So Cal's All-Time Roster: No. 76
No. 76:
Our pick:
==Rosey Grier, Rams (1963-'66)
No matter how much we've learned about Roosevelt Grier's success on the field -- A "Fearsome Foursome" member for just four years -- it's his off-the-field stuff that gives us nightmares.
It starts with this shot of him from the 1972 movie "The Thing With Two Heads" with Ray Milland. The premise of the movie is how a rich, racist white man wants to keep living as he's near death, and doctors are only able to attach his head to a black man on death row. Hijinx ensued.
Grier was all over the place in the '60s and '70s, on episodes of "Match Game" to "I Dream of Jeanie" to "Kojak" to whatever could later get him on the "Love Boat." Yes, even "CHiPs" and "Quincy." In Feb. '69, a network even gave him his own variety show, "The Rosey Grier Show." Why? Why not.
Before that, he served as a body guard for Senator Robert Kennedy, helping wife Ethel as she was expecting a child during his '68 presidental run. It was Grier who grabbed the gun from Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, and broke his arm at the Ambassador Hotel.
Then, it was the knitting bug. Grier came out with a book called "Needlepoint For Men" in '73.
Ten years later, he was ordained a Christian minister and then founded his nonprofit resource center for inner-city teens.
If Rosey Grier hasn't been all over the map, it's hard to find anyone else with as many life experiences and career changes.
Back to the gridiron, iIf Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones were the McCartney and Lennon of the "Fearsome Foursome," Grier was Ringo, lined up on the right side with Lamar Lundy.
Grier weighed at least 300 pounds - the scales at the New York Giants facilities only went that high and Grier maxed it out every time when he played for them. Grier was more a pacifist than a beast when he came to tackling, though.
"Whenever the Giants gang-tackled a ball carrier, Sam Huff would be trying to kill him, and Rosey Grier would be praying for him," Frank Gifford wrote in his book, The Whole Ten Yards. "If Rosey Grier had ever managed to control his weight, and if he'd ever been able to get angry, he'd have easily made the Hall of Fame."
Somehow, the former Penn State star from Jersey did OK.
Other No. 76s:
==Marvin Powell, USC football ('74-'76)
==Steve Wisniewski, Raiders ('89-'01)
Sports Illustrated's pick for the all-time No. 76: Lou Groza, over Grier, Marion Motley and Orlando Pace.
Did we miss anyone?
You've got our vote, now let's see yours: