Norm Van Brocklin

Hall of Fame Professional Football Player, Coach. He was considered by many as being one of the most competitive individuals ever to play the sport. For twelve seasons (1949 to 1960), he played at the quarterback position in the National Football League with the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles. Born Norman Mack Van Brocklin, he was raised in California where he attended Acalanes High School (Lafayette). Following his service with the US Navy during World War II, he played collegiate football at the University of Oregon and while a member of the Ducks, he first utilized his ability to read opposing teams' defenses by leading his squad to an appearance in the Cotton Bowl in 1949. He holds the distinction as being the school's first quarterback to earn All-American honors. He was selected by Los Angeles during the 4th round of the 1949 NFL Draft and formed one of the greatest quarterback combinations in football history, as he split playing time with Bob Waterfield. 

During his years with the Rams, they appeared in three consecutive NFL Title Games (1949 to 1951) and captured the world championship in 1951, as they defeated the Cleveland Browns 24 to 17, thus becoming the only time the Rams won a title game while the franchise was in Los Angeles. During that contest, Van Brocklin threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Tom Fears to put Los Angeles in the lead and preserve the victory. He joined the Eagles in 1958 and provided leadership which enabled Philadelphia to capture the NFL Title over the Green Bay Packers in 1960. He was recipient of the league MVP Award that year. In the course of his career, he earned Pro-Bowl honors nine-times (1950 to 1955, 1958 to 1960), was First-Team All-Pro in 1960, passed for 554 yards in a game against the New York Yanks in 1951 and led the league in passing yardage with 2,637 in 1954. In 140 regular season NFL games, he amassed 23,611 passing yards and 173 touchdowns. Following his playing career he embarked on a lengthy coaching career, initially as the first head coach in Minnesota Vikings' franchise history (1961 to 1966), where he mentored a young Fran Tarkenton. From 1968 to 1974, he served as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and later was an assistant at Georgia Tech. In addition, he was an analyst for college football broadcasts. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. During the last years of his life, he suffered from a variety of health issues including a brain tumor which was successfully removed. He died of complications from a stroke at age 57. He was posthumously elected to the University of Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992. Find-a-Grave