Newspaper Page Text
Texas tops draft choices
Ever wonder where the
majority of pro football’s draft
choices come from?
Various claims are made by
a number of states, con
ferences and colleges but,
according to a survey of the
five National Football League
common drafts (1967-71), the
state of Texas, the Big Ten and
the University of Southern
California lead the way.
Hie common draft was in
stituted in 1967, following the
merger of the American
Football League into the NFL
and, since that time, 26 pro
clubs have tabbed a total of
2,227 athletes from 339 colleges.
And this total does not even
begin to include the numerous
free agents signed.
In Texas, where football is a
Over-30 Tarkenton
mellowing
By JERRY MAGEE
Tranquillity has come to
frantic Francis.
At 31, the aggravations of 11
National Football League
seasons sit heavily upon him.
Fran Tarkenton, who put the
word “scrambler” —a
definition he rejects — into the
sports vernacular, prefers not
to run.
There was a time when
Tarkenton's catch-me-if-you
can style might have given him
and the New York Giants an
advantage over a club unac
customed to it.
“That might have been true
nine years ago,” Tarkenton
said as the rain came down
outside his Greenwich, Conn.,
home. “Today, it’s not.
“You run when you’re
young,” he explained.
“Manning runs and Plunkett
runs and in Detroit Landry
runs a lot. They’re young.”
He left unsaid that he isn’t,
not as quarterbacks are
measured. What he is is a
quarterback likely on a course
to the Hall of Fame, which he
would enter on the dead run.
In the history of professional
football, only four men have
surpassed the achievements of
Francis Asbury Tarkenton as a
quarterback—and it took all of
them more than 10 years to
reach Fran’s pinnacle. As the
1971 season began, Tarkenton
was the fifth all-time passer
behind Jurgensen, Unitas,
Starr and Dawson.
The Giants’ fiery little
quarterback is in an elite group
of passers who have thrown for
over 200 touchdowns and who
have gained more than 25,000
yards passing.
Tarkenton also is in another
high classification, the one in
which the Internal Revenue
Service regards him. Football
has made him wealthy. There
is the home in Greenwich and
one in Atlanta, where he
resides in the off-season.
There is Tarkenton Ventures,
Inc., which includes a
flourishing audiovisual
business plus a fast-food
folk religion and boys begin
donning pads as little more
than tots, 31 football-playing
institutions are recognized by
the NCAA and NAIA. During
the five-year period, 287
draftees from Texas colleges
made their way to professional
camps, an average of 57.4
players per year.
The Texas total is even more
significant when one combines
the second and third-place
states, California and Ohio, and
arrives at a figure short of the
Texas number. California
produced 171 draftees, for a
34.2 average, while Ohio was
providing 109, a 21.8 average.
Combined, these figures read
280 and 56 athletes per year.
Other states in the top 10
were Louisiana, 102; Ten-
franchise known as Scram
bler’s Village.
There also are real estate
interests and a position
representing a nationally
known commercial airline.
New York, if you want to play
football and make a little
something on the side, is the
place to play.
“But that’s not really an
important part of football,”
said Francis. “I know they say
New York is good for this and
good for that but the reason you
play football is to win. Anything
else is pretty unimportant. Last
year we won (9-5) and that’s
what the game is all about.
Winning is the ultimate.”
Tarkenton has been
surrounded by a something less
than stellar {supporting cast
since he came to New York
from Minnesota in 1967. For
him the Vikings obtained two
first-round future draft
selections plus a second-round
choice.
Had Tarkenton remained in
Minnesota — well, the Vikings
have been in one Super Bowl
since his departure and would
seem to be progressing toward
another. Tarkenton indicated
he does not think of those
things.
POLITICAL PING PONG can now be played right on
the home table with a new look in paddles marketed in
West Germany and featuring portraits of President
Nixon and Chairman Mao Tse-tung.
nessee, 94; Mississippi, 91;
Indiana, 82; Michigan, 77;
North Carolina, 71, and
Florida, 69. These figures are
based on the state where the
athlete attended college.
While Texas led in numbers,
California was tops in quality
with 19 of the 131 first-round
picks.
Texas was second with 15,
Indiana third with 12 and Ohio,
with 10, was the only other state
in double figures.
The Big Ten topped con
ferences with 182 athletes
drafted, including a leading 19
first-rounders.
The Big Eight, which has
dominated the Big Ten in
recent meetings, was second
with 148 draftees, edging the
“It was not a matter of
leaving a team,” he remem
bered of his unhappy
association with the then
Minnesota coach, Norman Van
Brocklin. “There was such a
hectic situation with Van
Brocklin. Finally, I left and he
left. They brought in Bud Grant
and Jim Finks became a
dominant figure but it took
them three years to really start
going.”
