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Another "what might have been" QB for the Bengals. Greg had an awesome rookie year (1969) and then tore his rotator cuff and was never the same. Paul Brown and Bill Walsh raved about the guy.
I was pretty young when he played, but I remember his name being a household word. What a shame. RIP, Greg.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/e...75988/34597934
That injury may have added years to his life, the lifespan of an NFL player is not long. RIP
RIP. That was a shame what happened to his career. What could of been.Quote:
Originally Posted by CincyCat
Sorry I missed this thread earlier. Cook was the Icky Woods of his generation. An amazing with player with incredible potential out of the league in the blink of an eye. When I was a Bengals fan the old timers would always talk about Cook. When I saw film I understood why. My condolences
This is actually widely-believed, but factually incorrect. There has never been any actual data that suggests that NFL players die collectively any earlier than non NFL players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle
In fact, if you take the entire sample of Hall of Fame players, over 40% of them lived to see their 80s. It's within 4-5% of the national average. When you consider the high ratio of African American players in the PFHOF is much higher than in a normal cross-section of population, and weigh that bit of data with the fact that the average African American man lives 3-4 years less than the average Caucasian man, the average life expectancy of a Pro football Hall of Famer (and I realize that's a very small sample size) is in line with the general population.
Okay, to prove what I was talking about above, here is some data.
Overall life expectancy of a male is 76.1
Average life expectancy of a caucasian male is 76.5
For African American males, it's 71.8
What I did is tracked every HOFer who has passed away since 2000. It's a very limited sample size, but should be a helpful barometer of sorts.
So, keep in mind that this doesn't include Hall of Famers who are currently alive and in their 80s. That would definitely alter the numbers a bit.
There are currently twelve living PFHOFers over the age of 80. This includes three who are in their 90s.
1) Ace Parker (turns 100 later this year)
2) Steve Van Buren (in his 90s)
3) Charlie Trippi (in his 90s)
4) Chuck Bednarik
5) Art Donovan
6) YA Tittle
7) Bob St Clair
8) Frank Gifford
9) Yale Lary
10) Jack Butler
11) Doug Atkins
12) Joe Schmidt
By age, every HOF player who has died since 2000:
1)Derrick Thomas-33
2)Reggie White-43
3)Mike Webster-50 (this is the biggest example of football ending a player's life prematurely, but is the exception, not the rule)
4)Lee Roy Selmon-56
5)John Mackey-69
6)Jim Parker-71
7)Rosey Brown-71
8)Gene Hickerson-73
9)Night Trane Lane-75
10)Jim Ringo-76
11)Leo Nomellini-76
12)Lou Groza-76
13)Tom Fears-77
14) Stan Jones-78
15) George Conner-78
16) Ollie Matson-80
17) John Henry Johnson-81
18) Lou Creekmur- 82
19) Otto Graham-82
20) George Blanda-83
21) Joe Perry-84
22) Tony Canadeo-84
23) Ernie Stautner-85
24) Dante Lavelli-85
25) Andy Robustelli-85
26) Frank Gatski-86
27) Bill Willis-86
28) Pete Pihos-87
29) Bill Dudley-88
30) George Musso-90
31) George McAfee-90
32) Sammy Baugh-94
a) So just by that list, I can see that 17 out of 32 Hall of Famers who passed away since 2000 lived into their 80s. I think that corresponds well in comparison to real life. Again, this is a microscopic sample size, but I think it shows well.
b) 23 of 32 lived to reach the average life expectancy for a male. When you consider that Brown, Parker, and Lane were all African American, that really makes 26 of the 32 who lived to the average life expectancy for their race. Only 5 out of 32 hall of famers failed to live to see 70. Again, without seeing the statistics broken down in front of me, I would say that's in line with normality.
c) Of the 11 African Americans on the list, 3 died before the age of 60, one died in his 60s, 3 died in their 70s, 4 lived to their 80s (Johnson, Matson, Willis, Perry). Their average age at death was 68.1. That's below the median life expectancy, but with a sample size of eleven, Thomas' death really alters that statistic. 7 of the 11 african american players matched or exceeded their expectancy.
b) Of the 21 Caucasian players on the list, the average life expectancy is 81.2. That's nearly 5 years more than the average male. 19 of the 21 Hall of Famers matched or exceeded their life expectancy. Since Hickerson did live to age 73, really only Mike Webster stands out out of the 21 white players on the list.
I realize this is a lot of largely meaningless data, but save it sometime and you can refute your buddy the next time he states that football causes players to die earlier than normal :DeadHorse:
I remember Cook and thought wow, what a great QB he was gonna be.
Damn shame about his shoulder and interesting comments about the
West Coach Offense. Welch said he would have gone long had Cook
stayed around. Carter took his place and the rest is history.
Damn shame about all these athletes that had superior bodies as young
men like Greek Gods but they die young in their 60s - Unitas,
Mackey, Bubba just recently and Alan Ameche might have
been younger than that..
Life is too short. RIP.
Somehow I excluded Unitas in my list above. :grbac:Quote:
Originally Posted by AirFlacco