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Sammy Baugh

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Template:NFLretired Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian University, where he was a two-time All-American. He then played in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 1952. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the 17-member charter class of 1963 and is considered by several experts to be the greatest quarterback who ever played the game [1]

Early life

Baugh was born on a farm near Temple, Texas,[1] and was the second son of James, who worked for the Santa Fe Railroad,[2] and Lucy Baugh. His parents later divorced and his mother raised the three children.[2] When he was 16, the family then moved to Sweetwater, Texas[1] and he attended Sweetwater High School.[3] As the quarterback of his high school football team, he would practice for hours throwing a football through a swinging automobile tire, often on the run.[1] But apparently, Baugh would practice punting more than throwing.[4]

However, Baugh really wanted to become a professional baseball player and almost received a scholarship to play at Washington State University.[4] But about a month before he started at Washington State, Baugh hurt his knee while sliding into second base during a game, and the scholarship fell through.[4]

College career

Football

After coach Dutch Meyer told him he could play three sports (football, baseball, and basketball),[5] Baugh attended Texas Christian University. While at Texas Christian, he threw 587 passes in his three varsity seasons for 39 touchdowns.[6] Baugh was named an All-American in 1935 and 1936.[6] He also led TCU to two bowl game wins, a 3-2 victory over Louisiana State in the 1936 Sugar Bowl, and a 16-6 victory over Marquette in the first annual Cotton Bowl in 1937[6] after which he was named MVP.[1] He finished fourth in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1936.[7]

In the spring of his senior year, Redskins owner George Preston Marshall offered Baugh $4,000 to play with the franchise.[5] Originally unsure about playing professional football (coach Meyer offered him a job as the freshman coach and he still thought about playing professional baseball), he did not agree to the contract until after the College All-Star Game, where the team beat the Green Bay Packers 6-0.[2][5]

Baseball

Baugh was also a baseball player at Texas Christian, where he played third base.[1][8] It was during his time as a baseball player that he earned the nickname "Slingin' Sammy",[8] which he got from a Texas sportswriter.[1] After college, Sammy signed a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and was sent to the minor leagues in Columbus, Ohio after being converted to shortstop. He was then sent to an even lower league in Rochester, New York.[1] While there he received little playing time behind starting shortstop Marty Marion[1] and was unhappy with his prospects, so he then turned to professional football.[8]

Professional career

"I didn't know what they were talking about,
because frankly, I had never heard of either
the draft or the Washington Redskins."

Sammy Baugh, on being drafted.[2]

As expected, Baugh was drafted in the first round (sixth overall) of the 1937 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, the same year the team moved from Boston.[9] He signed a one-year contract with the Redskins and received $8,000, making him the highest paid player on the team.[1]

During his rookie season in 1937, Baugh played quarterback, defensive back, and punter, set an NFL record for completions with 91 in 218 attempts and threw for a league-high 1,127 yards.[8] He led the Redskins to the NFL Championship game against the Chicago Bears, where he finished 17 of 33 for 335 yards and his second-half touchdown passes of 55, 78 and 33 yards gave Washington a 28–21 victory.[1] The Redskins and Bears would meet three times in championship games between 1940 and 1943. In the 1940 Championship game, the Bears recorded the most one-sided victory in NFL history, beating Washington 73–0.[1]

In 1942, Baugh and the Redskins won the East Conference with a 10-1 record. During the same season the Bears went 11-0 and outscored their opponents 376-84.[1] In the 1942 Championship game, Baugh threw a touchdown pass and kept the Bears in their own territory with some strong punts, including an 85-yard quick kick, and Washington won 14-6.[1]

"I didn't know how much pro players were making, but
I thought they were making pretty good money. So
I asked Mr. Marshall for $8,000, and I finally got
it. Later I felt like a robber when I found out what
Cliff Battles and some of those other good players were
making. I'll tell you what the highest-priced boy in
Washington was getting the year before—not half
as much as $8,000! Three of them—Cliff Battles,
Turk Edwards and Wayne Millner—got peanuts, and
all of 'em in the Hall of Fame now. If I had known what
they were getting I'd have never asked for $8,000."

