Deberg_1990
04-25-2014, 11:37 PM
RIP....
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/26/sports/football/earl-morrall-backup-quarterback-in-dolphins-perfect-season-dies-at-79.html?_r=0
Earl Morrall, who threw 161 touchdown passes in 21 N.F.L. seasons but was best remembered as the backup quarterback who led the Baltimore Colts and the unbeaten Miami Dolphins to Super Bowls in the 1960s and ’70s, died on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 79.
His death — on the 42nd anniversary of the day the Dolphins signed him — was confirmed by his son Matthew, who said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease. Morrall, who lived in Naples, had been living at his son’s home in Fort Lauderdale in recent months.
An all-American quarterback at Michigan State, Morrall threw for nearly 21,000 yards with six N.F.L. teams, including the Giants, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions, and was a two-time All-Pro.
But his signature moments came in the twilight of his career when he was a No. 2 quarterback behind a pair of future Hall of Famers, first Johnny Unitas with the Colts and then Bob Griese with the Dolphins.
Still sporting a crew cut that had long been out of style, Morrall seemed a relic when he came off the bench to replace two of the finest passers of their time. As Life magazine put it in a November 1968 profile of Morrall: “An Old Stand-In Becomes the Star.”
When Unitas incurred an elbow injury in the Colts’ final exhibition game of 1968, Morrall took the team to a 13-1 regular-season record and two playoff victories. He led the N.F.L. in touchdown passes with 26, threw for 2,909 yards and was named the league’s most valuable player.
But that season ended in crushing disappointment for Morrall, who threw three interceptions in Super Bowl III, when Joe Namath led the underdog Jets to a 16-7 victory, bringing credibility to their upstart American Football League.
Morrall was called on again in the Colts’ 1971 Super Bowl game against the Dallas Cowboys. (By then the Colts had joined the American Football Conference after the N.F.L.-A.F.L. merger in 1970.) When Unitas sustained bruised ribs in the second quarter, Morrall came in and guided Baltimore to a 16-13 victory, completing 7 of 15 passes.
In April 1972 the Dolphins claimed him on $100 waivers and reunited him with their head coach, Don Shula, who had been the Colts’ coach.
When Morrall reported to the Dolphins’ training camp at age 38, his teammates called him Old Man, he said. But when Griese, the Dolphins’ No. 1 quarterback, sustained leg and ankle injuries in the fifth game of the season, against the San Diego Chargers, Morrall took over.
He helped the Dolphins to a 14-0 regular season, throwing for 11 touchdowns, although they were primarily a running team behind Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris.
Morrall engineered a playoff victory over the Cleveland Browns, but Griese replaced him during the A.F.C. title game against the Steelers and sparked a comeback victory. Shula chose Griese to start the Super Bowl game.
“I wanted to play as much as anybody, but I told the coach I wouldn’t make waves,” Morrall told The Boston Globe in 2002. “A younger guy might have sulked.”
Griese took the Dolphins to a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins, the climax of a 17-0 season. But Morrall was named the inaugural N.F.L. comeback player of the year.
Asked long afterward who he thought was the most valuable player for that Dolphins team, Morrall answered, “Bob Griese for breaking his ankle so I could play.”
Earl Edwin Morrall was born on May 17, 1934, in Muskegon, Mich. He took Michigan State to a 9-1 season as a senior, capped by a victory over U.C.L.A. in the 1956 Rose Bowl.
He was drafted in the first round by the San Francisco 49ers but played only one season for them. He went on to play for the Steelers (1957-58), the Lions (1958-64), the Giants (1965-67), the Colts (1968-71) and the Dolphins (1972-76).
He threw for 24 touchdowns with the 1963 Lions and 22 with the 1965 Giants, often teaming with receivers Homer Jones and Del Shofner. When the Giants acquired Fran Tarkenton in 1967, Morrall was back on the bench.
Morrall faced the low point of his career in the 1969 Super Bowl game with the Jets, throwing all three of his intercepted passes in the first half.
Most famously, he failed to throw what could have been a touchdown pass as the half was about to end. On a flea-flicker play, never looking to his left, he did not spot receiver Jimmy Orr standing wide open near the end zone, frantically waving his arms.
Instead he threw a pass over the middle intended for Jerry Hill in the end zone, only to see the Jets’ Jim Hudson intercept it. Unitas was still hampered by a tender elbow, but he replaced Morrall in the third quarter.
Colts halfback Tom Matte told The Baltimore Sun a quarter-century later that after taking a handoff from Morrall on that play, he ran to the right, then tossed the ball back to him.
“He had to reach for it and, when he turned his body, kind of blocked off some of the left side of the field,” Matte recalled, explaining how Morrall missed seeing Orr.
Morrall told The Sun, “I have no excuses.”
In 1972 Morrall joined the Dolphins, who were Griese’s team, and he played little in his final pro seasons. Morrall retired at age 42, having thrown for 20,809 yards.
Morrall was later the quarterbacks coach at the University of Miami, where he tutored Vinny Testaverde, Bernie Kosar and Jim Kelly. He was also a town councilman and mayor in the South Florida city Davie.
Morrall and his wife, Jane, had moved to Naples in retirement. Besides his wife and his son Matthew, he is survived by another son, Mitchell; three daughters, Mardi Donahoe, Mindi Morrall-Ansley and Megan Leiti; and nine grandchildren.
