Ara (the player)

[Halas Hall]

I believe Ara Parseghian was certainly one of the top five college football coaches since WW II. I read this week that he suffered a career ending hip injury similar to the ones that took down Giants rb George Adams and Bo Jackson in the mid-80s and early 90s.

I'm thinking he had to have been a very good player to make the Browns' squad in the late 1940's, considering the talent on the squad and the less than forty roster slots. Did he play a lot with Graham and Motley? Just curious if anyone has any impressions of him as a player.

Thank you.

Nick

[Saban1]

Ara Parseghian showed promise as a reserve halfback in 1948 as a rookie, but played in only 2 games in 1949 due to his injury or injuries. Without the injury, Ara may have continued on with the Cleveland Browns and may have broken into their starting lineup sometime. Instead, he decided to enter coaching, which turned out to be a good decision for him.

It would have been very difficult or impossible for Parseghian to break into Cleveland's starting lineup in 1948 or 1949 when the Browns running backs were Marion Motley, Dub Jones, Edgar "Special Delivery" Jones, and Bill Boedecker. Maybe in 1950 when Cleveland lost Edgar Jones and Boedecker, but who knows.

Cleveland lost some good players in 1950 besides Parseghian, Edgar Jones, and Boedecker. They also lost Lou Saban, probably the best linebacker in the All-America Conference and maybe all of football. Also DE John Yonakor, T Joe Spencer, guards Ed Ulinski and Bob Gaudio (Ulinski was considered one of the best guards in the AAFC), Ed Sustersic, etc. Losing those players makes the Browns accomplishments in 1950 even more amazing, and the NFL teams were not about to help Cleveland out with trades.

As for Ara Parseghian, I think that he was pretty good and probably could have been a starter with a less talented team.

[BD Sullivan]

The hip injury that ended Parseghian's career was suffered in the 9/11/49 game against the Colts. Prior to signing with the Browns, he had rejected tw offers to play for the Steelers, who had drafted him in 1947.

[Saban1]

BTW, I think that Parseghian got a bad rap in the 1966 "Game of the Century" by supposedly going for the tie against Michigan State. Notre Dame was a crippled team losing their sensational All-American running back Nick Eddy before the game and losing QB Terry Hanratty and center George Goeddeke (both All-Americans) early in the game. The "Irish" still managed to come back from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game up. I don't blame Ara for playing it the way he did rather than maybe throwing the game away by doing something foolish.

Ara and others pointed out that MSU punted the ball away with a little more than a minute remaining, so their coach could also be accused of playing for a tie if Ara was.

Great players on both teams like Alan Page, Bubba Smith, Jim Lynch, George Webster, Gene Washington, Jim Seymour, Clint Jones, Rocky Bleier, Larry Conger, etc.

[BD Sullivan]

BTW, I think that Parseghian got a bad rap in the 1966 "Game of the Century" by supposedly going for the tie against Michigan State. Notre Dame was a crippled team losing their sensational All-American running back Nick Eddy before the game and losing QB Terry Hanratty and center George Goeddeke (both All-Americans) early in the game. The "Irish" still managed to come back from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game up. I don't blame Ara for playing it the way he did rather than maybe throwing the game away by doing something foolish.

Ara and others pointed out that MSU punted the ball away with a little more than a minute remaining, so their coach could also be accused of playing for a tie if Ara was.

Great players on both teams like Alan Page, Bubba Smith, Jim Lynch, George Webster, Gene Washington, Jim Seymour, Clint Jones, Rocky Bleier, Larry Conger, etc.

Conjar

[Saban1]

Sorry about the spelling. Conjar had the bad luck to be playing in the same backfield as Leroy Kelly and Ernie Green giving him little or no chance to break into the Browns starting lineup as a pro. He did make some good runs when he did play.

There was also Kevin Hardy and Pete Duranko on Notre Dame's defensive line in 1966.

[SixtiesFan]

BTW, I think that Parseghian got a bad rap in the 1966 "Game of the Century" by supposedly going for the tie against Michigan State. Notre Dame was a crippled team losing their sensational All-American running back Nick Eddy before the game and losing QB Terry Hanratty and center George Goeddeke (both All-Americans) early in the game. The "Irish" still managed to come back from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game up. I don't blame Ara for playing it the way he did rather than maybe throwing the game away by doing something foolish.

Ara and others pointed out that MSU punted the ball away with a little more than a minute remaining, so their coach could also be accused of playing for a tie if Ara was.

Great players on both teams like Alan Page, Bubba Smith, Jim Lynch, George Webster, Gene Washington, Jim Seymour, Clint Jones, Rocky Bleier, Larry Conger, etc.

