8. The Receivers

Any discussion of the passing attack would not be complete without reference to some of the magnificent receivers of modern times who have made the quarterback's lot a happy one. As the saying goes, a quarter­back is no better than his receivers, although at the same time, you can also turn that phrase the other way round. For years, I had the privilege of working with two of the best—Elroy (Crazy Legs) Hirsch and Tom Fears, both of Los Angeles Rams.

Hirsch, who was a halfback until a head injury forced his conversion to an end, was a tremendous long receiver—perhaps the best I have ever seen. He had a gift few receivers have; namely, the ability to catch the ball over his head while in full stride. This trick alone was good for a three-yard advantage over the pursuer.

Hirsch also had great spring in his legs, hence his nickname Crazy Legs. He never seemed to walk; he seemed to bounce, and when he got under full steam, he had a seven-leagues-boot stride which could only be matched by the fastest defensive halfbacks. Elroy also was an indefatigable worker. I have seen him running for two hours at full speed in practice, tongue hanging out and foaming at the mouth, but still running at full speed. Too bad he never tried that 26-mile Boston marathon!

Fears was the real artist of the ends. He could do anything a receiver is supposed to do and was only a stride slower than Hirsch who played at the opposite terminal.

Fears was bigger than Hirsch: 6 feet 3 inches and 220 pounds against Elroy's 6 feet 1 and 190. Tom also had strong blocking ability to go with his catching prowess. He could catch anything: over his head, chin high, in the middle, at his knees, or on his bootstraps, even. His forte, however, was getting away from the linebacker and beating the defensive halfback on the longer corner post throw. I could almost count on him making the necessary yardage on a third-down throw. There wasn't a pattern he couldn't run adroitly.

Usually, the opposition double-teamed both Hirsch and Fears, with a linebacker playing them first and a defensive halfback taking over deeper. This was especially true during the 1950 season when both set passing rec-

Fig. 12. The fine hands and fluent body movements of Elroy Hirsch were never more evident than in this picture show­ing him making a leaping, twisting grab of a 38-yard aerial thrown by Norm Van Brocklin, when he was with the Rams. Player 80, standing by to fend off any stray member of the New York Giants, is Tom Fears, also a favorite Van Brocklin target.

Fig. 13. Typical of the manner in which Pete Pihos, of the Eagles, fought an opponent for the ball and invariably came down with it is this grab in the 1956 Pro Bowl game at Los Angeles. Pihos, who starred for the East, leaped right under the goal post for the 17-yard touchdown. Fighting him for the ball  is the West's Jack Christiansen, one of the finest defensive  halfbacks of all time.

I arrived with the Eagles a year after Pete Pihos retired, and I was really sorry that the Golden Greek wasn't around to be a pitching target. From what I saw of him in nine years with the Rams, he certainly had to be the best receiver of his type.

Pete wasn't a great pattern runner, and he wasn't exceedingly fast. But there was no one who could beat him getting out in the open and grabbing a pass. This was due to his amazing strength, determination, and self-confidence. Nobody ever took the ball away from Pihos, although Pihos took the ball away from a lot of other people. Further, he had a fullback's plow-ahead drive after he got the ball, which is not strange, because Pete was a fullback at the University of Indiana. On a third-down situation, he was unbeatable, particularly when the goal posts were in his orbit. He was also a crushing blocker. In other words, Pete was a great all-around football player, who could have filled in creditably at almost any position with his chunky 5 feet 10 inches and 210 pounds.

Hirsch, Fears, and Pihos are not the only receivers I have known and admired. Mac Speedie, the speed boy of the Cleveland Browns created a minor revolution in pass receiving by running the sideline pattern better than anybody else. Tall and rangy, with a sprinter's speed, he was an ideal target for Otto Graham to throw to. Because of his unique moves, the Rams named pass patterns to describe his tricks. For example: "jog and corner," . . . "jog and post," . . . "jog and cross," etc. Speedie ran these patterns so well that defensive maneuvers were changed to fit his stride. He left the Browns for Canada several seasons before his vast talents began to dwindle.

Many receivers have been men with great natural ability. But Billy Wilson of the San Francisco 49ers, like Ray Berry of the Colts, had to work hard for his success. Comparatively slow, the 49ers' crack receiver had to overcome this handicap with magnificent hands, split-second timing, and an uncanny manner of running his pass patterns.

When I first met Wilson prior to a Pro Bowl game in Los Angeles, Billy appeared to have the least ability of all the ends playing for the West team. In fact, I thought to myself, "this fellow would have trouble making the better pro clubs." But, in the game when the chips were down, Wilson caught 11 passes and was voted Most Valuable Player.

Ray Berry is another player like Wilson, except that he did not start with magnificent hands or split-second timing, but had to develop these assets by constant practice. Ray is such an astute student of the game that he has diagrams of plays and situations pasted all over the inside of dressing room locker. And although he only weighs about 185 pounds, he is one of the most feared blockers in the league on end sweeps.

Fig. 14. The three great gifts of Tommy McDonald—the ability to catch a pass while running at full speed, hands that rarely ever let go of a ball, and the knack of making the play while an opponent is hanging on his neck-are shown here in a thrilling scoring play against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1959.   His opponent is Dean Derby, the best of the Steeler defensive halfbacks.

Fig. 15. His broad back is to the camera, but that's Pete Retzlaff, the Eagles' dexterous No. 44, standing clear in the end zone to snare a scoring throw from Norm Van Brockl¡n in a game against the Cleveland Browns. Note the number of Browns that Retzlaff has faked out of position. The towers in the back­ground are the athletic offices of the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field.

Tommy McDonald is one of the smallest of the ends, standing 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds. This agile Eagle specializes in finding cracks in the defense. He doesn't run patterns very well; in fact, all he does is beat the defender, and once he does, there are not many de­fensive backs who can overhaul him.

Tommy has a world of confidence and he takes a sinister delight in confounding the opposition. His own recipe for pass catching success is summed up in his phrase, "you've got to be an actor." The former Okla­homa star can catch the ball in any position and is particularly adept at grabbing those over his head. He also has glue on his fingers. Curiously, while Tommy was an All-America collegian, he threw the ball more often than he caught it.

There is no telling how good Kyle Rote, the Giants' veteran, would be if he had two sound knees. But Rote, a reformed halfback by necessity, has had the cartilages removed from both knees, and he cannot run and pivot the way he would if he were wholly sound. Nonetheless, he is a real "money" grabber, with the knack of pulling the quarterback out of a tight fit. He is very adept at slipping into the open behind the de­fenders.

Fig. 16. A classic catch of the hook pass is being made by Bobby Walston, Eagles' veteran end, with the Rams' Will Sherman and Karl Karilavacz trying vainly to prevent the damage. This is a popular third-down call when yardage is needed to pick up a first down. Note how Walston tucks the ball to his chest before whirling and trying for more yardage.

Among other fine running backs who are also prime pass catchers, I would pick out Lenny Moore of the Colts; Billy Barnes of the Eagles; Frank Gifford and Alex Webster of the Giants; Jon Arnett of the Rams; Joe Perry of the 49ers; Paul Hornung of the Packers; Tom Tracy of the Steelers; Hopalong Cassady of the Lions; and John David Crow of the Cardinals.

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