When asked which DE was the best, in addition to himself, that he would most want to have play on the opposite side of the line with him, Deacon asnwered without hesitation, "Lamar Lundy. He was that good." Then he went on to explain why.
Lundy came into the league in 1957 when I was a junior in high school. I liked him from the start - amazing athlete, quick and graceful, strong, he did it all as a defensive end and also went both ways as a pass-catching tight end. P{layers going both ways had faded by then, except for a few - like Lundy who was a for-real threat and later Joe "Refrigerator" Perry, who was an occasional goal-line fullback for the Bears, as much a novelty as an actual weapon. Lundy's stats, for as long as he played as a receiver, were pretty respectable, drawing on his allstar basketball hands and jumping skills. He was drafted by the NBA in addition to the NFL coming out of Perdue, but chose footbasll.
I watched my first pro games in person as a student at San Francisco State (an education in itself) in 1961, when Deacon Jones was a rookie and the Rams were already a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks with Lamar.. For the remainder of my college career and life after in San Francisco, I watched the Rams-49er games at Kezar. Lamar was always one of my favorite Rams to watch. I remember when Merlin came into the league, and when the Rams traded for Rosey Grier.
When I fgirst saw the Rams-49ers at Kezar in 1961, I was struck by something that didn't show well on black-and-white small screen TV: "Wow - Lamar Lundy is the tallest guy onb the field." And he got around. Hands in air he prevented passes over his part of the field and occasionally knocked one down. He picked three for touchdowns over the course of his career - still a record for defensive linemen, I believe.
In addition to Tamk Younger and Lamar Lundy, I enjoyed seeing some outstanding play from some of my all-time favorite Rams in this tape - more on them later.
