Sammy Baugh

At 94 years old, Sammy Baugh has this physical status:

Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914-2008), an American football player and mentor, was born in Boston, Texas.

He was notably a quarterback during his college and professional careers, but he also excelled as a defensive back and punter.

He played football for the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian University, where he was a two-time All-American.

From 1937 to 1952, he appeared in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins.

He spent his time with Hardin-Simmons University, the New York Titans, and the Houston Oilers, as a mentor. In 1937 and 1942, Baugh led the Washington Redskins to victory in the NFL Championship and was named NFL Player of the Year by the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club in 1947 and 1948 for his football.

He led the league in completions, attempts, completion percentage, and yards in both of his Player of the Year seasons.

Baugh led the league in completion percentage seven times, passing yards four times, and an NFL record six times in passer rating in 1947.

However, he was also known for his versatility: being able to play at both a high level as a punter and a defensive back.

He led the league in yards per punt five times during his career, as well as yardage in 1943, a year in which he also led the league in defensive interceptions with 11.

As of 2018,Baugh was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the 17-member charter class of 1963 and was also named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994. His punt average of 51.4 during the 1940 season remains a football record.

Early life

Samuel Adrian Baugh was born on a farm near Temple, Texas, the second son of James, a Santa Fe Railroad employee, and Lucy Baugh. His parents divorced later and his mother raised the three children. The family moved to Sweetwater, Texas, where he attended Sweetwater High School when he was 16 years old. As the quarterback of his high school football team (Sweetwater Mustangs), he'd practice for hours tossing a football through a swinging automobile tire, often on the run. Baugh would prefer punting over throwing.

However, Baugh, aspired to be a professional baseball player, and was almost given a scholarship to attend Washington State University. About a month before he started at Washington State, Baugh suffered his knee while sliding into second base during a game, and the award was not awarded.

Personal and later life

After being dropped out of football, Baugh and his partner Edmonia Smith and his wife Edmonia Smith moved to the ranch, where they had four boys and a girl. Edmonia died in 1990 after 52 years of marriage to Baugh, who was her high school sweetheart. According to his uncle, ranching brought him much more joy than he ever did from football, but he likely wouldn't play sports again. Baugh, by the way, referred to himself as Sam Baugh and signed his papers and autographs that way. He said sports reporters had tagged him with "Slingin' Sammy" and that Sam was his favorite nickname, much like fellow football great Judge "Whizzer" White of Colorado. With that in mind, TCU's football practice center, the Sam Baugh Football Center, was established.

Following the death of his wife, Baugh's health began to decline. He spent his remaining years in Jayton, a tiny West Texas town, not far from Double Mountain Ranch. On 20,000 acres (81 km2), the Double Mountain Ranch is now in the custody of Baugh's son David and is also a cow-calf operation.

According to Baugh's son, who died from a variety of health problems, including Alzheimer's disease, at Fisher County Hospital in Rotan, Texas, the Associated Press quoted him. He is laid to rest at Belvieu Cemetery in Rotan.

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College career

After coach Dutch Meyer told him he could play three sports (football, baseball, and basketball), Baugh attended Texas Christian University. He passed 587 passes in his three varsity seasons, scoring 39 touchdowns, while at Texas Christian. In 1935 and 1936, Baugh was named an All-American. In the first annual Cotton Bowl Classic in 1937, he led TCU to two bowl game victories, including a 3–2 victory over LSU in the 1936 Sugar Bowl, and a 16–6 victory over Marquette. In 1936, he came in fourth place in the Heisman Trophy voting.

In the spring of his senior year, Redskins owner George Preston Marshall sold Baugh $4,000 to play for the team. Originally skeptical about playing pro football (coach Meyer gave him a job as the freshman coach and he still dreamed of playing pro baseball), he did not commit to the deal until after the College All-Star Game, where the team defeated the Green Bay Packers 6–0.

Baugh played third base at Texas Christian, where he appeared at third base. It was during his time as a baseball player that he acquired the nickname "Slingin' Sammy," which he obtained from a Texas sportswriter. Sammy started to play with the American Association Columbus Red Birds in Columbus, Ohio, after being converted to shortstop in college. He was then sent to the Rochester, New York Red Wings, St. Louis' other top farm team, in the International League. Although he had no playing time behind starting shortstop Marty Marion and was unhappy with his prospects, he was unhappy with his prospects. He then went to professional football.

Professional career

As expected, Baugh was drafted in the first round (sixth overall) of the 1937 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, the same year the team relocated from Boston. He signed a one-year deal with the Redskins and received $8,000, making him the team's highest-paid player.

During his rookie season in 1937, Baugh spelled out quarterback (but not in Washington's case until 1944), defensive back, and punter, set a new NFL record for completions with 91 in 218 attempts and threw for a league-high 1,127 yards. He led the Redskins to the NFL Championship game against the Chicago Bears, where he finished 17 of 33 for 335 yards and his second-half touchdown passes of 55, 78, and 33 yards gave Washington a 28-21 victory. Russell Wilson's 335 passing yards made the most ever in a playoff game by a rookie quarterback in NFL history until he broke the record in 2012. In championship games between 1940 and 1943, the Redskins and Bears would meet three times. The Bears won by 73–0 in the 1940 Championship game, bringing the most one-sided victory in NFL history. After the game, Baugh wondered what would have happened if the Redskins' first drive had resulted in a touchdown.

