Blanda, George F.
Football
b. Sept. 17, 1927, Youngwood, PA
After quarterbacking the University of Kentucky for three seasons, Blanda joined the NFL's Chicago Bears and had a fairly undistinguished 10-year career with them. He became Chicago's starting quarterback in 1953 and led the NFL in pass attempts with 362 and completions with 269, but his 46.7 completion percentage and 23 interceptions against 14 touchdowns left something to be desired.
An injury sidelined him for about half the 1954 season and he became a backup quarterback and place-kicker for the rest of his time with the Bears. He retired in 1959 because the Bears wanted to use him only as a kicker.
When the Houston Oilers joined the new American Football League in 1960, Blanda came out of retirement to become the starting quarterback on a pass-happy team. He led the AFL in passing yardage with 3,330 and touchdown passes with 36 in 1961; in completions with 224 and yardage with 3,003 in 1963; completions with 262 in 1964 and 186 in 1965. The Oilers won the first two AFC championships and Blanda was named the league's player of the year in 1961.
Though he wasn't a starter for all of 1966, he did Houston's kicking and led the league with 116 points. Then he was traded to the Oakland Raiders, where he was primarily a kicker. Blanda became a legend, especially among over-forty fans, with an incredible five weeks in 1970, when he was forty-three years old.
It began on October 25, when he replaced an injured Daryle Lamonica and threw touchdown passes of 19, 43, and 44 yards in a 31-14 victory over Pittsburgh. The following week, he kicked a 48-yard field goal with three seconds left to give Oakland a 17-17 tie with Kansas City.
On November 8, he replaced Lamonica in the fourth quarter with Oakland trailing by a touchdown. Blanda threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to tie the game with 1:14 remaining, then won it with a 52-yard field goal with three seconds to play. Against Denver on November 15, Blanda came in with 4 minutes left and Oakland losing 19-17. He led an 80-yard drive, culminating in a 20-yard touchdown pass to Fred Biletnikoff for another victory. And on November 22, his 16-yard field goal with four seconds remaining gave Oakland a 20-17 win over San Diego.
Thanks to those heroics, Oakland won the AFC Western Division championship and Blanda was named the AFC player of the year and the Associated Press male athlete of the year.
He announced his retirement before the 1975 season and shortly before his forty-ninth birthday. During his incredible 26-year career, the longest in pro football history, Blanda completed 1,911 of 4,007 passes for 26,920 yards and 236 touchdowns, with 277 interceptions. He scored 9 touchdowns, kicked 943 extra points and had 335 field goals for a record 2,002 points.