George Blanda
| George Blanda | |
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Positions: quarterback , kicker |
Jersey numbers: 64, 22, 16 |
| born on September 17, 1927 in Youngwood , Pennsylvania | |
| died on September 27, 2010 in Alameda , California | |
| Career information | |
| Active : 1949 - 1975 | |
| NFL Draft : 1949 / Round: 12 / Pick: 119 | |
| College : Kentucky | |
| Teams | |
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| Career statistics | |
| TD - INT | 236-277 |
| Yards | 26,920 |
| QB rating | 60.6 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
| Stats at pro-football-reference.com | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
George Frederick Blanda (* 17th September 1927 in Youngwood , Pennsylvania ; † 27. September 2010 in Alameda , California ), and Man The Grand Old called, was a US American football poker players, both on the position of quarterbacks as well as that of the kicker .
After graduating from the University of Kentucky , Blanda began his professional career with the Chicago Bears in 1949 . With this club he stayed with a short break for nine years. He then moved to the newly formed AFL for the Houston Oilers , which he led to two championships as quarterback. When Blanda was dropped from the squad after six years in Houston, he joined the Oakland Raiders at the age of 40 . There he was mainly used as a kicker and was able to reach the Super Bowl once , in which his team was defeated. In Oakland , he ended his career at the age of 48 and after 26 seasons in the NFL .
Six years after his playing career ended, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton . George Blanda died in California on September 27, 2010 at the age of 83.
college
During his time at high school , Blanda made a name for himself through good athletic performance, which is why several universities offered him a scholarship . He decided to attend the University of Kentucky at Lexington and joined the football team, the Kentucky Wildcats . In his first season in 1945, he sat mostly on the bench, while his teammates could only win one in ten games. Therefore, the then coach Bernie Shively was dismissed and replaced by Bear Bryant . Under his direction, Blanda was initially used as a punter or blocking back , and the Wildcats were able to end the season with a positive balance of 7-3.
In his junior season, Blanda was named starting quarterback by Bryant and again led the team to a record of 7-3, which the Wildcats qualified for the first time for a bowl final. In the final of the one-time Great Lakes Bowl in Cleveland Stadium , Blanda was able to defeat the Villanova Wildcats 24:14 with the Wildcats . The Wildcats' record remained the same in Blanda's last season at college . Blanda contributed a large part to this with 120 completed passes and the resulting gain in space of 1,451 yards. The performance as a quarterback would not have been enough for the jump into the professional league NFL. But thanks to Blanda's good skills as a placekicker and punter , the Chicago Bears decided to sign him. In the twelfth round of the 1949 NFL Draft , they selected him at position 119 of all available players from the youth and amateur area.
Professional career
The first season
In addition to the Bears, the Los Angeles Dons from the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), a competitive league of the NFL, secured the rights to Blanda. But since both the AAFC and the Dons themselves were already financially troubled, Blanda decided for a secure future with the Bears. They had sold backup quarterback Bobby Layne to the New York Bulldogs because of their big players . Therefore, Blanda was not only used as a kicker, but was also behind Sid Luckman and Johnny Lujack substitute as a quarterback. During the season he was set up by coach George Halas in two games from the start in this position. Otherwise he was active as a kicker or punter on the field and helped out in defense as a linebacker or defensive back . Overall, the Bears played a good season as in the previous year and did not lose any of their games. Nevertheless, they stayed in the Western Division as second behind the Los Angeles Rams and could not reach the NFL Championship Game .
Stopover in Baltimore and return to Chicago
After the end of the season, George Blanda was given over by his coach Halas to the Baltimore Colts , which had joined the NFL after the AAFC was dissolved. For this, Blanda only played one game before then coach Clem Crowe deleted him from the squad. Shortly afterwards, he therefore signed another contract with the Bears and played the remaining eleven games for them as a kicker. After the end of the season, the Bears had qualified for the playoffs, where they failed at Conference rivals from Los Angeles. For the new season, Blanda was appointed starting kicker by Coach Halas, as his predecessor, Johnny Lujack , now played exclusively as a quarterback. As a starter, Blanda converted all attempts to get an extra point and also scored six field goals . After the Bears finished the season in fourth place in the National Conference , Johnny Lujack left the club and ended his career. Bob Williams therefore moved up as starting quarterback , but was replaced in some games by either Blanda or Steve Romanik . All three did not appear to be able to replace Lujack, and the Bears finished the season in a disappointing fifth place.
Since then both Williams and Romanik left the club, Blanda was now the sole starter on the position of quarterback. As quarterback, Blanda could only lead the team to three wins, which was enough for fourth place in the Western Division , but screwed down the claims for the coming season. But Blanda and his backup, rookie Zeke Bratkowski , jointly led the Bears to second place in the division. A tackle injured Blanda in a game against the Cleveland Browns and lost his position as starting quarterback. As a result, he was only used as a kicker and in 1956 reached the NFL Championship Game with the Bears for the first time , which was lost 47: 7 to the New York Giants . In the following years, Blanda had no such success with the Bears. After the end of the 1958 season he was no longer used for the Bears because Halas no longer fielded him. Therefore, Blanda planned to switch to the Colts again, but the Bears refused him. Blanda complained to the then Commissioner Bert Bell , who wanted to clarify the problem, but died a few days later.
