George Blanda Is Alive and Kicking

One week before the opening of the 1970 season, the Oakland Raiders placed Quarterback George Blanda on waivers. George waited and waited. Then, when none of the other 25 teams in the National Football League offered to sign him, he went back to practicing with the Raiders' taxi squad. It did not seem to matter that Blanda had scored more points (1,477), kicked more field goals (240), booted more extra points (703) and completed more passes in one game (37) than any player in the history of professional football. He had just turned 43, and as the oldest player in the game, he was the first to admit: "My age is against me. A team has to look for younger players."

Over the Fingertips. In overlooking Blanda. the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns, among others, only succeeded in looking foolish. Three weeks ago, after the Steelers had knocked the Raiders' starting quarterback, Daryle Lamonica, out of the game with a back injury, old roly-poly George took over and fired three touchdown passes, kicked three extra points and added a field goal to demolish the Steelers 31-14. Two weeks ago, with the World Champion Chiefs leading 17-14 in a battle for the division lead, Blanda came off the bench to attempt a 48-yd. field goal with just three seconds remaining. The Chiefs stationed 6-ft. 9-in. Tight End Morris Stroud at the goal post to try to jump up and block the ball on its downward flight. Blanda kicked, Stroud leaped, and the ball sailed inches over his fingertips­and over the crossbar. The Raiders had a 17-17 tie and the lead in their division.

Blanda's heroics against the Steelers and the Chiefs were just a warm-up for his performance against the Browns last week. With four minutes remaining and the Browns leading 20-13, Lamonica left the game with an injured shoulder. On came George to move his offense 70 yards in seven plays. Blanda hit Wide Receiver Warren Wells with a 14-yd. scoring pass to tie the game 20-20 with 1 min. 34 sec. remaining. Then after the Raiders regained the ball on an interception, George completed his seventh pass of the afternoon to set up another last-ditch field-goal attempt with just three seconds left. This time, though, the goal post was 52 yds. away, a distance that Blanda had equaled or surpassed only three times in his 21-year pro career.* Undaunted, he got all of his 218 Ibs. into the kick and boomed a high end-over-ender that won the game 23-20. Said George: "I put a little more rear end into the kick than usual."