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Basketball Fan
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 Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 2:08 pm Post subject: Former NFL QB Earl Morrall has died |
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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10839494/former-nfl-quarterback-earl-morrall-dies-79
| Quote: | Former NFL QB Earl Morrall dies
MIAMI -- Earl Morrall, an NFL quarterback for 21 years who started nine games during the Miami Dolphins' perfect season in 1972, has died. He was 79.
The Dolphins confirmed Morrall's death Friday. Former teammate Charlie Babb said Morrall had been in failing health for some time.
Earl Morrall started nine games in place of Bob Griese during the Dolphins' unbeaten season in 1972.
When Bob Griese broke his ankle in 1972, Morrall came off the bench and started the final nine games of the regular season for the Dolphins. Morrall won praise from coach Don Shula for his willingness to step aside when Griese returned for the AFC Championship Game.
Griese started in the Super Bowl and helped Miami finish 17-0. That remains the only unbeaten season in NFL history.
Morrall also played for the Baltimore Colts, coming off the bench to replace an injured John Unitas and help the Colts to Super Bowl III, where they lost to the New York Jets. He was also the backup to Griese on the Dolphins team that won Super Bowl VII.
"I was very saddened to learn about Earl's passing," Shula said Friday in a statement released by the Dolphins. "All Earl ever did was win games for me, whether it was as a starter or coming off the bench. What I remember the most, of course, is what he did in 1972 when he replaced Bob Griese after Bob's injury and kept our perfect season going until Bob returned in the playoffs.
"But Earl won a lot of games for me in Baltimore as well. And he did it in such a humble way -- he was a great team player who would do whatever was asked of him. And he was an outstanding leader who inspired confidence in his teammates."
Morrall also played for the 49ers, Steelers, Lions and Giants.
The '72 Dolphins were led by such future Pro Football Hall of Famers as Shula, Griese, Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield, but their season might be long forgotten if not for Morrall, then regarded as a journeyman.
That's why Shula -- who also coached Unitas and Dan Marino -- held Morrall in special regard as a quarterback.
"When Bob went down, Earl stepped in like nothing happened, and we just won all the games," Shula said in a 2007 interview. "Then Griese was healthy for the AFC Championship Game against Pittsburgh, and I put Bob in the second half and he helped us come from behind and win the game.
"Then I had a decision to make, which to me has always been the toughest decision I've ever had to make -- who to start in the Super Bowl. Earl had done such a great job to get me there, but Bob was my quarterback going into the season, and he was my quarterback of the future. So I figured as long as Bob was healthy and ready to go, I was going back to Bob.
"So I've always said Unitas, Griese and Dan Marino are in the Hall of Fame, and Earl is in my own personal Hall of Fame."
Morrall said the 1972 Dolphins seldom dwelled on their perfect record as the season progressed because they were focused only on winning the Super Bowl after losing in the title game the previous year. He recalled a teammate raising the subject just once -- before the final regular-season game.
"We were going to play the Colts, and that's the only time I heard something about it in the locker room," Morrall said in 2007. "It wasn't about going undefeated. It was, 'Guys, if we're going to lose a game, this is the one to lose.'"
At 38, Morrall was the oldest player on the 1972 Dolphins. He attended their 40th reunion in 2012 and said he thought most of his ex-teammates looked good.
"We've all gotten a little bigger and stronger," Morrall said with a smile.
He was inducted into the Dolphins' Walk of Fame that year. Morrall also attended an 80th birthday party for Shula in 2010.
"We're just happy Don made it this long," Morrall said. "When he cut some of the players, they had ill feelings and might have got to him."
Morrall was a Michigan native who played at Michigan State. In retirement he lived in Naples, Fla., where Babb also lives.
"I was the youngest guy on the '72 team," said Babb, a defensive back. "Earl was 37 when I'm a 22-year-old rookie. He was kind of like Pops, and he was the king of the flattop. He was kind of a father figure to us young guys, until it was time to hit him. Then we didn't mind hitting him.
"Earl was a gentleman and a great representative of the NFL. He'll be missed." |
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rwongega
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Aeneas Hunter
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| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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RIP.
It depresses me that a player I remember from my youth was 79. |
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panamaniac
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Big Miami Dolphin fan here. RIP Earl Morrall, there would never have been 17-0 without you.
The greatest backup of all time, backed up two HOF QBs and his teams never missed a beat. "The Last of the Crew Cuts", godspeed sir. Thanks for the memories. |
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| Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/sports/football/earl-morralls-son-fathers-final-years-suffering-wi/nqMTp/?icmp=pbp_internallink_referralbox_free-to-premium-referral
| Quote: | Earl Morrall’s son: Father’s final years suffering with CTE ‘horrific’
No one questioned Earl Morrall’s ability as a communicator, but if they had, there were 10 witnesses who could have testified he knew what to say and how to say it.
