Gary Collins
Encyclopedia
Gary James Collins is a retired American football
end and punter
who played for the Cleveland Browns
from 1962 to 1971.
Born in Williamstown, Pennsylvania
, Collins attended Williamstown High School. and was recruited by the University of Maryland
. During his three seasons (1959-61) with the Terrapins, he established a number of new school benchmarks, and left his mark on the Atlantic Coast Conference
record book as well. In 1961, he finished eighth in number of votes for the Heisman Trophy
.
The Browns chose Collins with the fourth draft
pick in 1962 and immediately made him the starting punter, while also using him as a reserve for veteran receiver Ray Renfro
. In 1963, he moved into the starting lineup and led the team with 43 receptions and teamed with quarterback Frank Ryan
to pace the league with 13 touchdown
s catches. The latter mark broke a team record of nine, established by Dante Lavelli
in 1947.
The following year, rookie Paul Warfield
became Ryan's top receiver, but Collins developed a knack for coming through in the clutch. The first instance came in the season's second game, when he caught a fourth down pass from Ryan to set up a go-ahead touchdown against the St. Louis Cardinals
. Saving the best for last, Collins sparkled in the 1964 NFL championship game
, when he was on the receiving end of three touchdown passes from Ryan and won the game's Most Valuable Player
award in the 27-0 upset over the Baltimore Colts
.
Building on the spectacular ending to that season, Collins followed with two more excellent campaigns in which he caught more than fifty passes and again finished in double digits in touchdown receptions. In 1965, Collins led the Browns with 50 receptions for 884 yards, and his average of 46.7 yards per punt topped the NFL
. His 56 catches for 946 yards again led the team in 1966.
In 1967, Collins saw his numbers for both receiving and punting drop, but made his second-straight Pro Bowl
appearance that year. The following year, Collins gave up his punting duties, but suffered a severe shoulder injury in the October 5 contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The injury kept him out of action until the final week of the regular season and limited him to just nine receptions. While he made the most of those catches by averaging over 25 yards per grab, Collins caught no touchdown passes for the only time in his career.
Collins bounced back in 1969 with 54 catches and 11 touchdown receptions and helped the Browns reach the NFL Championship game for the fourth time in six seasons. In 1970, the punishing life of an NFL receiver began to catch up with him as he suffered from a number of rib injuries that limited him to 26 catches. In the team's December 12 game against the Dallas Cowboys
, played in a driving rainstorm which turned the Cleveland Stadium
surface into mud, his costly fumble after being hit in the ribs stopped a key drive and played a role in the team's 6-2 loss, a defeat that helped keep the team out of the postseason.
The ascension of new head coach Nick Skorich
in 1971 would eventually develop into a personality conflict between Collins and the new mentor. After catching just 15 receptions that year, Collins announced during the offseason that he would retire unless he was traded to either the Washington Redskins
or New York Jets
.
When neither team was able to work out a deal, Collins retired and took an assistant coaching position with Lebanon Valley College
in Annville, PA. After leaving football altogether, he worked as an insurance
agent in Hershey, PA.
Collins retired with 339 receptions for 5,299 yards and 70 touchdowns. He remains the Browns' leader in career receiving touchdowns, and his reception total ranks second behind that of Ozzie Newsome
. As a punter, he averaged 41.0 yards per attempt for his career.
Those numbers have led some of Collins' supporters to launch a quiet campaign for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
, citing the similarities between Collins' career numbers and those of Pittsburgh Steelers
wideout Lynn Swann
.
Gary Collins is a member of The Pigskin Club Of Washington, D.C.
National Collegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
end and punter
Punter (football position)
A punter in American or Canadian football is a special teams player who receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage and then punts the football to the opposing team so as to limit any field position advantage. This generally happens on a fourth down in American football and a...
who played for the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
from 1962 to 1971.
Born in Williamstown, Pennsylvania
Williamstown, Pennsylvania
Williamstown is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, northeast of Harrisburg. Formerly, Anthracite coal mines were here, as well as hosiery mills. In 1900, 2,904 people lived here, and 2,934 lived here in 1910...
, Collins attended Williamstown High School. and was recruited by the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
. During his three seasons (1959-61) with the Terrapins, he established a number of new school benchmarks, and left his mark on the Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
record book as well. In 1961, he finished eighth in number of votes for the Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
.
The Browns chose Collins with the fourth draft
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...
pick in 1962 and immediately made him the starting punter, while also using him as a reserve for veteran receiver Ray Renfro
Ray Renfro
Raymond Renfro was an American professional football player. Renfro attended the University of North Texas and played in twelve NFL seasons from 1952-1963 for the Cleveland Browns. He is the father of former Houston Oilers and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Mike Renfro. Ray died at the age of 67...
