George Blanda

George Frederick Blanda was born September 17, 1927, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Youngwood, Pennsylvania is famous as an American football player. He was a prime example of players who were called "NFL Rejects" by some. The NFL Chicago Bears thought the University of Kentucky's Blanda wasn't good enough to be a quarterback and wanted him to be a place kicker only. But in 1960, the formation of the American Football League led to Blanda's signing by the Houston Oilers as a quarterback and kicker. He went on to lead the Oilers to the first two league titles in AFL history, and he won AFL Player of the Year honors in 1961. Blanda once passed for 7 TDs in one game, and 36 in a season, 1961. Thirteen times he threw four or more touchdown passes in a game, and once he unleashed 68 passes, for Houston against Buffalo on 1 November, 1964. For three staight years, 1963 through 1965, he led the league in passing attempts and completions, and was in the top ten for attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns for seven straight years. He was a four-time member of the American Football League All-Star team. In 1967, when Blanda was almost 40, he left the Oilers but the Oakland Raiders saw him as a contributing backup passer and a dependable kicker so they picked him up. At Oakland, he was a clutch kicker and a valuable "reliever" who pulled games out if fellow Hall of Famer Daryle Lamonica was unavailable or ineffective. He was especially successful in this role in 1970, when he won the Bert Bell Trophy.

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• Other American Football League players