Foresthill
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St. Louis sports Hall-of-Famers keep dying. Number 8 is no longer with us. Wilson played 13 seasons in the NFL from 1960 - 1972, all in St. Louis for the Cardinals. He was well-known for popularizing the safety blitz.
A personal note:
My parents took me and one of my brothers to meet him at a local bank when we were both small boys and he was still a player for the St. Louis Cardinals. I was shy as a small boy and reticent to meet him even though I wanted to in the abstract. What I remember of meeting him was that he was very kind to me even though he was one of the toughest football players around. See paragraph #3 below from the story about how tough he was.
From stltoday.com and written by Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff and posted 4 hours ago today (September 19, 2020):
Football Cardinals legend Larry Wilson dies at 82
Larry Wilson, the tough-as-tungsten safety who came to St. Louis with little fanfare in 1960 before forging a Pro Football Hall of Fame career, died Thursday night. He was 82 and his passing was announced Friday by the Arizona Cardinals, the franchise he was with for 43 years.
Wilson filled a variety of executive positions with the team after he retired as a player after the 1972 season, including a term as general manager. He also had a brief stint as interim coach in 1979. He moved to Arizona with the club when it left St. Louis following the 1987 season and was with the team until retiring in 2003.
He made his mark on the field. He was a fierce competitor, who in a 1965 home game against Pittsburgh made an interception despite both his hands being broken and wearing a cast on each.
“I just knew Larry Wilson was going to get an interception,” Steelers quarterback Bill Nelsen told the Post-Dispatch then. “Lying awake the night before the game, I was thinking there was no way he could catch one with his hands wrapped up to protect his fractures, but I knew he was going to get one.”
Wilson was modest when describing the play.
“It nestled into my arms nicely,” he said.
That was a marquee moment, one of many outstanding days he had on the field after being picked in the seventh round of the draft for the 1960 season (which took place in late 1959). That was the season the Cardinals moved to St. Louis from Chicago.
The kid from tiny Rigby, Idaho and the University of Utah went on to be named an All Pro five times and be selected to eight Pro Bowls in his 13 NFL seasons, all in St. Louis. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978, a first-ballot inductee.
How good was he? Wilson, who popularized the safety blitz, was selected for both the NFL’s 75th and 100th anniversary teams, still holds the franchise records for interceptions (52) and interception return yardage (800). In 1966, he had made an interception in seven consecutive games, the second-longest streak in NFL history. He returned five interceptions for touchdowns in his career. He was so versatile that he had five rushing attempts in his career, one of 35 yards for a touchdown.
In sharp contrast to his fierce on-field demeanor, he was remembered for being mild and kind off it.
Fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Dierdorf broke into the league with the Cardinals in 1971, and his first two NFL seasons overlapped with Wilson’s final two.
“I was not short on confidence as a player,” Dierdorf said Friday. “I didn’t tell many people in my life then that I looked up to them. But I did with Larry. That’s how I want to carry myself.
{Dierdorf continues,}“He was the most unassuming truly great football player I’ve ever been around. He was never not that small-town kid from Idaho. For such a great, historical player ... for a man of that stature to be so unassuming is remarkable.”
Wilson touched many people.
“Besides my father (Bill Bidwill), Larry Wilson was the most influential male figure in my life,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said in a statement. “He was someone who truly lived his faith and demonstrated it daily in the kindness he showed every single person he met. Any of us lucky enough to be in his orbit — whether that was for a few minutes or four decades — was always better off from the experience. I will remember Larry Wilson first as a fantastic person but then obviously as one of the greatest players the National Football League has ever seen.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame president David Baker issued a statement saying that the flag at the facility, in Canton, Ohio, will fly at half-mast until Wilson is laid to rest.
“The game lost a true legend,” he said. “... He was not only one of the greatest to ever play the game, but one of the nicest and kindest men I have ever met. ... We will not only forever keep his legacy alive as a football player, but also for the great man he was.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement that “Larry enriched the lives of many players and colleagues around the league.”
Among Wilson’s survivors is his wife of four decades — who was Nancy Drew when she was a sportscaster for KMOX (1120 AM){a St. Louis radio station} before moving to Arizona in 1998 with her husband.
