Sammy Baugh

Football Player

• Born: March 17, 1914
• Birthplace: Temple, Texas
• Died: December 17, 2008
• Place of death: Rotan, Texas

Sport: Football

Early Life

Samuel Adrian “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh was born in Temple, Texas, on March 17, 1914. His father, J. V. Baugh, worked for a railroad. Sammy said that he began playing football as early as the third grade. Football was so popular in the farming community of Temple that Sammy’s grammar school had an organized team. Sammy played end when he first went to high school, but his coach played him at many positions. Every day after school Sammy practiced throwing the football through a tire he tied to a backyard tree. After Sammy’s first year of high school the Baughs moved to Sweetwater, Texas, where Sammy finished high school.

The Road to Excellence

During his last three years of high school, Sammy played on the baseball, basketball, and football teams. Although baseball was his favorite sport, young Sammy went to the football field to practice his punting for about one hour each day in the summer. He kicked the ball out of bounds within the ten-yard line, walked to the other end of the field, and kicked the ball back. Usually a tailback for the Sweetwater High football squad, during his senior year, he became a fine blocking back.

In 1933, Sammy entered Texas Christian University (TCU) and joined the freshman football team under coach Leo “Dutch” Meyer, who recruited Sammy after watching him play baseball. Meyer promised Sammy that he could play football and basketball as well. Sammy went to TCU on a scholarship and played all three sports for the varsity teams. Meyer was the first to spot Sammy’s unusually powerful wrists and the exceptional accuracy of his football tosses. The next year, when Meyer assumed head-coaching duties, Sammy became the passing tailback for the varsity team.

The Emerging Champion

As a sophomore Sammy led TCU to an 8-4 record, but the year was a learning experience. The team lost to rivals Texas, Southern Methodist University (SMU), Arkansas, and Centenary. Sammy’s most disappointing performance came against SMU on November 3, 1935, in a game for the national championship. Unbeaten SMU won, 20-14, as Sammy completed only 17 of 45 passes; his bullet tosses were difficult for the receivers to catch. Sammy learned from his mistakes, and under his three-year leadership the TCU Horned Frogs’ record was 29-7-2. In 1936, TCU won the Sugar Bowl against Louisiana State. In 1937, TCU beat Marquette University in the Cotton Bowl.

Sammy’s passing skills alone made him a football legend, but he was a complete player as well. In the 1936 Sugar Bowl, TCU defeated LSU, 3-2, in a severe rainstorm, as Sammy displayed his uncanny kicking abilities. He punted a slippery, soaked football fourteen times for a 48-yard average. Playing safety on defense, he twice intercepted passes deep in TCU territory, and he once made a game-saving tackle at the TCU two-yard line. Sammy even carried the ball on the day’s longest run for 42 yards. He capped his collegiate career by throwing a touchdown pass as the 1937 college all-stars upset the NFL champion Green Bay Packers 6-0 in Chicago.

Continuing the Story

Washington Redskins’ owner George Preston Marshall signed Sammy to a hefty contract. Sammy fulfilled Marshall’s hopes, leading the team to the NFL championship in his first year. Named all-pro six times, Sammy led the Redskins to five Eastern Division titles and two NFL championships, in 1937 and 1942.

Sammy’s biggest football thrill was the 1937 championship game against the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field. A combination of rain and frost turned the field into balls of mud as sharp as rocks. Slowed by a leg injury and plagued by frozen fingers, Sammy could not get his rhythm, and his team trailed 14-7 at halftime. In the third period, though, Sammy threw three touchdowns, completing 18 of 33 passes, as his team won the title, 28-21.

Sammy regarded the 1940 team as his best, although the team lost to Chicago for the title by the record score of 73-0. The Redskins had beaten Chicago weeks earlier, but on that day every gamble backfired. Eight of Sammy’s passes were intercepted. Two years later, Sammy and the Redskins gained their revenge, defeating Chicago in the NFL Championship game 14-6. In the title game in 1943, Sammy suffered an early concussion, and Chicago won 41-21.

When football strategy changed from the single wing to the t-formation in 1944, Sammy became quarterback. Sammy liked the change because it reduced the beatings he was taking as a tailback and lengthened his career. During sixteen seasons with the Redskins from 1937 to 1952, Sammy topped NFL passers six times. His best single-game performances included making 29 completions against Los Angeles in 1949, throwing for 446 yards against Boston in 1948, and tossing 6 touchdown passes in two different games.

In 1947, Washington fans honored Sammy with a special “day.” He rewarded the fans with a superb performance against the Chicago Cardinals, completing 25 of 33 passes for 355 yards and 6 touchdowns, but Washington’s 45-21 victory did not prevent the Cardinals from winning the 1947 championship. During his last few years, Sammy tutored quarterbacks Harry Gilmer and Eddie LeBaron. A broken hand sidelined Sammy for most of 1952, but he returned to lead the team to victories in the last two games before his retirement.

Sammy was one of the greatest punters in NFL history, retiring with a 45.1-yard career average; in 1940, he once had a 51.3-yard season average, and he led the NFL in punting for four consecutive years, from 1940 to 1943. One of Sammy’s feats may never be duplicated: One season, he led the NFL in passing, punting, and interceptions. His 4 pass interceptions in one game, against Detroit, was also a record.

In 1941, Sammy built a 6,300-acre ranch near Rotan, Texas, where he became a successful rancher. He married his high school sweetheart, Edmonia Smith, with whom he had five sons: Todd, David, Bruce, Stephen, and Francis. Sammy later coached at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene before returning to the professionals to coach the New York Titans and Houston Oilers of the American Football League.

Sammy was inducted into the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 as one of seventeen charter members. In 1999, the Associated Press voted Sammy the third greatest NFL player of the twentieth century. The famous sportswriter Grantland Rice once named Sammy the finest quarterback of all time in both college and pro football, and Sports Illustrated chose Sammy as all-century quarterback to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of football in 1969. He died December 17, 2008, at the age of ninety-four.

Summary

Black-haired, blue-eyed Sammy Baugh became the nation’s most celebrated collegiate passer. As an all-American tailback at TCU and as a quarterback star with the Washington Redskins of the NFL, Sammy helped to revolutionize football during the transition from single wing to t-formation. The 6-foot 2-inch passer remained cool under defensive pressure, was amazingly accurate, and helped to make the professional game into a more exciting, pass-oriented contest.

Bibliography

Canning, Whit. Sammy Baugh: Best There Ever Was. Indianapolis, Ind.: Master Press, 1997.

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

Loverro, Thom. Hail Victory: An Oral History of the Washington Redskins. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2006.

Whittingham, Richard. Hail Redskins: A Celebration of the Greatest Players, Teams, and Coaches. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2004.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. What a Game They Played: An Inside Look at the Golden Era of Pro Football. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.