OT: RIP Chuck Bednarik
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He was a specimen for sure. Had the opportunity to meet him one Saturday AM. He was coming in to film a bit at our high school and stopped by the wrestling room where I was working off a Friday night. His hands were like baseball gloves. That's what I remember most. Literally. Every finger was jagged and crooked from multiple injuries. I go through life with one deformed pinky. He had 10 of them.
Concrete Charlie
The Frank Gifford hit was legendary as one of the most devastating tackles ever delivered. Just reading about him now, I see he served in the Air Force between high school and enrolling in college at Penn, back in th 40s when the Ivy League was big time football. He lived a long life for someone who must have had so much punishment to his body. He was one tough son of a a gun.
This post was edited on 3/21 9:43 AM by Nitwit
The Frank Gifford hit was legendary as one of the most devastating tackles ever delivered. Just reading about him now, I see he served in the Air Force between high school and enrolling in college at Penn, back in th 40s when the Ivy League was big time football. He lived a long life for someone who must have had so much punishment to his body. He was one tough son of a a gun.
This post was edited on 3/21 9:43 AM by Nitwit
Met him several times when he was a spokesman for a local company that did retail promotions at my employers retail outlet. He was a volunteer coach and motivator with the Eagles back then and loved to talk football. Was very old school, loved the game for what it was and I think hated all the money, agents coming to the NFL.
Jesus, RIP there Chuck.
wow, I had no idea he was still alive. His later in life TV interviews showing his hands were something else.
He was one tough SOB and seemed like a pretty good guy to boot. Philly Proud. I will have one for you in a taproom this afternoon.
wow, I had no idea he was still alive. His later in life TV interviews showing his hands were something else.
He was one tough SOB and seemed like a pretty good guy to boot. Philly Proud. I will have one for you in a taproom this afternoon.
His hands were huge and his fingers were a mess like you said. He told me a torn bicep in his right arm basically ended
his long career. RIP Chuck.
his long career. RIP Chuck.
I was at the 1960 Championship Game vs. Green Bay at Franklin Field
I was in high school and my Dad took me to the game. It was bitter cold day, and the game was still in doubt until final play when Bednarik tackled Taylor on the Eagles eight yard line after he caught a swing pass from Starr.
He's still my favorite Eagle player.
I was in high school and my Dad took me to the game. It was bitter cold day, and the game was still in doubt until final play when Bednarik tackled Taylor on the Eagles eight yard line after he caught a swing pass from Starr.
He's still my favorite Eagle player.
A writer passed a funny story about Concrete Charlie today
He was speaking at a banquet. Asked the promoter to dim the lights for 5-6 seconds after he was introduced. So, they did it. Turn the lights back on. And, he starts his speech with; "Now you know how Frank Gifford felt after I hit him!" Now, that's funny!!
He was speaking at a banquet. Asked the promoter to dim the lights for 5-6 seconds after he was introduced. So, they did it. Turn the lights back on. And, he starts his speech with; "Now you know how Frank Gifford felt after I hit him!" Now, that's funny!!
The humble spiritial side of Chuck Bednarik As most know, he was a gunner
on a B25 during WWII I saw a TV interview 25 years ago where he spoke on his combat experiences. He flew 30 missions. He said on his last mission he prayed to God to survive and if he did he would say a rosary everyday.
which he said he did up to that point of his life. No one was going to argue the point,
on a B25 during WWII I saw a TV interview 25 years ago where he spoke on his combat experiences. He flew 30 missions. He said on his last mission he prayed to God to survive and if he did he would say a rosary everyday.
which he said he did up to that point of his life. No one was going to argue the point,
One of a kind. Not your stereotypical Ivy Leaguer.
Great, great player. As good, as tough, as the game has ever seen. Fourteen seasons ('49 - '62) playing both ways at heavy-contact positions sets him apart.
This post was edited on 3/21 7:37 PM by KSLion
Great, great player. As good, as tough, as the game has ever seen. Fourteen seasons ('49 - '62) playing both ways at heavy-contact positions sets him apart.
