The Pros: A Documentary of Professional Football in America (1960)

LOOKING BACK

The Works of Robert Riger

(Part 1 of 3)
By Chris Willis, NFL Films

In 1960 one of the more important and artistic pro football books ever published was the ground-breaking volume, The Pros: A Documentary of Professional Football in America, which came from the brilliant and talented mind of Robert Riger.

Robert Riger was born on June 2, 1924 in New York City. He went on to attend the United States Merchant Marine Academy and served three years in the Merchant Marines during World War II. After the war Riger studied art at the Pratt Art Institute in New York. Although he didn’t play any sports at a high level Riger fell in love with the artistic nature of the games. He especially gravitated to football. In 1945 Riger drew his first sports scene- a drawing from the 1945 Army-Notre Dame game. The scene required five lithograph pencils and 140 hours. Riger eventually earned his bachelor’s degree from Pratt in 1947.

After graduating Riger found work doing magazine layouts for Esquire and The Saturday Evening Post (1947-1949) where he worked his way up to advertising art director until 1955, when he decided to go out on his own as a full-time freelance illustrator.

The year before making the leap on his own Riger started doing jobs for a first-year fledgling sports magazine titled Sports Illustrated. It’s why Riger wanted to venture out alone, because he wanted to cover and document sports. From 1954 to 1961 Riger would contribute over 1,200 of his editorial drawings and more than 200 of his promotional and advertising drawings to Sports Illustrated. Most of Riger’s work for the magazine he used pencil and water-color drawings.

Robert Riger

One of the more unique techniques that Riger employed to help him in his drawings was the use of still photography. He decided early on to shoot photos at games that he would have developed afterwards that he could reference in his illustrations. Over time he copyrighted more than 90,000 master negatives, with more than 40,000 of them involving pro football. In these photographs Riger’s showed off his artist’s eye for composition and movement.

“He seems to have sensed that the action which was taking place in front of him was not merely sport, but a form of art as well, a kind of modern American ballet performed with grace, power, and finesse,” once said Pulitzer Prize winner author-journalist David Halberstam about Riger.

Riger’s passion for pro football and his artistic eye for the game lead him to come up with the book idea for The Pros. It would be a pictorial history of the NFL. “Here is the story, the play-by-play details, the personalities and the memories of America’s fastest-growing sport, from its birth in the Roaring Twenties to its present day success,” he wrote in the jacket cover. It was from these photographs, that Riger took during the 1958-1959 NFL seasons, that made up the bulk of The Pros.

Over the years that Riger shot his photos (that spanned over a decade) he used ten different cameras and Eastman-Kodak Kodex film (Tri-x film used for light and different weather conditions). The Pros would be 191 pages in length and feature nearly 250 drawings, photographs and diagrams, with many being spread over two pages and all of his images were in back-and-white.

The cover features a beautiful image of Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, the biggest star in the NFL, throwing a pass over the out-stretched arm of Giants defensive tackle Dick Modzelewski. Inside, the book starts with a photo of Giants kicker Pat Summerall having his head up in full kicking motion as he kicks off to start a game- and a way we go as readers.  

Pat Summerall, Giants Kicker
Photo Credit: Robert Riger

The book is broken down in three parts:

Part One:   The Old Pros (1920-1950)

Part Two:   The Great Decade (1950-1960)

Part Three: The Games

In the Introduction Riger explains his passion for football and how he began to follow the sport: “Because I liked Dutch Clark. I liked the way he looked and played, and I read all I could find about him. As a boy I lived on Coogan’s Bluff over the Polo Grounds, and I watched all the Giants game either from rocks high above the stand or from a bleacher seat.”

