LEE GROSSCUP
Quarterback
1st Round
Utah
Quarterbacks Who Can Really Throw The Ball Around Under Fire Don't Show Up Too Often. That's Why Lee Grosscup Is ...
THE PASSER THE PROS WANT
"Lee Grosscup, an unusual young man who talks well, acts well and passes very well, had just concluded a fair season's of work at Utah. He had completed 94 out of 136 passes, for a record .686 average, with only two interceptions. He had made a national reputation for himself when he went wild against Army, passing for 326 yards against only 45 for the winning Cadets, in a 39-33 brawl where a fumble decided the outcome. And he was an All-America selection after a couple of years of bouncing around the Pacific Coast and only one season of varsity competition.
Now he was basking pleasantly in a hero's glory and thinking about returning to Utah for his senior year and more of the same. But a call came through from Toronto. The Argonauts in the Canadian Big Four League needed a passing quarterback badly. Would he jump school and play for them in 1958? They would pay his price. 'No thanks,' Grosscup told them. 'I'm going back to school and then I'm going to play in the National Football League.'
The people at Utah and in the NFL began to breathe easily again. Young Grosscup, even with his one season of ball, is the passer the pros want. Coach Sid Gillman of the Los Angeles Rams has already predicted that Lee will be the bonus choice at the NFL draft meeting after this season. Gillman was technically wrong- there is no more bouns choice in the league, each team having one crack at it- but he was right in his estimate of Grosscup's value.
His 1,398 yards passing, high mark in the nation last year, is only one reason has been tagged by the pros. His ability to pass both long and short- vital in pro ball- is another. But there is much more. Lee is a confident player. 'You get the impression,' one coach observed, 'that he could hit his receivers anywhere on the field.' He doesn't throw the ball away; he is willing to eat it if he can't find anyone open. He is big (6-1, 180), strong, accurate, ambitious, and a stern competitor.
Lee's parents married young- his father was 18, his mother 15- and he was born a year later. When he was six, his father came riding home one day on his bicycle with a football under his arm, and Lee was hooked. For two years they worked out around the house, the young father and the young son. Then his dad went into the navy. When he came out, he was 29 and Lee was ten, old enough by now to take instruction in football fundamentals, like signal-calling and blocking. But mostly Lee learned how to throw the ball. Instead of practicing by throwing to an old tire hung to a wall, the traditional method, he would throw at a moving target. Who was the target? Grosscup senior, naturally. 'Dad was in good shape,' Lee explains. 'He still is. He's only 40 now and we play volleyball together, in doubles games, and we do pretty well.'
Lee went to Santa Monica High School, where both Ronnie Knox and Jackie Douglas, later a couple of hotshot passers in the Pacific Coast Conference, were ahead of him. Lee did well in football, earned the usual share of college bids, and settled on the University of Washington. He had a good freshman season there, but that was the year Washington was rapped for its zeal in acquiring athletes, and the players were punished for the recruiters' crimes. Ineligible to play there and unable to transfer to another PCC school because of a special double transfer rule that would have forced him to sit out two seasons, Lee went to Santa Monica Junior College to escape the storm for a while. There he broke his leg as a result of a three-way gang-up. An end, a tackle and a shooting linebacker landed on him simultaneously, and the break kept him on the shelf for three months. It wasn't until a year ago that the leg healed completely.
Unable to get back into the PCC after his one year at Santa Monica, Lee went shopping and found that the Skyline Conference had a lenient transfer rule. He chose Utah because Jack Curtice, the coach there last season is pass-minded and Lee figured, rightly, that he would have a showcase for his good right arm. In the first game of the season, he broke a rib in the first quarter and fared poorly with his passing. It appeared that his jinx hadn't left him. But the next week against tough Colorado, he was better again and began his aerial assault on the record books. Against Colorado State, in a fierce snowstorm, he completed 12 of 13 passes. Afterward, Colorado State coach Tuffy Mullinson said: 'I've never seen anything like it. How in the world can a boy throw the ball like that on such a miserable field?' And Red Blaik after Lee had completed 14 of 28 passes against Army said: 'He is the best passer in college ball today. He could make any pro team in the country.'
This year, with Curtice moving on to Stanford and Ray Nagel, who learned his football under Ray Sanders, taking over as coach, Utah has switched to a Split-T offense, which requires the quarterback to run more, block more, handle the ball more and take more punishment. 'I am happy for the chance,' Grosscup says. 'People thought I was a passing specialist last year. They will have more respect for me if I can do the job in the split-T.
His job is to continue the work that brought unexpected prestige to the often-ignored Skyline Conference, success to Utah and the scouts to his door. Bambi- a logical nickname because of his spindly legs- will not have the supporting cast he had last year. Star halfback Stuart Vaughan, the nation's leading pass-receiver with 53 catches, and Merrill Douglas, the Skyline's best running back, are gone. But Nagel, hopeful as all new coaches are, says Lee will still have a great season. And he probably will."
-Sport Magazine, November 1958
JOE MORRISON
Fullback-Safety-Kick Returner
3rd Round
Cincinnati
"The Giants drafted Joe Morrison (40) No. 3 last winter. It shapes up as a happy choice.
Joe [check height and weight] is a strong, shifty runner and a daring returner of punts and kickoffs. He's also servicable on defense and, in a pinch, could play quarterback, his position for two years in college."
-1959 New York Giants Official Program (Yankee Stadium, November 8)
GEORGE SCOTT
Halfback-Kick Returner
19th Round
Miami-Ohio
"George Scott, a comparatively unsung No. 19 draft choice from Miami of Ohio, earned his spurs with the Giants this year with his play in pre-season training. Quick in his movements and fast afoot, the 180-pound youngster from Bainbridge, Pa., has done a good job as a kick-off and punt returner. He also fits into the picture as a spare offensive halfback. He's an excellent pass-catcher."
-1959 New York Giants Official Program (Yankee Stadium, November 15)
No comments:
Post a Comment