Favorite nicknames

His less liked nickname was Big Musty, given to him by the Lakers because they said he smelled bad. They also called Jerry West, Louella, because he was a gossip. I can only assume these came from Elgin Baylor, who was somewhat of a master of mean-ass names for people. There was another guy (maybe a writer) he called something like Santa Cruz because his bad teeth looked like the outcropping at a beach.

 

The Steelers of the '70s had a few good ones.

"Mean" Joe Greene
Ernie "Fats" Holmes
Art "The Chief" Rooney
L.C. Greenwood "Hollywood Bags"
Glenn "Pine" Edwards, also "Knotty Pine"

 

So in case people don't know this, "Blood" was not really a nickname -- it was his identity. He was Johnny Blood.

He began playing pro football to make a few bucks while still in college and didn't want to lose his eligibility, so he played under a fake name (which was very common in the 1920s). The story goes he and a college teammate went together to try out for a pro team and on the way they passed a theater that was showing the Rudolph Valentino film Blood and Sand. Johnny saw the marquee and told his friend, "I'll be Blood and you be Sand." So they signed up as Johnny Blood and Ralph Sand.

I don't think it was until after he stopped playing that his real name became known. He signed all his contracts as Johnny Blood.

There are numerous stories of Johnny's out-of-control stunts and antics. He was a true wild man.

 

From my youth: Carl "Spider" Lockhart, a DB for the NY football Giants.

 

Baylor called Gail Goodrich "Stump." He was 6-foot-1. Driving through the snow in the east, Baylor shouted to the bussie, "Slow down, man, Stump can't see snow."

Another possible reason for Wilt's nickname of Big Musty -- he used to park his Bentley in the tunnel at The Forum. When the games ended, he went right from the court to his car and took off, no shower, no change of clothes.

 

Remember him very well.

 

I’ve read a few stories about Johnny Blood. Two are my favorites.

One time, Blood and his teammates were in a hotel. His teammates were playing cards and Blood was getting on their nerves, so they kick him out of the room. A short while later, one of his teammates yells out in shock. They look out the window, and Blood is standing on the ledge, in a pouring rain, something like 10 stories up, looking in the window.

The other story was when Blood was coaching the Pirates (now Steelers). He thinks they have a week off, so he goes to the Packers game to visit with his former teammates. His teammates ask him why he’s not with his own team. Blood relies, “Oh, we’re not playing this week.” Just then, the PA announcer gives a halftime score in which the Pirates were getting clobbered.

 

Billy (White Shoes) Johnson.

Tom Seaver (The Franchise)

Joel Embiid (The Process)

Early Cleveland Indians pitcher Guy Morton “The Alabama Blossom”

Rube Marquard “The $10,000 Beauty” or the “$10,000 Lemon”, depending on how he was pitching.

Bernie “Boom-Boom” Geoffrion.

 

"Toast"

 

Jason "White Chocolate" Williams had a sick handle when he played.