The ultimate passer passes

[Ron Mummert]

It occurs to me that most of the young members of this community may never have heard of George Blanda, let alone see him play the game, as he retired in 1976 - that's 34 years ago.. He was my mid-life crisis hero.

Prior to this age of instant jillionaire, wall-to-wall tatooed, steroid slurpin' "heros", who are over-the-hill in their 30's, George hung in there, as quarterback of the Raiders at the geezerly age of 48! I don't feel like quoting every stat this man holds (or held) as a record, since Google can do it faster than I can, but consider that besides tossing the ball to receivers through 4 decades, he kicked field goals AND extra points probably without receiving one "high-five", let alone doing end zone back flips. There will never be another George Blanda, & some day I hope to shake his hand somewhere in the great unknown.

R.I.P. sir.

Ron.

[NeedForSpeed]

Originally Posted by Ron Mummert

It occurs to me that most of the young members of this community may never have heard of George Blanda, let alone see him play the game, as he retired in 1976 - that's 34 years ago.. He was my mid-life crisis hero.

Prior to this age of instant jillionaire, wall-to-wall tatooed, steroid slurpin' "heros", who are over-the-hill in their 30's, George hung in there, as quarterback of the Raiders at the geezerly age of 48! I don't feel like quoting every stat this man holds (or held) as a record, since Google can do it faster than I can, but consider that besides tossing the ball to receivers through 4 decades, he kicked field goals AND extra points probably without receiving one "high-five", let alone doing end zone back flips. There will never be another George Blanda, & some day I hope to shake his hand somewhere in the great unknown.

R.I.P. sir.

Ron.

Hi Ron,

I was in high school, in Northern California, and a big Oakland Raider fan. Every week one year, it seemed, he found a way to win a game late in the fourth quarter. If I remember, he wasn't even the starting quarterback, he was the kicker at that point. Well, he threw or kicked the Raiders's to legendary wins. A legend for sure. R.I.P.

The 100 greatest NFL players is running on ESPN, I wonder what number George is?

Ron

[LarryIII]

I remember George Blanda backing up Kenny Stabler (The Snake) who was the Oakland Raider first string QB. When Kenny was having an off day, George would come in and win the game.
It's a pity that the NFL has evolved so much that teams can't keep older veteran QB's as backups to come into games and gget the job done when needed.

[dcarrb]

I became interested in pro football as a kid in 1966, when the Atlanta Falcons entered the NFL, and while I have no specific recollection of seeing Blanda play, I certainly remember the name. That was a different age.

dcb