No. 42
Mississippi
"Old man of the aerial is Charlie Conerly, who will admit to being born on September 19, 1921, making him the oldest of all active NFL personnel. Only Sammy Baugh and Bobby Layne have thrown more lifetime touchdown passes. Charlie played tailback in college, where he was a rapid runner.
Injury-prone the last two seasons, he's hoping for 'one big year' to retire gracefully. Charlie led all passers in '59; he finished 12th in '60, completing 66 of 134 for 954 yards."
-1961 Pro Football Handbook
"The grand old man of the pros is a combat Marine of World War II and a 13-year participant in the pro football wars. He's the greatest quarterback in Giants history, leading them to three divisional titles.
In addition to a superb passing arm that he first exhibited as a single wing tailback at Ole Miss, Charlie has the intangible qualities of leadership that pick up a team. He's a magician at picking apart the enemy defenses."
-1961 Fleer No. 68
"The only reason the New York Giants failed to top the East again last year, they're convinced, was because Charlie Conerly was closing in on 40. At that age, a man doesn't bounce back as spryly from injuries as he used to. Because Conerly's play was limited to half the season, the Giants lacked their clutch weapon. With him at the controls, to pick apart the enemy defenses, to buoy the team with confidence in his leadership, to throw the home run pass- as he did in the final seconds of a Pittsburgh game- they led the league.
There were years of frustration before Conerly matured as a T-quarterback. He came up as a single-wing tailback from Mississippi and performed in virtually the same role for his first half-dozen seasons with the Giants in Steve Owens' A-formation. With the full-time switch to the T in '54, Charlie's development was rapid. The 'Conerly's Got to Go' signs draped around the Polo Grounds vanished and eventually the leathery ex-Marine was given a 'day' by appreciative fans.
The main reason the Giants are in trouble now is that after 13 seasons Charlie's availability is a gamble, and the youngsters like Lee Grosscup must prove they can do the job."
-Murray Olderman, All-Pro 1961 Football
CHARLIE CONERLY LEADS GIANTS FOR 13TH YEAR
"One of the all-time great players in National Football League competition, Chalie Conerly amazes all with his endurance. An old man, as far as football age is reckoned, he plays with the enthusiasm of a rookie each week. Many times, when the Giants have bogged down, Charlie has fired them up for sustained touchdown drives.
He holds the record of completing 36 passes in one game- a feat he performed against the Steelers in 1948. He is also fourth in all-time yards gained passing, ranking behind Van Brocklin, Baugh and Layne.
A shrewd field general, Charlie keeps the opposition off balance by calling a variety of plays. He will confuse the enemy by mixing up short passes, long heaves and delayed bucks in a single series."
-1961 Topps No. 94
OLD MAN OF THE LEAGUE
"The surly gray clouds of the bleak November day seemed to hunch themselves along the ramparts of Yankee Stadium, shouldering each other for a better view of the playing beneath. Huddled within the Home of Champions, 60,982 football fans settled back to watch the second half of the Giant-Redskin game on the 29th of November, 1959. And, wrapped in his cloak and hood, the graying 38-year-old quarterback of the New York club dropped onto the bench to watch what was left of a contest.
Charlie Conerly smiled. He had had a wonderful first half in which his passing artistry, his play-calling acumen, and his adroit ball handling had all but reduced the Washington team to a shambles. The scoreboard peering through the eerie afternoon gloom winked out New York 38, Washington 0.
But you could not blame the old hero if he paid but little mind to the score as it stood at the moment. The halftime ceremonies which had ended but a moment or so before had been exclusively his, and to him the long path of 12 years had indeed been stopped long enough for tribute payment.
Sitting there, waiting for the kickoff, Conerly could smile. Not always with benignity, not always with delight. There were bitter memories studded among the many, many games, the varied campaigns of those 12 years. He had not always been the hero. Indeed he had not.
Conerly had come to the Giants as a superstar. That's what the papers called him. That's what the exultant Giant management had called him when his contract was signed for the very first time on June 15, 1948.
He had been an all but unanimous All-American at Mississippi. He was 25 years old when he decided to give the services of his 6-1 185-lb. body to the pro gridders of New York. Old? Well, there had been a slight interruption in his education. He had to take time off from college to fight a war, and it was typical of his character that he got into the fighting rather than taking a soft but tedious job in the backwaters of strife. Conerly was with the Marines ... with the Third Division of the Leathernecks, and found himself tossing grenades instead of footballs in the unlikely arenas of Guam and Iwo Jima.
Release from the service with the end of the war brought Conerly back to the U. of Miss. and the resumption of an athletic career that had made him one of the most sought after young men of his day. There are always comparisons to be made with each bright new star. For Conerly, the men who really know would mention only one name. 'He's another Sammy Baugh.'
In his final season of college competition, Conerly proceeded to show the estimation of his ability was not far-fetched. Dropping back coolly, flicking his wrist, he threw 232 times. Only seven times did his passes go astray, as his completions soared to 133 and his touchdowns to 18. Particularly deadly were his short throws, and it was easy to see how large a role the Giants had planned for this fair-haired boy with the easy drawl.
Jack Mara of the New York team dickered with Washington for the right to negotiate with Conerly. Mara yielded his prior claims to Harry Gilmer and Howkie Livingston and managed to secure the mighty man from Mississippi.
His signing was a day of high carnival. An elaborate luncheon at Leone's was arranged and, in addition to the entire Giant official family, hordes of newspaper, television and radio men, came the commissioner of the league, the late Bert Bell.
Few National Football League unknowns ever received such a launching.
But there is a great deal between the dream and its realization.
