In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of main distinguishers between gridiron football (American football and Canadian football) in which the play is legal and widespread, and rugby football (union and league) from which the North American games evolved, in which the play is illegal.

In some football codes, such as association football (soccer), the forward pass is used so ubiquitously that it is not thought of as a distinct kind of play at all. In these sports, the concept of offside is used to regulate who can be in front of the play or be nearest to the goal. However, this has not always been the case. Some earlier incarnations of football allowed unlimited forward passing, while others had strict offsides rules similar to rugby. Rules regarding the forward pass in American football were standardized in 1863.

The development of the forward pass in American football shows how the game has evolved from its rugby roots into the distinctive game it is today. Illegal and experimental forward passes had been attempted as early as 1876, but the first legal forward pass in American football took place in 1906, after a change in rules. Another change in rules occurred on January 18, 1951, which established that no center, tackle, or guard could receive a forward pass. Today, the only linemen who can receive a forward pass are the ends and, if they report as eligible prior to the snap, the offensive tackle. Current rules regulate who may throw and who may receive a forward pass, and under what circumstances, as well as how the defensive team may try to prevent a pass from being completed. The primary pass thrower is the quarterback, and statistical analysis is used to determine a quarterback's success rate at passing in various situations, as well as a team's overall success at the "passing game."

American and Canadian football

In American and Canadian football, a forward pass—usually referred to simply as a pass—consists of one offensive player throwing the football towards another downfield in the direction of the opponent's goal line. This is permitted only once during a scrimmage down by the offensive team before team possession has changed, provided the pass is thrown from in or behind the neutral zone. An illegal forward pass incurs a five-yard penalty and the loss of a down.

If an eligible receiver on the passing team legally catches the ball it is a complete pass and the receiver may attempt to advance the ball. If an opposing player legally catches the ball (all defensive players are eligible receivers) it is an interception. That player's team immediately gains possession of the ball and he may attempt to advance the ball toward his opponent's goal. If no player is able to legally catch the ball it is an incomplete pass and the ball becomes dead the moment it touches the ground. It will then be returned to the original line of scrimmage for the next down. If any player interferes with an eligible receiver's ability to catch the ball it is pass interference which draws a penalty of varying degree (largely depending upon the particular league's rules).

The person passing the ball must be a member of the offensive team, and the recipient of the forward pass must be an eligible receiver and must touch the passed ball before any ineligible player.

The moment that a forward pass begins is important to the game. The pass begins the moment the passer's arm begins to move forward. If the passer drops the ball before this moment it is a fumble and therefore a loose ball. In this case anybody can gain possession of the ball before or after it touches the ground. In Canadian football, if the passer drops the ball while his arm is moving forward it is an incomplete pass (unless someone catches the ball before it hits the ground in which case it is a completed pass or an interception). Under American football's tuck rule, if the quarterback is attempting to bring the ball back to his body after starting a passing motion, a lost ball may be considered an incomplete pass even if the quarterback's arm is moving backward at the time.

The quarterback generally either starts a few paces behind the line of scrimmage or drops back a few paces as the ball is snapped. This places him in an area called the "pocket" which is a protective region formed by the offensive blockers up front and between the tackles on each side. A quarterback who runs out of this pocket is said to be scrambling. Under NFL and NCAA rules, once the quarterback moves out of the pocket, and there is no good option for a forward pass, the ball may be legally thrown away to prevent a sack. NFHS (high school) rules do not allow for a passer to intentionally throw an incomplete forward pass to save loss of yardage or conserve time, except for a spike to conserve time after a hand to hand snap. If he throws the ball away while still in the pocket then a foul called "intentional grounding" is assessed. In Canadian football the passer must simply throw the ball across the line of scrimmage—whether he is inside or outside of the "pocket"—to avoid the foul of "intentionally grounding".

If a forward pass is caught near a sideline or endline it is a complete pass (or an interception) only if a receiver catches the ball ''in bounds''. For a pass to be ruled in bounds, the receiver's feet must be in contact with the in bounds portion of the playing field, or, if the ball is caught in the air, either one or two feet must touch the ground within the field boundaries, after the ball is caught. In the NFL the receiver must touch the ground with both feet, but in most other codes—CFL, NCAA and high school—one foot in bounds is enough.

Common to all gridiron codes is the notion of control—a receiver must demonstrate control of the ball in order to be ruled in ''possession'' of it, while still in bounds, as defined by his code. If the receiver catches the ball but the official determines that he was still "bobbling" it prior to the end of the play, then the pass will be ruled incomplete.

History

Early illegal and experimental passes

The forward pass had been attempted at least 30 years before the play was actually made legal. Passes "had been carried out successfully but illegally several times, including the 1876 Yale–Princeton game in which Yale’s Walter Camp threw forward to teammate Oliver Thompson as he was being tackled. Princeton's protest, one account said, went for naught when the referee 'tossed a coin to make his decision and allowed the touchdown to stand' ".

The University of North Carolina used the forward pass in an 1895 game against the University of Georgia. However, the play was still illegal at the time. Bob Quincy stakes Carolina's claim in his 1973 book ''They Made the Bell Tower Chime'':

John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman Trophy, wrote 30 years later that, indeed, the Tar Heels had given birth to the forward pass against the Bulldogs (UGA). It was conceived to break a scoreless deadlock and give UNC a 6–0 win. The Carolinians were in a punting situation and a Georgia rush seemed destined to block the ball. The punter, with an impromptu dash to his right, tossed the ball and it was caught by George Stephens, who ran 70 yards for a touchdown.

In a 1905 experimental game, Washburn and what would become Wichita State used the pass before new rules allowing the play were approved in early 1906.

Rules changed in 1906 to allow the forward pass

1905 had been a bloody year on the gridiron; the ''Chicago Tribune'' reported 18 players had been killed and 159 seriously injured that season. There were moves to abolish the game. But President Theodore Roosevelt personally intervened and demanded that the rules of the game be reformed. In a meeting of more than 60 schools in late 1905, the commitment was made to make the game safer. This meeting was the first step toward the establishment of what would become the NCAA and was followed by several sessions to work out "the new rules."

The final meeting of the Rules Committee tasked with reshaping the game was held on April 6, 1906, at which time the forward pass officially became a legal play. ''The New York Times'' reported in September 1906 on the rationale for the changes: "The main efforts of the football reformers have been to 'open up the game'—that is to provide for the natural elimination of the so-called mass plays and bring about a game in which speed and real skill shall supersede so far as possible mere brute strength and force of weight." However the ''Times'' also reflected widespread skepticism as to whether the forward pass could be effectively integrated into the game: "There has been no team that has proved that the forward pass is anything but a doubtful, dangerous play to be used only in the last extremity." The forward pass was not allowed in Canadian football until 1929.

First legal pass

Most sources credit St. Louis University's Bradbury Robinson from Bellevue, Ohio with throwing the first legal forward pass. On September 5, 1906, in a game against Carroll College, Robinson's first attempt at a forward pass fell incomplete and resulted in a turnover under the 1906 rules. In the same game, Robinson later completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jack Schneider. The 1906 St. Louis University team was coached by Eddie Cochems. Football authority and College Football Hall of Fame coach David M. Nelson wrote that "E. B. Cochems is to forward passing what the Wright brothers are to aviation and Thomas Edison is to the electric light."

While St. Louis University completed the first legal forward pass in the first half of September, this accomplishment was in part because most schools did not begin their football schedule until early October.

In 1952, football coaching legend Amos Alonzo Stagg discounted accounts crediting any particular coach with being the innovator of the forward pass. Stagg noted that he had Walter Eckersall working on pass plays and saw Pomeroy Sinnock of Illinois throw many passes in 1906. Stagg summed up his view as follows: "I have seen statements giving credit to certain people originating the forward pass. The fact is that all coaches were working on it. The first season, 1906, I personally had sixty-four different forward pass patterns." In 1954, Stagg disputed Cochems' claim to have invented the forward pass:

"Eddie Cochems, who coached at St. Louis University in 1906, also claimed to have invented the pass as we know it today ... It isn't so, because after the forward pass was legalized in 1906, most of the schools commenced experimenting with it and nearly all used."