Shula, the Hall of Fame coach with the Colts and the Dolphins, remembered Morrall especially for that 17-0 season in Miami. As Shula once put it, Morrall was “the perfect backup for the perfect team.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/26/sports/football/earl-morrall-backup-quarterback-in-dolphins-perfect-season-dies-at-79.html?_r=0
Earl Morrall, who threw 161 touchdown passes in 21 N.F.L. seasons but was best remembered as the backup quarterback who led the Baltimore Colts and the unbeaten Miami Dolphins to Super Bowls in the 1960s and ’70s, died on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 79.
His death — on the 42nd anniversary of the day the Dolphins signed him — was confirmed by his son Matthew, who said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease. Morrall, who lived in Naples, had been living at his son’s home in Fort Lauderdale in recent months.
An all-American quarterback at Michigan State, Morrall threw for nearly 21,000 yards with six N.F.L. teams, including the Giants, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions, and was a two-time All-Pro.
But his signature moments came in the twilight of his career when he was a No. 2 quarterback behind a pair of future Hall of Famers, first Johnny Unitas with the Colts and then Bob Griese with the Dolphins.
Still sporting a crew cut that had long been out of style, Morrall seemed a relic when he came off the bench to replace two of the finest passers of their time. As Life magazine put it in a November 1968 profile of Morrall: “An Old Stand-In Becomes the Star.”
When Unitas incurred an elbow injury in the Colts’ final exhibition game of 1968, Morrall took the team to a 13-1 regular-season record and two playoff victories. He led the N.F.L. in touchdown passes with 26, threw for 2,909 yards and was named the league’s most valuable player.
But that season ended in crushing disappointment for Morrall, who threw three interceptions in Super Bowl III, when Joe Namath led the underdog Jets to a 16-7 victory, bringing credibility to their upstart American Football League.
Morrall was called on again in the Colts’ 1971 Super Bowl game against the Dallas Cowboys. (By then the Colts had joined the American Football Conference after the N.F.L.-A.F.L. merger in 1970.) When Unitas sustained bruised ribs in the second quarter, Morrall came in and guided Baltimore to a 16-13 victory, completing 7 of 15 passes.
In April 1972 the Dolphins claimed him on $100 waivers and reunited him with their head coach, Don Shula, who had been the Colts’ coach.
When Morrall reported to the Dolphins’ training camp at age 38, his teammates called him Old Man, he said. But when Griese, the Dolphins’ No. 1 quarterback, sustained leg and ankle injuries in the fifth game of the season, against the San Diego Chargers, Morrall took over.
He helped the Dolphins to a 14-0 regular season, throwing for 11 touchdowns, although they were primarily a running team behind Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris.
Morrall engineered a playoff victory over the Cleveland Browns, but Griese replaced him during the A.F.C. title game against the Steelers and sparked a comeback victory. Shula chose Griese to start the Super Bowl game.
“I wanted to play as much as anybody, but I told the coach I wouldn’t make waves,” Morrall told The Boston Globe in 2002. “A younger guy might have sulked.”
Griese took the Dolphins to a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins, the climax of a 17-0 season. But Morrall was named the inaugural N.F.L. comeback player of the year.
Asked long afterward who he thought was the most valuable player for that Dolphins team, Morrall answered, “Bob Griese for breaking his ankle so I could play.”
Earl Edwin Morrall was born on May 17, 1934, in Muskegon, Mich. He took Michigan State to a 9-1 season as a senior, capped by a victory over U.C.L.A. in the 1956 Rose Bowl.
He was drafted in the first round by the San Francisco 49ers but played only one season for them. He went on to play for the Steelers (1957-58), the Lions (1958-64), the Giants (1965-67), the Colts (1968-71) and the Dolphins (1972-76).
He threw for 24 touchdowns with the 1963 Lions and 22 with the 1965 Giants, often teaming with receivers Homer Jones and Del Shofner. When the Giants acquired Fran Tarkenton in 1967, Morrall was back on the bench.
Morrall faced the low point of his career in the 1969 Super Bowl game with the Jets, throwing all three of his intercepted passes in the first half.
Most famously, he failed to throw what could have been a touchdown pass as the half was about to end. On a flea-flicker play, never looking to his left, he did not spot receiver Jimmy Orr standing wide open near the end zone, frantically waving his arms.
Instead he threw a pass over the middle intended for Jerry Hill in the end zone, only to see the Jets’ Jim Hudson intercept it. Unitas was still hampered by a tender elbow, but he replaced Morrall in the third quarter.
Colts halfback Tom Matte told The Baltimore Sun a quarter-century later that after taking a handoff from Morrall on that play, he ran to the right, then tossed the ball back to him.
“He had to reach for it and, when he turned his body, kind of blocked off some of the left side of the field,” Matte recalled, explaining how Morrall missed seeing Orr.
Morrall told The Sun, “I have no excuses.”
In 1972 Morrall joined the Dolphins, who were Griese’s team, and he played little in his final pro seasons. Morrall retired at age 42, having thrown for 20,809 yards.
Morrall was later the quarterbacks coach at the University of Miami, where he tutored Vinny Testaverde, Bernie Kosar and Jim Kelly. He was also a town councilman and mayor in the South Florida city Davie.
Morrall and his wife, Jane, had moved to Naples in retirement. Besides his wife and his son Matthew, he is survived by another son, Mitchell; three daughters, Mardi Donahoe, Mindi Morrall-Ansley and Megan Leiti; and nine grandchildren.
Shula, the Hall of Fame coach with the Colts and the Dolphins, remembered Morrall especially for that 17-0 season in Miami. As Shula once put it, Morrall was “the perfect backup for the perfect team.”