"Larry Wilson was the kindest, most humble person that I will ever know,” she said in a statement released through the team. “To most, he was this ferocious and fierce football player who some described as pound for pound the toughest player of his generation. To me, he was the most generous and gentle soul you would ever meet. For Larry, it was always about everyone else and what he could do for them.” (bolding, underlining, italicizing, and bracketed clarifications by me)
A personal note:
My parents took me and one of my brothers to meet him at a local bank when we were both small boys and he was still a player for the St. Louis Cardinals. I was shy as a small boy and reticent to meet him even though I wanted to in the abstract. What I remember of meeting him was that he was very kind to me even though he was one of the toughest football players around. See paragraph #3 below from the story about how tough he was.
From stltoday.com and written by Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff and posted 4 hours ago today (September 19, 2020):
Football Cardinals legend Larry Wilson dies at 82
Larry Wilson, the tough-as-tungsten safety who came to St. Louis with little fanfare in 1960 before forging a Pro Football Hall of Fame career, died Thursday night. He was 82 and his passing was announced Friday by the Arizona Cardinals, the franchise he was with for 43 years.
Wilson filled a variety of executive positions with the team after he retired as a player after the 1972 season, including a term as general manager. He also had a brief stint as interim coach in 1979. He moved to Arizona with the club when it left St. Louis following the 1987 season and was with the team until retiring in 2003.
He made his mark on the field. He was a fierce competitor, who in a 1965 home game against Pittsburgh made an interception despite both his hands being broken and wearing a cast on each.
“I just knew Larry Wilson was going to get an interception,” Steelers quarterback Bill Nelsen told the Post-Dispatch then. “Lying awake the night before the game, I was thinking there was no way he could catch one with his hands wrapped up to protect his fractures, but I knew he was going to get one.”
Wilson was modest when describing the play.
“It nestled into my arms nicely,” he said.
That was a marquee moment, one of many outstanding days he had on the field after being picked in the seventh round of the draft for the 1960 season (which took place in late 1959). That was the season the Cardinals moved to St. Louis from Chicago.
The kid from tiny Rigby, Idaho and the University of Utah went on to be named an All Pro five times and be selected to eight Pro Bowls in his 13 NFL seasons, all in St. Louis. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978, a first-ballot inductee.
How good was he? Wilson, who popularized the safety blitz, was selected for both the NFL’s 75th and 100th anniversary teams, still holds the franchise records for interceptions (52) and interception return yardage (800). In 1966, he had made an interception in seven consecutive games, the second-longest streak in NFL history. He returned five interceptions for touchdowns in his career. He was so versatile that he had five rushing attempts in his career, one of 35 yards for a touchdown.
In sharp contrast to his fierce on-field demeanor, he was remembered for being mild and kind off it.
Fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Dierdorf broke into the league with the Cardinals in 1971, and his first two NFL seasons overlapped with Wilson’s final two.
“I was not short on confidence as a player,” Dierdorf said Friday. “I didn’t tell many people in my life then that I looked up to them. But I did with Larry. That’s how I want to carry myself.
{Dierdorf continues,}“He was the most unassuming truly great football player I’ve ever been around. He was never not that small-town kid from Idaho. For such a great, historical player ... for a man of that stature to be so unassuming is remarkable.”
Wilson touched many people.
“Besides my father (Bill Bidwill), Larry Wilson was the most influential male figure in my life,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said in a statement. “He was someone who truly lived his faith and demonstrated it daily in the kindness he showed every single person he met. Any of us lucky enough to be in his orbit — whether that was for a few minutes or four decades — was always better off from the experience. I will remember Larry Wilson first as a fantastic person but then obviously as one of the greatest players the National Football League has ever seen.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame president David Baker issued a statement saying that the flag at the facility, in Canton, Ohio, will fly at half-mast until Wilson is laid to rest.
“The game lost a true legend,” he said. “... He was not only one of the greatest to ever play the game, but one of the nicest and kindest men I have ever met. ... We will not only forever keep his legacy alive as a football player, but also for the great man he was.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement that “Larry enriched the lives of many players and colleagues around the league.”
Among Wilson’s survivors is his wife of four decades — who was Nancy Drew when she was a sportscaster for KMOX (1120 AM){a St. Louis radio station} before moving to Arizona in 1998 with her husband.
"Larry Wilson was the kindest, most humble person that I will ever know,” she said in a statement released through the team. “To most, he was this ferocious and fierce football player who some described as pound for pound the toughest player of his generation. To me, he was the most generous and gentle soul you would ever meet. For Larry, it was always about everyone else and what he could do for them.” (bolding, underlining, italicizing, and bracketed clarifications by me)
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