Dan Jenkins, then the main college football writer for SI, ripped Parseghian for going for the tie. Jenkins also made a valid criticism of ND for avoiding the bowl games. Notre Dame could have played Alabama (risking the national championship) in the 1967 Sugar Bowl but loftily declined "because our players are taking final examinations so we can't play bowl games."

But three years later, Notre Dame suddenly decided "final exams" didn't prevent them from meeting Texas in the Cotton Bowl. I recall Parseghian in a TV interview. He said something like "We will play in a bowl game if we're playing the Number One team."

[Saban1]

The 1970 Cotton Bowl with Notre Dame vs. Texas was the first bowl game the "Irish" played in since 1925. So, Notre Dame did not ordinarily play in bowl games until 1970. Even Frank Leahy's teams never played in bowl games.

If the "Irish" had played in the 1967 Sugar Bowl against Alabama with Bryant, Stabler, Perkins, etc., their QB would have been Coley O'Brien instead of their All-American QB Hanratty, who was out for the season.

[Saban1]

BTW, I think that Parseghian got a bad rap in the 1966 "Game of the Century" by supposedly going for the tie against Michigan State. Notre Dame was a crippled team losing their sensational All-American running back Nick Eddy before the game and losing QB Terry Hanratty and center George Goeddeke (both All-Americans) early in the game. The "Irish" still managed to come back from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game up. I don't blame Ara for playing it the way he did rather than maybe throwing the game away by doing something foolish.

Ara and others pointed out that MSU punted the ball away with a little more than a minute remaining, so their coach could also be accused of playing for a tie if Ara was.

Great players on both teams like Alan Page, Bubba Smith, Jim Lynch, George Webster, Gene Washington, Jim Seymour, Clint Jones, Rocky Bleier, Larry Conger, etc.

Dan Jenkins, then the main college football writer for SI, ripped Parseghian for going for the tie. Jenkins also made a valid criticism of ND for avoiding the bowl games. Notre Dame could have played Alabama (risking the national championship) in the 1967 Sugar Bowl but loftily declined "because our players are taking final examinations so we can't play bowl games."

But three years later, Notre Dame suddenly decided "final exams" didn't prevent them from meeting Texas in the Cotton Bowl. I recall Parseghian in a TV interview. He said something like "We will play in a bowl game if we're playing the Number One team."

Regarding the proposed 1967 Sugar Bowl game between Notre Dame and Alabama.

If we turn things around a little:

Suppose that in 1966, Alabama was number 1 and Notre Dame was number 2 or 3, and suppose that Notre Dame's team was completely healthy and at full strength and Alabama had their quarterback, Ken Stabler, injured and out for the season.

Under those conditions, do you think that Alabama still would have wanted to play Notre Dame in the 1967 Sugar Bowl? I don't think so.

[rhickok1109]

BTW, I think that Parseghian got a bad rap in the 1966 "Game of the Century" by supposedly going for the tie against Michigan State. Notre Dame was a crippled team losing their sensational All-American running back Nick Eddy before the game and losing QB Terry Hanratty and center George Goeddeke (both All-Americans) early in the game. The "Irish" still managed to come back from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game up. I don't blame Ara for playing it the way he did rather than maybe throwing the game away by doing something foolish.

Ara and others pointed out that MSU punted the ball away with a little more than a minute remaining, so their coach could also be accused of playing for a tie if Ara was.

Great players on both teams like Alan Page, Bubba Smith, Jim Lynch, George Webster, Gene Washington, Jim Seymour, Clint Jones, Rocky Bleier, Larry Conger, etc.

Dan Jenkins, then the main college football writer for SI, ripped Parseghian for going for the tie. Jenkins also made a valid criticism of ND for avoiding the bowl games. Notre Dame could have played Alabama (risking the national championship) in the 1967 Sugar Bowl but loftily declined "because our players are taking final examinations so we can't play bowl games."

But three years later, Notre Dame suddenly decided "final exams" didn't prevent them from meeting Texas in the Cotton Bowl. I recall Parseghian in a TV interview. He said something like "We will play in a bowl game if we're playing the Number One team."

Regarding the proposed 1967 Sugar Bowl game between Notre Dame and Alabama.

If we turn things around a little:

Suppose that in 1966, Alabama was number 1 and Notre Dame was number 2 or 3, and suppose that Notre Dame's team was completely healthy and at full strength and Alabama had their quarterback, Ken Stabler, injured and out for the season.

Under those conditions, do you think that Alabama still would have wanted to play Notre Dame in the 1967 Sugar Bowl? I don't think so.

But, whether they wanted to or not, would Alabama have turned out the bid? I don't think so.