Pre-1960 NFL quarterbacks played by different rules than their modern counterparts, who play a much more steeply tilted game to aid offense. But those pre-1960 quarterbacks, all entered into the Professional Football Hall of Fame, stood out for their excellence and paved the way for today’s stars.
1. Benny Friedman (1927-1934)
Benny Friedman, circa 1931.
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Notable achievements: He’s been an All-Pro four times and has modernized the forward pass in the NFL.
Friedman, who played for the Cleveland Bulldogs, Detroit Wolverines, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers during an eight-year NFL career, was instrumental in developing the movement from throw for sport. “He wrote books on throwing the soccer ball at a time when the soccer ball was very big and wasn’t easy to throw,” says Jon Kendle, director of soccer archives and information at Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The quarterback mechanics that are taken for granted today come from Friedman’s innovations. He worked on strengthening his hand and forearm, developed a throwing motion that kept his arm close to his body and close to his ear, and even adjusted his grip to better suit him for football. the time.
Friedman was so influential that the Mara family, owners of the New York Giants, bought their 1928 team, the Detroit Wolverines, primarily to acquire their rights. The move paid off for the Giants, as Friedman made 20 touchdowns in 1929, as many as the last seven teams in the league combined.
“He was the first ‘real’ quarterback in the NFL,” Kendle says.
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2. Sammy Baugh (1937-1952)
Sammy Baugh of Washington signed autographs for fans during training in the late 1940s.
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Notable achievements: In 1943, he led the NFL in completed passes (133), punt average (45.9) and interceptions (as a defensive back) with 11.
Baugh, who spent his entire NFL career with Washington, played on offensive, defensive and special teams, which was common at the time. In his rookie season in 1937, he threw for 335 yards – a remarkable number for the time – and three touchdowns in a 28-21 victory over Chicago.
Baugh’s 1943 season was the most striking example of his multifaceted greatness. In a 42-20 victory over Detroit on Nov. 14, 1943, he scored four touchdowns and intercepted four, one of the greatest performances in league history.
“Baugh is something more than football’s greatest passer,” wrote Grantland Rice, then America’s most famous sports writer, in 1943. “He is also football’s greatest kicker. He is also a runner. top class and one of the best defensive backs in football, he also has the best pair of active hands in football, as fast as a rattlesnake strike.
3. Otto Graham (1946-1955)
Cleveland’s Otto Graham ran for a touchdown against the Chicago Bears in that 1955 game.
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Notable achievement: He’s led the Cleveland Browns to a championship game in each of their 10 seasons, a feat even Tom Brady can’t match.
During Graham’s first four professional seasons, the Browns played in the All-America Football Conference, an upstart NFL rival. They’ve won the AAFC championship four times and Graham led the league in passing yards in three of them.
After the AAFC closed after the 1949 season, Cleveland joined the NFL, where victories continued to come; the Browns beat the Los Angeles Rams to win the NFL championship in their first season, then lost three straight title games before ending Graham’s career with back-to-back championships.
In the last game of his career, Graham passed the Browns to a 38-14 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL Championship game in front of a record 87,695 NFL fans at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. . He left the field to a thunderous ovation and richer $ 3,508.21, the winning share for every player on the Browns’ title team.
4. Bobby Layne (1948-1962)
Quarterback Bobby Layne, pictured playing for Pittsburgh in 1959, ended his career with the Steelers in 1962.
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Notable achievement: He was the last quarterback to lead the Detroit Lions to a title, in 1957.
Layne, nicknamed “The Blonde Bomber,” began his career with the Chicago Bears before playing for a year with the New York Bulldogs. Then he found a home with Detroit starting in 1950. Layne led the NFL in passing yards each of his first two seasons at Detroit, and his 26 touchdown passes topped the league in 1951. Although statistics from Layne weren’t so impressive in 1952 and 1953, the Lions won the NFL title both seasons.
