Samuel Adrian Baugh died he was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian University, where he was a two-time All-American. He then played in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 1952. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the 17-member charter class of 1963. He was known as "Slingin' Sammy".Baugh was born on a farm near Temple, Texas, and was the second son of James, who worked for the Santa Fe Railroad, and Lucy Baugh. His parents later divorced and his mother raised the three children. When he was 16, the family then moved to Sweetwater, Texas and he attended Sweetwater High School. As the quarterback of his high school football team, he would practice for hours throwing a football through a swinging automobile tire, often on the run. But apparently, Baugh would practice punting more than throwing. (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008)
Baugh, however, really wanted to become a professional baseball player and almost received a scholarship to play at Washington State University. But about a month before he started at Washington State, Baugh hurt his knee while sliding into second base during a game, and the scholarship fell through.
As expected, Baugh was drafted in the first round (sixth overall) of the 1937 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, the same year the team moved from Boston. He signed a one-year contract with the Redskins and received $8,000, making him the highest paid player on the team.
During his rookie season in 1937, Baugh played quarterback, defensive back, and punter, set an NFL record for completions with 91 in 218 attempts and threw for a league-high 1,127 yards. He led the Redskins to the NFL Championship game against the Chicago Bears, where he finished 17 of 33 for 335 yards and his second-half touchdown passes of 55, 78 and 33 yards gave Washington a 28–21 victory. The Redskins and Bears would meet three times in championship games between 1940 and 1943. In the 1940 Championship game, the Bears recorded the most one-sided victory in NFL history, beating Washington 73–0.
In 1942, Baugh and the Redskins won the East Conference with a 10–1 record. During the same season the Bears went 11-0 and outscored their opponents 376-84. In the 1942 Championship game, Baugh threw a touchdown pass and kept the Bears in their own territory with some strong punts, including an 85-yard quick kick, and Washington won 14-6.[2]
Baugh was even more successful in 1943 and led the league in passing, punting (45.9-yard average) and interceptions (11). One of Baugh's more memorable single performances during the season was when he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four passes in a 42–20 victory over Detroit. The Redskins again made it to the championship game, but lost to the Bears 41–21. During the game, Baugh suffered a concussion while tackling Bears quarterback Sid Luckman and had to leave.
During the 1945 season, Baugh completed 128 of 182 passes for a 70.33 completion percentage, which was an NFL record then and remains the second best today (to Ken Anderson, 70.55 in 1982) He threw 11 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. The Redskins again won the East Conference but lost 15–14 in the 1945 Championship game against the Cleveland Rams. The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of a safety that occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard (4.6 m) line. Dropping back into the end zone, Baugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post (which at the time were on the goal line instead of at the back of the end zone) and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. It was that safety that proved to be the margin of victory. Owner Marshall was so mad at the outcome that he became a major force in passing the following major rule change after the season: A forward pass that strikes the goal posts is automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the "Baugh/Marshall Rule".
One of Baugh's more memorable single performances came on "Sammy Baugh Day" on November 23, 1947. That day, the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club honored him at Griffith Stadium and gave him a station wagon. Against the Chicago Cardinals he passed for 355 yards and six touchdowns. That season, the Redskins finished 4–8, but Baugh had career highs in completions (210), attempts (354), yards (2,938) and touchdown passes (25), leading the league in all four categories.
Baugh played for five more years -- leading the league in completion percentage for the sixth and seventh times in 1948 and 1949. He then retired after the 1952 season. In his final game, a 27–21 win over Philadelphia at Griffith Stadium, he played for several minutes before retiring to a prolonged standing ovation from the crowd. Baugh won a record-setting six NFL passing titles and earned first-team All-NFL honors seven times in his career. He completed 1,693 of 2,995 passes for 21,886 yards
By the time he retired, Baugh set 13 NFL records in three player positions: quarterback, punter, and defensive back. He is considered one of the all-time great football players, together with Jim Brown and Jerry Rice. He gave birth to the fanaticism of Redskins fans. As Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post says: "He brought not just victories but thrills and ignited Washington with a passion even the worst Redskins periods can barely diminish." He was the first to play the position of quarterback as it is played today, the first to make of the forward pass an effective weapon rather than an "act of desperation". He was the last surviving member of the inaugural class inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, including Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, Curly Lambeau, Don Hutson, George Halas, Ernie Nevers, and Mel Hein.
Two of his records as quarterback still stand: most seasons leading the league in passing (six; tied with Steve Young) and most seasons leading the league with the lowest interception percentage (five). He is also second in highest single-season completion percentage (70.33), most seasons leading the league in yards gained (four) and most seasons leading the league in completion percentage (seven).
As a punter, Baugh retired with the NFL record for highest punting average in a career (45.1 yards), and is still second all-time (Shane Lechler 46.5 yards), and has the best (51.4 in 1940) and third best (48.7 in 1941) season marks. As a defensive back, he was the first player in league history to intercept four passes in a game, and is the only player to lead the league in passing, punting, and interceptions in the same season. Baugh also led the league in punting from 1940 through 1943.
When comparing Baugh's athletic achievements with modern football greats, two challenges he faced merit consideration: 1) the actual football he threw to all those touchdowns was rounder at the ends and fatter in the middle than the one used today, making it far more difficult to pass well (or even to create a proper spiral); and, 2) he never played for a great coach, Ray Flaherty being the best in a long line.
Early in his career, Baugh paid $200 an acre for a 7,600-acre ranch in West Texas, 80 miles northwest of Abilene. After retiring from football all together, Baugh and Edmonia Smith, his wife, moved to the ranch and had four boys and a girl. Edmonia died in 1990, after 52 years of marriage to Baugh, who was her high school sweetheart.
Baugh lived in a nursing home in a little West Texas town not far from Double Mountain Ranch. The Double Mountain Ranch is now in the hands of Baugh's son David and is still a cow-calf operation, on 20,000 acres
December 17, 2008, saying Baugh had died after numerous health issues at Fisher County Hospital in Rotan, Texas
Baugh was the last surviving member of the 17-member charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[3] Additionally he was honored by the Redskins with the retirement of his jersey number, #33, the only number the team has officially retired. more
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