Stagg asserted that, as far back as 1894, before the rules committee even considered the forward pass, one of his players used to throw the ball "like a baseball pitcher." On the other hand, when Hall of Fame coach Gus Dorais told the United Press that "Eddie Cochems of the St. Louis University team of 1906–07–08 deserves the full credit." Writing in ''Collier's'' more than 20 years earlier, Dorais' Notre Dame teammate Knute Rockne acknowledged Cochems as the early leader in the use of the pass, observing, "One would have thought that so effective a play would have been instantly copied and become the vogue. The East, however, had not learned much or cared much about Midwest and Western football. Indeed, the East scarcely realized that football existed beyond the Alleghanies ..."

In his history of the game, historian David Nelson concluded that the first forward passes were thrown on Christmas Day 1905 in a match between two small colleges in Kansas: "Although Cochems was the premier passing coach during the first year of the rule, the first forward passes were thrown at the end of the 1905 season in a game between Fairmount and Washburn colleges in Kansas." According to Nelson, Washburn completed three passes, and Fairmount completed two.

Once the 1906 season got underway, many programs began experimenting with the forward pass. On September 26, 1906, Villanova's game against the Carlisle Indians was billed as "the first real game of football under the new rules." In the first play from scrimmage after the opening kicks, Villanova completed a pass that "succeeded in gaining ten yards." Following the Villanova-Carlisle game, ''The New York Times'' described the new passing game this way:

"The passing was more of the character of that familiar in basket ball than that which has hitherto characterized football. Apparently it is the intention of football coaches to try repeatedly these frequent long and risky passes. Well executed they are undoubtedly highly spectacular, but the risk of dropping the ball is so great as to make the practice extremely hazardous and its desirability doubtful."

Another coach sometimes credited with popularizing the overhead spiral pass in 1906 is former Princeton All-American "Bosey" Reiter. Reiter claimed to have invented the overhead spiral pass while playing professional football as a player-coach for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics of the original National Football League (1902). While playing for the Athletics, Reiter was a teammate of Hawley Pierce, a former star for the Carlisle Indian School. Pierce, a Native American, taught Reiter to throw an underhand spiral pass, but Reiter had short arms and was unable to throw for distance from an underhand delivery. Accordingly, Reiter began working on an overhand spiral pass. Reiter recalled trying to imitate the motion of a baseball catcher throwing to second base. After practice and experimentation, Reiter "discovered he could get greater distance and accuracy throwing that way." In 1906, Reiter was the head coach at Wesleyan University. In the opening game of the 1906 season against Yale, Reiter's quarterback Sammy Moore completed a forward pass to Irvin van Tassell for a thirty-yard gain. ''The New York Times'' called it "the prettiest play of the day," as Wesleyan's quarterback "deftly passed the ball past the whole Yale team to his mate Van Tassel." Van Tassel later described the historic play to the United Press:

"I was the right halfback, and on this formation played one yard back of our right tackle. The quarterback, Sam Moore, took the ball from center and faded eight or 10 yards back of our line. Our two ends angled down the field toward the sidelines as a decoy, and I slipped through the strong side of our line straight down the center and past the secondary defense. The pass worked perfectly. However, the quarterback coming up fast nailed me as I caught it. This brought the ball well into Yale territory, about the 20-yard line."

The football season opened for most schools during the first week of October, and the impact of the forward pass was immediate: On October 3, 1906, the ''Des Moines Daily News'' reported "probably the first use" of the "long forward pass" in the University of Missouri's 23–4 win over Kirksville Normal School. On October 4, 1906, Princeton opened its season with a 22–0 win over Stevens. Press accounts indicate that Princeton put the forward pass to good use, as "old-time football gave way to the new game." On October 4, 1906, the Carlisle Indians beat Susquehanna University 40–0, as "the forward pass was used for a number of good gains." On October 4, 1906, Harvard defeated Bowdoin 10–0 "in a hard-fought contest that was featured by a newfangled and daring forward pass that Crimson worked in the closing minutes of play." On October 4, 1906, Williams College defeated the Massachusetts Agricultural College, scoring the game's only touchdown on a forward pass by Waters.

Some publications credit Yale All-American Paul Veeder with the "first forward pass in a major game." Veeder threw a 20 to 30-yard completion in leading Yale past Harvard 6–0 before 32,000 fans in New Haven on November 24, 1906. However, that Yale/Harvard game was played three weeks after St. Louis completed 45 and 48-yard passes against Kansas before a crowd of 7,000 at Sportsman's Park.

First passing offense

The forward pass was a central feature of Cochems' offensive scheme in 1906 as his St. Louis University team compiled an undefeated 11–0 season in which they outscored opponents by a combined score 407 to 11. The highlight of the campaign was St. Louis' 31–0 win over Iowa. Cochems' team reportedly completed eight passes in ten attempts for four touchdowns. "The average flight distance of the passes was twenty yards." Nelson continues, "the last play demonstrated the dramatic effect that the forward pass was having on football. St. Louis was on Iowa's thirty-five-yard line with a few seconds to play. Timekeeper Walter McCormack walked onto the field to end the game when the ball was thrown twenty-five yards and caught on the dead run for a touchdown."

The 1906 Iowa game was refereed by one of the top football officials in the country, West Point's Lt. Horatio B. "Stuffy" Hackett. He had officiated games involving the top Eastern powers that year. Hackett, who would become a member of the football rules committee in December 1907 and officiated games into the 1930s, was quoted the next day in Ed Wray's ''Post-Dispatch'' article: "It was the most perfect exhibition ... of the new rules ... that I have seen all season and much better than that of Yale and Harvard. St. Louis' style of pass differs entirely from that in use in the east. ... The St. Louis university players shoot the ball hard and accurately to the man who is to receive it ... The fast throw by St. Louis enables the receiving player to dodge the opposing players, and it struck me as being all but perfect."

"Cochems said that the poor Iowa showing resulted from its use of the old style play and its failure to effectively use the forward pass", Nelson writes. "Iowa did attempt two basketball-style forward passes."

"During the 1906 season [Robinson] threw a sixty-seven yard pass ... and ... Schneider tossed a sixty-five yarder. Considering the size, shape and weight of the ball, these were extraordinary passes."

In 1907, after the first season of the forward pass, one football writer noted that, "with the single exception of Cochems, football teachers were groping in the dark."

Because St. Louis was geographically isolated from both the dominating teams and the major sports media (newspapers) of the era ... all centered in and focused on the East ... Cochems' groundbreaking offensive strategy was not picked up by the major teams. Pass-oriented offenses would not be adopted by the Eastern football powers until the next decade.

But that does not mean that other teams in the Midwest did not pick it up. Arthur Schabinger, quarterback for the College of Emporia in Kansas, was reported to have regularly used the forward pass in 1910. Coach H. W. "Bill" Hargiss' "Presbies" are said to have featured the play in a 17–0 victory over Washburn University and in a 107–0 destruction of Pittsburg State University.

Adoption by Notre Dame expands popularity

Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais worked on the pass while lifeguarding on a Lake Erie beach at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, during the summer of 1913. That year, Jesse Harper, Notre Dame head coach, also showed how the pass could be used by a smaller team to beat a bigger one, first utilizing it to defeat rival Army. After it was used against a major school on a national stage in this game, the forward pass rapidly gained popularity.

