Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Bill "Boom Boom" Brown. Played 14 seasons and only missed 2 games, in 1969. Violent. (He and Joe Kapp together made for an interesting backfield.) He never eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in a season, and his career average was, well, average, at 3.5 yards per carry. But he was also a productive receiver and had four seasons with over 1,000 yards rushing/receiving. He also happens to be the father-in-law to Rich Gannon.

RyanChristiansen wrote:Bill "Boom Boom" Brown. Played 14 seasons and only missed 2 games, in 1969. Violent. (He and Joe Kapp together made for an interesting backfield.) He never eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in a season, and his career average was, well, average, at 3.5 yards per carry. But he was also a productive receiver and had four seasons with over 1,000 yards rushing/receiving. He also happens to be the father-in-law to Rich Gannon.

Oh yeah, Bill Brown. I remember him well from those Detroit-Minn games of the 60s and 70s. Came out of the same factory that assembled Johnny U: tough guy with a brush cut and bowlegged as a pair of parenthesis ( ). A real solid, overlooked back. Is he in the HOVG?

Cookie Gilchrist has to be in the conversation. Derrick Henry too. Jim Taylor, Larry Csonka, Christian Okoye ...

Jim Brown will always be tops to me. Eagles bias Tom Woodeshick. Tough as nails.

My favorite are Earl Campbell, John Riggins and Christian Okoye, and Derrick Henry is my favorite of the active RBs.

The late Craig "Ironhead" Heyward.

I dunno. O.J. Simpson was pretty badass, I guess.

Marshawn Lynch

Clarke Hinkle has to be in this conversation. Nagurski said Hinkle was "the toughest man I ever played against." They had two memorable collisions and Hinkle was the winner on both occasions.

One came when Hinkle carried off tackle and ran into Nagurski, who was backing up the line. The collision sent Hinkle right back through the hole and into Packer backfield again while Nagurski was knocked down. However, Hinkle's legs kept churning and he went through the hole again and past the fallen Nagurski this time. Bear guard George Musso said it was the only time that a runner went past him three times on the same play.

The other game when Hinkle ran a sweep and was near the sideline when Nagurski closed in on him. Hinkle lowered his shoulder and charged into him. Nagurski had to leave the game but Hinkle didn't. It was the only time Nagurski was ever knocked out of a game.

Good thread - Ralph brings up some good history with Nags v. Hinkle.

The first ones I thought of have been mentioned, so I'll go with Ross Fiscus and Frank Nesser.