In 1950 Riger was given permission to work from the sidelines during Giants games. He tried to capture the sport by sketching the bench and game action, but found he could only capture the quiet moments of the sport in his sketch book. So the next week Riger brought a camera to the game and started taking photos. He found the still images extremely helpful in his drawings. His artistic eye gave his photos all the details and human emotion he would need to make his illustrations some of the best ever done on pro football. After nearly ten years of shooting the NFL Riger’s images gave The Pros a never-before-seen look at the game that was about to overtake baseball as the country’s most popular sport. To help write the text Riger recruited his good friend from Sports Illustrated- Tex Maule.

Hamilton Prieleaux Bee Maule, better known as “Tex” was the magazine’s lead pro football writer (1956-1975) since 1956. At this time he had established himself as one of the top football writers in the country. In the January 5, 1959 issue of Sports Illustrated, under Maule’s byline, the recap of the 1958 NFL Championship Game the magazine proclaimed “The Best Football Game Ever Played.”

Maule would provide the “commentary” as Riger phrased it on the cover.

Part One (pages 10-23) featured 14 pages of illustrations on the NFL’s first thirty years. Sketches of Curly Lambeau, Jim Thorpe, George Halas, Red Grange & Bronko Nagurski, Sammy Baugh (“Passer from Texas”), T-Formation with Sid Luckman, Evolution of the Helmet, Marion Motley (“The New League”); Bob Waterfield (“Pros Move West”); and Steve Van Buren appeared.

In Part Two (pages 24-123) the section starts with a gorgeous sketch of Paul Brown kneeling with Otto Graham standing above him. The remaining pages of Part Two are filled with some of Riger’s best photos. Maule’s subheadings of “The Devotion of the Game”, “TV Bonanza,” and sections on the different positions on the field supplement Riger’s photos.

Full page photos of Bobby Layne (Steelers), Charley Conerly (Giants), and Norm Van Brocklin (Eagles) in the quarterback section are some of the best still photos ever taken, of any era of pro football. In the ensuing pages images of Giants back Alex Webster on the bench (pg. 48); Lou Groza kicking (pg. 60-61), close-up of Gene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb (pg. 84); Colts defensive end Gino Marchetti walking off the field with his sideline jacket on (pg. 109) are some of the more beautiful photos of Riger’s work in The Pros.

Charlie Conerly, Giants Quarterback
Credit: Robert Riger

Part Three (pages 124-184) covers five individual games that include the 1958 NFL Championship Game and four games from 1959 season.

October 4^th- Rams at 49ers (The West)
December 6^th- Browns at Giants (The East)
December 13^th-  Lions at Bears (The Midwest)
December 27^th-  Giants at Colts, 1959 NFL Championship Game

 In the recap of the 1958 Championship Game Riger’s most famous shot in the book, the “Golden Arm of Johnny Unitas” appears on pages 128-129. On page 157 a great photo of Giants assistant coach Tom Landry drawing up a play on a chalkboard appears. Just ground breaking images.

Another special addition to The Pros is a three page layout at the very end with diagrams of different formations that had been used in the NFL. Tom Landry provided these special diagrams for Riger.

Alex Webster, Giants Fullback
Credit: Robert Riger

The Pros was released in the fall of 1960 by Simon and Schuster for a price of $10.00. The original book was offered in an artistic slipcase that featured a drawing from Riger of a big linemen, from head to toe, buckling up his chinstrap. Within the slipcase version of the book buyers also got a special folder of five football prints. The set of five featured different illustrations from Part One. Growing up I was able to buy one of the hardcover books with the slip case and was thrilled to see the old prints included. The folder had the title, “The Old Pros” and included prints of: Jim Thorpe (Canton Bulldogs uniform), the Bears’ Red Grange (“Runs the Pass Option”); the Redskins’ Sammy Baugh; the Bears’ Sid Luckman and Bulldog Turner; and the Rams’ Bob Waterfield (“Works the Bootleg Play”).

The Pros (Slipcase)
Credit: Robert Riger

Jim Thorpe, Canton Bulldogs
Credit: Robert Riger

On the back cover of the book Riger received endorsement quotes from Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, newly hired NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, and NFL Founder and Bears owner-coach George Halas. Rozelle wrote:

   “The NFL and its fans are indebted to this new fine book for so vividly portraying the league’s colorful embryonic development and its status today as entertainer of millions of sports enthusiast annually.”  

