Alex Karras

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Alex Karras
Alex Karras MASH 1974.JPG
Position (s):
Defensive tackle 		Jersey number (s):
71
born July 15, 1935 in Gary , Indiana
died on October 10, 2012 in Los Angeles , California
Career information
Active : 1958 - 1970
NFL Draft : 1958 / Round: 1 / Pick: 10
College : University of Iowa
Teams
Career statistics
Games     161
Interception     4th
Fumble secured     16
Stats at pro-football-reference.com
Career highlights and awards
Pro Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame

Alexander George "Alex" Karras (* 15. July 1935 in Gary , Indiana ; † 10. October 2012 in Los Angeles , California ; Nickname : The Mad Duck ) was an American American football player and actor . He played as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) with the Detroit Lions .

Life

youth

Alex Karras was born in 1935 in Gary, the son of a housewife and a doctor. His father was of Greek descent and his mother was from Canada . His father died in 1948 when Alex was 13 years old. Alex Karras had five siblings, two of his brothers later became professional footballers. Lou Karras played for the Washington Redskins , Ted Karras was active with the Chicago Bears and played with Alex in 1965 for the Detroit Lions. He won the NFL championship with the Bears in 1963 . Alex Karras attended high school in his hometown . He played football in school and in his spare time in a parking lot. During his schooldays he was chosen twice in the Indiana selection and once as an All-American .

Player career

College career

After graduating from high school in 1954, Alex Karras received a scholarship to the University of Iowa . He played there from 1955 to 1957 for the Iowa Hawkeyes as tackle college football . In 1957 he and his team won the Rose Bowl against the Oregon State University team 35:19. Karras was elected All-American in 1956 and 1957 , and in 1957 he received the Outland Trophy , the award for the best defensive line or offensive line player in the country. He received two awards from college for his athletic achievements.

Professional career

Alex Karras was drafted tenth in the first round by the Detroit Lions in 1958 . A few years earlier, the Lions were one of the top teams in the NFL and had numerous later members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame such as Bobby Layne , Yale Lary and Lou Creekmur in their ranks. Even with Alex Karras, the team could no longer build on previous successes. It was only in the last season of Karras that the Lions managed to move into the play-offs under coach Joe Schmidt , where they had to admit prematurely beaten 5-0 to the Dallas Cowboys . During the 1970 season, Karras suffered a knee injury. He then made the preparation of the Lions for the 1971 season with, but his performances were not convincing. Karras was then dismissed and decided to end his playing career.

Karra's playing career was not without scandals and contradictions. In 1957, immediately after graduating from college, he signed a contract as a pro-wrestler . As a wrestler he was six months worked, giving him a salary of 25,000 US dollars earned. He also appeared as a wrestler in 1963. Together with Paul Hornung , the NFL banned him for a year after it became known that he had made bets on the outcome of NFL games , which was already forbidden under the league's statutes at that time. During his season in Detroit , he was on the verge of a club change several times, but this was never carried out.

Career as a presenter and actor

Already during his time as an active football player, Alex Karras appeared as an actor. He played himself in the film Paper Lion . From 1969 he appeared regularly in television series and films. While filming, he also met his second wife, actress Susan Clark . Simultaneously to his work as an actor Karras worked from 1974 to 1976 for the American television station American Broadcasting Company (ABC) as a sports presenter for the transmission of the Monday night football games . In 1998, Karras also retired from the film business. He later lived in South Carolina and ran an ice cream parlor in Surfside Beach . He was the father of five children from his first marriage and one child to Susan Clark. Alex Karras developed dementia in the last years of his life . His body was cremated and the ashes were given to his family.

Filmography

watch TV

movie theater

Honors

Alex Karras played in the Pro Bowl four times , was elected All-Pro nine times and is a member of the NFL 1960s All-Decade Team , College Football Hall of Fame , Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, and Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame. Since 2018, the Detroit Lions have honored him at Ford Field at the Detroit Lions Ring of Honor , and in 2020 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame .

Web links

swell

  • Mike Firn, Chad Leistikow, Hawkeye Legends, Lists, & Lore , Sports Publishing LLC, 1998, ISBN 978-1-57167-178-3

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary
  2. ↑ Detroit Lions Annual Statistics 1970
  3. ↑ Statistics NFL play-off game Dallas Cowboys vs. Detroit Lions 1970
  4. ^ Report on the scandal at ESPN
  5. ^ Illness of Alex Karras
NFL 1960s All-Decade Team

Sonny Jurgensen  | Bart Starr  | Johnny Unitas  | John David Crow  | Paul Hornung  | Leroy Kelly  | Gale Sayers  | Jim Brown  | Jim Taylor  | John Mackey  | Del Shofner  | Charley Taylor  | Gary Collins  | Boyd Dowler  | Bob Brown  | Forrest Gregg  | Ralph Neely  | Gene Hickerson  | Jerry Kramer  | Howard Mudd  | Jim Ringo  | Doug Atkins  | Willie Davis  | Deacon Jones  | Alex Karras  | Bob Lilly  | Merlin Olsen  | Dick Butkus  | Larry Morris  | Ray Nitschke  | Tommy Nobis  | Dave Robinson  | Herb Adderley  | Lem Barney  | Bobby Boyd  | Eddie Meador  | Larry Wilson  | Willie Wood  | Jim Bakken  | Don Chandler

Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame


Lem Barney (1992) | Jack Christiansen (1970) | Earl "Dutch" Clark (1963) | Lou Creekmur (1996) | Curley Culp (2013) | Bill Dudley (1966) | John Henry Johnson (1987) | Dick "Night Train" Lane (1974) | Yale Lary (1979) | Bobby Layne (1967) | Dick LeBeau (2010) | Ollie Matson (1972) | Hugh McElhenny (1970) | Barry Sanders (2004) | Charlie Sanders (2007) | Joe Schmidt (1973) | Dick Stanfel (2016) | Doak Walker (1986) | Alex Wojciechowicz (1968)


personal data
SURNAME Karras, Alex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Karras, Alexander George (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American football player and actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Gary (Indiana)
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 2012
Place of death los Angeles