Minnesota Vikings Quiz (1960 – 2000 ): 1) Only player to rush
for 200 yards in a game? 2) Most passing yards, career? 3) Most
TD, career? Most interceptions, career? Answers below.
Johnny Mac”s Football – Bronko Nagurski
In the formative years of the NFL, three players stood out
amongst their peers. Two were more or less skill players, Red
Grange and Sammy Baugh (both were previously chronicled, see
archives) and the third was the epitome of strength and ferocity,
Bronko Nagurski. Now there is a great name for a football
player, huh? It”s hard to imagine someone with that moniker
making a mark in ballet or interior design. Bronko, whose given
name was Bronislau, was born in 1908 in Rainy River, Ontario,
but grew up across the border in International Falls, Minnesota.
A farm boy, he grew to a rock solid 6”2″ and 225 pounds.
Bronko was a thick man, with huge hands (his championship ring
was a size 19.5), neck (size 19) and shoulders. The average
lineman of the day was around 210, with many under 200.
Imagine them trying to bring this horse down.
Attending the University of Minnesota, Nagurski excelled in
football as well as boxing and wrestling, and became the first and
only player to receive All-America honors at 2 positions
(fullback and defensive tackle). Legend has it that Doc Spears,
the coach of the Gophers, got lost while on a recruiting trip. He
stopped to ask directions of some big kid plowing a field sans
horse. The kid picked up the plow with one hand to point the
way. That was how Bronko ended up at UM.
The NFL was a fledgling operation at the time, desperate to sign
talent for the league. George Halas of the Chicago Bears signed
Nagurski for the 1930 season, teaming him in the backfield with
the great Grange. The Bears were a dominant force in those
years, due in no small part to the two-way play of Nagurski. In
the first real championship game of the modern NFL in 1933,
Bronko displayed his versatility by passing for two touchdowns
in Chicago”s hard-fought 23-21 victory over New York.
Some modern observers downplay Nagurski”s accomplishments,
citing a lack of overwhelming statistics. His rushing totals are
not glittering, as he averaged only about 10 carries per game,
with only one game of 100+ yards. [For his career he had 2,778
yards with a 4.4 average per carry.] But we have to put these
raw stats in context. Halas had stockpiled a bevy of top-notch
running backs and shuttled them in and out to keep them fresh.
Bronko was by far the most devastating blocker in the league and
was often called upon to throw the lead block for other runners.
And Nagurski was perhaps the Bears best defensive player as
well. He was a true 60-minute man, logging time at defensive
end and linebacker, as well as at fullback.
Football did not pay well in those days, even for players of
Bronko”s stature. He got into a pretty heated salary dispute with
Halas after the 1937 season, eventually leaving football for a
career in pro wrestling, a sport he finally retired from in 1960
after sustaining a number of injuries. Although none of us (I
hope) take pro wrestling seriously, Nagurski was a big draw in
his day, holding some version of the “world title” on three
separate occasions.
Bronko did make a brief comeback on the gridiron, answering
the call from the Bears in 1943. The rosters were depleted due to
WWII and Nagurski didn”t miss a beat, leading Chicago to the
championship. He lived a quiet, solitary retirement, running a
filling station back in International Falls until he died in 1990 at
age 81. Bronko was a charter member of both the Pro and
Collegiate Hall of Fame.
Perhaps the best thing about people like Nagurski are the stories
that surround them. His Bunyanesque stature and awesome
physical strength are the stuff of legend. One often told tale is
about an afternoon at Wrigley Field. The end zone was only nine
yards deep, ending rather abruptly at a brick wall. Bronko busted
off tackle, intent on scoring the winning touchdown. The two
unfortunate would-be tacklers were taken off on stretchers, one
unconscious and one with a broken shoulder. Unable to stop his
forward momentum on the play, Nagurski had run full speed into
the wall. The immovable object meets the unstoppable force.
Players swear he cracked the wall that day, and for years would
point out the crack to any disbelievers. For Nagurski”s part, he
returned to the huddle after the collision and dryly commented,
“That last guy hits pretty hard.”
Even the locals got in on the act. A reporter asked one about
Bronko”s service station. The local said, “Once you get to
Bronko”s, you always go back.” Best service? “Nope.” Best
prices? “Nope.” Why then? “Because when Bronko puts your
gas cap back on, only Bronko can get it off.”
You figure with today”s nutrition and, shall we say, chemistry,
Nagurski would probably have played at 270-275. By all
accounts, he certainly had the physiology to support that kind of
weight. God knows what devastation he might have wrought
playing fullback full-time at that size. Observers of the day rated
Bronko as one of the greatest. His all-around talents on both
sides of the ball are among the best ever. No less an authority
than Grantland Rice wrote that a team of eleven Nagurskis would
beat a team of eleven Granges or eleven Thorpes. Quite a
compliment.
