January 5, 1964: A Title for San Diego

 

January 5, 1964, 60 years ago: The American Football League Championship Game is played for the 1963 season. It marks a turning point for the League. In its 1st 3 seasons, it was a pass-happy league, without much defense. But now, a team was able to combine big offense with big defense.

Barron Hilton received the Los Angeles franchise of the AFL at its founding in 1959. He named the team the Chargers, after the credit card he founded, Carte Blanche. He was the son of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, the brother of Elizabeth Taylor's 1st husband Conrad Nicholson Hilton Jr. a.k.a. Nicky Hilton, and the grandfather of Paris and Nicky Hilton. He turned out to be the last surviving member of "The Foolish Club," the 8 original AFL owners.

After reaching the 1st AFL Championship Game in the 1960 season, he realized that, even with his money, he couldn't compete with the NFL's Rams and college football's USC and UCLA for the attention of Los Angeles' football fans. So he moved the team down the Coast, and they became the San Diego Chargers. They reached the title game again in 1961, with the same result, losing to the Houston Oilers.

Head coach Sid Gillman built a high-powered offense, with 2 quarterbacks, Tobin Rote and John Hadl. Rote had filled in for an injured Bobby Layne, and led the Detroit Lions to victory in the 1957 NFL Championship Game, 59-10 over the Cleveland Browns. It was a bit of foreshadowing. Oddly, Hadl had also been drafted by the Lions, but the AFL offered more money than the NFL.

Sid Gillman

These passers' favorite target was Lance Alworth, whose running reminded someone of a deer, and so he was nicknamed "Bambi." He would end up as the 1st former AFL player elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Contrary to what some people believe, it's not the NFL Hall of Fame.) Gillman's offense also had running backs Paul Lowe and Keith Lincoln, tight end Jacque MacKinnon, guard Walt Sweeney, and offensive tackle Ron Mix. Mix would join Alworth in Canton.

Lance Alworth

But it was the defense that marked the '63 Chargers as being different from previous AFL teams. They were one of the teams in the 1960s that called its defensive line "The Fearsome Foursome": Ends Ron Nery and Earl Faison, and tackles Ernie Ladd (also a successful professional wrestler, before that competition became a scripted joke) and Bill Hudson. The linebackers were pretty good, too: Chuck Allen, Frank Buncom and Emil Karas.

Ernie Ladd

Another distinctive feature of San Diego's 1st major league sports team was their uniforms. It wasn't just the lightning bolts on the helmets. From 1960 to 1973, they wore jerseys that had been called "collegiate blue" (probably a reference to UCLA, with whom they shared the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960), "electric blue" (which matched the "charger" theme) and "powder blue" (which is what it usually gets called today).

The Chargers went 11-3, their only losses coming at the hands of the Denver Broncos and, twice, the Oakland Raiders. They won the AFL Western Division, which meant that, being that it was an odd-numbered year, they would get to host the AFL Championship Game at Balboa Stadium.

Their opponents were the Boston Patriots, who finished only 7-6-1, but that was good enough to tie the Buffalo Bills for 1st place in the Eastern Division. And 2 of the losses were to the Chargers. To be fair, 5 of the 6 losses were by 7 points or less, and the Pats did beat the Bills in Buffalo in a Playoff to get to the Championship Game.

The title game -- postponed a week, due to the postponement of the regular-season games of November 24, 1963, and that due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 2 days earlier -- would not be close. It turned out to be the biggest blowout in the 10-year history of AFL Championship Games. Since the 1970 merger with the NFL, only once has the winning team in the AFC Championship Game matched the Chargers' point total, the 1990-91 Buffalo Bills; and no team has surpassed it. No team has scored this many in the NFC Championship Game, either.

The Chargers wasted little time. Rote took a quarterback sneak for a touchdown. Lincoln scored on a 67-yard run. The Patriots scored on Larry Garron's 7-yard touchdown run, to close to within 14-7, but that was as close as they would get. Lowe ran 58 yards for a touchdown, and it was 21-7 San Diego after a quarter.

George Blair of the Chargers and Gino Cappelletti of the Patriots traded field goals in the 2nd quarter. But the fact that the Chargers were able to score 24 points in the 1st half, none of them on touchdown passes, was telling. Before the half ended, Rote threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Don Norton, and it was 31-10.