New start with the Houston Oilers
From this situation, Blanda decided to switch to the newly founded American Football League (AFL). From several offers he accepted that of the Houston Oilers . Under coach Lou Rymkus , Blanda started both as a quarterback and as a kicker. Together with running back Billy Cannon , Blanda led the Oilers to first place in their division and thus into the AFL Championship Game . This won the Oilers with 24:16 against the Los Angeles Chargers and thus became the first champions of the AFL. In this game, Blanda threw all touchdown passes, converted all extra point attempts and scored a field goal. In the next season, the Oilers started badly as defending champions, and Blanda was briefly replaced in the position of quarterback by Jacky Lee . But after a short time he returned as a quarterback back on the grid and played stronger than in the previous season. After Blanda was back in the starting lineup, the Oilers won nine games in a row and were able to win their division again. In the second championship game in a row, the Oilers again met the Chargers, who are now based in San Diego . On Christmas Eve , the Oilers managed to defend their title against the Chargers at Balboa Stadium with a score of 10: 7. Blanda was again involved in all the Oilers' point wins, but also threw five interceptions .
In the following season, Blanda threw many bad passes to the opponent and set a record that is still valid in professional football with a total of 42 interceptions. Nevertheless, he managed to reach the championship game for the third time in a row with the Oilers , which was lost to the Dallas Texans . Blanda initially disappointed before he and his team made up the 17-0 deficit, which was not enough, as the Texans scored victory points in the second extra time. In 1963 the Oilers did not reach the finals for the first time due to numerous injuries. Nevertheless, Blanda led the AFL in the statistics of completed passes and the resulting space gain. But after five losses in the last six games, the Oilers were only third in the Eastern Division . In the next three seasons, Blanda remained statistically leader in the categories of completed passes and space gain in the AFL, but the success with the Oilers, who were mostly last in the division, failed to materialize. In 1966, the Oilers therefore decided to replace Blanda as quarterback by the young Don Trull . George Blanda's career seemed over as he was released from the Oilers after the season ended.
Golden time with the Oakland Raiders
During his career, Blanda had drawn attention to himself and gained a high reputation, including with Al Davis , the team owner of the league rivals from Oakland. He had sent Tom Flores and Art Powell to the Bills after the end of the 1966 season and received Daryle Lamonica in return . He signed Blanda as a backup for the two-time AFL champion and as a kicker. With his new team, the Oakland Raiders , Blanda promptly reached the AFL Championship Game for the fourth time , where he met his old teammates from Houston. The Raiders beat them 40-7, and Blanda, who scored four field goals, played a big part in the win. The Raiders had thus qualified for the second Super Bowl . On January 14, 1968, the Raiders met the Green Bay Packers in Miami at Orange Bowl Stadium . During the game, Blanda missed a field goal attempt and scored two extra points. But the game ended 33:14 for the Packers, who thus won the World Championship Game Trophy .
In the subsequent penultimate season of the AFL, the Raiders were able to win their division again after a playoff against the Kansas City Chiefs and met in Blanda's fifth AFL Championship Game on the Jets from New York . The Jets just won this game by 27:23, as did Super Bowl III later . The last AFL season was similarly successful for the Raiders, under the new coach John Madden the team reached the AFL final as in the two years before, but lost again to Kansas City. Shortly before the start of the first NFL season after the merger with the AFL, Blanda, who was now 42 years old, was removed from the Raiders roster. This decision was quickly reversed by John Madden, who particularly valued Blanda's skills as a kicker in the crucial phase of the game, and Blanda scored three extra points in the Raiders' first game of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals .
As a result, Blanda delivered five to this day considered legendary games in which he either scored a point at the last minute as a kicker or threw the decisive pass as a quarterback to reach a touchdown . Thanks to these efforts, the Raiders reached the play-offs, where they met and won the Miami Dolphins in the first round . The next opponent were the Baltimore Colts , against whom the Raiders initially took a 10-0 lead before Bubba Smith injured Oakland's quarterback Daryle Lamonica in the second quarter of the Colts' defensive end . John Madden came on for the injured Lamonica George Blanda. But Blanda showed a rather poor performance, and the Raiders lost 27:17 to the Colts, who won Super Bowl V a little later . In this game, Blanda set the record for the oldest player to ever play a championship game , and a little later was even awarded the Bert Bell Award .
The following year, he overtook Lou Groza and became the most scoring player in NFL history. However, the Raiders did not reach the playoffs this season and also disappointed the next season when there was a first round out against the Pittsburgh Steelers . Against this, the Raiders lost the AFC Championship Game in the following two years and no longer reached the Super Bowl with Blanda on the team . In these, his last seasons, Blanda did not come to as many missions and ended 1975 after 26 seasons in the NFL - this also a record - his career.
Records and honors
George Blanda has received numerous honors thanks to his long and extraordinary career. He also holds some positive and negative records in the history of the NFL.
