Burt, In Jan. 1946 I was a 4 month old infant living in Eastern NC but one of the names in your article rang a bell in my memory from being at Highland Park my junior and senior year....
Bobby Layne
There is quite a long bio on him at [en.wikipedia.org]
Some excepts:
"Robert Lawrence "Bobby" Layne (December 19, 1926 – December 1, 1986) was an American football quarterback who played for 15 seasons in the National Football League. He played for the Chicago Bears in 1948, the New York Bulldogs in 1949, the Detroit Lions from 1950–1958, and the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1958–1962. He was drafted by the Bears in the first round of the 1948 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Texas.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968. His number, 22, has been retired by the University of Texas Longhorns and Detroit Lions..............
Layne was born in Santa Anna, Texas and attended Highland Park High School in Dallas. He played football with teammate Doak Walker.
......One of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play for Texas, Layne was selected to four straight All-Southwest Conference teams from 1944-1947. He was one of the first inductees into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. In the 1946 Cotton Bowl Classic, where Texas beat Missouri 40-27, Layne accounted for every point, scoring four touchdowns, kicking four extra points and throwing for two other scores.[1] In 1946, Layne finished 8th in Heisman Trophy balloting to Glenn Davis of Army and in 1947 he finished 6th to John Lujack of Notre Dame, and was voted the Outstanding Back in the 1948 Sugar Bowl victory over #6 Alabama. Layne finished his Texas career with a school record 3,145 passing yards on 210 completions and 400 attempts. Layne also had success in baseball as a pitcher for Texas as well. In his career as a pitcher he threw two no hitters.............
From 1950-1955, Layne was re-united with his great friend and Highland Park High School teammate Doak Walker........
"Curse of Bobby Layne"
"In 1958, the Lions traded Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Layne responded to the trade by supposedly saying that the Lions would "not win for 50 years". This story has been disputed as being a hoax, particularly because the quote was never published at the time.
Still, for the next 50 years after the trade, the Lions accumulated the worst winning percentage of any team in the NFL. They are still one of only two franchises that have been in the NFL since 1970 that have not played in a Super Bowl (the other team is the Cleveland Browns, although the first Browns team did win the Super Bowl after the 2000 and 2012 seasons as the transplanted Baltimore Ravens). The Lions, for those 50 years, were 1-10 in ten postseason appearances; their lone playoff win came against Dallas following the 1991 regular season. In the last year of the supposed curse, 2008, Detroit went 0-16, the first team to lose every game of a 16-game season.
Coincidentally, in the 2009 NFL Draft, right after the curse supposedly expired, the Detroit Lions drafted University of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford first-overall. He came from Highland Park High School, the same high school as Layne, and lived in a house on the same street as Layne's. In 2011, Stafford's first full injuryless season, he led the Lions to their first playoff berth since 1999 but still failed to win a playoff game when Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints routed them in the Superdome."
(Btw, Burt and MrChuck I replied to each of you in a p.m. a couple weeks or so ago but cannot tell if you either one received it??)
Bobby Layne
There is quite a long bio on him at [en.wikipedia.org]
Some excepts:
"Robert Lawrence "Bobby" Layne (December 19, 1926 – December 1, 1986) was an American football quarterback who played for 15 seasons in the National Football League. He played for the Chicago Bears in 1948, the New York Bulldogs in 1949, the Detroit Lions from 1950–1958, and the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1958–1962. He was drafted by the Bears in the first round of the 1948 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Texas.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968. His number, 22, has been retired by the University of Texas Longhorns and Detroit Lions..............
Layne was born in Santa Anna, Texas and attended Highland Park High School in Dallas. He played football with teammate Doak Walker.
......One of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play for Texas, Layne was selected to four straight All-Southwest Conference teams from 1944-1947. He was one of the first inductees into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. In the 1946 Cotton Bowl Classic, where Texas beat Missouri 40-27, Layne accounted for every point, scoring four touchdowns, kicking four extra points and throwing for two other scores.[1] In 1946, Layne finished 8th in Heisman Trophy balloting to Glenn Davis of Army and in 1947 he finished 6th to John Lujack of Notre Dame, and was voted the Outstanding Back in the 1948 Sugar Bowl victory over #6 Alabama. Layne finished his Texas career with a school record 3,145 passing yards on 210 completions and 400 attempts. Layne also had success in baseball as a pitcher for Texas as well. In his career as a pitcher he threw two no hitters.............
From 1950-1955, Layne was re-united with his great friend and Highland Park High School teammate Doak Walker........
"Curse of Bobby Layne"
"In 1958, the Lions traded Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Layne responded to the trade by supposedly saying that the Lions would "not win for 50 years". This story has been disputed as being a hoax, particularly because the quote was never published at the time.
Still, for the next 50 years after the trade, the Lions accumulated the worst winning percentage of any team in the NFL. They are still one of only two franchises that have been in the NFL since 1970 that have not played in a Super Bowl (the other team is the Cleveland Browns, although the first Browns team did win the Super Bowl after the 2000 and 2012 seasons as the transplanted Baltimore Ravens). The Lions, for those 50 years, were 1-10 in ten postseason appearances; their lone playoff win came against Dallas following the 1991 regular season. In the last year of the supposed curse, 2008, Detroit went 0-16, the first team to lose every game of a 16-game season.
Coincidentally, in the 2009 NFL Draft, right after the curse supposedly expired, the Detroit Lions drafted University of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford first-overall. He came from Highland Park High School, the same high school as Layne, and lived in a house on the same street as Layne's. In 2011, Stafford's first full injuryless season, he led the Lions to their first playoff berth since 1999 but still failed to win a playoff game when Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints routed them in the Superdome."
(Btw, Burt and MrChuck I replied to each of you in a p.m. a couple weeks or so ago but cannot tell if you either one received it??)