RIP Don Maynard

[TheSportsPredictor]

Hall of Famer, Jets great Maynard dies at age 86

 

[Songbird]

Never saw him play but always watched old highlights and obviously from the Super Bowl season.

He always stuck out as a kid because he was the receiver who wore 13.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Yeah, also before my time, but as a kid, one thing that I loved was the image of the Jets playing on a baseball diamond and getting their uniforms dirty. It just seemed unique to a kid.

One story I remember seeing about Maynard was during his year with the Giants, Jim Lee Howell kept telling him to shave his sideburns and Maynard kept refusing because his sideburns had nothing to do with his ability as a player. They clashed considerably that year, and the Giants cut him the next year. Too bad. It probably would have been fun for Giants fans to see Y.A. Tittle throwing to him and Del Shofner.

 

[Songbird]

What's the story with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 1959?

                        Game Game Rece  Rece Rece Rece Rece Rece  Rece  Tota  Tota            Tota
Year      Age   Tm  No.    G   GS  Rec   Yds  Y/R   TD  Lng  R/G   Y/G Touch Y/Tch  YScm RRTD  Fmb
1958       23  NYG   13   12    0    5    84 16.8    0   31  0.4   7.0    17   7.6   129    0    3
1959          Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss  Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss  Miss  Miss  Miss  Miss Miss Miss
1960       25  NYT   13   14   12   72  1265 17.6    6   65  5.1  90.4    72  17.6  1265    6    0
1961       26  NYT   13   14    7   43   629 14.6    8   45  3.1  44.9    43  14.6   629    8    1
1962       27  NYT   13   14   13   56  1041 18.6    8   86  4.0  74.4    56  18.6  1041    8    0
1963       28  NYJ   13   12   12   38   780 20.5    9   73  3.2  65.0    40  19.7   786    9    0
1964       29  NYJ   13   14   13   46   847 18.4    8   68  3.3  60.5    49  17.3   850    8    1
1965*      30  NYJ   13   14   14   68  1218 17.9   14   56  4.9  87.0    69  17.7  1220   14    1
1966       31  NYJ   13   14   14   48   840 17.5    5   55  3.4  60.0    48  17.5   840    5    0
1967*      32  NYJ   13   14   14   71  1434 20.2   10   75  5.1 102.4    75  19.4  1452   10    1
1968*      33  NYJ   13   13   13   57  1297 22.8   10   87  4.4  99.8    57  22.8  1297   10    0
1969*+     34  NYJ   13   11   11   47   938 20.0    6   60  4.3  85.3    48  19.4   932    6    0
1970       35  NYJ   13   10    8   31   525 16.9    0   47  3.1  52.5    31  16.9   525    0    1
1971       36  NYJ   13   14   14   21   408 19.4    2   74  1.5  29.1    22  18.6   410    2    0
1972       37  NYJ   13   14   14   29   510 17.6    2   41  2.1  36.4    29  17.6   510    2    0
1973       38  STL   13    2    0    1    18 18.0    0   18  0.5   9.0     1  18.0    18    0    0
Care               Care  186  159  633 11834 18.7   88   87  3.4  63.6   657  18.1 11904   88    8
13 y     13 y   NYJ-NYT  172  159  627 11732 18.7   88   87  3.6  68.2   639  18.4 11757   88    5
1 yr     1 yr       NYG   12    0    5    84 16.8    0   31  0.4   7.0    17   7.6   129    0    3
1 yr     1 yr       STL    2    0    1    18 18.0    0   18  0.5   9.0     1  18.0    18    0    0

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/10/2022.

Also figured out how to get NFL videos from YouTube to show up and play here ... many are embedded in tweets so just post the tweet.