Bob Waterfield, Los Angeles Rams
Credit: Robert Riger

The book quickly became a best-seller. In 1956 Robert Riger’s shot one of his more famous photos. The image shows a bench shot of Giants tackle Rosey Brown, seated next to Gene Filipski and Don Chandler, as all three wore sideline jackets looking out at the action on the field. To help promote the book, on the October 24^th issue, that photo made the cover of Sports Illustrated. A seven-page pictorial spread of photos under the title of “The Violent Face of Pro Football.” A cover that would cause an up-roar today.

Besides being a best-seller the book received great reviews. Clark Kinnaird of the San Antonio Light wrote: “The arresting close up camera studies of NFL players in action and on the sidelines are integrated with illuminating prose by Tex Maule in a superb example of pictorial journalism. A perusal of it is a stimulating instructor in what to look for in a game on TV or in a stadium if you want to see the game at its most exciting best.”

Gino Marchetti, Colts Defensive End
Credit: Robert Riger

Riger continued to photograph and illustrate the NFL throughout the 1960’s. He also worked at ABC, from 1963 to 1970, and again from 1977-1980, where he won nine Emmys as a documentary filmmaker, working on various aspects of their sports presentations especially on Wide World of Sports. In 1981 he worked with Hollywood director John Huston to help create some of the soccer scenes in his film Escape to Victory, starring Sylvester Stallone.

In 1994 he was named Sports Artist of the Year by the American Sport Academy Museum and Archive in Alabama.

Riger died on May 19, 1995 in Huntington Beach, California at the age of 70. His photos and drawings are still some of the best football images that have ever been produced.

(Wednesday: 1962-1963 Best Plays of the Year books by Robert Riger)

Titans/Oilers All Career-Year Team

OPINION
By John Turney

We at Pro Football Journal are trying to pick the best individual seasons in the history of each franchise, which we will continue today with the Titans/Oilers franchise. By "Career-year" we mean the best performances at each position, with the following rule: Only one season per player per position. For example, here, we cannot pick Earl Campbell’s best two seasons and use both RB slots.

Here is the team, First-team on left, Second-team on right:

Yes, the best two seasons for kick returners were in the same season—1981 when Carl Roaches and Willie Tullis both had good seasons, splitting the kick return duties. Billy "White Shoes" Johnson had several great seasons, but none better than 1975 when he led NFL in runt return average, punt return touchdowns (with three) and added a kick return touchdown on top of that. He also was a starting wide receiver.

Hentrich was an excellent placement punter, Montgomery more of a boomer (to use Paul Zimmerman terms), but received lots of post-season honors for their respective seasons as did Bironas and Fritsch. Fritsch won four games with last-minute kicks in 1979.

Eugene Seale, 1988, and John Henry Mills, 1996, are the bomb-squad men. Scott McGarrahan, 2004, Tim Shaw, 2010 and Keith Bullock, 2000 are honorable mentions for core special teams players.

Bruce Matthews does get two slots, one for center and one for guard since he played both positions in different seasons and dominated at both. Kevin Mawae, 2008, is the Second-teamer and honorable mentions go to Carl Mauck, 1979, and Mark Stepnoski for his 1996 season.

Bruce Matthews. Credit: Merv Corning

Mike Munchak, like Matthews, had plenty of qualified seasons, we went with 1991. Bob Talmanini was an All-AFL selection and for the other guard we went with old man Bob Young, who was All-Pro for the Cardinals in 1979 and came to the Oilers in 1980 and helped Earl Campbell gain over 1,900 yards rushing. Sonny Bishop's 1968 AFL All-Star season of 1968 is the lone honorable mention.