Rote threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Alworth in the 3rd quarter, and was relieved by Hadl in the 4th. But this proved not to be a mercy move by Gillman: Hadl threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Lincoln, and later scored on a sneak. Final score: Chargers 51, Patriots 10. It remained the most dominating performance in the AFL's 10-year history.

The Chargers reached the Championship Game again in 1964 and 1965, losing to the Bills both times. The Kansas City Chiefs won the AFL title in 1966 and 1969; the Raiders in 1967; and the New York Jets in 1968. Each of these teams had a "Mad Bomber" quarterback -- Jack Kemp, Len Dawson, Daryle Lamonica and Joe Namath, respectively -- but each also followed the Chargers in the other way, too: The philosophy that "Defense wins championships."

Charger fans, and aficionados of the old AFL, are convinced that the Chargers could have beaten the NFL Champion Chicago Bears had there been a Super Bowl at the time. They are wrong: The Bears had a defense unlike any the AFL had yet seen, including on the Chargers.

This is what a Chargers championship ring looks like.

But "World Champions"? No.

The Chargers appeared in 5 of the 10 AFL Championship Games; the Oilers, 4; the Bills and the Chiefs, 3 each; the Raiders, 2; the Patriots and the Jets, 1 each; and the Denver Broncos, and the expansion Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals, none.

But the Chargers got old, and by 1973, as mentioned by the sportswriter character Oscar Madison on the TV series The Odd Couple, they and the Oilers were the 2 worst teams in the NFL. Alworth got a Super Bowl ring, but it was with the 1971-72 Dallas Cowboys.

In 1974, the Chargers switched to dark blue jerseys and helmets. In 1978, they became one of a few teams that preferred to wear white jerseys at home, and it did look better. They went back to dark blue at home in 1984, occasionally wore powder blue as "throwback uniforms" for a few years, and in 2019, their 60th season, they began wearing powder blue as their regular home color. They have also gone back to the white helmets.

The Chargers reached the 1981 AFC Championship Game, but lost it to the Bengals. They reached the 1994 AFC Championship Game, and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a thriller, but got clobbered by the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX. They reached the 2007 AFC Championship Game, but lost to the Patriots, revenge finally achieved.

In 1966, Barron Hilton sold the Chargers to Gene Klein. In 1984, Klein, who loved football but hated the business of it, sold the team to Alex Spanos. In his memoir, First Down and a Billion, he closed every chapter with the words, "Thank you, Alex."

In 1967, the Chargers moved to San Diego Stadium, which was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium in 1981 and Qualcomm Stadium in 1997. Spanos handed control of the team over to his son Dean in 1993, and Dean Spanos, a member of a billionaire family, continually demanded that either the City of San Diego or the County of San Diego use taxpayer money to build him a new stadium. He threatened to move the team back to Los Angeles, or perhaps to another city, if he didn't get the stadium.

A ballot initiative only got 43 percent of the vote, and so Dean proved he wasn't bluffing, and moved the team back to its original home. San Diego fans were angry, but seem to value their integrity more than their football team.  

The 1963 Chargers remain the only major league sports team in San Diego that has gone as far as the rules of the time have allowed them to go. The San Diego Padres have won National League Pennants in 1984 and 1998, but lost the World Series each time.

The city lost the NBA's Rockets (1967-71) to Houston and the NBA's Clippers (1978-84) to Los Angeles. It's never had an NHL team or an MLS team. The ABA's Conquistadors and the WHA's Mariners each folded before their respective leagues did. And neither the WFL (1974-75) nor the USFL (1983-85) saw fit to put a team in what was already being called "America's Finest City," despite the Chargers being in decline on both occasions, with the Don Coryell "Air Coryell" teams being successful in between.

The San Diego Sockers won the Major Indoor Soccer League title 10 times in 11 seasons from 1982 to 1992, but, despite its name, the MISL could hardly be called major league. The old North American Soccer League could have been called that, but the Sockers never got past the Semifinals.

There has been speculation of a "curse" on San Diego sports. The most common one is that it is the result of letting Alworth go after the 1970 season, hence "The Curse of Bambi." What's more, the fact that the Chargers' title came before the advent of the Super Bowl means that it gets discounted: Even before the distance of time became what it is now, NFL fans have come to regard any title won before the Super Bowl, NFL or AFL, as not a "real" championship. And the fact that it came in the sad interregnum between the Kennedy assassination and the arrival of The Beatles is another reason it tends to get forgotten.