Honors (selection)
- In 1970 Blanda was elected to the AFL All-Time Team .
- In 1981 he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame .
- In 1985, the stretch of US Highway 119 that runs through his hometown of Youngwood was renamed George Blanda Boulevard .
- In 1970 he was awarded the Bert Bell Award .
- In 1974 he won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award .
- In 2005 he was inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame .
Records (selection)
- At 943, Blanda has the most Extra Points in the NFL.
- He is one of four players who managed to throw seven touchdown passes in one game.
- No player has played more seasons (26) in the NFL than Blanda.
- He threw the most interceptions in one season (42).
- No player was older than Blanda (48) at an NFL game.
- He was the first player to score more than 2000 points in the NFL.
Perception and recognition
At the beginning of his career, the Bears Blanda signed mainly because of his qualities as a kicker. But over time he was used more and more as a quarterback and eventually advanced to the team's starting quarterback. There he played relatively solidly until Zeke Bratkowski overtook him and Blanda finally lost the position after a shoulder injury. During his time with the Houston Oilers, he was probably his best performance as a quarterback and led his team to two championships in the AFL. But even at this time he threw a relatively large number of interceptions, which after several years with the Raiders brought him the negative record in this category, which he only lost to Brett Favre in 2007 .
After six years in Houston, at the age of 40, he moved again to the Oakland Raiders, where the audience saw him mainly as a kicker, as he was rarely used there as a quarterback and was particularly popular with viewers because of his game-decisive extra points or field goals in the 1970 season (see above) is remembered. Blanda's dissatisfaction with this classification was described by former trainer John Madden in an interview:
“He hated to be called a kicker. If anyone says kicker George Blanda or George Blanda comma kicker, he hated that. He wanted to be known as a football player. And he was a football player, who played quarterback and also kicked. That's what he wanted to be known as. There was a time when he was with the Chicago Bears and he wasn't playing much quarterback so he told George Halas that he just wanted to play, so he played linebacker. That was the type of guy he was. He was a quarterback that could play NFL football as a linebacker. "
“He hated being called a kicker. He hated it when anyone said 'the kicker George Blanda' or 'George Blanda, kicker'. He wanted to be known as a football player. And he was a football player who played quarterback and foosball. That's how he wanted to be known. There was a time when he was playing for the Chicago Bears and not being used as a quarterback so he told George Halas he wanted to play so he played as a linebacker. That was the type of person he was. He was a quarterback who could also play NFL football as a linebacker. "
But in addition to his good skills as a kicker, there was also one ability that set him apart: Despite his numerous interceptions, he was a player who always seemed to exude calm, as for example in his legendary five games in the 1970 season (see above). This was also confirmed by the then and current owner of the Raiders Al Davis at the laudation for Blanda's admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
"George Blanda is the greatest clutch player the game of pro football has ever known."
"George Blanda is the best clutch player professional football has ever known."
Even if many viewers probably didn't see him as the football player he wanted to be seen, he still received a lot of recognition from fans and fellow players. He finally got this from the Pro Football Hall of Fame , which elected him to their hall of fame in the first year of his candidacy. Overall, he is certainly remembered by viewers mainly because of his unusually long career.
death
According to the Football Hall of Fame, Blanda died on September 27, 2010 after a brief illness in Alameda , California . In his honor, there was a minute's silence the same day before the Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field .
literature
- Wells Twombly: Blanda. Alive and kicking. Nash Pub, Los Angeles CA 1972, ISBN 0-8402-1260-7 .
- George Blanda, Mickey Herskowitz: Over Forty. Feeling Great and Looking Good! Simon & Schuster, New York NY 1978, ISBN 0-671-25189-9 .
Web links
- Biography on jockbio.com (English)
- Obituary on the homepage of the Kentucky Wildcats (English)
- Biography at espn.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 1947 Great Lakes Bowl . ukathletics.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
- ↑ Houston Oilers 10 at San Diego Chargers 3 . pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
- ↑ Oakland Raiders 21 at Cincinnati Bengals 31 . pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ↑ George Blanda isn't just a dead Raider: His crazy numbers for Houston shouldn't be forgotten . houston.culturemap.com. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ↑ 16 - George Blanda . chicagobears.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ↑ George Blanda . pabook.libraries.psu.edu. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ↑ A player that wouldn't leave . espn.com . Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ↑ Blanda's memorable run in 1970 . profootballhof.com. Archived from the original on December 31, 2010. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
- ^ Namath homage lacking as towns honor football greats . pittsburghlive.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ↑ UK Creates Athletics Hall of Fame . ukathletics.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ↑ John Madden remembers George Blanda espn.com (English)
- ↑ Legend Blanda spanned Bear Bryant to Papa Bear to Madden cbssports.com (English)
- ↑ George Blanda, 1927-2010 . profootballhof.com. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
- ^ Raiders Hall of Fame QB George Blanda Dies at 83 . ABCNews.com. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Blanda, George |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Blanda, George Frederick (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American football player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Youngwood , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 27, 2010 |
| Place of death | Alameda , California |