"Fatso." Left a scholarship at Notre Dame to join the Marines in 1942, seeing combat at Luzon and Iwo Jima. Finished school at BC in 1947, drafted in the 22nd round(!) First two teams he played for, the original Colts and the football Yanks both went under. The third, the original Dallas Texans, also failed there, but moved to Baltimore and became the current Colts. I never saw him play live-- he retired a couple of years before I started watching; but then again there wasn't all that much film to run on the highlight shows yet, so I saw quite a bit of him on tape. He listed at 263, but he has said he played at about 285 most weeks; so I imagine he was big enough to play the position today, though he'd have been a bit light. However he says his 40 was around 6.3, so he might not have been fast enough-- and he certainly didn't play the quick tackle technique. There are people who claim he played at way over 300 pounds, but that simply doesn't seem possible; I saw Roger Brown against many of the same opponents, and Brown was clearly bigger (and fatter) at 305+ than Donovan at whatever. Still, he was a big man for the time, and absurdly strong in the middle of his body. He routinely lined up a half-step off the line, and would take that half-step into his blocker, absorbing the impact on his biceps-- he'd extend his arms forward and catch the blocker's shoulder pads in his elbows and kind of cushion the hit back into his belly until the guy's momentum was stopped. Then he'd twist slightly, tip the guy to the inside of the field, and kind of shuffle through the space behind him-- its hard to describe, but he had a running style which kept his feet very close to the ground and allowed him to pick his way through the crowd without having to run into or over anybody else, until he found the ball. Sometimes it looked almost like he was on roller skates. He is well remembered as one of the great storytellers the game has ever produced, and a man who routinely demonstrated that one doesn't need etiquette or elocution lessons to be a gentleman. He's not quite the last of the dinosaurs-- I just checked and E J Holub and Charlie Kreuger and Doug Atkins are still in business -- but he' was the highest profile remaining, and his passing makes me feel more than a single day older, anyway. RIP.
Not much to add here- never saw him other than on video, missed his era entirely. But rest in peace all the same.
Its next to impossible just to go by body weight to compare one generation to next. With year-round training and proper dieting, 285 in 1950 could easily be 325 these days. Its amazing how many lineman within a year of retiring can drop 30-40 lbs (while others may gain it) by not being 'training specific' as an NFL lineman. Speed to, can likely increase through technique training. Of course 6.3 to 5.0 would be a bit of a stretch.
Yep. On one hand, Michael Strahan (and Mark Schlereth and Tedy Bruschi) now looks like a regular big guy instead of an NFL big guy. On the other, it's a testament to the speed of the game that a lot of guys aren't bigger than they are. even the non-linemen in some cases. Between his body type and his ankle injuries, Ben Roethlisberger will be 300 pounds and using a cane by his 50th birthday if he doesn't really work on keeping his weight down. Stafford is going to have weight issues. McNabb, too.
A. They would have been linemen in the 50's B. Its a testament to training that allows these guys to play fleet-footed positions in this day and age.
Wait. You're saying they'd take a borderline Hall candidate QB like Ben and turn him into a lineman because he's big??? Or are you saying he'd never get the chance to be a QB from jump? Yeah, McNabb would be a lineman in the 50s, no doubt. Can't say about Stafford. True. Not many QBs in the 50s were even as fast as, say, Jevon Kearse, let alone a guy like Tim Dwight or Jason Sehorn.
Roman Gabriel was only 220 (at 6-5) and the idea that he would be more valuable as a DE/TE/LB than at QB came up. Of course his Filipino heritage may have had something to do with that as well. He was kinda darker than John Brodie or Bart Starr or Don Meredith, even after training camp...
That was big back then. Of course he began playing in the early 60's. I'm thinking more late '40's early 50's Of course his Filipino heritage may have had something to do with that as well. He was kinda darker than John Brodie or Bart Starr or Don Meredith, even after training camp...[/quote] All these guys were early 60's. All were 6'1" (As was Bobby Layne and Otto Graham). YA Title was 6'0". And slight. All of them were under 200 lbs. That seems the size of prototypical QB in that day. Looking back, the only player (but I'm sure there are more) that looks oversized for his position was Jim Brown.