History
The birth of the blitz is considered to be on December 1, 1957, when the defense of the San Francisco 49ers forced five fumbles against quarterback New York Giant Chuck Conerly. Don Ettinger, a linebacker for the New York Giants, invented the blitz during his brief NFL career (1948 – 1950).
Initially, the term "Red Dog" was coined in 1961 by longtime San Francisco 49er announcer Bob Fouts, during a training camp photo op with his Irish Setter Casey posed with his front legs raised up on quarterback John Brodie. From there he used the term when describing a linebacker rushing the opposing quarterback, although the term was later supplanted by 'blitz.'
Larry Wilson, free safety for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1960 to 1972, pioneered and perfected the safety blitz, a play originally code-named "Wildcat." Defensive coordinator Chuck Drulis is widely credited with inventing the safety blitz. Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is widely regarded as the inventor of the zone blitz.
Read more about this topic: Blitz (gridiron Football)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Regarding History as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimized—the question involuntarily arises—to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket- handkerchief?”
—Mary B. Clay, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 3, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)