As for the Patriots, who changed their name to the New England Patriots when they moved to suburban Foxborough, Massachusetts in 1971, they didn't make the Playoffs again until 1976, didn't reach the Super Bowl until the 1985 season, and didn't win one until the 2001 season. After that, though, they were off to the races.

There are 14 surviving players from the 1964 AFL Champion San Diego Chargers: Lance Alworth, Ron Mix, Gerry McDougall, Paul Lowe, Dick Westmoreland, Dick Harris, George Blair, Bobby Jackson, Bud Whitehead, Don Rogers, Bobby Lane, Larry Park, Paul Maguire and Bob Petrich.

San Diego's 10 Greatest Athletes

This weekend, the Mets play a series in San Diego against the Padres.

San Diego's 10 Greatest Athletes

Honorable Mention to Baseball Hall-of-Famers who played for the Padres but didn't make the Top 10: Willie McCovey, Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry, Ozzie Smith, Goose Gossage, Roberto Alomar, Rickey Henderson and Greg Maddux.

Honorable Mention to Fred Dean, defensive end, San Diego Chargers, 1975-81. A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I might have put him in this Top 10 if he'd played his entire career for the Bolts. He later won 2 Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. Maybe Chargers owner Gene Klein shouldn't have traded him.

Honorable Mention to Bill Walton, center, San Diego Clippers, 1979-84 (plus 1984-85 in Los Angeles). Injuries prevented him from making much of a contribution for his hometown team, but he did have enough great moments in the NBA to make the Basketball Hall of Fame.

10. Ron Mix, offensive tackle, San Diego Chargers, 1960-69 (including the 1st season, in Los Angeles). He played in the AFL for its entire 10-season existence, helping the Chargers reach 6 Championship Games, winning in 1963, and making the All-Star Team every season except the last, 1969, when he was playing hurt.

After that season, he announced his retirement, and Klein made Mix's Number 74 the 1st number ever retired by a San Diego sports team. Then he signed a replacement, Gene Ferguson. Mix suddenly changed his mind, and said he wanted to play again. He asked to have his rights traded to the Jets. Klein instead traded him to the Oakland Raiders for high draft picks, and unretired Mix's number. It remains officially available for the Chargers, and was worn by All-Pro defensive tackle Louie Kelcher.

Ron Mix is 1 of 3 Jewish players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with 1930s Giants quarterback Benny Friedman and 1940s Chicago Bears quarterback Sid Luckman. And while the also-Jewish Klein unretired his number, subsequent owner Alex Spanos named Mix to the Chargers Hall of Fame.

9. Charlie Joiner, wide receiver, San Diego Chargers, 1976-86. He previously played 4 seasons each with the Houston Oilers and the Cincinnati Bengals. If he had spent his entire career with the Chargers, he would be much higher on this list.

A 3-time Pro Bowler, he caught 750 passes for 12,146 yards and 65 touchdowns, big numbers by 1970s standards. The Chargers named him to their team Hall of Fame, but have not retired his Number 18. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and in 1999, The Sporting News began its list of the 100 Greatest Football Players by selecting Joiner at Number 100.

8. Dave Winfield, right field, San Diego Padres, 1973-80. If he had spent his entire career with the Padres, he would easily be Number 1 on this list. Instead, he only spent the 1st 1/3rd of his career with them, but was arguably the best player in baseball over a 3-year stretch from 1978 to 1980, resulting in the Yankees giving him the 1st contract in baseball worth more than $1 million a year. (Nolan Ryan got the 1st contract at an even $1 million from Houston the year before.)

He was a 12-time All-Star, 4 with the Padres; and a 7-time Gold Glove, 2 with the Padres. Of his 3,110 career hits, 1,134 were with the Padres, who retired his Number 31, and elected him to their team Hall of Fame. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. The Sporting News listed him 94th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players in 1999.

7. Junior Seau, linebacker, San Diego Chargers, 1990-2002. No defensive player had a more appropriate pronunciation to his name: Junior made many, many players "Say ow." I wonder if he ever hit Drew Bledsoe hard enough that he made him say ow and he bled so?

