RIP Harley Sewell

Another one gone from the "Paper Lion" era - a great guard for the Detroit Lions:

http://www.freep.com/article/20111219/SPORTS01/111219041/Former-Lions-star-Harvey-Sewell-dies

Unfortunately, the Free Press couldn't get his first name right in the headline. Ugh.

 

Wow....that headline is pretty embarrassing.

 

Another one dancing in Heaven's Gay Haven.

 

Two hours later, it's still there. Yikes.

 

Wait until Alex Karras dies. : :

Funny funny story in Plimpton's "Mad Ducks and Bears" about Bobby Layne and Harley Sewell and a bunch of beer-drinking Lion veterans sending rookie Karras out into the sweltering hot bug-infested night of Norman, Oklahoma, at 3 a.m., to find an all-night diner to cook them up 25 custom-ordered cheeseburgers.

"Harley Sewell always hated me," Karras explained later. "Absolutely detested me. I don't know why, but he did."

Karras, a raw hayseed rookie, has no idea where to find burgers in Norman at 3 a.m. in 1958. He says to Layne, "Sir, where do I find a place to cook burgers at 3 a.m.?"

Layne snarls, "I don't know, go out and find one." Shoves a $20 bill in his hand (remember in 1958 burgers were like 25 cents each) and slams the door in his face.

Karras, dressed in a woolen dress suit, goes out the front door of the hotel. Norman, Oklahoma, in August 1958. Maybe one street light on in the distance. He starts getting hit hard by flying bugs from every angle. Karras, who had a huge bug phobia, starts jogging down the main drag of the city. He jogs for 15-20 minutes, covering several miles until he sees the faint light of a neon sign in the distance. The sign says "EAT."

Karras walks in the door, huge horn-rimmed glasses fogged over, soaked in sweat, panting and gasping hard, and says "I need 25 cheeseburgers." The terrified fry cook cooks them all up without a word.

The payoff came an hour or so later with Karras knocking on the hotel room door at 4:30 a.m., holding a huge paper bag of grease-stained cheeseburgers.

Harley Sewell answers the door. "What do you want?"

"I've got all these cheeseburgers."

"We all went to bed. God damn it."

SLAM.

 

The pride of Saint Jo, Texas. RIP.

 

It really is disappointing there has never been a movie made about the Bobby Layne-era Lions.

Basically a rollicking non-stop party for five years, including three NFL championships and another trip to the title game.