RIP Mike Curtis.

Mike Curtis, All-Pro linebacker for the Baltimore Colts, dies at 77

Intially fascinated by a linebacker wearing 32. (started his career as an FB)

So much more.

 

Damn. Loved Curtis. Intercepted the pass that set up the winning FG in Supe V.

 

He, Butkus and Nitschke were the un-holy trinity of NFL linebackers in the late 60s/early 70s.

One of his greatest moments was when he set the all-time standard for how to deal with fans running on the field:

 

That was really the NFL /AFL golden age. Almost every team had a star QB or linebacker.

Hell, think about it: guys like Roman Gabriel, John Brodie and Sonny Jurgensen were, essentially, second-level QBs. But they were pretty big stars for a few years. For that matter, Fran Tarkenton and Don Meredith were not considered "top-level" QBs for most of their careers.

 

Random Curtis memories/stories:

— I once read that he hit the fan so hard that his jacket unzipped. Video proves that wrong.
— I also remember reading he used to rip phone books in half for fun and the same story said he once ate the panes of a bus window. In hindsight, that was hyperbole, but it painted a picture in my young mind.
— he once apparently attacked a teammate after losing a ping pong match. For some reason, I want to say it was Unitas.

 

About 7 of the first 8 tackles in that video would have been illegal today.

How could the Memorial Stadium turf ALWAYS look like shit?

 

Most all of the MLB/NFL fields in the 50s-70s era looked like shit, then and now.

(Although I do remember particularly that Memorial Stadium, Shea and Cleveland always looked particularly horrible. I'd guess that probably had to do with those stadiums being particularly windswept and resistant to grass taking root.)

Most fields had double usage, so by the time every football season got past about October, the fields looked like hell.

Turf grass technology was far far less advanced. It took longer to grow turf and could only be done in warm temperature conditions. It used to take several weeks up to months for freshly placed turf to knit and take root. That's why most fields did not re-sod the baseball infield dirt sections after October -- the grass would not take root.

Plus, there was a global warming factor in reverse -- it got colder earlier in the year so the grass growing season was shorter then than it is now.

It used to be a huge, once every several years event, when a major stadium re-sodded (if they did; many didn't, they just re-seeded and just hoped the new seed would take). And for several months afterward, players in both football and baseball would go skidding around as slabs of turf pulled up every time they tried to make cuts.

 

In the excellent book, "One More July," George Plimpton quotes former teammmate Bill Curry, who roomed with Curtis, that in training camp Curtis would bring just two changes of clothes, and black out the dorm windows with tin foil so he could sleep.

And those old NFL Films clips are why so many of us got into football as kids, and tried to play like Mike Curtis. He was the perfect player for Ball-i-mer.

 

Plimpton also had an excellent passage in "Mad Ducks and Bears" about Curtis and Donald Ennis, the fan he blasted on the field. Ennis' life went on a downward spiral after that. Curtis' reaction essentially was "tough shit."

 

My dad, now 83, actually spent time with Plimpton and Alex Karras in the MD&B era. I should probably videotape him telling those stories to share with future generations. That book is fantastic and the stories match.

 

Oh hell, you absolutely should. I always thought MD&B could have made a great "Eastbound and Down" style mini series, but legal clearances would probably have been too hard to get.
And it would be tough/expensive to get all the period football scenes right.
Although "Remember The Titans" and "We Are Marshall," both set in almost exactly the same time frame, did ok.

 

Not only was the turf bad in that era, but trying to fit football fields in places like Tiger Stadium was an exercise in futility
As great a baseball park as it was, football fans were a million miles away no matter where they sat