The History of Pro Football (1983), Part 2 (Personalities)

[marquettefootball]

And of course, Paul Hornung had not entered the Hall as a member....yet.

[MIKECNW]

I know football's a rough sport but Hardy took it to far.

I mean, it's one thing to do what you gotta do but if a player in consatntly hurting people, including messing with another players helmet then something need to be done.

Of course some say we've gone to far on being carefull but I think dardly reaaly overdid it.

[cjs3872]

@MIKECNW

If you saw the feature on the Fabulous 50's feature on Brown [I forget which volume, because they did two], you'd see that the way he lurched with his shoulder was actually the way he and everyone else at the special home he went to was taught to hit, so if you're going to blame anyone for the way Hardy Brown played, it would be the people from his home in Tulsa. They were not taught tackling, but rather to pop the opposing player with their shoulder, which was why he KO'd so many.

[plntntvzn]

@MIKECNW Yes, I don't think London Fletcher should have gotten penalized for tackling Tom Brady two days ago, nor should James Harrison gotten suspended for hitting Colt McCoy. So, once wrote Art Donovan,"Hardy Brown's style was an intent to maim. I can't count how many people he put in the hospital. He had this technique of slamming into a player's face; to this day I don't know how he did it. He was like a snake uncoiling. He'd get under your chin and bang, you'd be seeing stars".

[plntntvzn]

From Football Hall of Shame @1986,"Dick Butkus was the most blood-thirsty, anti-social, frothing-at-the-mouth monster of mayhem ever to terrorize the gridiron. Whenever he broke up play,it wasn't a tackle but demonstration of what havoc a human can wreck. Said Butkus 'I wouldn't want to hurt anybody deliberately, unless it was important like a league game or something'. Said OJ Simpson,'Butkus doesn't want to hurt you, he wants to kill you'". Can't wait for the replies on that one.

[cjs3872]

@plntntvzn

Well, Deacon Jones, himself one of the most feared defensive players ever to play the game, may have put it best about Butkus. He said that "on every play that he [Butkus] wanted to put you in the cemetary, not the hospital". Butkus was, in my opinion, the greatest player ever to play the game. Why more people don't have that opinion is beyond me. Maybe it's because he played on a team that was never in contention, unlike the teams that Jack Lambert or Lawrence Taylor starred on.

[marquettefootball]

@cjs3872 "Roses are red, violets are blue. If you've got any sense, you'll keep Butkus away from you." - Deacon Jones

[cjs3872]

@marquettefootball

That quote says it all about Dick Butkus as a player from one of the meanest players to play the game himself, Deacon Jones, and here's another: "Butkus tried to put you in the cemetary when he tackled you, not the hospital". And as Paul Hornung said in the piece in this very segment about Butkus: "He went after you like he hated you from his old neighborhood".

[cjs3872]

@marquettefootball

But O.J. Simpson may have said it best when he said that Butkus was the ONLY player that ever intimidatred him on a football field. And he played against some of the most intimidating teams and players in the sport's history, like the Raiders and Steelers of the 70s, and against players like Jack Lambert, Jack Tatum, George Atkinson, Cliff Harris, Mel Blount, and others. Simpson's statement tells you how much respect Butkus demanded from his opposition.

[plntntvzn]

"Packer RB Mac Arthur Lane recalls,'Butkus grabbed lower part of my leg & tried to crack it in 1/2 over his knee,like kindling for fire,but he didn't,my leg was too green.'In 1969 preseason at Miami,Butkus was ejected after biting official. Ref Ralph Morcroft was trying to break up brawl started by Butkus,& one of Morcroft's went in too far behind face mask-so Butkus bit it to the bone."Either Butkus is carnivorous or Bears are just not setting the right pre-game meal".

[plntntvzn]

"Hardy never left his heart in SF, he didn't have one. Hardy was only 6'0",195,or he'd have committed manslaughter. Hardy's greatest season for KO's was 1951 with 21 (leveled entire Redskin backfield 1 by 1). In 1952, NY Giants tried to disable Hardy after he broke the jaw of Joe Scott, whose teeth ended up scattered all over the field. On next play whole Giants team went after Brown who retreated to end zone shouting,"I can't fight them all". He managed to deck 3 Giants before getting pummeled"