Posted on 04/20/2024 3:36:29 PM PDT by Libloather
Roman Gabriel, a former NC State star from the 1960s, passed away Saturday at 83-years-old. Gabriel was an inaugural member of the NC State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012, and he was inducted into the College Football HOF in 1989.
Gabriel delivered back-to-back ACC Player of the Year awards during his time with the Wolfpack in 1960 and 1961. While at NC State, he set 22 total school records and 9 ACC records while becoming the first ACC quarterback with over 1,000 passing yards in a season.
Gabriel was a 2-time All-American and became a top-5 pick in both the AFL and NFL drafts. He was the No. 1 pick in the AFL draft and the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft before playing 16 seasons in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles.
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His was one of the first football cards I ever owned. And Bob Lily.
He had a cool name and threw pretty good too...
Too bad he went to NC State...
:]
RIP
Blue Boy
That’s the first thing that came to mind for me too.
and one time savage on Gilligan’s Island. lol
I really enjoy the episodes with the Rams.
Bump
An episode of Ironside.
Too bad he went to NC State...
Yeah, he could have joined that illustrious group of accomplished NFL QBs from UNCheat.
/sarc
Roman Gabriel! Standing tall & throwing to Jack Snow (another cool name).
My high school had an Indian QB named Sonny Sixkiller who signed with the Rams.
R.I.P. Mr. Gabriel
He was a very solid NFL QB. Tough to bring down in the pocket as he was big and strong (6’4” 220 lbs.) watched him a lot as a kid. RIP
He wasn’t that good. Neither was Tarkington. Both choked in big games. Tarkington played a lot of yers running around and not getting injured. Gabriel was noteworthy for his big size at 220 lbs, big at the time. The size didn’t make him any better. Then there was the line in his book criticizing John Brodie. “He just throws the ball up hoping Gene Washington gets it”.
I recall that he was the first first “big” quarterback, since the others of that era were rather small in stature. (Tittle, Unitas)
I remember him! My condolences to his family.
As a young kid I went to an LA Rams pre-season game vs the Buffalo Bills whom had a Rookie named OJ Simpson. My Dad bought me a program and we stood outside the Locker-room after the game. I still have that program signed by Roman Gabriel, Jack Snow, Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones and Coach George Allen amongst others.
He had one hell of a arm and was a very good baseball player. He was in the wrong era.
He threw HARD - a disadvantage in snowy post-season games
Sad news. I remember him from his days with the Rams. RIP Roman Gabriel.
Whitey Herzog, Dicky Betts, and Roman Gabriel this week. Hopefully that’s it.
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