First pass in a professional game

The first forward pass in a professional football game may have been thrown in an Ohio League game played on October 25, 1906. The Ohio League, which traced its history to the 1890s, was the predecessor of today's NFL. According to Robert W. Peterson in his book ''Pigskin The Early Years of Pro Football'', the "passer was George W. (Peggy) Parratt, probably the best quarterback of the era", who played for the Massillon, Ohio Tigers, one of pro football's first franchises. Citing the Professional Football Researchers Association as his source, Peterson writes that "Parratt completed a short pass to end Dan Riley (real name, Dan Policowski)" in a game played at Massillon against a team from West Virginia. Since the Tigers "ran up a 61 to 0 score on the hapless Mountain Staters, the pass played no important part in the result."

According to National Football League history, it legalized the forward pass from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage on February 25, 1933. Before that rule change, a forward pass had to be made from 5 or more yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Forward passes were first permitted in Canadian football in 1929, but the tactic remained a minor part of the game for several years. Jack Jacobs of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is recognized, not for inventing the forward pass, but for popularizing it in the Western Interprovincial Football Union, thus changing the Canadian game from a more run-dominated game to the passing game as seen today.

Change in ball shape

Specification of the size of the ball for the American game came in 1912, but it was still essentially a rugby ball. Increased use of the forward pass encouraged adoption of a narrower ball, starting with changes in the 1920s which enhanced rifled throwing and also spiral punting.

Rugby football

In the two codes of rugby (union and league) a forward pass is against the rules. It results in a scrum to the opposing team.

The team in possession must get behind the ball carrier or be ruled offside. Offside players will not be penalised as long as they remain inactive but if the ball is thrown to them then they become active and thus a scrum or penalty is awarded to the opposition. To minimize the chances of this happening and to support the ball carrier, teammates try to stay behind the player with the ball.

According to the rules stipulated by the governing body of Rugby League in Australia a forward pass is relative to the player making the pass and not the actual path relative to the ground. A forward pass occurs when the player passes the ball forward in relation to himself. Invariably this is rarely a deliberate offense and is often caused by misjudgment. A forward pass is generally restarted with a scrum after an accidental infringement, however a penalty may be awarded if the referee is of the belief that the ball was deliberately thrown forward.

See also

Glossary of American football

History of American football

Lateral pass

Playing rugby league

Hail Mary pass

References

Additional sources

Boyles, Bob & Guido, Paul, ''50 Years of College Football'', 2007

Category:American football plays Category:Rugby league terminology Category:Rugby union terminology

de:Passspiel (American Football) es:Pase adelantado pl:Forward pass pt:Passe para frente

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Joe Pass
landscape	yes
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua
born	January 13, 1929New Brunswick, New Jersey
died	May 23, 1994Los Angeles, California
instrument	Guitar
genre	Jazz, bebop
occupation	Musician, composer
years active	1943–1994
label	Concord, PabloPacific Jazz
associated acts	Zack Charette
notable instruments	}}

Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua) (January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. His extensive use of walking basslines, melodic counterpoint during improvisation, use of a chord-melody style of play and outstanding knowledge of chord inversions and progressions opened up new possibilities for jazz guitar and had a profound influence on future guitarists.

Early life

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Joe Pass, the son of Mariano Passalaqua, a Sicilian-born steel mill worker, was raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Born into a non-musical family, Pass started to play the guitar after being inspired by actor Gene Autry's portrayal of a guitar playing cowboy. He received his first guitar, a Harmony model bought for $17, on his 9th birthday. Pass' father recognized early that his son had "a little something happening" and pushed him constantly to pick up tunes by ear, play pieces not written specifically for the instrument, practice scales and not to "leave any spaces" - that is, to fill in the sonic space between the notes of the melody.

As early as 14, Pass started getting gigs and was playing with bands fronted by Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet, honing his guitar skills and learning the music business. He began traveling with small jazz groups and eventually moved from Pennsylvania to New York City. In a few years, he fell victim to drug abuse, and spent much of the 1950s in relative obscurity. Pass managed to emerge from it through a two-and-a-half-year stay at Synanon, drug rehabilitation program. During that time he played guitar non stop and further honed his skills. In 1962 he recorded ''The Sounds of Synanon.''

Discovery and subsequent career

Pass recorded a series of albums during the 1960s for the Pacific Jazz label, including the early classics ''Catch Me'', ''12-String Guitar'', ''For Django'', and ''Simplicity''. In 1963, Pass received ''Downbeat'' magazine's "New Star Award". Pass was also featured on Pacific Jazz recordings by Gerald Wilson, Bud Shank, and Les McCann. Pass toured with George Shearing in 1965. Mostly, however, during the 1960s he did TV and recording session work in Los Angeles.

He was a sideman with Louis Bellson, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams, Della Reese, Johnny Mathis, and worked on TV shows including ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', ''The Merv Griffin Show'', ''The Steve Allen Show'', and others. In the early 1970s, Pass and guitarist Herb Ellis were performing together regularly at Donte's jazz club in Los Angeles. This collaboration led to Pass and Ellis recording the very first album on the new Concord Jazz label, entitled simply ''Jazz/Concord'' (#CJS-1), along with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jake Hanna. In the early 1970s, Pass also collaborated on a series of music books, and his ''Joe Pass Guitar Style'' (written with Bill Thrasher) is considered a leading improvisation textbook for students of jazz.

Norman Granz, the producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic and the founder of Verve Records signed Pass to Granz's new Pablo Records label in 1970. In 1974, Pass released his landmark solo album ''Virtuoso'' on Pablo Records. Also in 1974, Pablo Records released the album ''The Trio'' featuring Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. At the Grammy Awards of 1975, ''The Trio'' won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group. As part of the Pablo Records "stable," Pass also recorded with Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and others.

Pass and Ella Fitzgerald recorded six albums together on Pablo Records, toward the end of Fitzgerald's career: ''Take Love Easy'' (1973), ''Fitzgerald and Pass... Again'' (1976), "Hamburg Duets - 1976" (1976), "Sophisticated Lady" (1975, 1983), ''Speak Love'' (1983), and ''Easy Living'' (1986).

In 1994, Joe Pass died from liver cancer in Los Angeles, California at the age of 65.

Legacy

In addition to his ensemble performances, the jazz community regards Joe Pass as an influential solo guitarist. His solo style was marked by an advanced linear technique, sophisticated harmonic sense, counterpoint between improvised lead lines, bass figures and chords, spontaneous modulations, and transitions from fast tempos to rubato passages. He would regularly add what he called "color tones" to his compositions, to give what he believed was a more sophisticated and "funkier" sound. As common in jazz, he would achieve this by taking the basic chord, for example G7 and would improvise or substitute certain notes, so would play for example a G13 chord or would add other tones such as flat or sharpened 5ths and 9ths to the chord. He would then often connect them chromatically using his walking bassline of root notes.

Pass's early style (influenced by guitarist Django Reinhardt and saxophonist Charlie Parker), was marked by fast single-note lines and a flowing melodic sense. Pass had the unusual lifelong habit of breaking his guitar picks and playing only with the smaller part. As Pass made the transition from ensemble to solo guitar performance, he preferred to abandon the pick altogether, and play fingerstyle. He found this enabled him to execute his harmonic concepts more effectively. His series of solo albums, ''Virtuoso'' (volumes 1 through 4) are a demonstration of Pass's refined technique.

Joe Pass let some instrument manufacturers use his name, but he only used those instruments to fulfill its engagement against those brands, or as travelling ones. He really used to play a Gibson ES-175 guitar (mainly) and a guitar made for him by master crafter Jimmy D'Aquisto; for a time he also played a Fender Jaguar, a rather unusual choice of guitar for jazz (being associated more with surf music). Epiphone has produced an edition of the ''Emperor'' line of semi-acoustic Guitar in his honour. Previously Ibanez had a Joe Pass model jazz guitar, as they continue to for influential jazz guitarists George Benson and Pat Metheny.