A 12-time Pro Bowler, he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1992, and was a member of the Chargers' 1994 AFC Championship team. He won another AFC title with the 2007 New England Patriots, but was on the losing side of the Super Bowl both times.

He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL's 1990s All-Decade Team. The Chargers named him to their team Hall of Fame and retired his Number 55. But he became the face of NFL brain trauma following his suicide. He did not live to see his election to Canton.

6. Dan Fouts, quarterback, San Diego Chargers, 1973-87. A few years ago, he was broadcasting a college football game on ABC, proving color commentary for Keith Jackson, and it was pouring. Keith asked him if he'd ever played in weather as bad as that. "Keith," he said, "I played in the State of Oregon, where rain was invented!"

He was born and raised in San Francisco, a city which has had its share of weird weather, before becoming one in a long line of University of Oregon quarterbacks to brave the Pacific Northwest's climate. His 15 seasons in sunny San Diego were his reward.

He was a 6-time Pro Bowler, and NFL Most Valuable Player in 1982. At the time he retired, his 43,040 passing yards were 2nd-most all-time, behind Fran Tarkenton and ahead of Johnny Unitas, who, interviewed on CBS' The NFL Today, called him the quarterback playing then that he liked the best. He led the Air Coryell attack that included Charlie Joiner, Kellen Winslow and John Jefferson, but couldn't get closer to the Super Bowl than defeats in the 1980 and '81 AFC Championship Games.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and named to the NFL's 1980s All-Decade Team. The Chargers named him to their team Hall of Fame and retired his Number 14. He was 92nd on The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, but did not make the 2010 list of the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players.

5. Kellen Winslow, tight end, San Diego Chargers, 1979-87. He's been called the greatest tight end ever. He made 5 Pro Bowls, and his 541 catches (leading the NFL -- as a tight end -- in 1980 and '81), 6,741 receptions and 45 touchdowns were the standards by which all later tight ends have been measured. His exhausting performance in the January 2, 1982 "Epic in Miami" has given that Playoff classic another name: "The Kellen Winslow Game."

He was named to the Pro Football and San Diego Chargers Halls of Fame, and the NFL's 75th Anniversary All-Time and 1980s All-Decade Teams. He was 73rd on The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players and actually ranked higher, 67th, on the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players.

4. Lance Alworth, wide receiver, San Diego Chargers, 1962-70. The 1st great San Diego-based major league athlete, he was a 7-time All-Star, he was named American Football League Player of the Year in 1963, leading the San Diego Chargers to the AFL Championship -- the only time a San Diego team has ever gone as far as it could go at the major league level.

He caught 542 passes for 10,266 yards, huge numbers before the 1978 rule change regulating bump-and-run coverage. The Chargers made his Number 19 the 1st they retired (and kept retired, see the entry for Ron Mix), and he was elected to their team Hall of Fame. The University of Arkansas graduate was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and was the 1st player whose career was mainly in the AFL to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He was also named to the NFL 75th Anniversary Team and the AFL All-Time Team. He was 31st on The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players and 38th on the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players.

Some people have suggested that trading "Bambi" (nicknamed because he "ran like a deer" to the Dallas Cowboys after the 1970 season led to The Curse of Bambi, dooming all San Diego teams.

Here's what's happened since: Alworth won Super Bowl VI with the Cowboys his 1st season in Dallas, the Chargers only reached the Super Bowl once in the ensuing 46 seasons and finally moved, the Padres have won only 2 Pennants and exactly 1 World Series game, while the NBA's Clippers, the ABA's Conquistadors/Sails, and the WHA's Mariners all moved, with the city not getting another major league basketball or hockey team since. Only the Padres are left, and they nearly moved to Washington in 1974, and probably would've moved if voters hadn't approved a bond issue for Petco Park following the team's 1998 Pennant.

3. LaDainian Tomlinson, running back, San Diego Chargers, 2001-09. A 5-time Pro Bowler, he was named NFL Most Valuable Player in 2006, when he set records for most rushing touchdowns (28), most overall touchdowns from scrimmage (31) and most consecutive games with a touchdown (eventually reaching 18 to tie a record).

Of his 13,684 rushing yards, 12,490 were for San Diego. Of his 624 catches and 4,772 receiving yards, 530 and 3,955 were for the Chargers. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team, and the Chargers elected him to their team Hall of Fame and retired his Number 21.