This post was edited on 3/21 7:37 PM by KSLion
One of the last of the great rage-aholics! Excerpt from Philly.com:
In a 1993 Sports Illustrated profile of Mr. Bednarik, writer John Schulian described the then 68-year-old, who lived outside of Bethlehem in rural Coopersburg.
"There is still no telling when he will chase some joker or give him the finger for winning a race to a parking place. If anybody ever thought he would mellow, Bednarik put that idea to rest a few years ago when he tangled with a bulldozer operator and got a fine that sounded like it had come from the World Wrestling Federation instead of the local justice of the peace: $250 for choking."
Modern players, he would tell anyone who asked and many who didn't, were overpaid, under-utilized and soft as a fresh Philly pretzel.
"These guys today are a bunch of cocky SOBs," he told Philadelphia magazine in 2005. Overpaid and underplayed multimillionaires. They stay there for three minutes and they're sucking for air. God almighty."
He could be particulary cantankerous when it came to Deion Sanders, who was hailed as Bednarik-like in the 1990s for playing on both sides of the ball, at wide receiver and cornerback.
In Mr. Bednarik's mind, to earn the appellation of a "two-way player", one had to be mixing it up in the trenches on every play, not standing out there on the flanks the way Sanders' positions demanded.
"Deion couldn't tackle my wife Emma," Bednarik said.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/Eagles_icon_Chuck_Bednarik_dies.html#B3kholk096PtsWwg.99
In a 1993 Sports Illustrated profile of Mr. Bednarik, writer John Schulian described the then 68-year-old, who lived outside of Bethlehem in rural Coopersburg.
"There is still no telling when he will chase some joker or give him the finger for winning a race to a parking place. If anybody ever thought he would mellow, Bednarik put that idea to rest a few years ago when he tangled with a bulldozer operator and got a fine that sounded like it had come from the World Wrestling Federation instead of the local justice of the peace: $250 for choking."
Modern players, he would tell anyone who asked and many who didn't, were overpaid, under-utilized and soft as a fresh Philly pretzel.
"These guys today are a bunch of cocky SOBs," he told Philadelphia magazine in 2005. Overpaid and underplayed multimillionaires. They stay there for three minutes and they're sucking for air. God almighty."
He could be particulary cantankerous when it came to Deion Sanders, who was hailed as Bednarik-like in the 1990s for playing on both sides of the ball, at wide receiver and cornerback.
In Mr. Bednarik's mind, to earn the appellation of a "two-way player", one had to be mixing it up in the trenches on every play, not standing out there on the flanks the way Sanders' positions demanded.
"Deion couldn't tackle my wife Emma," Bednarik said.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/Eagles_icon_Chuck_Bednarik_dies.html#B3kholk096PtsWwg.99
Just to piggyback on these stories, my dad played pickup Bball with
Concrete Charlie every now and then at one of Penn's gyms.
Verdict - great athlete, solid as a brick wall, gruff but personable, and fingers that would give you nightmares. It was always a kick for my dad and his Vet School buddies when Chuck would join a game.
Concrete Charlie every now and then at one of Penn's gyms.
Verdict - great athlete, solid as a brick wall, gruff but personable, and fingers that would give you nightmares. It was always a kick for my dad and his Vet School buddies when Chuck would join a game.
I live here in Bethlehem where he grew up.................He was a legend before he put on any NFL uniform...........Plain, tough, blue collar lunch pail, no nonsense type of guy, told you like it was and the way he saw it..................He flew 30 combat mission in the old Army Air Corps over Germany against Hitler and the Nazi's.........Enough said..........A true American Hero from the Greatest Generation that happened to play football in the NFL.........
My favorite NFL player of all time.......for all the reasons above!!!!
God bless you Mr. Bednarik......... and your family.
Thanks for the memories.
My favorite NFL player of all time.......for all the reasons above!!!!
God bless you Mr. Bednarik......... and your family.
Thanks for the memories.
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