Bob Griese

Robert Allen Griese (born February 3, 1945) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Miami Dolphins of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL).

Slick owned a plumbing company in Evansville and died in 1955 when Bob was ten years old.

Bob played baseball primarily, and excelled as a pitcher.

He also starred in basketball and football at Evansville's Rex Mundi High School.

He earned 12 varsity letters for the Monarchs.

He led the basketball team to the No. 1 ranking in Indiana during the 1962–63 season and a record of 19–3.

He scored 900 points in his high school career and while being named All-Sectional, he could not lead the Monarchs past Evansville Bosse in the highly competitive Evansville IHSAA Sectional.

In the summer of 1963, Griese led his American Legion Baseball team, Funkhouser Post #8 of Evansville, Indiana, to the American Legion Baseball World Series as the Region 5 champion.

His team did not reach the finals, as the Arthur L. Peterson Post of Long Beach, California, won the title.

Griese was a two-time All-American at Purdue, finishing at No. 8 in the 1965 Heisman Trophy race and was the runner-up to Steve Spurrier for the 1966 Heisman Trophy.

Purdue finished second in the Big Ten in 1966, and he led the school's first appearance in the Rose Bowl, where they defeated USC 14–13.

He earned All-American honors playing college football with the Purdue Boilermakers before being drafted in 1967 by the Dolphins of the AFL.

Griese was selected by the AFL's Miami Dolphins as the fourth player in the 1967 Common Draft.

Griese threw for 2,005 yards and 15 touchdowns his rookie year.

Griese was an AFL All-Star his first two years with the Dolphins, and earned AFL All-Star or AFC-NFC Pro Bowl honors in six additional seasons.

While he never put up huge numbers, his leadership played an important role in helping the Dolphins compete in three consecutive Super Bowls, winning the latter two contests.

Griese started the season as the team's second-string quarterback behind John Stofa.

When Stofa broke his ankle in the first quarter of the first game of the 1967 season, Griese stepped in and led the Dolphins to a 35–21 victory against the Denver Broncos.

The 1967, 1968, and 1969 seasons were tough for the expansion Dolphins.

After a difficult 1969 season that was worse than the 1968 season, coach George Wilson was fired.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of the 1970s, Griese led the Dolphins to a then record three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, including two Super Bowl victories in VII and VIII, the first of which capped off Miami's undefeated and untied 1972 season, the only such season in NFL history.

Dolphin owner Joe Robbie brought in Don Shula from the Baltimore Colts in 1970, and the team's personality and fortunes turned quickly.

Griese was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990.

He later worked as a television commentator, calling NFL games for NBC Sports and college football for ESPN and ABC Sports.

Griese is one of three quarterbacks from Purdue to win the Super Bowl (along with Len Dawson and Drew Brees).

Griese was born in Evansville, Indiana to Ida (Ulrich) and Sylverious "Slick" Griese.

Griese's achievements during his college career earned him induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1992.

He was also awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor for excellence in athletics and academics.

Purdue does not have a practice of retiring jersey numbers, but he was inducted as an inaugural member of the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

On December 11, 2014, the Big Ten Network included Griese on "The Mount Rushmore of Purdue Football", as chosen by online fan voting.

Griese was joined in the honor by Drew Brees, Rod Woodson and Leroy Keyes.

The Monarchs were 15–5 during his Junior (9–1) and Senior (6–4) seasons, as he was named 1st Team All-City for three seasons.

After being recruited by several colleges for football, Bob chose Purdue, where he majored in Management (Krannert School of Management) and became a three-sport star.

While at Purdue, Bob became a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.

Griese pitched for the Purdue baseball team, going 12–1 one season, played guard on the Purdue basketball team, and played quarterback, kicker, and punter for the Purdue football team.

There are at least four football games in which Griese was in some way responsible for all of Purdue's points.

As of the beginning of the 2016 NCAA football season, Griese ranks #10 in all-time scoring at Purdue; #5 in scoring among non-kickers and #4 among kickers.

Griese's passing skills greatly improved under the tutelage of head coach Jack Mollenkopf and quarterback coach Bob DeMoss.

In his junior year at Purdue in a game against the top-ranked Notre Dame, Griese completed 19 of 22 passes as he led the Boilermakers to an upset win.