Goodbye to Forrest Gregg at the age of 85 from Parkinson's Disease.
Gregg, who was once described by Vince Lombardi as "the finest football player I ever coached" entered the Hall of Fame in 1977 after a sixteen-year career at tackle for Green Bay and Dallas and winning six championships over his career, five of those with the Packers.
Gregg dominated at tackle but was versatile enough to play guard as well and even center in a severe pinch.
In so many of those wonderful pictures from the 60s that show the power sweep with Paul Hornung or Jim Taylor running around the end, it is usually Gregg or Jerry Kramer (or both) clearing the way for the famous play of the time.
Gregg's playing days were over by my day, but I saw Gregg coach the Browns and Packers (unsuccessfully), and the Bengals (took them to their first super bowl) along with two CFL stints in Toronto and Shreveport (Shreveport in the CFL still makes one wonder about that idea) before leaving the Packers ( I doubt that they were trying too hard to keep him after seasons of 4-12 and 5-9-1) to rebuild his alma mater SMU after the Mustangs were hit with the only "Death Penalty" in division one football.
Gregg had suffered in recent years from Parkinson's and his family has donated his brain to see how much football's blows had contributed to his Parkinson's.issues.
Goodbye to Clem Daniels at the age of 81.
Daniels, a hard running fullback that played for three teams, but spent the bulk of his career with the Oakland Raiders, before finishing his career with one season with San Francisco after the merger was agreed to.
Daniels was a four-time AFL all-star, the 1963 AFL MVP and finished his career as the all-time leading rusher in the American Football League with over 5,000 yards on the ground.
Daniels was also a key member in the AFL player boycott in 1965 of their All-Star game and forced the move from New Orleans to Houston after racial mistreatment of players in Louisiana.
Goodbye to Johnny "Lam" Jones at the age of 60 from cancer.
Jones was the second overall pick of the 1980 NFL Draft by the Jets, but only lasted five less than distinguished seasons in the league.
Jones was a standout at Texas though as a standout at running back and wide receiver with world-class speed.
The term "world-class speed" is often overused as a generic term for a fast player in football, but Lam Jones truly possessed world-class speed as he was part of the four-man gold medal-winning team in the 100-meter relay in the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
Jones also was in the finals in the individual 100 meters in Montreal but finished sixth to the winner, Hasley Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago.
Goodbye to Cedrick Hardman at the age of 70.
Hardman played ten years for the San Francisco 49ers after the defensive end was their first-round selection in 1970.
Hardman holds the 49ers record for sacks with 107, although the NFL didn't officially recognize the sack as an official statistic until 1982 and also is the team record holder for sacks in a season with 18 in 1971.
Hardman was part of the 49ers "Gold Rush" in 1976, which harassed quarterbacks relentlessly including this game against the Rams that saw the 49ers sack Rams quarterback James Harris ten times against a Rams offensive line that included hall of famer Tom Mack and future Pro Bowlers Rich Saul, Doug France, and Dennis Harrah.
Hardman would play two seasons for the Raiders and was part of their 1980 Super Bowl champions before retiring for one year before a one year return with the USFL Oakland Invaders as a player/coach.
Goodbye to Joe Bellino at the age of 81.
Bellino won the 1960 Heisman Trophy as a running back that also punted and scored touchdowns as a runner, receiver, and passer for Navy.
Due to Bellino's five year military commitment, Bellino would not debut as a professional until 1965 when he would join the then-Boston Patriots for three seasons that he spent mostly as a kick returner.
Bellino would score only one professional touchdown and would total only 213 yards combined in those three seasons as a rusher and receiver.
No comments:
Post a Comment