Sammy Baugh, on his $8,000 salary.[5]

Baugh was even more successful in 1943 and led the league in passing, punting (45.9-yard average) and interceptions (11).[1][9] One of Baugh's more memorable single performances during the season was when he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four passes in a 42-20 victory over Detroit.[1] The Redskins again made it to the championship game, but lost to the Bears 41–21. During the game, Baugh suffered a concussion while tackling Bears quarterback Sid Luckman and had to leave.[1]

During the 1945 season, Baugh completed 128 of 182 passes for a 70.33 completion percentage, which was an NFL record then and remains the second best today (to Ken Anderson, 70.55 in 1982).[1] He threw 11 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. The Redskins again won the East Conference but lost 15–14 in the 1945 Championship game against the Cleveland Rams. The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of a safety that occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard (4.6 m) line. Dropping back into the end zone, Baugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post (which at the time were on the goal line instead of at the back of the end zone) and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. It was that safety that proved to be the margin of victory. Owner Marshall was so mad at the outcome that he became a major force in passing the following major rule change after the season: A forward pass that strikes the goal posts is automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the "Baugh/Marshall Rule".[10]

"The best, as far as I’m concerned. He could not
only throw the ball, he could play defense, he
could punt the football, he ran it when he had
to. He and I roomed together, and he was a
football man. He knew football, played it, and
everybody had a lot of confidence in him."

Bill Dudley, on Sammy Baugh.[8]

One of Baugh's more memorable single performances came on "Sammy Baugh Day" on November 23, 1947. That day, the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club honored him at Griffith Stadium and gave him a station wagon.[1] Against the Chicago Cardinals he passed for 355 yards and six touchdowns.[1][9] That season, the Redskins finished 4-8, but Baugh had career highs in completions (210), attempts (354), yards (2,938) and touchdown passes (25), leading the league in all four categories.[1]

Baugh played for five more years -- leading the league in completion percentage for the sixth and seventh times in 1948 and 1949. He then retired after the 1952 season.[1] In his final game, a 27–21 win over Philadelphia at Griffith Stadium, he played for several minutes before retiring to a prolonged standing ovation from the crowd.[2] Baugh won a record-setting six NFL passing titles and earned first-team All-NFL honors seven times in his career. He completed 1,693 of 2,995 passes for 21,886 yards.[1][9]

Records

By the time he retired, Baugh set 13 NFL records in three player positions: quarterback, punter, and defensive back.

Two of his records as quarterback still stand: most seasons leading the league in passing (six; tied with Steve Young) and most seasons leading the league with the lowest interception percentage (five).[8] He is also second in highest single-season completion percentage (70.33), most seasons leading the league in yards gained (four) and most seasons leading the league in completion percentage (seven).[8]

As a punter, Baugh retired with the NFL record for highest punting average in a career (45.1 yards), and is still second all-time (Shane Lechler 46.5 yards), and has the best (51.4 in 1940) and third best (48.7 in 1941) season marks. As a defensive back, he was the first player in league history to intercept four passes in a game, and is the only player to lead the league in passing, punting, and interceptions in the same season.[1][8] Baugh also led the league in punting from 1940 through 1943.[9]

Coaching career

Baugh left Washington D.C. in 1952 and did not return.[2] After his playing career, he became head coach at Hardin-Simmons University and was there from from 1955 to 1959, compiling a 23–28 record.[1][2] Then he was the first coach of the New York Titans of the American Football League from 1960 to 1961, with a record of 14–14. He then became an assistant coach at the University of Tulsa in 1963 under head coach Glenn Dobbs, where he coach All-American quarterback Jerry Rhome.[11] In 1964, Baugh was the coach of the AFL's Houston Oilers and went 4–10.[1][2]

After football

Early in his career, Baugh paid $200 an acre for a ranch in West Texas, 80 miles northwest of Abilene. After retiring from football all together, Baugh and Edmonia Smith, his wife, moved to the ranch and had four boys and a girl.[2] Edmonia died in 1990, after 52 years of marriage to Baugh, who was her high school sweetheart.[2]