Mike Munchak. Credit: Merv Corning

Leon Gray was a dominant player with the Patriots and a contract dispute took him to the Oilers and he continued his excellent play in 1979. We went with Michael Roos in 2008, over Al Jamison's 1961 All-AFL (consensus) season. We've seen plenty of Oilers highlights from that era, but frankly, it is hard to get a real gage on tackles and guards and centers in those clips. What we know is Blanda was hard to sack, likely due in part to his quick release and smarts and in part to the blocking. The players and writers of the era voted him All-AFL so we take them at their word.  Brad Hopkins, 2000, and Jamison are the backups. David Stewart's 2008 season is an honorable mention.

Tight end was a tough one but we went with Willie Frazier, 1965, when he was a consensus All-AFL selection and Alvin Reed's 1968 campaign. Mike Barber gets an honorable mention for 1980 as does Frank Wycheck's 2000 when he was Second-team All-Pro. Delanie Walker, 2015, put up huge numbers and gets an honorable mention.

Dave Casper's 1982 is worth a mention as well. Though he only caught 36 passes for 573 yards and six touchdowns, he did it in nine games. Over a 16-game season that translates to 64 catches for 1019 yards and 11 touchdowns. Currently, Casper's eight touchdown catches and Willie Frazier's eight touchdowns in 1965 are the team record. If Delanie Walker can break that record, he'd jump into this First-team quickly.

Lorenzo Neal was the lead blocker for Eddie George's 2000 season, which was his best and Ahmard Hall, 2009, blocked for Chris Johnson's 2000-yard effort. Neal gets the nod. Tim Wilson's 1978, 1979 and 1980 would be honorable mentions, he's the kind of fullback who carried the ball, whereas Hall and Neal are the "guard in the backfield" types. In fact, he may have pioneered that position.

Earl Campbell

We went with Earl Campbell's 1979 over 1980 and 1978 in that he was a consensus MVP. In 1978 and 1980 he won MVP awards, but not all of them. Chris Johnson's 2000-yard season of 2009 was next after Campbell. Eddie George was third. We went with Billy Cannon's 1961 season where he was as good a back as there was in the AFL and he likely would have been one of the top backs in the NFL as well.

Billy Cannon

George Blanda takes the top spot, he was AFL MVP, All-AFL and won the AFL Championship, throwing 36 touchdowns. Steve McNair gets the nod for his MVP season in 2003, though Warren Moon's 1990 saw him receive the NEA MVP and the AP Offensive Player of the Year. It was close.

Steve McNair

Blanda

Warren Moon

Charley Hennigan's 1964 season was his best and we went with Haywood Jeffires, 1991, which was much-honored in the Run and Shoot offense. Next was Ken Burrough, 1977, when he was Second-team All-Pro, just slightly ahead of his 1975 season. This is one that we went back and forth on. His 1,000-yard season in that dead-ball era was special. Bill Groman, 1961, is possibly being cheated and should be on the First-team, but sometimes you have to make a call.

For the non-starter slot, we went with Duncan in 1991 and Derrick Mason, 1998

Charley Frazier is 1966 is a big honorable mention for his  57 catches, 1129 yards, 198.8 average and twelve touchdowns. Other honorable mentions are Drew Hill, 1988, Ernest Givins 1990 and Tim Smith, 1983.

Jevon Kearse, 1999, was an easy pick. His 14.5 sacks and 10 forced fumbles were in "The Freak's" rookie season. Stats, LLC shows he had 8 forced fumbles, but this particular stat is one that we trust the coaches film review more than the gamebook. I recorded all those 1999 games on VHS (remember those?) and he did have ten forced fumbles. A couple were "bang-bang" plays where one has to really look close to see who deserved the credit, and in this case it was Kearse.

