RIP George Blanda

Maybe it was on his Wikipedia entry, but I just read that on a Happy Days episode, one of the characters says how Blanda is washed up & another argues he wasn't.

The joke is that Happy Days was set in '50's, but made in the '70's.

When they filmed the episode, Blanda was still playing.

 

Along those lines, a buddy of mine has a Sporting News College Football Preview issue from 1989, and one of the main stories in the issue is "Who Will Replace Paterno at Penn State?"

 

In his mind, all he really needed to be was one stroke better than you,
on the links.

 

Found this in the SI Vault. Blanda writes (with Jack Olsen) about his life in 1971:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1085084/2/index.htm

 

I'd forgotten about this thread springing up when Blanda died last week.
He was a favorite of mine, being the history lover I am.
I remember his presence on Sunday afternoons of my youth, most often on the NBC network.
And I loved both the fact that he spent time in Houston and that he was also a QB.
RIP George Blanda