1963 Profile: Hugh McElhenny

Halfback
No. 39
Washington
"McElhenny has thrilled more spectators than any player in the club's history. He's an exciting running halfback who weaves and strikes once he gets into open territory. Tagged 'The King' in his 1952 rookie season, he's still going strong in his eighth year- he was named Most Valuable Player in the '58 Pro Bowl game.
McElhenny lives in Mountain View, California and is the director for promotion and merchandising for a food company."

-Pro Football Handbook 1959

"McElhenny has provided many thrills with his running style. Used primarily as a flanker back in 1959, he nabbed 22 passes for 329 yards and three touchdowns. He carried only 18 times for 67 yards.
He picked up the nickname of 'The King' as a 1952 rookie. Los Angeles-born, he was the national high school high-hurdle champ.
McElhenny is promotion director for an Oakland food farm."

-1960 Pro Football Handbook

"The one-time halfback 'King' of the coast is free-wheeling Hugh McElhenny, an explosive bundle of halfback energy with a most spectacular style of running. A 49er since 1952, he was the league's most feared runner at one time, and its most difficult to contain.
Born in Los Angeles, Hugh was a scholastic hurdles champion and an All-American at the University of Washington.
He saw limited service in 1960, gaining 347 yards in 95 rushes and 114 yards with 14 pass grabs."

-1961 Pro Football Handbook

"It was quite a coup for a new team to land a player of Mac's class. Among the men of the NFL, he's universally regarded as the finest broken field runner of this era.
Mac, who played nine seasons with the Forty Niners, doesn't profess to have the speed that once made him a star hurdler, but he was good enough to carry the ball 95 times for 347 yards in 1960. He is also a pass receiving threat. Playing flanker one year (1957), he grabbed off 37 passes."

-1961 Fleer No. 127

"Always worth the price of admission and still the spectacular, exciting 'King' of broken-field fliers is Hugh McElhenny, the Los Angeles thrill-maker who in 1961 became the second player to gain 10,000 lifetime yards. Starting as a 1952 rookie, he was the most amazing of climax runners with the 49ers. McElhenny ripped off 570 rushing yards in '61 and added 283 as a pass receiver.
Experience as a scholastic high-hurler enabled him to apply high knee action  to his scrambling dashes."

-Don Schiffer, 1962 Pro Football Handbook

"Hugh rates sixth in the NFL's all-time rushing derby. He is a regular in the Pro Bowl."

-1962 Topps No. 92

"A postseason operation on knee cartilage could help Hugh McElhenny recover some of the glory he knew as the most spectacular of all NFL running backs. 'The King' was limited to 50 rushes in 1962, all due to injuries which kept him hobbled to the bench most of the season.
Born in Los Angeles, McElhenny was a San Francisco idol for nine years and the best of 49er runners. At one time he held the high school world record for the high hurdles and still uses the highest knee action in the circuit when making a sweep."

-Don Schiffer, Pro Football 1963