Jevon Kearse

Elvin Bethea is a great Hall of Famer, but he's rare in that he was never a First-team All-pro. He was a Second-team pick in 1973, 1975 and 1978. We looked at those as well as 1969 when he had 14½ sacks and 1976 where, again, he had 89 tackles, four forced fumbles, and 14½ sacks, but didn't even get named to the Pro Bowl. We settled on his 68 tackle (6½ stuffs), 16-sack season of 1973 when he was a Second-team selection on the Player's (NEA) All-Pro team. That is high praise for someone who was laboring on a 1-13 team.

William Fuller, 1991, 15 sacks to go with 53 tackles (4.5 stuffs) only got him minimal post-season honors. That year, 1991, was very deep in defensive end talent. And in a year that didn't go so deep in DE talent, one could get Defensive Player of the Year consideration with the numbers Fuller posted but he only got Fuller All-AFC and Pro Bowl selections. Pat Holmes was one of the Second-team picks as he was All-AFL selection in 1967.

Pat Holmes

Kyle Vanden Bosch, 2005 and 2007, Sean Jones, 1993, are all honorable mentions as well as Andy Dorris's 1979 season with 9½ sacks. We've always felt his contributions to the Oilers defense in that era was underrated. Don Floyd was a Second-team All-AFL pick and gets a mention as well.

Jesse Baker, 1979, had 15½ sacks as a sub-player on passing downs, usually from right tackle but also he played some RDE. Sean Jones, 1988, would come in the game in nickel and was very effective. Lee Williams, 1992, did start some games due to injuries to others but was a pass-rushing tackle in their nickel in 1992, and a good one.

Ray Childress was a 3-4 end the first part of his career, but when the Oilers went to their nickel he was a left defensive tackle. In 1990 the Oilers went to a 4-3 scheme and Childress excelled. In 1992 he was the best defensive tackle in football and that is saying a lot since that era was filled with some excellent defensive tackles. Childress ended the season with 80 tackles, 6.5 of which were stuffs, and 13 sacks while being named a consensus First-team All-Pro.

Ray Childress

Albert Haynesworth was named the Sporting News Defensive MVP in 2008 and that put him over the top. Ed Husmann, 1962, and Jerrell Casey, 2013, are the Second-team, though we think Casey is the kind of player that could have a monster year very soon and find a place next to Childress in Titan/Oiler annals. Husmann had at least ten sacks in 1962, and possibly a bit more as four sacks are unaccounted for in the gamebooks. A strong honorable mention is Mike Tilleman's 1972 season with 106 tackles and 11 sacks and he was also an honorable mention All-AFC by UPI. It was neck-and-neck between him and Husmann.

Nose tackle was easy. Culp, a Hall of Famer was the NEA Defensive MVP in 1975, he had 11½ sacks STILL the only season where a pure nose tackle had double-digits in sacks, though a few have been in the 9 to 9½ range. Culp had 74 tackles (8 were stuffs), six forced fumbles (recovered three, one was a scoop and score).

Curley Culp

As the Second-teamer we went with a talented, but oft-injured, Doug Smith. In 1988 he was a rock in the Oiler middle and when healthy was able to muster a decent rush. Mike Stensrud and Ken Kennard did steady work between Culp and Smith but really didn't merit an honorable mention.

For middle linebacker in a 4-3, we went with All-Pro in 1991 Al Smith and then with Randall Godfrey, for his 2000 season. As the inside linebackers in the 3-4  it was Greg Bingham, 1975, and John Grimsley, 1988. Bingham was very consistent and a key in the conversion to the Bum Phillips "Okie" or 3-4 defense. He led the team in tackles with 128 in 1975, 6.5 were stuffs, and he picked off four passes. But, if you looked at his other years, through 1983, the numbers were very similar, but the four picks stood out. 

Robert Brazile, 1978, and George Webster, 1968, were easy choices, but the season we chose was not easy. We went with 1978 because he got six votes for Defensive Player of the Year and deservedly so, He had a career-high 115 tackles and 9.5 stuffs to go with 11 passes deflected and five sacks. However, any season from 1976-79 for Brazile would qualify.

