Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1956 • Football Clip • Alan Ameche Radio Interview

Transcript

1956 • Football Clip • Alan Ameche Radio Interview · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

0:00
This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
0:07
The first time Frank Leahy, the great football coach, saw Alan Amici, he made a solemn vow to get him for Notre Dame.
0:13
But as everyone knows, Amici turned up at Wisconsin.
0:16
The first time Coach Ivy Williamson of the University of Wisconsin watched him in action, Amici was moved up from the junior squad to the regular varsity.
0:24
In his first year with the Badgers, Amici set a school-rushing record as a freshman, 824 yards.
0:31
The first time Red Sanders, the UCLA coach, saw him after Alan personally racked up 139 yards in the 1953 Rose Bowl game against the Bruins,
0:41
Sanders called him the strongest runner in football history, not accepting Bronco Nagurski.
0:47
The first time he ever got his hands on the ball in a professional football game, Amici raked 79 yards for a touchdown.
0:54
And, the first season Alan Amici completed in the National Football League, he not only was voted the Rookie of the Year,
1:01
but also captured ball-carrying honors by rushing for 961 yards.
1:07
In 1948, at the age of 16, Amici walked resolutely into the City Hall of Kenosha, Wisconsin,
1:14
and legally changed his first name from Lino to Alan. Lino, to his way of thinking, was not rugged or mature enough.
1:22
Seven years later, Alan Amici had proved many times over that ruggedness and maturity are not a matter of names alone.
1:29
During that time he was an all-state choice on the high school football team, a track star who could cross the shot over 50 feet and run the 100 yards in 10-2,
1:39
a light heavyweight Golden Gloves champion, an All-American in college football, a Heisman trophy winner,
1:45
an all-pro fullback in the toughest competitive sport of all, the National Football League.
1:50
Off the football field, Alan Amici is a quiet, modest, and earnest young man who is married to his high school sweetheart and the father of two husky sons.
2:00
He is addicted to classical music and while in college maintained a B average.
2:05
Alan Amici was the Baltimore Colts' first selection in the National League player draft of January 1955,
2:12
after Amici had written football history at Wisconsin and in the Big Ten Conference.
2:17
The horse to which Wisconsin's football wagon was hit for four years lugged the leather for a total of 3,345 yards for the Badgers.
2:26
Amici served only on defense in his first two seasons, but with the end of the two platoon era,
2:31
he promptly took over full-time duty and put in 502 out of a possible 540 minutes as a junior and close to 500 in his senior year.
2:41
The same muscular shoulders that clear the way for him as a ball carrier serve him in good stead as a linebacker.
2:47
Alan tackles his defensive assignment with the enthusiasm of a freshman out to make the varsity
2:53
and has never required a personal timeout in his college and pro career.
2:58
Alan Amici is burdened with an apparently incurable modesty that causes him to regard his gridiron feats
3:05
not in the light of the excitement and publicity they attract, but with a cool eye on the assets it offers for the future.
3:11
He speaks rarely, if at all, about himself or his accomplishments.
3:15
It is characteristic that Amici's parents who were born and raised in Italy have to hear from others what Alan has been doing.
3:23
As an all-Wisconsin State fullback and the most valuable player on the Kenosha High School Championship team,
3:29
Alan Amici was one of the most coveted prep players in the land.
3:33
He could have gone anywhere, but the choice settled down between Notre Dame and Wisconsin.
3:38
He finally decided on Wisconsin.
3:40
Even with such fanfare, Badger coach Avi Williamson didn't indicate in the late summer and early fall of 1951
3:47
that he thought Alan Amici would develop fast enough to take advantage of the relaxation of the band of freshmen in varsity competition.
3:54
Williamson just didn't expect much from his big freshman. The Big Ten is no place for children.
4:01
Amici started on the junior varsity, but his first showing against the Iowa JVs was so impressive that he was boosted to second-string fullback.
4:09
Captain Jim Hammond was the number one fullback, but not for long.
4:13
Alan Amici's debut was hardly a spectacular one. He gained one yard and one try against Marquette.
4:19
Then on a gray, threatening October afternoon in Champaign, Illinois, with the two leading contenders for the Big Ten title fighting it out,
4:27
Amici suddenly burst into prominence by gaining 40 yards against Illinois in 10 tries.
4:33
After the game, Ray Elliott, whose Illinois team was happy to escape with a 14-10 triumph,
4:38
labeled Alan Amici the best freshman fullback that he had seen.
4:43
After that game, Williamson installed Amici as his regular fullback, switched Hammond to defensive halfback, and the horse was off and running.
4:52
He wrapped up his first season with one of the year's top performances.
4:56
Minnesota was the victim, and he ran all over the Gophers for 203 yards and scored two touchdowns.
5:02
When Alan Amici was graduated from Wisconsin in 1954, he had churned his way for more than two miles on gridiron turf and had scored 25 touchdowns.
5:12
It was about that time that Weeview Bank, ex-aid to Paul Brown in Cleveland, was brought to Baltimore to rebuild the Colts.
5:19
A grim-faced perfectionist with a monk-like dedication to football, he took over the reins of the cellar dwelling Colts
5:26
and announced he was embarking on a four-year rebuilding program, and that only time and patience,
5:32
plus some good football players, of course, could solve the problem of Baltimore's entry in the National Football League.
5:39
In his first year as boss of the Colts, Weeview Bank had more than his share of disappointments as the club again finished in last place.
5:46
At the end of that season, Weeview Bank and Don Kellett, the president and general manager of the Baltimore franchise,
5:52
set up the most extensive talent search in the history of the league.
5:56
Placed in charge of the project was Keith Molesworth, an executive vice president and former coach of the club.
6:02
He was instructed to spare no expense in turning up the best talent available.
