Well thats goin way back. Waterfield might remember that one.
"...The athletic career of Bucky "The Catawba Claw" Pope was pure Hollywood, gushing tragedy and triumph in equal parts. Pope came out of left field, catapulted to stardom with the Los Angeles Rams and captured the imagination of the nation's sports fans. Pope was a pass-catching comet streaking across the NFL skyline in 1964 and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. But Pope's special brilliance vanished overnight when he was struck down in a 1965 exhibition game.
Pope's secret was simple. "I'm 6-foot-5," he said with a smile on his recent visit to Catawba. "And I could run like hell." ...
...While Pope was at Catawba, an artist portrayed him in a cartoon as a hybrid hero — half basketball player, half football player, and with his left arm extending skyward like a claw. Pope is convinced that's the origin of one of the more colorful nicknames in NFL history.
Pro scouts heard about Pope. Dallas seemed the most enthused until Elroy Hirsch, the Hall of Fame receiver, visited Pope on behalf of the Rams. "I caught passes for him, over my right shoulder, over my left shoulder and straight over my head," Pope said. "I was fast and quick, and I could really catch the ball."
Pope was ignored in the AFL draft and was crushed. But the Rams took him on the eighth round of the NFL draft a few days later. "If you'd have asked every player in that Rams camp to name a guy who wasn't going to make the team they all would have said the rookie from the little school they couldn't pronounce," Pope said. "But if you'd asked me, I would've told you the one guy who was definitely going to make that team was me.
"I outran everyone in that camp. There was one practice, and Roman Gabriel threw a pass as far as he could throw it. It sailed directly over my head, but I caught it. I know that's the day I made the team." ...
[
gocatawbaindians.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2019 07:38AM by wv ram.