Discography

Selected bibliography

''Mel Bay Presents Joe Pass "Off the Record".'' Mel Bay, 1993. ISBN 1-56222-687-8

''Complete Joe Pass.'' Mel Bay, 2003. ISBN 0-7866-6747-8

Miyakaku, Takao. ''Joe Pass.'' Tokyo: Seiunsha, 2000. ISBN 4-434-00455-7 (photograph collection)

References

''Joe Pass Unedited'' article by Jim Ferguson

External links

Joe Pass guitar solo video (YouTube)

Joe Pass

Joe Pass guitar tab

Joe Pass Memorial Hall

Category:Bebop guitarists Category:New Brunswick, New Jersey Category:American jazz guitarists Category:Joe Pass albums Category:People from Johnstown, Pennsylvania Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:1929 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American jazz musicians of Italian descent Category:American people of Sicilian descent Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from liver cancer

cs:Joe Pass da:Joe Pass de:Joe Pass es:Joe Pass eo:Joe Pass fr:Joe Pass it:Joe Pass he:ג'ו פאס lt:Joe Pass mk:Џо Пас nl:Joe Pass ja:ジョー・パス no:Joe Pass pl:Joe Pass pt:Joe Pass ru:Пасс, Джо

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Robert P. Griffin
nationality	American
image name	Robert Paul Griffin.jpg
jr/sr	United States Senator
state	Michigan
party	Republican
term start	May 11, 1966
term end	January 3, 1979
preceded	Patrick V. McNamara
succeeded	Carl Levin
state2	Michigan
district2	9th
term start2	January 3, 1957
term end2	May 10, 1966
preceded2	Ruth Thompson
succeeded2	Guy Vander Jagt
Order3	14th Minority Whip of the United States Senate
Term start3	September 7, 1969
Term end3	January 3, 1977
Leader4	Hugh D. Scott, Jr.
Predecessor4	Hugh D. Scott, Jr. (R)
Successor4	Ted Stevens (R)
birth date	November 06, 1923
birth place	Detroit, Michigan
alma mater	Central Michigan CollegeUniversity of Michigan Law School
religion	Congregationalist
Branch	United States Army
Serviceyears	1943-1946
Unit	71st Infantry Division
Battles	World War II }}

Robert Paul Griffin (born November 6, 1923) was a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan and Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Griffin was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended public schools in Garden City and Dearborn. During the Second World War, he enlisted in the 71st Infantry Division in 1943 and spent fourteen months in Europe. After the war, he graduated from Central Michigan College (now Central Michigan University) at Mount Pleasant in 1947. He received a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1950. He commenced the practice of law in Traverse City.

Griffin was elected as a Republican to U.S. House of Representatives from the Michigan's 9th congressional district in 1956, unseating incumbent Ruth Thompson in the Republican primary. He served in the Eighty-fifth United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1957, until his resignation May 10, 1966. He was appointed by Governor George Romney on May 11, 1966, to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Patrick V. McNamara. He was elected November 8, 1966, to a full six-year term, defeating former Governor Soapy Williams by a 56% to 44% margin, commencing January 3, 1967 and was reelected in 1972, winning a tough race against state Attorney General Frank J. Kelley, and served from May 11, 1966, to January 2, 1979. He was Republican Whip 1969-1977. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1978, narrowly defeated by Democrat Carl Levin. He was a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court 1987-1994. His son, Richard Allen Griffin, was a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1989 to 2005, until he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 2005.

During Griffin's first Senate campaign in 1966, a suburban Detroit rock band, Doug Brown and the Omens, released a promotional flexidisc in support of his candidacy. The song, "Give Bob The Ball" (which extolled Griffin's "youth and experience") has been included on the garage rock compilation album ''Friday At The Hideout''.

Robert Griffin is currently () a resident of Traverse City.

Bibliography

Griffin, Robert P. "The Landrum-Griffin Act: Twelve Years of Experience in Protecting Employee Rights." ''Georgia Law Review'' 5 (summer 1971): 622-42

Griffin, Robert P. "Rules and Procedure of the Standing Committees." In ''We Propose: A Modern Congress'', edited by Mary McInnis, pp. 37–53. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1966.

External links

Presentation of the Portrait of the Honorable Robert P. Griffin

Category:1923 births Category:American Congregationalists Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Category:Michigan Supreme Court justices Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:People from Mount Pleasant, Michigan Category:People from Traverse City, Michigan Category:United States Senators from Michigan Category:Fordson High School alumni Category:Central Michigan University alumni Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni Category:Appointed United States Senators Category:Republican Party United States Senators Category:Michigan Republicans

de:Robert P. Griffin fi:Robert P. Griffin sv:Robert P. Griffin

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Terrence Williams
height ft	6
height in	6
weight lb	220
team	Houston Rockets
number	1
position	Guard/Small forward
college	Louisville
birth date	June 28, 1987
birth place	Seattle, Washington
high school	Rainier Beach HS (Seattle, Washington)
nationality	American
draft round	1
draft pick	11
draft team	New Jersey Nets
draft year	2009
career start	2009
years1	– | team1 New Jersey Nets
years2	2010 | team2 →Springfield Armor (D-League)
years3	–present | team3 Houston Rockets
highlights	}}

Terrence Deshon Williams (born June 28, 1987 in Seattle, Washington) is an American professional basketball player with the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association. Williams was drafted 11th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Nets. He was the senior co-captain for Rick Pitino's 2008-09 University of Louisville Cardinals. He is a 6-foot-6 forward hailing from Seattle, Washington.

During the 2007-08 season, Williams achieved the third and fourth triple-doubles in Louisville basketball history (the first two by Samaki Walker and Ellis Myles). He racked up 14 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds in the Cardinals' season-opening 104-69 win over Hartford and had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in a January 19, 2008 loss to Seton Hall.

At Rainier Beach High School, Williams was a four-year starter on the basketball team. He helped the team to a state title in 2003. He averaged 21.7 points his senior year. He was also a starting wide receiver and free safety on the football team. He considered attending Indiana and Kansas before deciding to play for Pitino.

Williams appeared on three straight Sports Illustrated covers and is one of few athletes to do so. He was also a finalist in the Lowe's Senior Class Award and was named to the Lowe's Senior Class All-Senior All-America first team.

Williams' has extraordinary overall athletic abilities as recognized by coach Rick Pitino. "He's a freakish athlete," Pitino said. He is known for his slam dunking abilities and won the dunk contest at the 2005 Kentucky Derby Basketball Classic.

NBA career

Williams was drafted by the New Jersey Nets with the 11th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft and was signed to a four-year contract. In the teams' now annual summer workouts, he dazzled his teammates and coaches with his athleticism, defense, and passing.

He recorded his first career triple-double April 9, 2010, with 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Nets double overtime win over the Chicago Bulls 127–116.

On November 26, 2010, the Nets sent Williams to the Springfield Armor of the NBA D-League. Williams was recalled on December 7, 2010.

On December 15, 2010, Williams was traded to the Houston Rockets in a three-team trade involving the Nets and Los Angeles Lakers.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009–10 | style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey | 78 || 9 || 22.6 || .401 || .310 || .715 || 4.5 || 2.9 || .6 || .1 || 8.4 |- | align="left" | 2010–11 | align="left" | New Jersey | 10 || 0 || 20.6 || .397 || .333 || .500 || 3.6 || 3.1 || .5 || .0 || 6.7 |- | align="left" | 2010–11 | align="left" | Houston | 11 || 0 || 7.6 || .333 || .200 || .818 || 1.4 || .6 || .4 || .0 || 3.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 99 || 9 || 20.7 || .397 || .303 || .709 || 4.0 || 2.6 || .5 || .1 || 7.7

Personal

He owns over 300 pairs of sneakers. His nickname is "T-Will".

