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September 1, 2006

What's in a Name? What's in a Number?

S
ome football players are destined for greatness. Dick Butkus - No. 51 . . . Joe Montana - No. 16 . . . Joe Willie Namath - No. 12 . . . Jim Brown - No. 32 . . . Dick "Night Train" Lane - No. 81 . . . Roger Staubach - No. 12. These guys had great names. They had great numbers.

There was also O.J. Simpson [bear with me]. Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 by the widest margin in the award's history. The runner-up in 1968 was a great two-way player from Purdue named Leroy Keyes -- who finished third in the Heisman balloting in 1967, behind winner Gary Beban (QB-UCLA) and Simpson. In 1967, Keyes averaged a remarkable 6.6 yards per rush with 19 TDs, gaining 986 yards on 149 carries. In 1968, Keyes gained 1003 yards . He's considered among the 100 greatest college football players.

Leroy Keyes. He had the name. He had the stats. He made the cover of Sports Illustrated. He had the draft status -- taken 3rd overall in the 1969 NFL draft, behind Simpson (Buffalo) and offensive tackle George Kunz from Notre Dame (Falcons) -- and one spot ahead of "Mean Joe" Greene. Keyes was destined for NFL greatness.

Unfortunately for Keyes, he had one problem. Well, actually two problems. First, he wore number 23 in college. But when he arrived in Philadelphia to join the Eagles, another player already had that number -- a former first-round pick in 1967 who was also a running back. His name: Harry Jones from the Univ. of Arkansas. So Keyes took number 20. He tore his achillies tendon in 1970 and never approached the potential he showed in college.

Leroy Keyes career was doomed from the moment he had to give up his number in favor of a guy named Harry Jones. C'mon, what NFL team drafts a guy named Harry Jones with a 1st round pick? But just to prove the Eagles put no stock in a player's name, they used their 3rd round pick to take another running back in the 1967 draft named Harry Wilson from Nebraska, whose career was as undistinguished as Harry Jones's.

In the NFL, it's not only about the number. It's about the "name," too.

Posted by shertaugh at September 1, 2006 9:24 AM

Comments

You think that's bad - this year the Giants drafted Guy Whimper.

Posted by: Devin McCullen at September 1, 2006 6:10 PM