Tuesday, March 22, 2016

TTM Triumph #18: Babe Parilli

Time for another neat return. This time from Vito "Babe" Parilli:

Babe played at the University of Kentucky under the legendary coach, Bear Bryant. He would lead the team to a Sugar Bowl victory in 1951 and a Cotton Bowl win in 1952.

His first seven years of pro ball would turn out to be quite the adventure, after being drafted 4th overall by the Packers in the 1952 NFL draft. He played two years with Green Bay, then it was off to the CFL to play two years for the Ottawa Rough Riders, then back to the NFL and a season with the Cleveland Browns, then back to the Packers for two seasons, and finally back to Canada for one more season with Ottawa.

In 1960 at the age of 30, Mr. Parilli was picked up by the Oakland Raiders of the newly formed American Football League. He would play one season for them before being traded to the Boston Patriots, where he would end up playing for seven seasons and become one of the best players in the history of the AFL. During his time with Boston he was selected to three AFL all-star games (MVP in the '66 game) and set numerous records. He would go on to finish his last couple of season with Jets, where as Joe Namath's backup, he would earn an AFL Championship in 1968 and a Super Bowl 3 win. He would retire in 1970 after 18 seasons. And as a final note, it's kind of interesting to learn that Mr. Parilli was one of only twenty player's to play during all ten years of the AFL's existence.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Parilli.

Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

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