See also

2009 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

References

External links

Terrence Williams News

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:American basketball players Category:Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Category:Small forwards Category:Basketball players from Washington (state) Category:People from Seattle, Washington Category:New Jersey Nets draft picks Category:New Jersey Nets players Category:Springfield Armor players

ca:Terrence Williams de:Terrence Williams es:Terrence Williams fr:Terrence Williams gl:Terrence Williams it:Terrence Williams tr:Terrence Williams zh:特里·威廉士

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
Name	Lawrence Taylor
Width	200
Position	Linebacker
Number	56
Birth date	February 04, 1959
Birth place	Williamsburg, Virginia
Heightft	6
Heightin	3
Weight	241
Highschool	Lafayette High School
College	North Carolina
Draftyear	1981
Draftround	1
Draftpick	2
Debutyear	1981
Debutteam	New York Giants
Finalyear	1993
Finalteam	New York Giants
Teams	–)}}

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Ranked 3rd by The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players

10× Pro Bowl selection (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990)

10× All-Pro selection (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990)

2× Super Bowl champion (XXI, XXV)

AP NFL MVP (1986)

PFWA NFL MVP (1986)

3× AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1981, 1982, 1986)

NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1986)

2× UPI NFC Defensive Player of the Year (1983, 1986)

AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (1981)

Bert Bell Award (1986)

NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team

NFL 1980s All-Decade Team

New York Giants #56 retired

Member of the New York Giants Ring of Honor

|statseason=1993 |stat1label=Tackles |stat1value=1,088 |stat2label=Sacks |stat2value=142 |stat3label=Interceptions |stat3value=9 |nfl=TAY508500 |HOF=212 }} Lawrence Julius Taylor (born February 4, 1959), nicknamed "L.T.", is a Hall of Fame former American football player. Taylor played his entire professional career as a linebacker for the New York Giants in the National Football League (NFL). He is considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of football, and has been ranked as the top defensive player in league history by former players, coaches, media members, and news outlets such as the NFL Network, and ''Sporting News''.

After an All-American career at the University of North Carolina (UNC) (1978–1981), Taylor was drafted by the Giants as the second overall selection in the 1981 NFL Draft. Although controversy surrounded the selection due to Taylor's contract demands, the two sides quickly resolved the issue. Taylor won several defensive awards after his rookie season. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Taylor was a disruptive force at outside linebacker, and is credited with changing the pass rushing schemes, offensive line play, and offensive formations used in the NFL. Taylor produced double-digit sacks each season from 1984 through 1990, including a career high of 20.5 in 1986. He also won a record three Defensive Player of the Year awards and was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his performance during the 1986 season. He was named First-team All-Pro in each of his first nine seasons and was a key member of the Giants' defense, nicknamed "The Big Blue Wrecking Crew", that led New York to victories in Super Bowls XXI and XXV. During the 1980s Taylor, fellow linebackers Carl Banks, Gary Reasons, and Hall of Famer Harry Carson gave the Giants linebacking corps a reputation as one of the best in the NFL.

Taylor has lived a controversial lifestyle, during and after his playing career. He admitted to using drugs such as cocaine as early as his second year in the NFL, and was suspended several times by the league for failing drug tests. His drug abuse escalated after his retirement, and he was jailed three times for attempted drug possession. From 1998 to 2009, Taylor lived a sober, drug-free life. He worked as a color commentator on sporting events after his retirement, and pursued a career as an actor. His personal life came under public scrutiny in 2011 when he pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct involving a 16-year old girl.

Early life

Lawrence Taylor was the second of three sons born to Clarence and Iris Taylor in Williamsburg, Virginia. His father worked as a dispatcher at the Newport News shipyards, while his mother was a schoolteacher. Referred to as Lonnie by his family, Taylor was a mischievous youth. His mother said that "[h]e was a challenging child. Where the other two boys would ask for permission to do stuff, Lonnie...would just do it, and when you found out about it, he would give you a big story." Taylor concentrated on baseball as a youth, in which he played the position of catcher, and only began playing football at the advanced age of fifteen. He did not play organized high school football until the following year (eleventh grade), and was not heavily recruited coming out of high school.

After graduating from Lafayette High School in 1977, Taylor attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a team captain, and wore #98. Originally recruited as a defensive lineman, Taylor switched to linebacker before the 1979 season. He had 16 sacks in his final year there (1980), and set numerous defensive records. His awards included All-America and Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year honors in 1980. While there the coaching staff marveled at his intense, reckless style of play. "As a freshman playing on special teams, he'd jump a good six or seven feet in the air to block a punt, then land on the back of his neck," said North Carolina assistant coach Bobby Cale. "He was reckless, just reckless." UNC later retired Taylor's jersey, and subsequent players frequently played in his shadow.

NFL career

1981 NFL Draft and training camp

In the 1981 NFL Draft, Taylor was drafted by the NFL's New York Giants as the 2nd pick overall. In a poll of NFL General Managers (GMs) taken before the draft 26 of the league's 28 GMs said if they had the first selection they would select Taylor. One of the two GMs who said they would not take Taylor was the GM of the New Orleans Saints, who had the first pick in the draft. Giants GM George Young predicted before the draft that he would be better than NFL legends such as Dick Butkus: "Taylor is the best college linebacker I've ever seen. Sure, I saw Dick Butkus play. There's no doubt in my mind about Taylor. He's bigger and stronger than Butkus was. On the blitz, he's devastating." Controversy arose before the draft when Taylor and his agent Mike Trope expressed a desire to sign a contract for $250,000 a season, an amount unheard of for a rookie in 1981. Several players on the Giants threatened to walk out if Taylor was paid that salary, as they refused to play for less than an unproven rookie. On draft day the Saints selected George Rogers, leaving the Giants with the decision of whether to select Taylor. To the raucous approval of the crowd in attendance at the draft (which was held in New York City), the Giants selected him. Privately, Taylor was hesitant about playing for New York as had hoped to be drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, and was unimpressed with a tour of Giants Stadium he was taken on after the draft. Publicly, however, he expressed excitement about the opportunity to play in the city. The players changed their stance after he was drafted as Harry Carson made a point to reach out to him, and Taylor said he "talked to some players and coaches" and "got things straightened out." One of the factors that the Giants said they considered in selecting Taylor was his solid reputation. "He was the cleanest player in the draft. By that I mean there was no rap on him," said head coach Ray Perkins. "Great potential as a linebacker, a fine young man, free of injuries." Taylor chose to wear number 56 because he was a fan of Cowboys linebacker Thomas Henderson.

Taylor's talent was evident from the start of training camp. Reports came out of the Giants training compound of the exploits of the new phenom. Taylor's teammates took to calling him Superman and joked that his locker should be replaced with a phone booth. Phil Simms, the team's quarterback, said, "on the pass rush, he's an animal. He's either going to run around you or over you. With his quickness, he's full speed after two steps." Taylor made his NFL exhibition debut on August 8, 1981, recording 2 sacks in the Giants' 23–7 win over the Chicago Bears. Before the season word spread around the league about Taylor. Years after facing him in an exhibition game, Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Terry Bradshaw recalled, "[h]e dang-near killed me, I just kept saying, 'Who is this guy?' He kept coming from my blind side and just ripped my ribs to pieces."

Taylor developed what has been termed a "love-hate relationship" with Bill Parcells who was the team's defensive coordinator when he was drafted, and would later become their head coach. Parcells often rode players in the hopes of driving them to better performance. Taylor did not appreciate this approach, and early on told Parcells, "I've had enough. You either cut me or trade me but get the fuck off my back." Parcells kept on Taylor, but told privately told some veterans, "I like that LT. That motherfucker's got a mean streak."

