Posted on 10/10/2012 10:49:04 AM PDT by iowamark
RIP
Yes, I knew that Karras played for Iowa in the 1950s. But they only had one Rose Bowl appearance under Evashevski, maybe because the Big Ten had a "no repeat" rule for the Rose Bowl representative at that time?
Yep, there are a few people that when I heard they passed, gave me a real punch to the gut, Madeleine was one of those.
1957 Iowa 35, Org State 19
1959 Iowa 38, Cal 12
Funny. Those were the exact same three I thought of.
Sorry of the error on that, Eric in the Ozarks. But Karras only played for the first of those two Rose Bowl champions. He was a rookie for the Lions in 1958. (Just looked that up to be sure.)
Yes, but that Denver win vs. the Lions was only a pre-season exhibition and didn't really count. Prior to that, teams from the AFL had only faced the Lombardi-coached Packers in two Super Bowls and had been drubbed pretty badly. So Karros and other NFL players arrogantly assumed that any NFL team could easily beat any AFL opponent.
IIRC, there were other AFL teams who beat NFL teams that exhibition season, including the Jets beating the Giants.
But in Super Bowl III following that same season, the Jets with Joe Namath upset the Colts (missing Johnny Unitas for most of the game). That was the first AFL win over the NFL that counted. The leagues had previously agreed to merge completely the following year, so you can't really say that any one result "changed the game forever." What forced the merger was more the competitive bidding that increased the salaries for players coming out of college. Cheapskate owners didn't like it.
Wow, those names bring back memories.
Karras played Mongo, but he also memorably played the bodyguard in Victor/Victoria, a great, great movie. The scene where James Garner tells him to handle Lesley Ann Warren as she rams a pike through the door at them was hysterical.
RIP, Alex.
My father attended Iowa a few years after he got out of the Air Force, and because he was going to coach as well as get his teaching certificate, he had a Phys Ed course or two. During that time, there were only two guys dad knew of who could not climb a rope to save their butts: he and Alex Karras. Despite being rope-challenged, they both went on to their respective careers and did just fine.
Dad did not care for a lot of the other athletes who were at Iowa in those days. He and his younger brother were both veterans of the Korean War, and they would not take crap from anybody regardless of who they were (or who they thought they were)... but dad liked Alex Karras ("a fun guy... terrible at gymnastics, but a fun guy").
Mr. niteowl77
The original Blazing Saddles Cast was going to be Richard Pryor as Bart. Buy Pryor wasn't reliable due to his drug issues even though he co-wrote the movie. But he did a great job in See No Evil, Hear No Evil with Wilder and another movie they did together Silver Streak is one I remember.
Really Little was perfect for the part of Sheriff Bart. The only other actor of that era I think could have done Mongo possibly as good as Alex would have been Dan Blocker. But Blocker would not have lived through the filming.
RIP Alex Karras. You were a class act and a true individual. You could actually express yourself through coherent utterance, unlike these robotic copycats and their body art. Gee, I miss these guys. I don’t think we’ve ever had as many moronic athletes as today. They all look alike, think alike and talk the same mindless crap; all absolutely immersed in a herd mentality.
Yea I sure did thanks. I remember her in a movie with Jerry Lewis, Marty Feldman, and Pat Morita. Marty was the Nanny and Madeleine and Jerry were twin brother and sister. When apart from each other were idiots but together were genius.
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