. In 1963, he moved into the starting lineup and led the team with 43 receptions and teamed with quarterback Frank Ryan
Frank Ryan (American football)
Frank Beall Ryan is a retired American football quarterback in the National Football League who played for the Los Angeles Rams , Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins . Although he led the Browns to their last National Football League title in 1964, Ryan is best remembered for being perhaps...
to pace the league with 13 touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s catches. The latter mark broke a team record of nine, established by Dante Lavelli
Dante Lavelli
Dante Bert Joseph "Gluefingers" Lavelli was an American football end who played for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League from 1946 to 1956...
in 1947.
The following year, rookie Paul Warfield
Paul Warfield
Paul Dryden Warfield is a former professional American football wide receiver in the 1960s and 1970s known for his speed, fluid moves, grace, jumping ability and hands.- Football career :...
became Ryan's top receiver, but Collins developed a knack for coming through in the clutch. The first instance came in the season's second game, when he caught a fourth down pass from Ryan to set up a go-ahead touchdown against the St. Louis Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Saving the best for last, Collins sparkled in the 1964 NFL championship game
NFL Championship Game, 1964
The 1964 National Football League championship game was the 32nd annual championship game. The NFL title game was held on December 27, 1964 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio before a crowd of 79,544...
, when he was on the receiving end of three touchdown passes from Ryan and won the game's Most Valuable Player
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
award in the 27-0 upset over the Baltimore Colts
History of the Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They play in the AFC South division of the National Football League. They have won 3 NFL championships and 2 Super Bowls....
.
Building on the spectacular ending to that season, Collins followed with two more excellent campaigns in which he caught more than fifty passes and again finished in double digits in touchdown receptions. In 1965, Collins led the Browns with 50 receptions for 884 yards, and his average of 46.7 yards per punt topped the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. His 56 catches for 946 yards again led the team in 1966.
In 1967, Collins saw his numbers for both receiving and punting drop, but made his second-straight Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
appearance that year. The following year, Collins gave up his punting duties, but suffered a severe shoulder injury in the October 5 contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The injury kept him out of action until the final week of the regular season and limited him to just nine receptions. While he made the most of those catches by averaging over 25 yards per grab, Collins caught no touchdown passes for the only time in his career.
Collins bounced back in 1969 with 54 catches and 11 touchdown receptions and helped the Browns reach the NFL Championship game for the fourth time in six seasons. In 1970, the punishing life of an NFL receiver began to catch up with him as he suffered from a number of rib injuries that limited him to 26 catches. In the team's December 12 game against the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
, played in a driving rainstorm which turned the Cleveland Stadium
Cleveland Stadium
Cleveland Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in Cleveland, Ohio. In its final years, the stadium seated 74,438, for baseball and 81,000, for football. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball and football...
surface into mud, his costly fumble after being hit in the ribs stopped a key drive and played a role in the team's 6-2 loss, a defeat that helped keep the team out of the postseason.
The ascension of new head coach Nick Skorich
Nick Skorich
Nicholas Leonard Skorich was an American football offensive lineman and coach.Skorich played guard at Bellaire High School and the University of Cincinnati before joining the Navy in 1943. After the end of World War II, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had drafted him in 1943...
in 1971 would eventually develop into a personality conflict between Collins and the new mentor. After catching just 15 receptions that year, Collins announced during the offseason that he would retire unless he was traded to either the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
or New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
When neither team was able to work out a deal, Collins retired and took an assistant coaching position with Lebanon Valley College
Lebanon Valley College
Lebanon Valley College is a small, liberal arts higher education institution situated in the heart of Annville in Lebanon County, east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.-History:...
in Annville, PA. After leaving football altogether, he worked as an insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
agent in Hershey, PA.
Collins retired with 339 receptions for 5,299 yards and 70 touchdowns. He remains the Browns' leader in career receiving touchdowns, and his reception total ranks second behind that of Ozzie Newsome
Ozzie Newsome
Ozzie Newsome Jr. and a 1974 graduate of Colbert County High School in Leighton, Alabama, is a former American football tight end for the Cleveland Browns, an inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the current General Manager of the Baltimore Ravens.-College career:Before his NFL career,...
. As a punter, he averaged 41.0 yards per attempt for his career.
Those numbers have led some of Collins' supporters to launch a quiet campaign for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
, citing the similarities between Collins' career numbers and those of Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
wideout Lynn Swann
Lynn Swann
-Collegiate:Swann attended the University of Southern California, where he was an All-American on the Trojans football team. He played under legendary coach John McKay, including the 1972 undefeated and national championship season. McKay said of Swann, "He has speed, soft hands, and grace." He...
.
Gary Collins is a member of The Pigskin Club Of Washington, D.C.
The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C.
The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C., Inc. was founded in 1938 with the goals of "improving relationship between persons interested in the game of football; that there may be given encouragement for good, clean sport; that there may be a more perfect understanding among such persons; and, that...
National Collegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.
External links
Other sources
- Grossi, Tony (2004). Tales from the Browns Sideline. (Champaign, Ill.): Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-58261-713-9
- Stewart, Todd, ed. (2004) Cleveland Browns 2004 Media Guide. New York: National Communications Group.
- Carroll, Bob, et al. (1999) Total Football II. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-270174-6.