Early career: 1981–1985

Taylor's NFL regular season debut occurred on September 6, 1981 in a 24–10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Aside from incurring a penalty for a late hit on Eagles running back Perry Harrington, Taylor played a nondescript game. In a game versus the St. Louis Cardinals later in the season, Taylor rushed and sacked the passer when he supposed to drop into coverage. When told by Parcells that was not what he was assigned to do on that play, and that what he did was not in the playbook, Taylor responded "Well, we better put it in on Monday, because that play's a dandy." He recorded 9.5 sacks in 1981, and his rookie season is considered one of the best in NFL history. He was named 1981's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, making him as of 2010 the only rookie to win DPOY. Taylor's arrival helped the Giants defense reduce their points allowed from 425 points in 1980 to 257 in 1981. They finished the season 9–7, up five games from the previous season, and advanced to the NFL divisional playoffs, where they lost 38–24 to the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers. The San Francisco win was due partly to a new tactic 49ers coach Bill Walsh used to slow Taylor. Walsh assigned guard John Ayers, the team's best blocker, to block Taylor and, although Taylor still recorded a sack and three tackles, he was not as effective as normal. In contrast to his on-field success Taylor was already developing a reputation for recklessness off the field; after nearly getting killed during the season when his speeding resulted in a car crash, Young told the team's trainer he would be surprised if the linebacker lived past the age of 30, and the Giants insured Taylor's life for $2 million.

The 1982 NFL season, which was shortened to nine regular season games by a players strike, included one of the more memorable plays of Taylor's career. In the nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions the teams were tied 6–6 early in the fourth quarter, when the Lions drove deep into New York territory. Lions quarterback Gary Danielson dropped back to pass and threw the ball out to his left toward the sidelines. Taylor ran in front of the intended receiver, intercepted the pass, and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown. Taylor was again named DPOY. The Giants finished 4-5 and out of the playoffs.

After the 1982 season, Perkins became head coach of the University of Alabama and the Giants hired Parcells to replace him. In the coming years this change would prove crucial to the Giants and Taylor. Leading up to the 1983 season, Taylor engaged in a training camp holdout that lasted three weeks and ended when he came back to the team under his old contract with three games left in the preseason.

Although Taylor recorded nine sacks and made the All-Pro team for the third consecutive season in 1983, the Giants struggled. The team went 3–12–1, and Parcells received heavy criticism from fans and the media. Taylor was forced to play inside linebacker for part of the season, a position which allowed him less pass rushing opportunities, when Carson was injured. Frustrated by the losing, Taylor began acting out by arriving late for meetings, and not participating in conditioning drills in practice. After the season, Taylor was involved in a fight for his services between the Giants and the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. Taylor was given a $1 million interest-free, 25-year loan by Generals owner Donald Trump on December 14, 1983, with the provision that he begin playing in the USFL in 1988. Taylor regretted the decision, and less than a month later attempted to renege. The Giants were forced to negotiate with Trump to retain Taylor. The main results of these negotiations were threefold: 1) Taylor returned the $1 million to Trump, 2) the Giants paid Trump $750,000 over the next five seasons, and 3) the Giants gave Taylor a new six-year, $6.2-million-dollar contract.

The Giants' record rebounded to 9–7 in 1984, and Taylor had his fourth All-Pro season. He got off to a quick start, recording four sacks in a September game. In the playoffs the Giants defeated the Los Angeles Rams 16–13, but lost 21–10 to the eventual champion 49ers.

In contrast to the previous season the Giants headed into the 1985 season with a sense of optimism after their successful 1984 campaign and a 5–0 pre-season record. The Giants went 10–6, and Taylor spearheaded a defense that led the NFL in sacks with 68. Taylor had 13. One of the more memorable plays of his career occurred during this season. On a ''Monday Night Football'' game against the Redskins, Taylor's sack of Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann inadvertently resulted in a compound fracture of Theismann's right leg. After the sack, a distraught Taylor screamed for paramedics to attend to Theismann. Although this sack ended Theismann's career, Theismann has never blamed Taylor for the injury. Taylor says he has never seen video of the play and never wants to. During the first round of the playoffs, the Giants defeated the defending champion 49ers 17–3, but lost to the eventual champion Chicago Bears in the second round 21–0.

Mid-career and championships: 1986–1990

In 1986 Taylor had one of the most successful seasons by a defensive player in the history of the NFL. He recorded a league-leading 20.5 sacks and became one of just two defensive players to win the NFL Most Valuable Player award and the only defensive player to be the unanimous selection for MVP. He also was named DPOY for the third time. The Giants finished the season 14–2 and outscored San Francisco and Washington by a combined score of 66–3 in the NFC playoffs. He appeared on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' alone the week leading up to Super Bowl XXI with a warning from the magazine to the Denver Broncos regarding Taylor. The Giants overcame a slow start in Super Bowl XXI to defeat Denver 39–20. Taylor made a key touchdown preventing tackle on a goal line play in the first half, stopping Broncos quarterback John Elway as he sprinted out on a rollout.

With the Super Bowl win, Taylor capped off an unprecedented start to his career. After six years, he had been named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award (1981), NFL Defensive Player of the Year a record three times (1981, 1982, 1986), First-team All-Pro six times, become the first defensive player in NFL history unanimously voted the league's MVP (1986), and led his team to a championship (1986). After the win, however, Taylor felt let down rather than elated saying,

The Giants appeared to have a bright future coming off their 1986 championship season as they were one of the younger teams in the league. They struggled the next season however, falling to 6–9 in the strike-shortened 1987 season. Taylor caused strife in the locker room when he broke the picket line after early struggles by the team. He explained his decision by saying "The Giants are losing. And I'm losing $60,000 a week." He finished the season as the team leader in sacks with 12 in 12 games played, but missed a game due to a hamstring injury, ending his consecutive games played streak at 106.

The Giants looked to rebound to their championship ways in 1988 but the start of the season was marred by controversy surrounding Taylor. He tested positive for cocaine and was suspended by the league for thirty days, as it was his second violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy. The first result in 1987 had been kept private and was not known to the public at the time. He was kept away from the press during this period and checked himself into rehab in early September. Taylor's over-the-edge lifestyle was becoming an increasing concern for fans and team officials. This was especially true given the eventual career paths of talented players like Hollywood Henderson and others whose drug problems derailed their careers. The Giants went 2–2 in the games Taylor missed. When Taylor returned he was his usual dominant self as he led the team in sacks again, with 15.5 in 12 games played. The season also contained some of the more memorable moments of Taylor's career. In a crucial late-season game with playoff implications against the New Orleans Saints, Taylor played through a torn pectoral muscle to record seven tackles, three sacks, and two forced fumbles. Taylor's presence in the lineup was important as the Giants' offense was having trouble mounting drives, and was dominated in time of possession. Television cameras repeatedly cut to the sidelines to show him in extreme physical pain as he was being attended to by the Giants staff. Taylor had already developed a reputation for playing through pain; in a 1983 game against the Eagles the team's training staff had to hide his helmet to prevent the injured Taylor from returning to the field. Taylor's shoulder was so injured that he had to wear a harness to keep it in its place. The Giants held on for a 13–12 win, and Parcells later called Taylor's performance "[t]he greatest game I ever saw." However, due to the tie-breaker system, the Giants missed the playoffs in 1988 despite a 10–6 record.

In 1989, Taylor recorded 15 sacks. He was forced to play the latter portion of the season with a fractured tibia, suffered in a 34–24 loss to the 49ers in week 12, which caused him to sit out the second half of several games. Despite his off-the-field problems, Taylor remained popular among his teammates and was voted defensive co-captain along with Carl Banks. The two filled the defensive captain's spot vacated by the retired Harry Carson. The retirement of the nine-time Pro Bowler Carson, broke up the Giants linebacker corps of Carson, Reasons, Banks, and Taylor, which spearheaded the team's defense nicknamed the "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" in the 1980s. The Giants went 12–4, and advanced to the playoffs. In an exciting, down-to-the-wire game, the Rams eliminated the Giants 19–13 in the first round, despite Taylor's two sacks and one forced fumble.

