First time I saw the Boston Patriots play they had a RB named Larry Garron he was out of Western Illinois, in a word....slasher. The kicker was Gino Cappelletti who was also their stud receiver, the QB was Babe Parilli, yep....Parilli to Cappelletti.
A few years later here came big Jim Nance an NCAA wrestling champion out of Syracuse*** at fullback, cat was a load and their first 1000 yard rusher.
Stanley "The Steamer" Morgan was their first..zoooooooooooommmm....he was out of Tennessee. I'm thinking he still holds franchise records, maybe not.
Houston Antwine, Larry Eisenhauer, John Hannah early Pat studs. Andre Tippett came a little later, as did Ben Coates. Michael Haynes an ASU long jumper a stud.
People forget it was the Pats those 85 Bears mauled in their SB win. That Pats team had Craig James of The Pony Express fame while t SMU with Eric erson.
Of course you knew all that, right?
*** Jim Brown, Floyd Little, Larry Czonka all in the HOF. Ernie Davis Heisman winner. Joe Morris could play.
In the early 60's pro football liked this.
AFL
West
LA/SD Chargers
Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs
Denver Broncos
Oakland Raiders (came real close to being called...Senors)
East
NY ans/Jets
Boston Patriots
Buffalo Bills
Houston Oilers
The first "Star" of the new league was a RB out of North Texas State Abner Haynes he was a multi talented cat for the Texans/Chiefs, speedy, shifty. First rushing champ. The first mega talented player however was Chargers receiver Lance Alworth a former RB out of Arkansas, he was the best receiver in all of football.
NFL West
SF 49ers
LA Rams
Chicago Bears
GB Packers
Detroit Lions
Baltimore Colts
Minnesota Vikings
East
Dallas Cowboys (were in the west for a season)
St. Louis Cardinals
NY Giants
Philly Eagles
Cleveland Browns
Wash Redskins
Pitt Steelers.....totally sucked, they had one player a monster fullback John Henry Johnson HOF
The reason the AFL made it was they had a ton of black players on their rosters, a bigger % than the NFL. So they played an exciting speedy brand of football. The defenses were terrible.
When the Packers were winning with Lombardi, they had two white RB's in Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung (both HOF) and white receivers Carroll Dale and Boyd Dowler.
Imagine a player so great that despite the fact the defense is totally geared to stop just him he STILL averaged 100 yards in every game he ever played and averaged over 5 yards a carry, yep, the amazing Jim Brown. A 6-2 230 pound kick returner in 1959, what a sight.
Then here came "The Kansas Comet" Gale Sayers. As a HS kid he led the nation with a 24-11 long jump. his older bro Roger a world class sprinter (once beat Bob Hayes). Sayers was incredible, the greatest broken field runner ever, his speed, agility, elusiveness combo was totally unique.
My 60's All Pro
NFL
QB...Johnny Unitas
FB...Jim Brown
RB...Gale Sayers
WR...Bobby Mitc ***
WR...Ray Berry
TE...John Mackey
AFL
Joe Namath
Cookie Gilchrist....250 pounds of mean
Abner Haynes
Lnce Alworth
Don Maynard
Fred Arbanas
*** a Big10 sprint/hurdle Champion at Illinois. He started out ther RB next to Brown in Cleveland, yep, thunder and lifgtnin'. Why they broke this great combo up....Ernie Davis....who they didn't need.