We heard on Monday the first official news pertaining to Alex Karras and kidney failure. Reports were he was in his last days. Today, we were informed that the character, and I mean character in the loose term, who played many parts in the sports and entertainment field had died.
He was quite a bit different than his fellow man.....not unusual or weird, but different. Perhaps a good definition to him would be is "once he made up his mind on something. that's the way it was". Come hell or high water.
I never had an opportunity to see Karras play while at the University of Iowa (1954-57). He struggled during his first two years with the Hawkeyes. He was homesick and not all that happy with Head Coach Forest Evashevski. At the end of his sophomore season, he threw a shoe at Evy and quit. That summer he focused on his physical conditioning and grades and returned to Iowa to finish his career. But as far as his relationship with the head coach, that marriage was never repaired. Former teammate Randy Duncan said this of their rapport, " Karras hated Evashevski and he still does. I think Karras hated Evy for a lot of reasons. Evy was on everybody's back, and he was on Karras' back big time. Karras was a great football player but he didn't really like offense and in those days, you had to go both ways. So he didn't block anybody, What he wanted to do was chase down quarterbacks and play defense".
And play defense he did. The final two seasons at Iowa were full of honors for him and the University. He was named All-American in 1956 and won the Outland Trophy as the nation's top lineman after the 1957 season. Iowa won the Rose Bowl in 1957 over Oregon State, 35-19......and that next spring, he was selected by the Detroit Lions as their number one pick in the National Football League draft.
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| A character in the clubhouse and in life...... |
Twelve seasons later, he retired from the NFL, but not before being selected to the Pro Bowl on four different occasions. If you can picture Dick Butkus (the famed Chicago Bear ruffian) playing tackle, that would be Alex Karras. He was not big for his position at defensive tackle ( 6 foot 3 inches and 248 pounds), but he along with teammate Roger Brown and several other studs formed a group known as the "Fearsome Foursome".
But there were some trials during his NFL playing days. "On January 7, 1963, Karras's ownership in Detroit's Lindell AC Bar became a source of controversy when league officials urged him to sell his financial interests in the place because of reports of gambling and organized crime influence. After first threatening to retire rather than give it up, he admitted to placing bets on NFL games and was suspended by the league along with Green Bay Packers running back, Paul Hornung, for one season. During his exile, Karras turned to pro wrestling where he had dabbled before. The league reinstated he and Hornung in 1964. Upon returning to action, he once refused when an official asked him to call the pre-game coin toss, "I'm sorry, sir", Karras replied, "I'm not permitted to gamble".
On another occasion, Lions rookie tight end recalled how he won Karras over. "Karras showed him a picture of what he said was him (Karras) and his wife. Both were young and Sanders said the woman was one of the ugliest he'd ever seen. It wasn't Karras' wife and he was testing Sanders to see how he'd react. "You have a nice family", Sanders replied diplomatically. From that moment on, Karras accepted Sanders as a teammate and a friend. "He was a character", said Sanders. "He was the Godfather. That's what Godfather's do".
That's the kind of character he was.....
Upon retirement Karras gained fame as a partner in the booth with Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football......in movies, like the "Paper Lion" and "Blazing Saddles".....and then on to television with his hit "Webster". where he would star with his second wife, Susan Clark.
I'm not sure he ever patched things up with his University. I thought he had, but I couldn't confirm that before I wrote the facts that were important about his life. He wore # 77 as a Hawkeye and that's how old he was when he passed. Perhaps a little irony there. As I said before.....he was different. But in a great, great way.
R.I.P. Alex Karras.
Thanks for reading,
John
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