In the fierce warfare of pro football, all the laurels of college ball can whither in a few games ... indeed can be dried and useless even in the no-quarters-asked-or-given summer days of training camp. Conerly found himself very quickly in the role of a rookie- and not too great a rookie at that. He learned almost immediately that he would be accepted only on his record each game, each quarter, each play.
His start was slow, but he gained momentum enough to be Rookie of the Year. In his second game as a Giant on October 8, 1948, he attempted to match throws with Sammy Baugh. It was no contest. Baugh the master, 34 years old, completed 16 of 24 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-10 romp. But in December, when Baugh and the 'Skins came to New York, the kid from Mississippi had all but closed the gap. Baugh hit with 25 of 41 tosses for 354 yards and three touchdowns; Conerly was with him with 23 of 41 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. But the Redskins won it, 28-21. Of course, it took a Baugh-to-Bones Taylor combination in the final two minutes to swing it.
The rookie of the year is not always the sophomore of the year, and too often the title which sounds so glamorous turns to ashes a few short years later. There were those that predicted that for Conerly, but he made them eat their words with a remarkable second year, particularly against Washington. In head-to-head combat with Baugh, Conerly won twice, by 45-35 in D.C. and 23-7 in the Polo Grounds. In Washington, Conerly found his man 11 times in 15 tries for three touchdowns, while Baugh was held in check to seven of 17 for 206 and two scores. In New York, it was Conerly for 14 of 32 for 218 and two touchdowns, while Baugh, held scoreless, hit on 16 of 27 but for only 131 yards.
Yet in his adopted town, Conerly found little acceptance with the fans. Although football men knew him for one of the finest practitioners in the business, the upper deck quarterbacks and the behind-the-goal-post coaches failed to warm evil days [sic], engulfed in the era of the wide open T. Conerly, a single-wing hero, found himself time and time again rolled under by the fierce charging lines of teams of the new age. A shoulder separation hampered his timing, and the fans, bent only on victory, turned their wrath on Conerly.
But this man was a professional. He set out to become not a mere T quarterback, but the best. Surrounded by players learning, as was he, the different style of play, beset with injuries, the severity of which only he and his mates knew, Conerly stuck to his job ... and the Giants stuck with him.
Sunday after Sunday the chorus of boos rolled down as Charlie 'ate' the ball over and over, taking severe yardage losses rather than have the hurried toss intercepted. Commiseration was shrugged off. He was a pro doing his job. The tide would turn.
Turn it did, and now on this chilly November day the gallery gods had outdone themselves. They had come, nearly 61,000 of them, to cheer him to the last faint echo which still murmured in the caverns beneath the Stadium.
The Giants were on their way to another Eastern Division title, and it was Conerly who would take them there. That he had demonstrated so brilliantly the month before when the Browns had bowed, 10-6.
The first 28 minutes of that game had been bitterly fought, with neither team able to score. With 1:50 to go the Giants, with Conerly at the helm, started from their own 20. Charlie hit Frank Gifford for a 24-yard gain to the 44. A time out, then a Conerly to Bob Schnelker pass for 15 to the Browns' 41, out of bounds. Again to Schnelker to eight yards and out of bounds. An incomplete pass, then a fake and a handoff to Mel Triplett who goes 11 to the Browns' 22. Now it is Conerly passing again to Gifford who is hauled down on the 1. And then the touchdown ... carried by, naturally, Conerly.
Yes, Conerly was the heart of the team, but now he was in the hearts of the fans, too. They had decided they would make up for the years of doubt, the seasons of hooting, the games of carping criticism, by showing him that 12 years in the big town were appreciated. Grudgingly or not, the fan had to admit that this old pro always had given them his very best and that his very best, when combined with men who could go with him, would mean thrills, excitement and titles.
It is axiomatic that the day a man is honored for his chosen sport is when he will have one of his poorest days. When Jack Mara arrived at the Stadium that morning he peered through the gloom at the early arrivals who swirled about the entrances. He walked over the field after the tarp had been removed. He kicked at the soggy pocket of snow left from the wet fall of three inches that had blanked the area during the night. 'I'm afraid Chuck may have one of those horrible afternoons,' he moaned.
Told of his boss' pessimism afterward, Conerly grinned. 'I knew just how he felt. I was nervous and under heavy pressure. Luckily, it didn't prove fatal.'
That should rank among the all-time understatements. Performing only in the first half, Conerly drove his team rough-shod over the hapless Redskins. It was 38-0 when the merciful whistle blew, and three of the touchdowns came on Conerly passes. All the others were the products of a series of play calling that simply outgeneraled the Washington team.
As the teams left the field, the various groups who had come to salute Conerly spilled out over the field. Gifts of all kinds and value came flowing from the fans who once had hooted.
As Conerly and his lovely wife Perian modestly and graciously accepted the homage of the crowd, his teammates and coaches watched from a respectful distance, amused and touched by the fickle memories of the rooters. The man who had screamed Conerly was a 'bum' had helped buy one of two cameras for him. There was a Cadillac ... a Corvette ... trips to Europe ... a portable TV set ... a tape recorder ... on and on the list went.
One of the final gifts brought a roar of laughter from the mob, and howls of glee from Conerly's friends. He was given a five-year supply of vitamins ... maybe somebody finally had figured he had played long enough on skill, courage and heart."
-Who's Who in Pro Football (1961 Edition)
"Although at 40, Charlie Conerly (42) is the oldest active player in the NFL, his zest for combat remains undiminished. This great, game performer has been the key cog in the Giant attack since 1948. His 1,374 pass completions have been good for 18,854 yards and 166 touchdowns.
In addition, his inspirational value has been incalculable. The Old Man from Ole Miss is one of the all-time greats."
-1961 Official New York Giants Program
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