Bronko was a smashmouth football player before anyone even
heard of the term. And if you are selecting a personal all-time,
All-Madden squad, Nagurski should be your first pick.
The 2001 NCAA Season
Wow, what a weekend. I wasn”t the only one fired up for an
Oklahoma – Nebraska rematch at next week”s Big 12
championship game. But a funny thing happened on the way to
“Game of the Century, Part II.” Nebraska got shellacked by
Colorado, 62-36, while Oklahoma was humiliated by a 4-7
Oklahoma State squad, 16-13. OU had net zero yards rushing.
So now it”s Texas vs. Colorado. To my Nebraska friend Ken S.,
what can I say?
Ken was nice enough to earlier pass along an article from a local
paper on what Nebraska linemen ate these days. But the tale
could apply to any football player. For example, many consume
up to 10,000 calories a day.which is the equivalent of 95
bananas, 67 helpings of baked beans or 19 Big Macs. After
Friday”s game, the Cornhuskers need to modify their diet, I
guess.
New Jersey”s Coyotes
I have to keep adding stories of this kind because those of you
who aren”t real familiar with my home state may have a
conception of a place that is one big, paved parking lot. [Well,
you”re close!] But aside from our 2,000 black bear, we now are
home to up to 1,800 coyotes, and these are no ordinary ones.
According to the Star-Ledger”s Mark McGarrity, the Jersey
specie is really a hybrid timber wolf and dog, which weighs 10
pounds more than a normal coyote.
Now the story is that the Mississippi River may have been a
barrier to the spread of the authentic coyote eastward. So,
instead, they went north into Canada, checked out the superior
Canadian lager, mated with timber wolves, and then moved south
again, picking up dog genes along the way.
McGarrity also describes a recent incident involving coyotes and
a Pennsylvania utility worker who was tagging vegetation for
clearing when he stumbled on three coyotes chowing down on a
deer. He was crawling into brambles when.
“On all fours, he must have looked like just another meat-eating
predator wanting to steal their meal, (and the coyotes attacked
him). Fighting them off – his clothes ripped, his skin scratched
and bitten – he turned and ran.
“Whereupon, two other coyotes, waiting their turn to dine,
evidently perceived him to be in a flight mode and attacked him
a second time.”
The poor sap was treated for wounds and inoculated for post-
exposure rabies. Just another reason to be careful when picking
up the morning paper from the driveway.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Last Thursday, Scotland Yard detectives arrested a grand-prize
winner on the British version of the TV series because it appears
the contestant who became only the third million pound
($1,440,000) champ – The US version has had 9 $1mm winners –
was in collusion with accomplices in the audience. After
reviewing the game films, producers of the show discerned a
pattern. As the contestant “was contemplating his final answers
to some questions, production officials thought they heard a
suspicious pattern of coughs emanating from the audience.
When the correct response was ”C,” for example, three coughs
were heard.” [T.R. Reid / Washington Post] The supposed
winner vigorously denies the charge.
Baseball Contraction
It would appear that the owners will be forced to wait one year
before they can eliminate two teams. Little progress has been
made (Commissioner Bud Selig had set a December 15 deadline)
and a grievance filed by the players union has yet to be heard by
an arbitrator, let alone the injunction in Minneapolis that
prevents the Twins from folding up this winter. The owners
handled this whole thing poorly and they should quickly fold the
issue into the current players” contract discussions.
Top 3 songs for the week of 11/25/72: #1 “I Can See Clearly
Now” (Johnny Nash) #2 “I”d Love You To Want Me” (Lobo)
#3 “I”ll Be Around” (Spinners)
Dan L. is encouraging all you Kiss fans to start lining up for the
Gene Simmons autobiography, “Kiss and Make-Up,” which will
be hitting the stores soon. Also, Court TV is airing a
documentary on December 4, “The Secret History of Rock ”n”
Roll,” which looks like it could be good.
Minnesota Vikings Quiz Answers: 1) Only back to rush for 200
yards in a game – Chuck Foreman (200 – 1976). Foreman had 3
1,000-yd. seasons between 1975-77. 2) Passing yards, career:
Frank Tarkenton – 33,098. Tarkenton threw for 47,003 in total,
including his 5 years with the New York Giants. 3) TD, career:
Cris Carter, 104. 4) Interceptions, career: Paul Krause, 53.
Krause had 81 overall, the all-time leader in the NFL (he was
with Washington for 4 seasons).
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday; a little music.
