Sammy Baugh Passed Away

forty-four

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One of the all-time greats. If football were like baseball in remembering its greats, Baugh would be a "ruthian" figure. Edited by: forty-four
 

Don Wassall

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I remember reading about Sammy Baugh when I was a child and being in awe of his accomplishments. He was a "Ruth" type figure, but Ruth's legacy has been tarnished by a million articles attacking his character. Baugh has been diminished by the virulently anti-white power structure's other favored tactic, silence.


Even Sammy was affected by the Caste propaganda judging by this quote from the article linked above: But he always enjoyed football season."I'll watch it all damn day long," Baugh, who often sprinkled his conversation with mild obscenities, told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. "I like the football they play. They got bigger boys, and they've also got these damn speed merchants that we didn't have in those days. I'd love to be quarterback this day and time."


The brainwashing runs deep and across all generations.
 

Ibanez

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Well, I'll tell you that he is absolutely correct regardless of race-- the guys today are much faster and in better condition and stronger than they were in his time.

They all worked real jobs outside of football because football at that time was not a 'real' job--they got paid peanuts to play professionally.

Many of them smoked like chimneys, the majority never lifted weights, none followed scientific exercise program, and most had no concept of a scientific athletic diets to produce the best results.

Having said that, people are complete fools if they beleive that those athletes from bygone eras wouldn't make it today. They would live like all the present day athletes in terms of diet and training etc. For instance, Sammy would not weigh 180 pounds at 6'2" today!
 

Don Wassall

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I don't know about being in better condition. A lot of current NFL players are easily winded, and not just obese linemen.


I think white people had much better stamina then than whites and blacks have now. They were tougher too, physically and mentally.


And I'm not sure that muscle-bound players are superior to the naturally lean and strong football players of yore. The "Jim Thome types," who lived off the land rather than only exercise when not playing video games, were in abundant supply then. Farm boys still make great football players.


I do agree they would make it today, just as the baseball players from Ruth's era would do just as well; in fact those baseball playerswould most likely dominate due to their dedication to and love of the game as well as their interest in fundamentals andknowledge of the manynuances of the sport. MakeBaugh's generationof football players full-time, highly paid pros and they would more than hold their own with the NFL's current brand of superficially impressive affletes.
 

Ibanez

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Well said Don.

Me and my football friend always make comments about how utterly nasty the old timers were. Nasty in ways that we simply do not tolerate in today's sports world at all.

For instance--one of the last and fairly mild old-time rules to go is the horse collar tackle. Before that was the more serious slapping the head of the offensive lineman. That went after Deacon Jones.

I have seen film footage of defensive players tackling player's necks and head to bring them down. Body is moving one way, the head moves the other way! Now that is brutal.

Here is some footage.
Pay attention from 20 seconds to around 33 seconds to see tackles that would be immensely illegal today:

Tackles

And another thing!
There is no way those old timers would tolerate the celebrations that occur after routine tackles. The celebrator would get injured during the game I am sure.

Hell, even Sammy Baugh in an interview stated that the pass rushers would punch him in the head in veiled attempts to get at the ball. Imagine that today!

Don't get me wrong-- I am probably on my own thinking that I love the quarterback protection rules. I don't want to see people take cheap shots all game and have the plays devolve into constant nasty scrums.

One last rant-- It always amazes me how buddy-buddy NFL players are with one another. Players from OPPOSING teams help each other up! They chat and smile with one another! Perhaps it is because I come from a hockey culture where you will get face-washed hard when you are in front of my goalie at the whistle. I can't imagine hockey players from opposing teams chatting with one another in between whistles.
 

foreverfree

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Don Wassall said:
... I'm not sure that muscle-bound players are superior to the naturally lean and strong football players of yore.  The "Jim Thome types," who lived off the land rather than only exercise when not playing video games, were in abundant supply then.  Farm boys still make great football players.

"Jim Thome types", Don? I didn't know Jim Thome, a baseball player, was a farm boy, even when he played for the Phillies. Are you sure you don't mean Jim Thorpe, even though he was an American Indian?

Ibanez (or anyone), re the headslapping of Deacon Jones, who was black, I started a CF thread some time back asking if there were any white DLs who used the head slap effectively (or at all), or was it an exclusive black schtick? I've never read, heard, or seen of any Caucasian headslappers.

I'm still waiting for an answer re white headslappers.

And getting back to Baugh, his obit was shown last night on Fox News Channel's Special Report with Brit Hume (which happens to originate within sight of the Capitol dome in DC). My stepfather is old enough to have potentially remembered the later career of Slingin' Sammy (he's 82) but didn't, although stepdad remembers seeing the Eagles' Steve Van Buren running wild at Shibe Park.

John
 

Don Wassall

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The reference "Jim Thome type" was to naturally strong athletes, not those who get their strength from lifting weights.
 

DixieDestroyer

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Sammy Baugh was an old-school Texas bad@$$ who didn't pull any punches. RIP Sammy!
 

Bronk

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Slingin' Sammy was probably the greatest football player ever. Sammy could throw, punt and play defensive back. His punting average is still the best in NFL history and remains one of the best all-around players of his day. One season he led the league in passing, interceptions and punting. In one game, he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four passes. He threw six touchdowns in a game â€â€￾ twice â€â€￾ and kicked an 85-yard punt. He led the league in passing six times. Baugh guided Washington to five title games and two titles His No. 33 is the only jersey Washington has retired.

He hads a huge impact on the game as its first modern passer. When Baugh entered the NFL, the forward pass was so rare that it was unveiled mostly in desperate situations. But Baugh passed any time.

RIP, Sam Baugh.
 
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There never has been much written about pro football, pre-WWII. I don't bellieve there has ever been a full-length biography of Sammy Baugh. I was in a Borders store today and found a new bio of Benny Friedman titled, "Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football by Murray Greenberg." In this book, Friedman is quoted as saying in 1937, "I thought I could,pass until I saw Baugh."
 

Colonel_Reb

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Nice tribute by Pat to a true legend of athletics!
smiley32.gif
 

jaxvid

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The Pat Buchanon article was great. I recommend it to anyone on the site. Maybe Don could like to it. Here's a link.

vdare link
 

Don Wassall

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jaxvid said:
The Pat Buchanon article was great. I recommend it to anyone on the site. Maybe Don could like to it.


That article and a great new one by Jimmy Chitwood are now on the homepage.
 

Solomon Kane

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I never saw Baugh play of course, but one of the first sports history books I read as a kid was a history of the NFL--one of those popular, large coffee-table books with lots of pictures. They gave a lot of space and time to Baugh of course--the first of the great "gunslinger" quarterbacks, the man who raised the prestige of the QB to the #1 status symbol of pro-football. I also like the fact that he was the greatest punter of all time! amazing! It was thrilling to read about his exploits and his place in the lore of the game. and of course we still have some films of him.


Re: the stamina of the older players issue--didn't most of them play both offense and defense?


I agree--he is a Ruthian figure, a larger than life figure, a great representative of his race and of his home state.


The Dan Fouts type QB owes a big debt to slingin' Sammy.


an interesting ironical note--some one ought to check up on how many great Redskins come from Texas!


RIP
 

Colonel_Reb

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I posted the Pat Buchanan article on the CF Myspace blog today.
 
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