Slingin' Sammy Baugh - TCU Legend
For those of you who do not know, Sammy Baugh is credited as the first Quarterback to use the forward passing game as a common threat in football. He was an incredible player during his time, he once had a game where he threw 4 TDs, punted the ball 85 yards, and intercepted 4 passes - this guy did it all. TCU would have never had those National Championships had it not been for Sammy Baugh.In 1999, he was named the third-greatest NFL player of the 20th century by the Associated Press and the third-greatest college football player by College Football News.
"His legacy is still talked about around town," said LaDainian Tomlinson, an All-American at TCU in 2000 and the 2006 NFL MVP. "He was a football player. I think he'll probably be remembered as the greatest football player here at TCU."
"The TCU family lost one of its own today," Frogs coach Gary Patterson said. "Sam Baugh was TCU."
"He's the greatest quarterback who ever lived and the greatest punter. Other than that, he wasn't any good," said author Dan Jenkins, TCU's sports historian
Legend has it that during Baugh’s first practice with the Redskins, coach Ray Flannery, a gruff old-timer, tossed a football to Baugh.
“They tell me you’re quite a passer,’’ said Flaherty.
“I reckon I can throw a little,” said Baugh.
“Let’s see it,” said Flaherty. “Hit that receiver in the eye.”
Baugh looked downfield at receiver Wayne Millner and calmly said: “Which eye?”
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=luksa_frank&id=3776948
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1100751.html
Video: http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80d6a334
1 comment:
Kev, you are a true fan.
I know the FWST writer who did the story. He is an ass but did a good job on the story.
I love the quotes of the old sports reporter:
Oddly, he was first noticed on the national scene during the Frogs’ only loss that season. Sportswriters from around the country, including famed scribe Grantland Rice from New York, watched fourth-ranked SMU pull the upset of No. 1 TCU 20-14 in a game of two 10-0 teams.
Baugh was undone by too many dropped passes. That fact wasn’t lost on Rice, who was astonished by the number of passes attempted (44) by Baugh and completed (17).
"Mr. Slingin’ Samuel Baugh can chunk that cabbage," Rice wrote in the New York Sun. "He could murder a fly on a fence with the snout of that missile at any distance from a yard to at least 50.
"In Saturday’s dramatic battle, he hurled them, to an Easterner, an unbelievable total of [44] passes. That more weren’t closed at the terminal end wasn’t his fault but that of the desperate young gentlemen whose allotted chore it was to unhook ’em from the ozone."
That's good stuff
Post a Comment