Goodbye to Timmy Brown at the age of 82.
The original Tim Brown was likely the best Eagle of the 1960s as Brown was not only the Eagles' best running back of the era, he also ranked with the best kick returners in the game.
Brown was the first player in NFL history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game for the Eagles in a 1966 upset of the Dallas Cowboys and made Pro Bowls in 1962, 1963, and 1965 for Philadelphia as a running back.
Brown was drafted by the Packers in 1959 but was released after one game.
Imagine the dimension that Brown could have brought to the Lombardi Packers!
After Brown finished his career in 1968 for the NFL champion Baltimore Colts, Brown moved into acting and was one of two actors in the movie and series based on M*A*S*H.
Brown played two different roles in the film and series but was released from the series from his role as "Spearchucker Jones" after one season when the decision-makers realized that in the actual Korean War there weren't any African-American doctors that served in the military.
Goodbye to Pete Retzlaff at the age of 88.
The Eagles top runner of the decade of the 60s was Timmy Brown, but their best pass-catching threat may have been Pete Retzlaff, although Tommy McDonald may have had something to say about that honor.
Retzlaff started his career at wide receiver in 1956 for Philadelphia before moving to tight end in 1963 for the final four years of his career, which were all spent with the Eagles.
Retzlaff, like Timmy Brown, played for the 1960 World Champion Eagles, which was the only team to defeat a Vince Lombardi squad in a championship game.
Retzlaff made five Pro Bowls, three of those in his four seasons as a tight end and Retzlaff's 1965 season is a season that would stack well today in the passing age, so imagine these numbers in 1965- 66 catches, 1,190 yards, and ten touchdowns.
Very strong numbers for an Eagles team that finished 5-9 in 1965.
Retzlaff retired after the 1966 season, but was back in 1969 as the general manager, but was a failure as GM as Philadelphia finished 4-9-1, 3-10-1, 6-7-1 and 2-11-1 with some of the worst teams in franchise history to go with using first-round draft picks on Leroy Keyes, Steve Zabel, Richard Harris, and John Reaves.
Keyes suffered a career-altering knee injury that likely cost him a good NFL career and Reaves was a solid USFL passer, but not an NFL starter and Zabel and Harris may have been slightly better picks than Steve Sabol of NFL Films fame and the actor that sung "Macarthur Park".
Davis spent two seasons with the Browns before Cleveland traded him to the Packers in 1960.
Davis would slot in as the best pass rusher of the Lombardi era in Green Bay, playing on all five world champions under Lombardi and making five Pro Bowls during his career.
Davis was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981 and is one of those pass rushers that may still be holding records had the NFL kept statistics for sacks in his playing era.
Davis was very successful in business following his retirement in owning several radio stations and sitting on the board of directors for some very large corporations.
Davis is the father of actor Duane Davis, who seemed to show up in every sports movie of the late 80s and throughout the 90s and his grandson is Ohio State All-American guard Wyatt Davis, who could be a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Goodbye to Bobby Mitchell at the age of 84.
Mitchell spent his first four seasons in Cleveland (Boy, the Browns fared really well in this post) as the halfback in the Browns backfield with Jim Brown.
When the Browns and their new owner Art Modell decided that they had to have 1961 Heisman winner Ernie Davis, who would tragically pass away and never play in a professional game, the price for Davis was Mitchell, who broke the color line for the Washington Redskins.
Washington would move Mitchell to flanker and Mitchell would go well over one thousand yards in his first two seasons.
Mitchell would not finish with fewer than 866 receiving yards or less than 58 receptions until his final season in 1967.
Mitchell made three Pro Bowls and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.
Mitchell was well-known to fans that never saw him play as he was a regular panelist for years on the various local Redskin-related programs.
Goodbye to Tom Dempsey at the age of 73.
Dempsey is most remembered for his 63-yard field goal in 1970 that set an NFL record for the longest field goal that gave the New Orleans Saints an upset win at the gun over the Detroit Lions.
The Dempsey record was tied a few times before being broken by one yard by Matt Prater in 2013 in Denver, where the altitude could have assisted the kick.
Dempsey's record for the longest field goal for non-altitude remains with David Akers and Graham Gano making their 63 yarders outside of Denver.
Dempsey was born without any toes on his kicking foot (right) or any fingers on his right hand and his kicking shoe looked more like a stubbed brick than a traditional kicking shoe.
Dempsey was a straight-on kicker, which was slowly going away in favor of the soccer-style kickers and suffered from accuracy issues.
Dempsey made one Pro Bowl, which was for the Saints as a rookie in 1969, and while most remember Dempsey as a Saint, I've always thought him as a member of his next two teams in the Eagles and Rams (Dempsey would also kick for the Oilers and Bills).
I remember Dempsey's reaction as an Eagle after missing a short field goal that would have beaten Buffalo in 1973 on an NFL Game of the Week and I'll remember his kick in the 1976 NFC championship that was blocked by Nate Allen and taken the distance by Bobby Bryant for a Viking touchdown that swung momentum toward Minnesota in a 24-13 win.
Goodbye to Tavaris Jackson at the age of 36.
Jackson played for the Vikings, had two stints with the Seahawks, and the Bills before his retirement after the 2015 season following the Seahawks loss in the Super Bowl to New England.
Jackson was Minnesota's second-rounder in 2006 and started twenty games for the Vikings from 2006-2010, twelve of those coming as the starter in 2007.
Jackson signed as the starter for the Seahawks in 2011, but Jackson threw only 14 touchdowns with 13 interceptions and was replaced for the following year by rookie Russell Wilson.
Jackson was on the Bills roster in 2012 but did not appear in any games before returning to Seattle as Wilson's backup for the final three seasons of his career.
Upon his passing, Jackson was the quarterbacks' coach at 1-AA Tennessee State.
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