The Giants always have gone
with Tarkenton. Sometimes
they have gone sideways but
they have gone. They say he is
a coach-without-portfolio on
this club, that it is Tarkenton
who directs the offense, not
Alex Webster.
Tarkenton chuckles at such
suggestions. “I really don’t
care to coach,” he said.
He wants to play and he is
placing no limit on how much
longer his career can continue.
“It might be one year,” he said,
“and it might be six years.”
For the remainder of this
season, he is optimistic. “I
think we’re going to win our
next several games,” he an
nounced. “I like to think that. I
think everybody likes to think
they can win all their games.”
Pacific 8 and Southeastern
conferences, tied with 145
apiece.
The small college-designated
Southwestern Athletic Con
ference, home of Grambling,
rounded out the top five with
140 selections. Others in the top
10 were the Western Athletic
Conference, 120; Southwest
Conference, 107; Missouri
Valley Conference, 73; Atlantic
Coast Conference, 66, and the
Central Intercollegiate Athletic
Association, another small
college group whose mem
bership this year included
Morgan State and Maryland
State, 66.
The Pacific 8 was runner-up
in the number of first-rounders
with 15, while the Big Eight and
Southeastern Conference had
11 each.
USC, which won the national
championship in 1967 and
appeared in four Rose Bowls
during this time, paced the
colleges with 43 draftees, 11 on
the first round. The Trojans
George Blanda
still can do it all
ByPAULCORCORAN
Copley News Service
OAKLAND, Calif. — He is not young any longer, but people of all
ages identify with him in the twilight of his long career.
George Blanda, at 44, is one of the most magnetic figures in
sports — at least partly because of the fact that the people who pay
the largest percentage of the bill for financing athletics are in the
middle-age bracket.
But he has become a folk hero because of television, long after his
best years in football. He presents an image of the aged warrior
who demands respect because of his competence, and because of
his age. The former is justifiable. The latter point reflects a social
preoccupation with age which cannot be escaped in a youth
conscious America.
There are a few George Blandas anywhere, in America, England
or anyplace else, who survive in a contact sport beyond the age of
40. Blanda, to be sure, is not playing every day, nor can he be ex
pected to do so. His time is limited so far as his career is concerned
and he knows it—as does his coach, John Madden.
But he is able to play enough to capture the enthusiasm df the
fans as few others have in history.
He is, more than Joe Namath, a product of the television era of
sports.
He was a nonentity in the National Football League with the
Chicago Bears, where he was a kicker and linebacker, in addition
to serving as a backup quarterback. His chance came when he
joined the Houston Oilers of the infant American Football League
in 1960, and he directed the team to its greatest success.
In the years that followed, Blanda compiled one of the great
records in the history of professional football.
Blanda has scored more points than any other professional
football player, including Cleveland’s Lou Groza. For four years —
prior to 1971 — he has led Oakland in scoring. Through 1970, he had
appeared in 154 consecutive games, and had scored in 70 of them.
The heroics of this native of Youngwood, Pa., included — before
the 1971 season — his performances in leading the Raiders to a 23-20
victory over Cleveland in the final three seconds. And a 17-17 tie
with Kansas City.
His most impressive performance this season was a brilliant
rally late in the second half against Kansas City in which he was
responsible for 10 points in a 20-20 tie. One touchdown and a field
goal may have saved the season for the Raiders.
Statistics do not always mean much, but the fact is Blanda has
incredible records of consistency. He was, through the 1970 season,
the all-time Raider scoring leader with 422 points, including 191 of
192 extra points. He scored 541 points with the Chicago Bears, and
598 points with Houston from 1960-66. His total prior to this year was
1,561 points as the oldest player in professional football.
Despite his experience - and the fact he stays in perfect physical
condition — he still is dedicated to a practice routine to which many
others would object.
Three days after Blanda led the Raiders into a 20-20 tie with
Kansas City, he was on the field at 9 o’clock in the morning to
practice, as a 17-year-old would in high school football.
That is why Blanda is an example to the young and middle aged
alike of what physical fitness can do. And also the will to win, which
may be more important in the long run.
Griffin Daily News
also had a record five players
picked on the first round in 1968
(Ron Yary, Mike Taylor, Tim
Rossovich, Mike Hull and Earl
McCullough) and in both 1968
and 1969 provided the first man
drafted (Yary and O. J. Simp
son).
Notre Dame was second in
both number and first
rounders, with 37 and seven,
respectively. Houston, which
blossomed into a major grid
power in the mid-19605, was a
surprising third with 35 draf
tees, while Grambling with 34
and Tennessee State with 31
capped the first five.
Other colleges in the top 10
were Michigan State, 29; and a
four-way tie among San Diego
State, Michigan, Mississippi
and Tennessee, all with 25.
Texas provided the most
players from a single state in
one year with 68 in 1969, while
Ohio State had the most picked
from a single school in one year
with 13, including four first
rounders, in 1971.
7