Taylor held out of training camp before the 1990 season, demanding a new contract with a salary of $2 million per year. Talks dragged into September with neither side budging, and as the season approached Taylor received fines at the rate of $2,500 dollars a day. He signed a three year $5 million contract (making him the highest paid defensive player in the league) just four days before the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite sitting out training camp and the preseason, Taylor recorded three sacks and a forced fumble against the Eagles. He finished with 10.5 sacks and earned his 10th Pro Bowl in as many years, although the season marked the first time in Taylor's career that he was not selected to the All-Pro team. The Giants started out 10 – 0 and finished with a 13–3 record. In the playoffs, the Giants defeated the Bears 31–3, and faced the rival 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. They won 15–13, after Taylor recovered a key fumble late in the game to set up Matt Bahr's game-winning field goal. In Super Bowl XXV, they played the Buffalo Bills and won one of the more entertaining Super Bowls in history, 20-19, after Buffalo's Scott Norwood missed a potential game-winning field goal as time expired.

Final years and decline: 1991–1993

Following the 1990 season, Parcells, whom Taylor had become very close to, retired, and the team was taken over by Ray Handley. 1991 marked a steep decline in Taylor's production. It became the first season in his career in which he failed to make the Pro Bowl squad, after setting a then record by making it in his first ten years in the league. Taylor finished with 7 sacks in 14 games and the Giants defense, while still respectable, was no longer one of the top units in the league.

Taylor rebounded in the early stages of what many thought would be his final season in 1992. Through close to nine games Taylor was on pace for 10 sacks and the Giants were 5–4. However, a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in a November eighth game against Green Bay sidelined him for the final seven games, during which the team went 1–6. Before the injury Taylor had missed only four games due to injury in his 12 year career. Throughout the 1992 season, and the ensuing offseason, Taylor was noncommittal about his future, alternately saying he might retire, then later hinting he wanted a longer-term contract.

Taylor returned for the 1993 season enticed by the chance to play with a new coach (Dan Reeves), and determined not to end his career due to an injury. The Giants had a resurgent season in 1993. They finished 11–5, and competed for the top NFC playoff seed. Taylor finished with 6 sacks, and the Giants defense led the NFL in fewest points allowed. They defeated the Vikings 17–10 in the opening round of the playoffs. The next week on January 15, 1994 in what would be Taylor's final game, the Giants were beaten 44–3 by the 49ers. As the game came to a conclusion, television cameras drew in close on Taylor who was crying. He announced his retirement at the post-game press conference saying, "I think it's time for me to retire. I've done everything I can do. I've been to Super Bowls. I've been to playoffs. I've done things that other people haven't been able to do in this game before. After 13 years, it's time for me to go."

Taylor ended his career with 1,088 tackles, 132.5 sacks (not counting the 9.5 sacks he recorded as a rookie because sacks did not become an official statistic until 1982), nine interceptions, 134 return yards, two touchdowns, 33 forced fumbles, 11 fumble recoveries, and 34 fumble return yards.

Impact on the NFL

Taylor is considered one of the best players to ever play in the NFL, and has been ranked as the top defensive player in league history by news outlets, media members, former players and coaches. He has also been described as one of the most "feared" and "intimidating" players in NFL history. Taylor's explosive speed and power is credited with changing the position of outside linebacker from a "read and react" type of position to a more attacking, aggressive position.

Redskins coach Joe Gibbs developed the two tight end offense and the position of h-back to prevent Taylor from blitzing into the backfield unhindered. "We had to try in some way have a special game plan just for Lawrence Taylor. Now you didn't do that very often in this league but I think he's one person that we learned the lesson the hard way. We lost ball games." The tactic employed by Bill Walsh in the 1982 playoffs, using an offensive guard to block Taylor, was copied around the league. However, this left a hole in pass protection that a blitzing middle linebacker could exploit. Later, Walsh and other coaches began using offensive tackles to block Taylor. Later it became common for offensive linemen to pick up blitzing linebackers. In addition to the changes in offensive schemes Taylor influenced, he also introduced new defensive techniques to the game such as chopping the ball out of the quarterback's hands rather than tackling him.

Drugs and extreme measures

In contrast to his success on the football field, Taylor's personal life has been marred by drug usage and controversy. When Taylor was once asked what he could do that no outside linebacker could, his answer was, "Drink". However, alcohol abuse was not the largest of his substance abuse problems. After admitting to and testing positive for cocaine in 1987, he was suspended from football for 30 days in 1988 after failing a second drug test. After his second positive test he gave up drugs for five years as a third positive test would have ended his career. As he approached retirement however, he looked forward to picking up the habit again, saying in his second autobiography, "I saw coke as the only bright spot in my future." After his retirement he began abusing drugs on a regular basis. He went through drug rehab twice in 1995, only to later be arrested twice over a three-year span for attempting to buy cocaine from undercover police officers. During this period, he lived almost exclusively in his home with white sheets covering his windows and only associated with other drug users. Taylor later said, “I had gotten really bad. I mean my place was almost like a crack house." In his second autobiography, Taylor admitted that he had begun using drugs as early as his rookie season in the NFL. He has also stated that his first wife Linda, mother to his three children, once had to come pick him up from a crack house during his playing career.

In a November 2003 interview with Mike Wallace on the television news magazine ''60 Minutes'', Taylor claimed he hired and sent prostitutes to opponents' hotel rooms the night before a game in an attempt to tire them out, and that at his peak, he spent thousands of dollars a day on narcotics. He also recounted several other instances of aberrant behavior, including arriving to a team meeting during his playing career in handcuffs after spending a night with some call girls. He said, "A couple of ladies that were trying out some new equipment they had. You know? And I just happened to, and they just didn't happen to have the key.” He also said that to beat NFL drug tests he routinely submitted the urine of his teammates.

Post-NFL life

In Taylor's final year in the NFL he started a company called All-Pro Products. The company went public at $5 a share, and tripled in value during its first month. The stock price reached $16.50 a share, at which point Taylor's stake had an estimated value of over $10 million. The company ceased production shortly thereafter however, and Taylor, who never sold his stock, lost several hundred thousand dollars. He had been defrauded by several members of the penny stock firm Hanover Sterling & Company, who had short sold the company's stock, making it worthless. The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that two traders had manipulated the price of the stock, which skyrocketed while the company was losing over $900,000. Taylor has also had self-inflicted financial problems; in 1997 he plead guilty to filing a false tax return in 1990, and in 2000 he was "sentenced to three months of house arrest, five years of probation, and 500 hours of community service for tax evasion."

After his career ended, Taylor worked in several regular television jobs. He first worked as a football analyst for the now defunct ''TNT Sunday Night Football''. In a one-off show, Taylor also appeared as a wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation, defeating Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania XI. He also worked as a color commentator on an amateur fighting program entitled ''Toughman'' on the FX channel. On September 4, 1995, the Giants retired Phil Simms' jersey during halftime of a game against the Cowboys. Simms celebrated the moment by throwing an impromptu ceremonial pass to Taylor. Simms recalled, "[a]ll of a sudden it kind of hit me, I've put Lawrence in a really tough spot; national TV, he's got dress shoes and a sports jacket on, and he's had a few beers and he's going to run down the field and I'm going to throw him a pass." Simms motioned for Taylor to run a long pattern and after 30–40 yards threw him the pass. Taylor later said the situation made him more nervous than any play of his career, "I'm saying to myself (as the pass is being thrown), 'If I drop this pass, I got to run my black ass all the way back to Upper Saddle River because there ain't no way I'm going to be able to stay in that stadium'." Taylor caught the pass, however, and the capacity crowd in attendance cheered in approval.