2. Trevor Hoffman, pitcher, San Diego Padres, 1993-2008. Formerly baseball's all-time leader in saves, he still holds the National League record with 601. In the 1998 season, he led the Padres to the Pennant every bit as much as Tony Gwynn did.

Coming in to the tune of AC/DC's "Hell's Bells," "Trevor Time" became the most intimidating time in the League, especially in the postseason, when 64,000 fans would pack Jack Murphy Stadium, waving their white towels. Of course, he had to pitch to Scott Brosius in the World Series...

His career ERA+ was a whopping 141, his WHIP a nasty 1.058. He is a new inductee into the Bsaeball Hall of Fame. Maybe he was never better than Mariano Rivera, who broke his record, but he was better than just about every other reliever of the 1990s and 2000s.

The only bad thing I can say about him is that he bears a striking resemblance to my ex-brother-in-law, whom I'm not crazy about, and not just because he (the ex-brother-in-law, not Hoffman) is a Philadelphia Flyers fan.

1. Tony Gwynn, right field, San Diego Padres, 1982-2001. He started slowly, started in center field, and there was an interregnum in 1981 when the team had neither Winfield nor Gwynn, but someone must have had an appreciation for right field in Mission Valley: From the 2nd term of Richard Nixon to the 1st term of George W. Bush, there was nearly always a Hall-of-Famer playing right field for the Padres.

Gwynn helped them win their only 2 Pennants, in 1984 and 1998. His .394 batting average in the strike-shortened 1994 season remains the highest in MLB since 1941. It was 1 of 8 National League batting titles he won, tying Honus Wagner for the most in NL history. He collected 3,141 hits, leading the NL in the category 7 times, with a lifetime batting average of .338, the highest of any player whose career began after Ted Williams' in 1939.

The Padres retired his Number 19, and they dedicated a statue to him outside Petco Park. As well they should have: If not for his heroics in leading the team to the 1998 Pennant, that ballpark might not be in San Diego, and even the Padres might not be. He's not just Mr. Padre, he's the man who saved the Padres, and maybe major league sports in San Diego at all.

Top 10 Athletes From Mississippi

December 10, 1817, 200 years ago today: Mississippi is admitted to the Union as the 20th State.

Top 10 Athletes From Mississippi

Choosing the top 2 was easy. Separating them was very tough.

Honorable Mention to Jake Gibbs of Grenada. Like the man at Number 8 on this list, he was a quarterback at the University of Mississippi, a.k.a. "Ole Miss," who had to choose between baseball and football. Indeed, he led the school to Southeastern Conference Championships in both sports, and a National Championship in football in 1960. Unlike the other man, he chose baseball.

He was a September call-up to the majors by the Yankees late in the 1962, '63 and '64 seasons, but played a grand total of 9 games, and never appeared on a World Series roster. He was the team's starting catcher from 1966 to 1969, taking over from Elston Howard, before losing his job to Thurman Munson.

He retired after the 1971 season, due to injuries. He was about to turn 33. It was his misfortune to arrive just as the old Dynasty was crumbling, and to leave before George Steinbrenner and Gabe Paul could arrive and rebuild the team.

He went back to Ole Miss, and coached their baseball team to the 1972 SEC Championship. He was named national Coach of the Year in 1972 and 1977. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. There is a College Baseball Hall of Fame, near the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock, but he has not yet been elected, as either a player or a coach.

Honorable Mention to Charlie Hayes of Hattiesburg. A 3rd baseman, he had some rotten luck. He came up with the San Francisco Giants, but they traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies right before winning the Pennant in 1989. The Phillies traded him to the Yankees before they could win the 1993 Pennant. The Yankees left him unprotected in the 1993 expansion draft, so it looked like he would miss out on their renaissance.

He was an original 1993 Colorado Rockie, and could have made the Playoffs with them in 1994, as they were in the hunt for the National League Western Division title and Wild Card, when the Strike hit. He returned to the Phillies, but they had already fallen apart. He went back to the Giants, but lost the NL Wild Card Game with them in 1998. He closed his career with the Houston Astros, losing the 2001 NL Division Series. He finished with a .262 batting average and 144 home runs. Not bad, but hardly legendary.

