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George Blanda, the Hall of Fame quarterback and kickerwho played a record 26 seasons of professional football and once almost single-handedly won five consecutive games for the Oakland Raiders, has died. He was 83.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame said Blanda died Monday after a brief illness, and the Raiders issued a statement calling him "a brave Raider and a close personal friend of Raiders owner Al Davis."
Blanda, whose career dated to an era when players routinely manned two positions, scored a then-record 2,002 points. He scored those by throwing for 236 touchdowns and running for nine, as well as kicking 335 field goals and 943 extra points. He retired before the 1976 season, a month shy of his 49th birthday, having spent 10 seasons with the Chicago Bears, part of one with the Baltimore Colts, seven with the Houston Oilers and his last nine with the Raiders.
"If you put him in a group of most-competitive, biggest-clutch players, I think he'd have to be the guy who would win it all," his Raiders coach, John Madden, said in a phone interview Monday. "He was the most competitive guy that I ever knew."
Never was that more evident than during a five-game stretch in 1970 when the 43-year-old Blanda, his chiseled jaw framed by salt-and-pepper sideburns, led the Raiders to four victories and one tie with late touchdown throws or field goals.
"It got to the point where when he'd come in [the game], the whole team would go, 'Here comes George. We're going to do it now,'" Madden said. "Then pretty soon all the fans started believing, and they'd all go nuts. And then the topper is when the opponents knew it. It was like, 'Oh no, here he comes.'"
That remarkable stretch began Oct. 25, 1970, when Blanda replaced an injured Daryle Lamonica and threw three touchdown passes in a 31-14 victory over Pittsburgh.
In the four games that followed, he:
Kicked a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds to forge a 17-17 tie at Kansas City.
Threw a tying touchdown pass with one minute, 34 seconds remaining, then kicked the game-winning 52-yard field goal in the final seconds of a 23-20 victory over Cleveland.
Threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Fred Biletnikoff in a 24-19 victory over Denver.
Kicked a 16-yard field goal in the final seconds for a 20-17 victory over San Diego.
Said Davis in an interview with NFL Films: "Whenever we were in trouble, John just went to the bullpen, waved his hand, and George came in and started throwing those miraculous touchdown passes and kicking those miraculous field goals."
In looking at that incredible streak, NFL Films called Blanda "football's King Tut exhibit," noting that even though people initially thought the quarterback was too old to be a player, "he was just the right age to become a legend."
Rest in peace George, they don't make 'em like you any more.
