, Texas – Baylor Athletics Hall of Famer and former BU quarterback great J.J. (John Eric) Joe passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at the age of 54.
 
Joe, who was inducted to the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006, had also just finished his 21^st season as part of the Baylor football radio broadcast team as the color analyst alongside "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and sideline reporter Ricky Thompson. 
 
"I am honored to have been J.J.'s coach," said Hall of Fame Baylor coach Grant Teaff. "I am heartbroken. J.J. is one of the finest men I ever had the privilege of coaching. He was an excellent leader and a talented athlete. He was unselfish and always cared more about the success of his teammates than his own accolades. He was tough, determined and boy, did he love his teammates and Baylor University. 
 
"After he left Baylor, he became not just a former player but a close and trusted friend. He was so special and will always remain in my heart and live on in the spirit of the Baylor family."
 
An Arlington, Texas, native, J.J. was named the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Offensive Player of the Year as a senior at Lamar High School in 1988, when he threw for 2,124 yards and 16 touchdowns and led the Vikings to the Class 5A state quarterfinals. 
 
After a meteoric rise from third-stringer to starter four games into his redshirt freshman season at Baylor in 1990, Joe led the Bears to back-to-back bowl games in 1991 and '92 and held all the school passing records by the end of his career (1990-93). 
 
The program record-holder for career yards per completion (17.3) 32 years later, he still ranks in the top 10 in career yards passing (5,995), completions (347-of-665), touchdown passes (31) and total offense (6,815). A three-time Academic All-American, Joe was named to Baylor's All-Decade Team for the 1990s. 
 
"When you're playing and going through it, (the Hall of Fame) is not something you think about," J.J. said, when he was inducted into the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. "I really only knew about it when I was broadcasting, when they would induct a class every year. Whenever you play, you want to leave a legacy. I know my records will be broken . . . but you want to be thought of as a good guy."
 
Graduating from Baylor in 1993 with a degree in finance, Joe went into the banking business straight out of college and earned his MBA in finance from UTA in 1997. As a founding partner, he was the CFO of Beverly Sue Global Services (BSGC), which does operations and maintenance at overseas camps, mostly in the Middle East. 
 
For the past six years, J.J. had served on the staff at First Presbyterian Church of Dallas as the Senior Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer. 
 
In 2004, he joined the Baylor football radio broadcast team with Morris and Thompson, serving as the in-booth analyst for a 21-year run that included 12 bowl games, Robert Griffin III's 2011 Heisman Trophy run and Big 12 championships in 2013, 2014 and 2021. 
 
"J.J. was a Baylor man to the core," Morris said. "From his playing career as a four-year starter at quarterback, to the past 21 years as the color analyst on our radio broadcasts, J.J. was universally loved and respected by everyone who knew him and by fans who felt like they knew him through the airwaves."
 
J.J. is survived by his wife, Lakeesha, and sons, Jordan, Josh and Jacob, as well as his Baylor family and former teammates at Lamar High School and Baylor. 
 
Funeral services are pending.