But he did have one break. He was traded to the Yankees in 1996, and was placed on the postseason roster. When Wade Boggs had an uncharacteristic slump, Hayes was made the starting 3rd baseman. The result was that he caught the final out of the 1996 World Series, making him a Yankee hero (if not a Yankee Legend). Thank you, Charlie.

Honorable Mention to Frank "Bruiser" Kinard of Jackson. As his nickname suggests, he was tough and mean. He also had the odd distinction of playing for the football teams named the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees. He was a 6-time All-Pro, and was elected to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. He later returned to his alma mater, Ole Miss, and became an assistant coach and the school's athletic director.

Honorable Mention to Hugh Green of Natchez. A defensive end, playing at the University of Pittsburgh, for "the Pitt Panthers," at the same time that Mean Joe Greene was leading the Steel Curtain, it was inevitable that he would be called "Mean Hugh Green." Sports Illustrated put him and an actual panther on the cover of their 1980 College Football Preview issue, calling him the "BADDEST CAT IN THE GAME."

He won some Player of the Year awards, and finished 2nd in the Heisman Trophy balloting to George Rogers, the closest any defensive lineman has ever come to winning the award. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. In 2008, ESPN named ranked him 14th on their list of the Top 25 College Football Players of All Time.

He played 11 seasons as an NFL linebacker, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins, making 2 Pro Bowls, but injuries prevented him from reaching the same heights that he did in college.

Honorable Mention to Ralph Boston of Laurel. He won the Gold Medal in the long jump at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, breaking the world record set by Jesse Owens 25 years earlier. He also won the Silver Medal in Tokyo in 1964 and the Bronze Medal in Mexico City in 1968. He is a member of the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention to Spencer Haywood of Silver City. This was a tough call, not for his achievements, but for his location. He moved to Detroit at age 15, and I thought that was too late to make him qualify for Michigan, despite being a star in both high school and college basketball there. So he qualifies for Mississippi.

He was a 5-time All-Star, once in the ABA, winning their Most Valuable Player award with the 1970 Denver Rockets (forerunners of the Nuggets), and 4 times in the NBA, with the Seattle SuperSonics. After becoming perhaps the 1st of the many "false saviors" for the Knicks, he went to the Los Angeles Lakers, and won the 1980 NBA Championship with them.

The University of Detroit Mercy retired his Number 45, and the Sonics retired his Number 24. He was named to the ABA All-Time Team, and he is the only Mississippi-trained man elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The only man. There is a woman who thus qualifies:

Honorable Mention to Lusia Harris of Greenwood. A center, she led Delta State University of Cleveland, Mississippi to the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics from Women) title, the closest thing women's basketball then had to a collegiate National Championship, in 1975, 1976 and 1977. She was awarded the 1976-77 Honda-Broderick Cup as the outstanding women's collegiate athlete of the schoolyear.

In 1977, the New Orleans Jazz made her the 1st woman ever selected in the NBA Draft. She was 6-foot-3, and a good shooter. Could she have made it? We'll never know, as she refused her tryout -- because she was pregnant. She was married at the time, and eventually had 4 children. She briefly played in a women's minor league, and went back to her high school as a teacher and coach. In 1992, Lusia Harris-Stewart and 1950s and '60s star Nera White were the 1st 2 women elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Now, the Top 10:

10. Felix "Doc" Blanchard of Bay St. Louis. He was "Mr. Inside" to Glenn Davis' "Mr. Outside" on the National Champion Army football teams of 1944, 1945 and 1946. In those 3 seasons, Army went 28-0-1, the only blemish being the 0-0 tie with Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium, perhaps the 1st college football game to be called "The Game of the Century."

In 1945, Doc (so nicknamed because his father was a doctor) won the Heisman Trophy, the 1st underclassman ever to do so (Davis won it in 1946); and also the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award as the outstanding amateur athlete in the country.

Shortly after his 1947 graduation from West Point, the U.S. Air Force was separated from the Army, and when he was denied a furlough to accept the other kind of draft, by the Pittsburgh Steelers, he became a fighter pilot, serving in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and retiring in 1971 with the rank of Colonel. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and West Point retired his Number 35.

