Filed under: Chicago Bears, Raiders, NFL Quarterbacks
George Blanda, whose 26-year career as a quarterback and kicker was the longest in NFL history and who was the oldest man to play in an NFL game, is dead at age 83.Blanda died early Monday morning at his home in California, the Pro Football Hall of Fame confirmed.
Blanda, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1981, began his career with the Chicago Bears as a quarterback in 1949 and played until 1975, when he retired as a kicker for the Oakland Raiders at age 48 after having scored 2,002 career points, a record at that time. He even played some linebacker for the Bears after signing out of the University of Kentucky for a $600 bonus, money that George Halas demanded Blanda return when he made the team.
His best seasons came with the Houston Oilers in the American Football League from 1960 to 1966. In his first two seasons with the Oilers, he threw 60 touchdown passes in just 28 games in the pass-happy AFL.
They also were the only two years as a starting quarterback in which he had more TDs than interceptions. In the second year, 1961, he had 36 TD passes and 22 interceptions and threw seven touchdown passes in a game against the New York Titans, the precursors of today's Jets. He also totaled 418 yards passing in that game.
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