“Come on, let’s keep it going,” was the concise but necessary lift Morrall gave in the Dolphins’ huddle seconds after starting quarterback Bob Griese broke his ankle early in the 1972 season. Few in South Florida need reminding that all that happened next was the most significant accomplishment in the region’s sports history: 17-0.
+Earl Morrall’s son: Father’s final years suffering with CTE ‘horrific’ photo
Former Dolphins coach Don Shula hugs ex-quarterback Earl Morrall before a game against the Baltimore Ravens at Sun Life Stadium on ... Read More
So it didn’t take a doctor’s diagnosis for Earl’s son, Matt, to know something was very wrong with his father the past handful of years.
“He would always be reaching for a word,” Matt said.
Too often, that word — unlike an Earl Morrall pass — was just out of reach. It became a struggle for Earl and it became a struggle for his family to experience a downward spiral Matt labeled “horrific.”
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Earl Morrall died last April at age 79, 42 years to the day after he was acquired by the Dolphins in what must be considered the best value they ever received on $90,000.
The heroics Earl is remembered for — for keeping The Perfect Season going — are in stark contrast to his final years, which included a variety of serious ailments including Parkinson’s. Last week, Matt added to the list, confirming that his father had CTE, the brain condition detected in countless other former professional football players.
“Dad deteriorated pretty badly the last couple of years of his life,” Matt said. “It was a pretty dramatic changeover for him. He’d always been very athletic and outgoing, and as part of the process, he went from about 235-240 pounds to about 158 pounds. He had difficulty swallowing, difficulty communicating and talking. He was wheelchair-bound probably the last three to six months of his life.
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“And it was obviously horrific to watch that happen.”
Morrall’s brain was examined by researchers at Boston University who have been at the forefront of studies on CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Matt said he suspected something along those lines before CTE became well known. He saw it happen to many of his father’s former teammates, including John Mackey, whose health struggles before his death shaped the NFL’s nursing-care benefits for former players.
“It seemed to be a recurring theme,” Matt said, adding that as far back as in his father’s late 50s and early 60s, there where times “he did not act how he normally would.”
It’s a price players of that era didn’t know existed but has come to light following events depicted in the current Will Smith film Concussion, about Dr. Bennet Omalu. Even knowing what he knows now, Matt said, “I don’t know that Dad would have traded any of that because he loved playing football and he loved his teammates. But it’s an issue that has to be considered.”
If Earl wouldn’t trade it, what about his family?
“It’s a difficult choice,” said Matt, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer who played at the University of Florida. Looking back, there’s part of him that wishes his father gravitated toward baseball since he was talented in that sport, too.
That’s in the past. As for the future, Matt hopes his father’s health issues provide information for athletes and their families weighing risk vs. reward.
“I’d like everybody to understand their kids don’t need to play tackle football as early as possible — not until the seventh or eighth grade,” he said. “At least that’s one of the ways to limit some of this. If they do learn to play, and if they play at a young age, they do need to learn how to tackle.”
Matt doesn’t know how many concussions his father suffered and said that’s not the point.
“It’s really talking about direct blows to the head that create certain damage to the brain,” he said. “If you look at a perfect example of this, and what has changed since Dad played, one of the highlight films shows him scrambling out of the pocket. The first blow comes while going back to pass. One of the defensive linemen reached out and delivered a head slap.
“He spun out of that and he scrambled to the sideline and got horse-collared. He was about a yard out of bounds and someone came in and had helmet-to-helmet contact as he was going down.
“Dad dropped the ball on the ground, shook his head and went back in the huddle. That’s what happened in that era.” |
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DaMuleRules
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| Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Aeneas Hunter wrote: | RIP.
It depresses me that a player I remember from my youth was 79. |
My thought as well.
It's right up there with the moment I had many years ago when I realized that just about every pro athlete out there was younger than me. |
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jodeke
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| Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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When the undefeated season is a conversation, I don't think Earl gets the mention he deserved. If not for him the season would not have been. RIP
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Conker
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| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 7:49 am Post subject: |
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Rest in peace, Earl Morrall. You were the real "Earl the Pearl."
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4stargeneralbulldog
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| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:47 am Post subject: |
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| Wow, another former football player with CTE. Just off the top of my head, guys like Junior Seau, Ken Stabler, Frank Gifford, and now Earl Morrall. |
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Basketball Fan
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| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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Tony Dorsett has it as well.
Although with Gifford he lived a long life that he parlayed into a broadcasting career I really don't think CTE affected him as much as it did the others. |
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angrypuppy
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| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm pretty sure just about every vet with a long career in the NFL suffers from CTE. Namath has it as well. |
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