Taylor pursued a career in acting, appearing in the Oliver Stone movie ''Any Given Sunday'' where he played a character much like himself. He appeared as himself in the HBO series ''The Sopranos'' and the film ''The Waterboy''. He also had a role in the 2000 version of ''Shaft''. Taylor voiced the steroid-riddled, possibly insane former football player B.J. Smith in the video game, ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City''. The character poked fun at his fearsome, drug-fueled public image. He also added his voice to the video game ''Blitz: The League'' and its sequel, which were partially based on his life in the NFL. He also acted in the 2000 Christian film ''Mercy Streets'' with Eric Roberts and Stacy Keach, and the 2003 prison movie ''In Hell'' with Jean Claude Van Damme.

In 1999, when Taylor became eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there were some concerns that his hard-partying lifestyle and drug abuse would hurt his candidacy. These concerns proved to be ill-founded, however, as he was voted in on the first ballot. His son Lawrence Taylor Jr. gave his introduction speech at the induction ceremony. Taylor's ex-wife, his three children, and his parents were in attendance and during his induction speech Taylor acknowledged them saying, "[t]hank you for putting up with me for all those years." He also credited former Giants owner Wellington Mara for being supportive of him saying, "[h]e probably cared more about me as a person than he really should have."

Taylor is currently married to his third wife. His soul-wrenching admission with Mike Wallace in 2003 reignited his popularity with the public. Taylor often spoke of his NFL years, which he played with reckless abandon, and the drug-abusing stages of his life as the "L.T." periods of his life. He described "L.T." as an adrenaline junkie who lived life on a thrill ride. Taylor said in 2003 that "L. T. died a long time ago, and I don't miss him at all...all that's left is Lawrence Taylor."

Taylor re-emerged into the public eye in July 2006, after appearing on the cover of a ''Sports Illustrated'' issue dedicated to former athletes and sport figures. In the magazine, Taylor credited his hobby of golf with helping him get over his previous hard-partying ways and drug filled lifestyle. He co-founded eXfuze, a network marketing company based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Along with former NFL players, such as Eric Dickerson and Seth Joyner, he was a spokesman for Seven+, the flagship multi-botanical drink produced by the company. His son Brandon recently signed a national letter to play with the Purdue Boilermakers. Taylor was a contestant on the 8th season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', partnered with Edyta Śliwińska. He was eliminated in the seventh week on the April 21, 2009 show.

In 2009, Taylor started having troubles in his personal life again. On November 8, he was arrested in Miami-Dade County, Florida for leaving the scene of an accident after striking another vehicle with his Cadillac Escalade. He had already committed the same offense in 1996 when he totaled his Lexus in a one-car accident and left the scene, saying he did not think the law required the reporting of a single driver incident. He was released on a $500 bond, and the other driver later sued him, seeking $15,000. He was arrested six months later for having sex with a 16-year-old girl. He was charged with felony third-degree statutory rape, for allegedly engaging in sexual intercourse with someone under 17. He was also charged with third-degree patronization for allegedly paying the underage girl $300 to have sex with him. His bail was set at $75,000. Taylor had faced up to five years in prison and lifetime sex offender registration if convicted of both crimes. On June 23, 2010, Taylor was indicted on these charges, and pled not guilty on July 13. On January 13, 2011 Taylor pled guilty to some of the charges thereby resolving the case. On March 22, 2011 Taylor was sentenced to six years probation as part of a plea agreement, which saw him plead guilty to the misdemeanors of sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute. He will also have to register as a level one sex offender.

Career statistics

Sources:

!SEASON	!TEAM	!GP	!Sacks	!Int	!Yds	!TD(int)	!FR	!Yds	!TD(fumb)
1981	New York	16	9.5*	1	1	0	1	4	0
1982	New York	9	7.5	1	97t	1	0	0	0
1983	New York	16	9	2	10	0	2	3	1
1984	New York	16	11.5	1	-1	0	0	0	0
1985	New York	16	13	0	0	0	2	25	0
1986	New York	16	20.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
1987	New York	12	12	3	16	0	0	0	0
1988	New York	12	15.5	0	0	0	1	0	0
1989	New York	16	15	0	0	0	0	0	0
1990	New York	16	10.5	1	11t	1	1	0	0
1991	New York	14	7	0	0	0	2	0	0
1992	New York	9	5	0	0	0	1	2	0
1993	New York	16	6	0	0	0	1	0	0
Totals		184	132.5**	9	134	2	11	34	1

* Unofficial statistic (sacks did not become an official statistic until 1982), however this number is stated on Taylor's Pro Football Hall of Fame bio, and is considered to be accurate. **Including the 9.5 Taylor unofficially recorded as a rookie, his total is 142.

Key to Abbreviations GP= Games Played Int= Interception Yds= Yards t= Play resulted in a touchdown TD= Touchdowns FR= Fumbles Recovered

See also

History of the New York Giants (1979–1993)

Notes

Sources

Danyluk, Tom. ''Super '70s'', Chicago: Mad Uke Publishing. 2005 ISBN 0977038300

Eskenazi, Gerald. ''A Sports-Writer's Life: From the Desk of a New York Times Reporter'', Columbia: University of Missouri Press. 2004 ISBN 0826215106

Frostino, Nino. ''Right on the Numbers'', British Columbia: Trafford Publishing. 2004 ISBN 1412033055

Gutman, Bill. ''Parcells: A Biography'', New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. 2001 ISBN 0786709340

Harris, Othello, Nolte, Claire Elaine, and Kirsch, George B. ''Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States'', Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000 ISBN 0313299110

Lupica, Mike. ''LT'', ''New York'', New York Media, LLC December 24–31, 1990 issue, ISSN 0028-7369 (available online)

Montana, Joe, and Weiner, Richard. ''Joe Montana's Art and Magic of Quarterbacking: The Secrets of the Game from One of the All-Time Best'', Ontario: Owl Books, 1998 ISBN 0805042784

Neft, David S., Cohen, Richard M., and Korch, Rick. ''The Complete History of Professional Football from 1892 to the Present.'' New York: St. Martin's Press. 1994 ISBN 0312114354

Pervin, Lawrence A. ''Football's New York Giants: A History.'' McFarland 2009 ISBN 0786442689

Powell, Adam. ''University of North Carolina Football'', South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. 2006 ISBN 0738542881

Russo, Christopher, & Allen, St. John. ''The Mad Dog Hall of Fame: The Ultimate Top-Ten Rankings of the Best in Sports.'' Broadway 2007 ISBN 0767923723

Schwartz, Paul. ''Tales from the New York Giants Sideline'', Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC. 2004 ISBN 1582617589

Shampoe, Clay. ''The Virginia Sports Hall Of Fame: Honoring Champions Of The Commonwealth'', South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. 2005 ISBN 0738517763

Rand, Jonathan. ''Riddell Presents the Gridiron's Greatest Linebackers'', Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC. 2003 ISBN 1582616256

Smith, Ron and Moritz, Carl. ''The Sporting News Selects Football's 100 Greatest Players: A Celebration of the 20th Century's Best'', Missouri: Sporting News Publishing Co. 1999 ISBN 0-892-04624-4

Sprechman, Jordan and Shannon, Bill. ''This Day in New York Sports'', Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC. 1998 ISBN 1571672540

Taylor, Lawrence and Falkner, David. ''LT: Living on the Edge'' New York: Random House. 1987 ISBN 0812917030

Taylor, Lawrence and Serby, Steve. ''LT: Over the Edge Tackling Quarterbacks, Drugs, and a World Beyond Football.'' New York: HarperCollins. 2003 ISBN 0060185511

Taylor, Lawrence. ''Taylor (Icons of the NFL).'' New York: Rugged Land. 2006 ISBN 1590710827

Walsh, Chris. ''New York Giants Football: Guide and Record Book.'' Illinois: Triumph Books 2009 ISBN 1600781896

Ziegel, Vic. ''Giants in the Earth.'' New York Media, LLC Vol. 16, No. 40 October 10, 1983 ISSN 0028-7369 (available online

External links

''Pro Football Hall of Fame:'' Member profile

Video NFL Top 100 Players #3

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