Baugh lived in a nursing home in a little West Texas town not far from Double Mountain Ranch. The Double Mountain Ranch is now in the hands of Baughs' son David and is still a cow-calf operation, on 20,000 acres.[2]

Acting

Baugh also took up acting. In 1941, he made $6,400 for starring in a 12-week serial as a dark-haired Texas Ranger named Tom King. The serial, called King of the Texas Rangers, was released by Republic Studios. The episodes ran in theaters as Saturday matinees; it also starred Duncan Renaldo, later famous as TV's Cisco Kid.[2][12]

Honors

Baugh was the last surviving member of the 17-member charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[2] Additionally he was honored by the Redskins with the retirement of his jersey number, #33, the only number the team has officially retired.

Additional Honors:

  • An avenue in his hometown of Rotan, Texas
  • 50th Anniversary Team by the NFL (1969)
  • 75th Anniversary Team by the NFL (1994)[8]
  • 36th greatest athlete of the 20th century by Burt Randolph Sugar (1995)
  • 64th greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN (1999)
  • 43rd greatest athlete of the 20th century by the Associated Press (1999)
  • 3rd greatest NFL player of the 20th century by the Associated Press (1999)
  • 11th greatest NFL player of the 20th century by The Sporting News (1999); highest-ranking player for the Redskins
  • Scripps-Howard all-time college football team (1999)
  • 4th greatest college football player by SPORT magazine(1999)
  • 3rd greatest college football player by College Football News (2003)
  • 7th greatest college football player by Brad Rawlins (2006)
  • 5th greatest college football player by ESPN (2007)
  • Named starting quarterback, defensive back and punter of the Cold, Hard Football Facts.com "All-Time 11" (2006)
  • Named as the Most Versatile Player of all-time by the NFL Network (2007).[13]
  • Has his number retired at Sweetwater High School, his alma mater.
  • Has a children's home in Jayton, Kent County, Texas named in his honor.

Pop Culture References

In the comic book All-Star Squadron #1, super-heroes Doctor Mid-Nite & the Atom (Al Pratt) are shown to be in attendance at the Redskins game at Griffith Stadium on December 7, 1941. The Atom exclaims "That Sammy Baugh's my idea of a quarterback! YEA, TEAM!"

Hip-Hop artist Jay-Z wore Baugh's Mitchell & Ness 1947 Washington jersey in his 2002 video for the single "Girls, Girls, Girls". This increased demand for the throwback jersey and renewed popular awareness of Baugh.[14]

Death

The Associated Press quoted Baugh's son on December 17, 2008, saying Baugh had died after numerous health issues at Fisher County Hospital in Rotan, Texas.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z {{cite web | work=WASHINGTON POST | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121703347.html Cite error: The named reference "espn" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "A Redskin Forever Hailed". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  3. ^ "A Life For Two Tough Texans: Page 1". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  4. ^ a b c "A Life For Two Tough Texans: Page 7". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  5. ^ a b c d "A Life For Two Tough Texans: Page 8". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  6. ^ a b c "Sammy Baugh's College Football HOF profile". College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  7. ^ "Cotton Bowl Classic match makers". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i "THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 24, No. 3 (2002): Sammy Baugh". Pro Football Researchers. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Sammy Baugh's Pro Football HOF profile". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  10. ^ Nash, Bruce, and Allen Zullo (1986). The Football Hall of Shame, 68-69, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-74551-4.
  11. ^ Sammy Baugh dies
  12. ^ "Sammy Baugh's Acting profile". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  13. ^ http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Article.php?Page=1055
  14. ^ Rovell, Darrenn (2003-02-06). "Old-school is new again". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh dies at 94
Preceded by
No Pure Quarterback
 Washington Redskins Starting Quarterbacks
1937-1951 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
First coach
 New York Titans Head Coaches
1960–1961 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Houston Oilers Head Coaches
1964 		Succeeded by

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