In life it's who you know especially if you've left your mark with them. Wiki:

The New York Giants selected Maynard in the ninth round, with the 109th overall selection, of the 1957 NFL Draft. In 12 games as a rookie, he had 12 rushes for 45 yards (3.8 yards per carry), caught five passes for 84 yards (a 16.8 yard average) and played on special teams. After being released by the Giants during their 1959 training camp,[1] he played one season in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, catching just one pass for 10 yards.[4] In the off-season, he worked as a plumber and a teacher.[5]

Maynard became the first player to sign with the New York Titans in 1960 (the team was renamed the Jets in 1963).[6] This came about because the Titans' first head coach, Sammy Baugh, had coached against Maynard in college and knew his talent.[5] Although scorned by the New York press as an "NFL reject" in 1960, he teamed with Art Powell to form the first professional wide receiver tandem to each gain over 1,000 yards on receptions in a season, with the pair achieving this milestone again in 1962. Over the next 13 years Maynard put up receiving numbers that would earn him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.[7]

Collecting 72 pass receptions in his first year as a Titan, he went on to compile four more seasons with 50 or more catches and 1,000 yards receiving, and held the professional football record for total receptions and yards receiving. A four-time AFL All-Star, he is sixth in all-time pro football touchdown receptions, and is a member of the AFL All-Time Team.[8]

 

[hondo]

Score hair cream commercial with Bake Turner and the Four Jets ... with "Country" Don Maynard in the middle ... awesome.

 

[micropolitan guy]

He might be even better in the current era, given the restrictions on making contact with receivers that did not exist in the bump, run and hold era he played him. Maynard and George Sauer Jr. were an outstanding duo in an era when the AFL had great receivers like Alworth, Gary "The Ghost" Garrison of the Chargers, Warren Wells and Fred B of the Raiders and Otis Taylor of the Chiefs and Haven Moses of the Broncos.

 

[da man]

As a little kid I lived in New Jersey from 1967-71. Watched the Jets on TV every week -- they were way more fun than the Giants.

Don Maynard was my first favorite player in any sport (Eddie Giacomin was the second). When we went out to play football in the back yard the other kids always wanted to be Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas. I wanted to be Don Maynard. Loved his Texas drawl, the long, lean frame, the speed, the whole bit.

And I definitely remember that Four Jets commercial.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

He might be even better in the current era, given the restrictions on making contact with receivers that did not exist in the bump, run and hold era he played him. Maynard and George Sauer Jr. were an outstanding duo in an era when the AFL had great receivers like Alworth, Gary "The Ghost" Garrison of the Chargers, Warren Wells and Fred B of the Raiders and Otis Taylor of the Chiefs and Haven Moses of the Broncos.

The things routinely done in pass defense in the '60s would get a DB a minimum year's suspension today.

 

[Azrael]

I interviewed Maynard a few times.

I prefaced a question once by saying "You weren't the fastest man in football . . ." and he interrupted me to say very emphatically, "Who says I wasn't?"

 

[da man]

I interviewed Maynard a few times.

I prefaced a question once by saying "You weren't the fastest man in football . . ." and he interrupted me to say very emphatically, "Who says I wasn't?"

I got to talk to him once, too, doing some sort of retrospective/history story. He was a lot of fun. Sammy Baugh was, too.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

I remember being surprised to know that when he retired he was the NFL leader in receptions and yards (I think).

Talked to him several years ago and he was a funny guy with some good stories and a lot of the other old Jets had great stories about him.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I remember being surprised to know that when he retired he was the NFL leader in receptions and yards (I think).

A little like who was the home run leader before Babe Ruth.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

A little like who was the home run leader before Babe Ruth.

Roger Connor.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

Roger Connor.

 

[da man]

I remember being surprised to know that when he retired he was the NFL leader in receptions and yards (I think).

Talked to him several years ago and he was a funny guy with some good stories and a lot of the other old Jets had great stories about him.

Maynard retired as the career leader in receptions and receiving yards and was second to Don Hutson in receiving touchdowns.

 

[hondo]

I interviewed Maynard a few times.

I prefaced a question once by saying "You weren't the fastest man in football . . ." and he interrupted me to say very emphatically, "Who says I wasn't?"

Well, a lot of people, considering he played at the same time as Bob Hayes, who, you know, had an Olympic golf medal for being a sprinter.

 

[Azrael]

Well, a lot of people, considering he played at the same time as Bob Hayes, who, you know, had an Olympic golf medal for being a sprinter.

True!

But Hayes didn't start his NFL career until 1965.

Maynard had been with the Giants and the Tiger Cats and the Titans/Jets since 1958.

As he reminded me.