Bobby Layne

Baseball Player

• Born: December 19, 1926
• Birthplace: Santa Anna, Texas
• Died: December 1, 1986
• Place of death: Lubbock, Texas

Sport: Football

Early Life

Robert Lawrence Layne was born on December 19, 1926, in Santa Anna, Texas. He spent his early childhood playing in the streets of his small hometown. His life became difficult at a very early age. When he was six years old, his father died. Bobby was distraught. He was packed up and hurriedly sent off to live with an aunt and uncle in Fort Worth, Texas. Bobby hardly even knew them.

Eventually, Bobby and his new family moved to Dallas, Texas. In high school, he became a baseball pitcher. He practiced until he was so good that he won an athletic scholarship to the University of Texas. On the university’s team, Bobby’s was like a good luck charm: The team never lost a game while he was there. In fact, Bobby Layne pitched and won twenty-six games, including three no-hitters.

The Road to Excellence

When Bobby turned his attention seriously to football, he was successful almost from the start. The first team he played for was the University of Texas Longhorns. He led the Longhorns to twenty-eight victories out of thirty-four games he played. His rare quality of leadership came to the fore during those games. It seemed like any team that he directed would become a winner. Bobby was becoming a Texas hero.

However, Bobby had another side to his nature. He was known for partying and staying up late. His need for only five hours of sleep each night, and his controversial lifestyle caused some to nickname him the “Gadabout Gladiator.”

After his stint with the Longhorns, Bobby was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL and then was traded instantly to the Chicago Bears. Then the Bears decided that they did not need Bobby after all. When at last Bobby was sent off to join the New York Bulldogs, a team with relatively low status in the hierarchy of professional football teams, he must have felt somewhat homeless and unwanted—the way he did when, at six years of age, he was sent to live with his relatives.

Bobby gave the Bulldogs everything he had as a player, but somehow the team rarely won a game. Before long, Bobby was so disheartened that he began to think of quitting football altogether.

The Emerging Champion

Bobby changed his mind when the Bulldogs suddenly traded him to the Detroit Lions. Even though the Lions were losing games steadily, and were yet to discover Bobby’s potential, Bobby’s spirits picked up. Finally he became the Lion’s top quarterback. As a result, the team finished the season at the top of the division with a 9-3 record, tying with the Los Angeles Rams. The Lions beat the Rams 31-21 during the playoffs. Next, Detroit was matched against the seemingly invincible Cleveland Browns. Bobby led the Lions to a 17-7 victory—the first championship for the franchise in seventeen years.

The following year, Bobby’s remarkable play-calling ability once more enabled his team to claim the conference championship. Again, the Lions faced the Browns in the title game and beat them. In all, the Texan quarterback led his team to three conference championships and two NFL titles.

Continuing the Story

The key to Bobby’s success was his innate leadership ability. He believed that winning resulted when teammates believed in their leader. From his days of playing baseball through his professional career in football, Bobby made winners out of his teams.

The injuries Bobby had received over the years took their toll, though. In the late 1950’s, he began to slow down. He was no longer his old triumphant self on the field. When he turned thirty-two, the Lions traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

People wondered if Bobby would ever again play as he had earlier. When he joined the Steelers in 1958, they were already stuck in a losing streak. It took some time to turn things around, but Bobby called on his talents as a leader. Eventually he inspired his teammates to believe not only in him but also in themselves—as a result they won five consecutive games that season. It had been sixteen years since the Steelers had done so well.

Bobby played for the Steelers until 1962. Then, when he was thirty-five years old, he decided to retire to Lubbock, Texas. He was inducted into the Michigan and Pennsylvania Sports Halls of Fame, as well as the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame. In 1967, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as one of the finest quarterbacks ever. Bobby’s years of hard living exacted their price, though, and he died on December 1, 1986, in Lubbock.

Summary

Bobby Layne was a brilliant quarterback whose leadership guided the Detroit Lions to four conference titles and three NFL crowns. Bobby played in three Pro Bowls and was named to three all-pro teams. When he retired, he held many of the NFL’s passing records, and he is remembered as one of the most spectacular quarterbacks of the 1950’s.

Bibliography

King, Peter. Greatest Quarterbacks. Des Moines, Iowa: Sports Illustrated Books, 1999.

MacCambridge, Michael. America’s Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation. New York: Random House, 2004.

St. John, Bob. Heart of a Lion: The Wild and Woolly Life of Bobby Layne. Dallas, Tex.: Taylor, 1991.

Smith, Ron, and Dan Dierdorf. Heroes of the Hall. St. Louis: Sporting News, 2003.