The 1953 title was particularly impressive. In a 17-16 victory over Cleveland, Layne’s late touchdown pass caught the Lions from a 16-10 deficit. Wrote Detroit Free Press Sports editor Lyall Smith: “The last few minutes of this were with the Lions in a six-point hole, and who was the player to team up with Layne for the big catches? Jim Doran, that’s who. He caught his first touchdown pass of the year on the spectacular 33-yard lift from the cool arm of a cool Texan named Layne.
Layne would win another title with the Lions in 1957, although he didn’t make any of the playoff games after starting most of the year. This is the last NFL title won by the Lions. Layne ended his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1962.
5. Sid Luckman (1939-1950)
Chicago Bears quarterback Sid Luckman, circa 1940, at Polo Grounds in New York.
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Notable achievement: He was the first NFL quarterback to average over 200 yards per game for an entire season.
Although quarterbacks like Baugh played in the late 1930s and 1940s, the forward pass had yet to take root in a league dominated by the running game. In 1943, Luckman changed that, averaging 219.4 yards per game, almost 40 yards more than the previous record.
Luckman, who would win four NFL championships with the Bears in his 12-year career, led the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns in 1943, 1945 and 1946, and in passing yards. match from 1943 to 1946. He was also the first quarterback to execute a complex offense that required him to use precise footwork and ball handling skills.
In a 56-7 victory over the New York Giants on November 14, 1943, Luckman played the greatest quarterback game in league history so far, throwing for 453 yards and seven affected. “One of the biggest crowds in New York to see a professional game – 56,591 – saw Sid fly up and down the Polo Grounds field en route to his record book rewrite work,” he said. writes The Associated Press about the game.
6. Norm Van Brocklin (1949-1960)
Quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, shown in 1955, played 12 seasons in the NFL.
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Notable achievements: He holds the NFL record for passing yards in a game (554). In 1960, while with the Philadelphia Eagles, he beat the Green Bay Packers in the NFL title game, the only championship game Vince Lombardi lost as head coach of the NFL.
In his record-breaking passing game on September 28, 1951, a 48-14 Los Angeles Rams victory over the New York Yanks, Van Brocklin allotted the wealth. Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch caught nine passes for 173 yards and four touchdowns, Tom Fears had seven passes for 162 yards and Verda “Vitamin” Smith caught two balls for 103 yards and one touchdown. Van Brocklin started in place of Bob Waterfield, who was injured.
“I have never seen a more beautiful display of death in my life than Van last night,” said Rams coach Joe Stydahar, according to the Daily News from Los Angeles.
Van Brocklin, known as “The Dutchman”, was a two-time NFL champion, although despite his garish numbers he was only a member of the first All-Pro team once, in 1960. with the Philadelphia Eagles. Part of the reason is that he shared the quarterback position with Waterfield during his first four seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.
7. Bob Waterfield (1945-1952)
Los Angeles Rams Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Waterfield, circa 1950.
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Notable achievement: He glamorized being an NFL quarterback.
Although Waterfield has led the NFL in touchdowns twice, completion percentage once, and yards per completion three times, his career numbers weren’t stellar. His biggest claim to fame was to make the job glamorous.
After his rookie season in 1945, the reigning NFL champion Rams moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles, where Waterfield had played collegially at UCLA. Heading west raised its profile even more. “Waterfield was one of the first star quarterbacks,” said Kendle, the historian of the Professional Football Hall of Fame. “He was married to [movie star] Jane Russell… and he helped usher in this era of the star quarterback in terms of personality and bravado. Russell was Waterfield’s lover in high school.
In the Los Angeles Times, Waterfield’s name and photo appeared frequently on company pages as well as in the sports section. “Bob is an equally big star in his profession,” said the Times reported in 1951, “like Jane is in hers.” Waterfield’s son Buck said in a 2019 interview: “My parents’ friends were people like Clark Gable and (NFL legend) Elroy Hirsch and both sides of the coin. We had people from Hollywood at home and NFL players at home. “
