RIP Ray Guy

Surprised that John Madden didn't do so more often. In one of his books, he said that Guy had the sort of arm that caused some quarterbacks to hide in embarrassment.

 

I always liked Maddens story on how on Guy’s first day of practice, he ran over to practice with the defensive backs. Madden told him he was drafted just to be their punter, and Guy responded by saying the brass told him he would get looked at safety as well.

Madden rolls him to get established first as a punter, then they’d give him a look as a safety. Madden later admitted he was lying.

 

Ray Guy belongs, but the best punter in the Hall of Fame is still Sammy Baugh.

 

I got to meet him when my cousin was inducted to the Southern Miss athletics Hall of Fame. Super nice guy and one of the best storytellers ever. His Madden stories were hilarious. Glad we in the Magnolia State were finally heard when he was put in the HOF.

 

Plus, Ray Guy is an all-time great action movie name.

 

Steve Little and Erxlaben were drafted in the first round as kicker/punters. When both of the got to camp they were beaten out as the starting kicker.

Sammy Baugh was certainly the dominant punter of the 40's, when there were quick kicks that were not fielded and punters lined up 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, which increased their average.

The other punting legend from yesteryear was Yale Lary, who improved throughout his career and was averaging 48 yards a punt at the end. He lead the league three times and retired with an average of over 44 yards. Lary was also a tremendous defensive back, retiring with 50 interceptions, and made the Hall based on those accomplishments.

 

Thx for mentioning Yale Lary. I saw him with the Lions many times in the 60s and he really hammered his punts. You could hear it on the broadcasts. He was a hell of a defensive back, too. He just recently passed away and I know there was a thread on SJ to honour that event. Players who excelled in 2 specific aspects of the game are elite HOFers to fans of my age who saw them star in multiple roles.

 

It's A Shame About Ray.

 

Like Erxlaben, Steve Little had a really tragic story after the NFL (and, coincidentally, also hit a 67-yarder in college). I was watching a random 1980 game between the Cardinals and Rams a few weeks back and Little went 1-for-2 on extra points and 0-for-2 on field goals. Curious, I looked him up on Wikipedia as the boos rained down on him at Busch Stadium. A few days later, he was cut - and that night, apparently got drunk, crashed his car and became a quadriplegic. How incredibly sad - it was weird watching that game and seeing him in uniform that less than a week later he would never walk again.

 

Someone, maybe Plunkett, ended up with a bruised spleen in that game. Most violent NFL game I've seen. Howie Long gave me a perfect column lede after it: "I haven't had my ass kicked like that in a long time."

 

Yeah, I looked up Little a while ago because I was curious about this kicker who was drafted in the first round who I had barely heard of. Such a crazy story. Talk about having one of your all-time bad days. Lose your job and become paralyzed.

 

Speaking old-time punters,‘one who doesn’t get much mention is Don Chandler, who had a stellar punting career with the Giants and was a decent kicker on the later Lombardi Packers.