9. Archie Manning of Drew. Okay, so he's now only the 3rd-best quarterback in his own family. But Elisha Archibald Manning III is still his family's best all-around athlete. He was also a star basketball player in high school, and was good enough in baseball to be drafted 4 times: By the Atlanta Braves in 1967, the Chicago White Sox in 1969 and 1970, and the Kansas City Royals in 1971.

He starred at Ole Miss, and finished in the top 4 in the Heisman Trophy voting twice, but couldn't get them to a Southeastern Conference Championship. He did get them to bowl games all 3 seasons, winning the 1968 Liberty Bowl and the 1970 Sugar Bowl, before losing the 1971 Gator Bowl. He didn't have much luck with the New Orleans Saints, either, only once getting the strapped team to a .500 record.

He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He has a statue at Ole Miss' Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The school not only retired his number, but set their speed limit for on-campus vehicles at his number: 18.

Of course, since he raised his sons Peyton and Eli in New Orleans, they qualify for Louisiana, even though Eli also went to Ole Miss.

8. Charlie Conerly of Clarksdale. The 1st great quarterback at Ole Miss, he led them to their 1st SEC Championship, in 1947. He also played baseball for them. He was drafted by the New York Giants, and was named All-Pro 3 times, leading them to the 1956 NFL Championship. He also got them into the NFL Championship Game in 1958 and 1959, winning the NFL's Most Valuable Player award in 1959.

He seemed to get old in a hurry, and the Giants replaced him with Y.A. Tittle in 1961. Nevertheless, they retired his Number 42 (which he lived to see), and named him to their Ring of Honor (which he didn't live to see). He has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, but not yet the Pro version.

7. Jackie Slater of Jackson. A 7-time Pro Bowler, he played offensive tackle in the NFL for 20 straight seasons. He helped the Los Angeles Rams reach the NFC Championship Game 5 times, and reach Super Bowl XIV in 1980. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Rams retired his Number 78, and even though he only played 1 season, the last of his career, in St. Louis as the Rams moved there, he was named to the St. Louis Football Ring of Fame.

6. Lem Barney of Gulfport. In 1999, CBS aired a special for The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players poll. Barney was ranked 97th. Jerry Glanville was then a correspondent for CBS' The NFL Today. Among the players he coached were Barney and Wayne Walker with the 1974-76 Detroit Lions, William Andrews and Clay Matthews Jr. with the 1977-82 Atlanta Falcons, Earl Campbell with the 1984 Houston Oilers, Clay's brother Bruce Matthews with the 1984-89 Oilers (as head coach), and Deion Sanders with the 1990-93 Falcons (as head coach). He said, of all the players he ever coached, "Best athlete: Deion Sanders. Best football player, Lem Barney!"

A cornerback, Barney led the NFL in interceptions as a rookie in 1967, and made 7 Pro Bowls. He had 56 career interceptions, 7 of them returned for touchdowns. He is a member of the Pro Football, Detroit Lions, Jackson State Sports, Mississippi Sports and Michigan Sports Halls of Fame. In 2004, the Lions retired Number 20 for 3 legends who wore it: Barney, Billy Sims and Barry Sanders.

5. Willie Brown of Yazoo City. He was an All-Star 9 times, 5 in the AFL and 4 in the NFL. He starred for the Denver Broncos, and then for the Oakland Raiders, getting them into Super Bowl II, and winning Super Bowl XI, returning an interception for a touchdown in that game. (As he did so, NBC broadcaster Curt Gowdy called him "Old Man Willie." He was 35.)

He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the AFL All-Time Team and the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team. He later served as an assistant coach with the Raiders, winning 2 more Super Bowls, before coaching elsewhere, and has returned to them in a front office capacity.

In 1999, The Sporting News named him 50th on their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, making him the highest-ranking player identified with the Raiders. In 2010, on their list of the 100 Greatest Players, the NFL Network ranked him 66th.

4. Brett Favre of Kiln. His character has come under rough scrutiny, so much so that his 2007 recipt of Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year award now seems unworthy. But the guy broke most of the career passing records, although many of since been broken again by Peyton Manning and/or Tom Brady.

An 11-time Pro Bowler, he became the 1st man ever to win 3 straight NFL Most Valuable Player awards, 1995-97. With all his individual achievements, it seems odd that he only got the Green Bay Packers into 4 NFC Championship Games, winning Super Bowl XXXI and losing Super Bowl XXXII.