He shrugged and replied "What?

"The score should have been 73%."

It was during World War II that Baugh's heyday would have arrived. The Redskins won the East Conference in 1942 with a ten-one record. The Bears went 11–0 and outscored their opponents 376–84 during the same season. Baugh threw a touchdown pass and held the Bears in their own territory, with some good punts, including an 85-yard quick kick, and Washington beat Washington 14-16.

During 1943, Baugh delivered what many believe to be the best single-season result by a pro football player during that season, including pass completions, punting (45.9 percent average) and interceptions (11). In a 42–20 victory over Detroit, one of Baugh's most memorable single-game appearances this season was when he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four passes. He was named as an All-Pro tailback for the first time this year. The Redskins made it to the championship game again, but they lost 41–21 to the Bears. While playing Bears quarterback Sid Luckman and had to leave, Baugh sustained a concussion during the game and was forced to leave.

During the 1945 season, Baugh earned 128 of 182 passes for a 70.33 percent completion rate, which was then a football record then and now ranks fourth-best today (to Ken Anderson, 70.55 in 1982, and Drew Brees, 71.23 in 2011). He had 11 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. In the 1945 Championship game against the Cleveland Rams, the Redskins won the East Conference again but lost 15-14. Because of a safety that occurred early in the game, the one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny. The Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line in the first quarter. Baugh threw to an open receiver as the ball was headed in the goal line rather than at the end of the game zone) and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. This was ruled as a safety under the old rules, giving the Rams a 2–0 lead. It was a victory margin that stood out. Owner Marshall was so dissatisfied with the result that he became a major force in passing the following major rule change: A forward pass that hits the goal posts is clearly dismissed. "Baugh/Marshall Rule" was introduced later in history.

On "Sammy Baugh Day" on November 23, 1947, one of Baugh's most memorable single appearances appeared. The Washington, D.C. Touchdown Club paid tribute to him at Griffith Stadium and gave him a station wagon. He went for 355 yards and six touchdowns against the Chicago Cardinals. The Redskins finished 4-8 this season, but Baugh had career highs in completions (210), attempts (354), yards (2,938) and touchdown passes (25), leading the league in all four categories.

In 1948 and 1949, Baugh played for five years, leading the league in completion percentage for the sixth and seventh times. He resigned after the 1952 season. In his last game, a 27-21 victory over Philadelphia at Griffith Stadium, he played for several minutes before finally bowing to a long standing ovation from the crowd. He has won numerous NFL pass titles and earned first-team All-NFL recognition four times in his career. He completed 1,693 of 2,995 passes for 21,886 yards.

Baugh held 13 NFL records in three key positions: quarterback, punter, and defensive back by the time he retired. He is regarded as one of the top football players in the game at any time. He spawned the Redskins' fanaticism. "He brought not only victories but thrills and ignited Washington with a zeal, sparking even the worst Redskins seasons can barely recover," Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post says. He was the first to play as it was played today, and the first to make the forward pass an effective weapon rather than a "act of desperation."

Two of his quarterback's tenures as quarterback remain unbeaten (six; tied with Steve Young) and the most seasons with the lowest interception rate (five). He is also fourth in the highest single-season completion percentage (70.33), the majority of seasons leading the league in yards gained (four) and the most seasons leading the league in completion percentage (seven).

Baugh, a punter, set the highest punting average in a career (45.1 yards), and he's now second all-time (Shane Lechler 46.5 yards), has the highest (51.4 in 1940) and fourth-best (48.7 in 1941) season records. From 1940 to 1943, he ruled the league in punting. He was the first player in league history to intercept four passes in a game and is the only one to lead the league in passing, punting, and interceptions in the same season.

Baugh is expected to be compared to more recent great players as one of the best-known early NFL quarterbacks. The football of Baugh's period was rounder at the ends and fatter in the middle than the one used today, making it much more difficult to pass (or even create a proper spiral). Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post wrote this article. In addition, it is critical to note that pass-interference laws have soared sharply, inflating modern quarterbacks' figures.

Baugh, Baugh, and teammate Wayne Millner were assistant coaches with The Catholic University of America's Cardinals while they were in attendance at the 1940 Sun Bowl. In 1952, Baugh left Washington, D.C., for Washington, D.C. Despite repeated invitations, he decided not to return for Redskins team activities. He became the head coach at Hardin-Simmons University, where he set a record of 23–28 years between 1955 and 1959.

In 1960 and 1961, Baugh, the first coach of the New York Titans (which later became the New York Jets), of the American Football League, held a record of 14–14. He was an assistant at the University of Tulsa in 1963 under head coach Glenn Dobbs. Jerry Rhome, an All-American quarterback, was coached at Tulsa. In 1964, Baugh coached the Houston Oilers, going 4–10.

Baugh also started acting. In 1941, he earned $6,400 for appearing in a 12-week serial as Tom King, a dark-haired Texas Ranger. Republic Studios released King of the Texas Rangers, a serial. Duncan Renaldo, later known as TV's Cisco Kid, appeared in theaters as Saturday matinees; later on, the episodes were broadcast in theaters as Saturday matinees.

Since visiting Gus McCrae in the television series Lonesome Dove in 1988, Robert Duvall based his role as him, particularly his arm movements.

NFL career statistics

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