As Vacation continues, we return to the Forgotten Superstars universe with a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Lance Alworth.
The recent Showtime series on the history of the AFL made me start thinking about Alworth not always coming up in conversations about the greatest receiver ever (I mean after Jerry Rice).
By the numbers of his era, he was right at the top, and Alworth (as was mentioned in the series) was the first AFL player to be viewed as a measuring stick when grading players at his position.
Lance Alworth also has the very special honor of being the first player to make the hall of fame from the AFL
Alworth won two championships in his career with the 63 Chargers and as a bit player with the 71 Cowboys.
The player that was nicknamed "Bambi" had a statistic that was jaw-dropping when I researched this-Alworth never averaged less than 18.9 yards per catch for the first seven years of his career.
Think about that in a different age of football, every time that Tobin Rote, John Hadl, or whoever threw the ball to Lance Alworth and completed the pass, the play averaged over 19 yards.
The former Arkansas Razorback had over 1,000 yards receiving in every year he played in the 1960s with the exception of his four-game initial season.
Talk about a player ahead of his time with speed and hands, Lance Alworth had it all except for size and at six foot even, he wasn't a tiny player by any means.
Watch the YouTube below and marvel at the grace, speed, and route running of Lance Alworth and check out those awesome Charger togs.
Everyone loves those, and why they don't use them now is mind-boggling, but that is a story for another day.
A seven-time pro bowler and six-time all-pro, we are glad to welcome Lance Alworth into our Forgotten Superstar universe.
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