The University of Southern Mississippi and the Packers retired his Number 4. He was named to the Pro (but not yet College) Football and Green Bay Packers Halls of Fame, and the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.

3. Lance Alworth of Brookhaven. A 7-time All-Star, he was named American Football League Player of the Year in 1963, leading the San Diego Chargers to the AFL Championship -- the only time a San Diego team has ever gone as far as it could go at the major league level.

Some people have suggested that trading "Bambi" (nicknamed because he "ran like a deer" to the Dallas Cowboys after the 1970 season led to The Curse of Bambi, dooming all San Diego teams. Here's what's happened since: Alworth won Super Bowl VI with the Cowboys his 1st season in Dallas, the Chargers only reached the Super Bowl once in the ensuing 46 seasons and finally moved, the Padres have won only 2 Pennants and exactly 1 World Series game, while the NBA's Clippers, the ABA's Conquistadors/Sails, and the WHA's Mariners all moved, with the city not getting another major league basketball or hockey team since. Only the Padres are left, and they nearly moved to Washington in 1974, and probably would've moved if voters hadn't approved a bond issue for Petco Park following the team's 1998 Pennant.

Alworth caught 542 passes for 10,266 yards. The Chargers made his Number 19 the 1st they retired, and he was elected to their team Hall of Fame. The University of Arkansas graduate was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and was the 1st player whose career was mainly in the AFL to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was also named to the NFL 75th Anniversary Team and the AFL All-Time Team. He was 31st on The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players and 38th on the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players.

2. Walter Payton of Columbia. "Sweetness" was a 9-time Pro Bowler. He was named NFL Most Valuable Player in 1977 and 1985. He once held the records for rushing yards in a game (275) and in a career (16,725). He also caught 492 passes. He had 110 touchdowns rushing, 15 more receiving... and 8 passing. He even had a punt go 39 yards. He was as close to being an all-around threat as existed in his era.

He had already surpassed Jim Brown in 1984 to become the NFL's all-time rushing leader (since himself surpassed by Emmitt Smith), when the Chicago Bears roared through the 1985 season toward Super Bowl XX, wanting to win it for him as much as for themselves and their city. They did.

The Bears retired his Number 34. He was elected to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, and to the NFL's 1970s and 1980s All-Decade Teams and its 75th Anniversary Team. In 1999, The Sporting News listed him 8th on their 100 Greatest Football Players. He died of liver disease later that year, and his reputation grew: In 2010, when the NFL Network did the 100 Greatest Players, he came in 5th. Both times, he was 2nd among running backs to Jim Brown.

There are 2 Walter Payton Awards: The NCAA's "Heisman Trophy" for Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly known as Division I-AA) players, in honor of Payton having played at Mississippi's Jackson State University; and the NFL's Man of the Year award, for humanitarian contributions off the field.

How do you top that? This is what it takes:

1. Jerry Rice of Crawford. The Sporting News named him Number 2 among all players, behind Brown. And he still had several good years left. When the NFL Network did its 100 Greatest Players 11 years later, they listed Rice as Number 1.

In 1989, the year Rice was named MVP of Super Bowl XXIII, Don Hutson, then on the short list for the title of greatest receiver ever, said Rice was better than he was -- and this was after Rice had just 4 full seasons in the NFL.

Herewith the evidence, and the numbers are staggering. He made 13 Pro Bowls, the 1st at age 23, and the last at age 39. A receiver making the Pro Bowl at thirty-nine years old! He was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 1987 and 1993. He won Super Bowls XXIII, XXIV and XXIX with the San Francisco 49ers, being named MVP in XXIII.

Career receptions: 1,549 -- he was the 1st man with 1,000, and the next-best is Tony Gonzalez with 1,325. Receiving yards: 22,895 -- next-best is Terrell Owens with 15,934, nearly 6,000 less! All-purpose yards: 23,546 -- slightly ahead of Brian Mitchell with 23,330. Receiving touchdowns: 197 -- next-best is Randy Moss with 156. Overall touchdowns: 208 -- next-best is Emmitt Smith with 175. In other words, he was not only great, but the numbers suggest he was insanely great.

The 49ers retired his Number 80. He was elected to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, and to the NFL's 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Teams and its 75th Anniversary Team.