6:07
Came the National Football League draft, and on the first round,
6:10
Baltimore selected Alan the horse Amici, a head of more than 300 top college seniors.
6:16
It was the wisest and most fortunate move the Colts ever made.
6:20
At the end of the 1955 football season,
6:23
Baltimore's Alan Amici found himself the league's number one ground gainer,
6:27
with 961 yards and 213 attempts, for an average gain of 4.5 yards per try.
6:33
He also scored nine touchdowns, the most in the circuit.
6:37
His little under 1,000 yards made Amici the first freshman ground gaining champion
6:41
since Bill Pascal of the New York Giants copped the title in his first year.
6:46
Only five other freshmen had won the title since 1934.
6:50
In 1955, Alan Amici was honored as no other rookie had ever been honored before.
6:56
The experts voted him.
6:58
Number one, the rookie of the year.
7:01
Number two, the offensive fullback on the all-pro team.
7:05
Number three, the outstanding back in the National Football League.
7:10
That, in a nutshell, is Alan Amici, an All-American in every respect.
7:17
Now, before you meet our special guest, Alan Amici in person,
7:20
in an interview from Municipal Stadium in Baltimore,
7:23
and hear about his greatest sports thrill,
7:26
here is a message of interest to all young men who want to go places faster.
7:32
If you're a young man faced with fulfilling a military service obligation,
7:37
you'll be interested in knowing about the advantages that would be yours in today's U.S. Air Force.
7:43
For instance, if you're wondering whether your service training will pay off in later life,
7:48
the answer is yes.
7:50
The Air Force offers top-notch training and opportunities in more than 40 important career fields.
7:56
Here's another big advantage.
7:58
You can continue your education while serving.
8:01
Airmen earn college credits in on-base classes
8:04
and can apply for a final semester of college with full pay and allowances.
8:09
As for your length of service, well, men who join the Air Force at an early age
8:14
find that when their active duty and reserve obligations are completed,
8:18
they have a flying start on life.
8:20
Those are just three of the important advantages that are yours as an Airman.
8:25
See your Air Force recruiter today for the full story.
8:29
Find out how you can go places faster in the U.S. Air Force.
8:34
Now back to Harry Wismer.
8:38
Alan Namichi, what was your greatest sports thrill?
8:41
Well, it was a very unusual one, Harry.
8:44
I opened my rookie season against the Chicago Bears,
8:49
and on the very first carry I was lucky enough behind very excellent blocking
8:54
by the offensive line to get through on a 79-yard run,
8:58
and that just happened to be a coincidence the first time I had my hands on the ball.
9:03
And Harry, that was my greatest sports thrill.
9:06
Alan, what was the big difference in making the jump from college
9:09
to the professional football ranks?
9:12
Well, the players are quite a bit bigger,
9:15
and in college ball I was considered a pretty good-sized fullback at around 215 pounds,
9:22
but you find that in professional football you're running against men
9:26
that go anywhere from 240 up to 270 or 80,
9:30
and I just can't bully my way around like I did in college ball.
9:34
Also, they have quite a bit more experience in professional ball,
9:37
which certainly stands to reason.
9:39
There are fellows with four years of college behind them
9:42
and many of them with professional experience.
9:45
Therefore, it's just a tougher game all the way around, quite a bit rougher.
9:49
There isn't any dirty ball that I've seen, but it's just a very rough game,
9:53
and I'm sure people realize that.
9:56
Alan, does weather make any difference in the progress of the game as far as you are concerned?
10:01
Well, I'm sort of a mutter anyway, Harry.
10:03
I don't mind playing in rainy weather or muddy fields.
10:06
I think it kind of helps the bigger, slower fellows like fullbacks and guards and tackles and so forth.
10:12
What is the most unusual play in which you participated, either in college or the professionals?
10:18
It certainly is an unusual play. It's one I'll never forget,
10:21
and it happened during an exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
10:25
We had a jumble up in the count that the play was to begin on,
10:30
and our quarterback backed away and our center became a little confused
10:34
and didn't know what to do with the ball, so he spun around and lateraled the ball to me.
10:38
I was the only back standing in the backfield at the time.
10:41
Everybody else had kind of wandered away, and so the ball landed in my arms,
10:45
and I didn't know exactly what to do with it,
10:47
and I remembered in the split seconds time that I had there that it was a pass play.
10:52
So I threw the ball, and it just happened to go into the wrong arms,
10:57
and it went down as an interception, but I still am credited with having a 1,000 pitching mark.
11:04
I threw one and completed one, but it happened to be to the wrong team.
11:08
Alan, do you feel that the present-day football players could go both ways if they had to by the rules?
11:14
By that I mean play both offense and defense in the pros.
11:18
Well, I feel that the players that I've seen on the Baltimore coast could go both ways,
11:23
but it's an awful lot nicer to just be able to go one way,
11:26
and I think it makes for better football.
11:29
You have a more specialized game, and the individuals just have a less amount of things
11:34
that they have to learn and that they can perfect,
11:37
therefore making it a better game as far as the spectators are concerned
11:41
and also better as far as the players are concerned.
11:43
I feel that professional football could be played in a one-platoon type game,
11:49
but I also believe that it's a better game the way it's played now with two platoons.
11:54
Alan, who gave you the nickname of the horse?
11:57
Well, oddly enough, that happened way back in my freshman year in college.
12:01
It was given to me by my freshman coach who, after watching a practice,
12:05
claimed that he thought I was hustling quite a bit and thought I worked like a horse.
12:11
Contrary to the opinion that I either look like a horse or eat like a horse or something like that.
12:17
Thank you very much, Alan Amici of the Baltimore Colts.