Any of Webster's first three seasons all would be good picks as well but we went with 1968 when he had 118 tackles, 10 passes defended and was a consensus All-Pro. 

Robert Brazile. Art: Chuck Ren

Webster was a three-time All-AFL selection before knee injuries hampered him. He hurt a knee in 1970 and never recovered his explosiveness as he went to the Steelers and then the Patriots. In 1974, for the Patriots he was effective as an outside linebacker in the 3-4 scheme they converted to that year. It was hard to tell what Webster could have been if he had been healthy. In the late 1960s he was being called a "young Bobby Bell" by AFL writers.

George Webster

Keith Bulluck, 2003, was excellent and the final slot goes to Ted Washington, 1974, who was the first linebacker we've found in our research to have double-digits in sacks. That year he had 11. The next OLBer to do that was Joel Williams in 1980. We also considered Washington's 1976 season (16 stuffs and 5 sacks) and 1975 (3 picks). But before Brazile arrived in 1975, Washington was the glue that held the newly adopted 3-4 defense together.

Bulluck had 135 tackles (9.0 stuffs), five forced fumbles, three sacks and picked off three passes while deflecting nine en route to an All-pro season,

Lamar Lathon, 1991, is an honorable mention as is Micheal Barrow, 1996 when he had 6 sacks and 4 forced fumbles. Johnny Meads, 1988, had 8 sacks (some as a DE) and he gets a mention, too.

Cornerback was difficult. Miller Farr, 1967, was a consensus All-AFL, Cortland Finnegan, 2008, get top spots. Samari Rolle, 2000  and Cris Dishman, 1991 are next as the Second-teamers.

Honorables are Greg Stimrick, 1980,  Alterraun Verner, 2013, Tony Banfield, 1961, W.K. Hicks, 1965.

Safety also has tons of excellent competition. Ken Houston's 1971 and his 4 pick six's are top at strong safety. Vernon Perry, 1979 and 1980 may be better. Proscout Inc's rating were high, and if you throw in post-season his 1979 season was better than the All-Pro season of Keith Bostic in 1987 who does get an honorable mention. Then throw in Jim Norton, a consensus All-AFL left safety in 1962.

Ken Houston

Other honorable mentions for strong safety are Bo Eason, 1985 (Second-team All-Pro) and Bubba McDowell, 1991 also a Second-team All-pro, and Blaine Bishop who also garnered some post-season honors and in 1995 he was All-AFC and a Pro Bowler. 

At free safety it's Mike Reinfeldt, 1979, and  Marcus Robertson, 1993. Reinfeldt not only has the 12 picks (a team record) he was very highly rated by Proscout, Inc. in 1979 and 1980 and was a consensus All-Pro in 1979.

Fred Glick, 1963, Lance Schulters, 2002 (All-AFC) and Chris Hope, 2008 and Michael Griffin, 2008 (Pro Bowlers), are also honorable mention safeties.

For nickle/5th defensive back we went with Richard Johnson, 1988. He was more talented than the CBs starting but he was a strong key to the 1988 House of Pain defense and 1988 was his best season. Jack Tatum, 1980, was not a nickel back, he was the 5th DB, who'd play deep safety and Vernon Perry would play corner or more often, Tatum would play what was essentially a linebacker position. In this role, in his final season Tatum intercepted a career-high 7 passes despite not starting a game and had a career low of 25 tackles, but in his role contributed to the Oilers playoff run.

The honorable mention extra defensive back is Rod Kush. Like he did with the Buffalo Bills, Kush, in 1985, would enter the game as an in-the-box safety and often blitz, but sometimes drop into short zones and he was very effective. He made 21 tackles had 4 passes defensed for and extra back and had 5.0 sacks and intercepted two passes for the Oilers. It is a position that is common today, a good tackling DB playing, essentially a linebacker spot in the sub defense (nickel or dime).

Bum Phillips

Agree or disagree? Post in comments section below.

Harry Hulmes and The Baltimore Colts Comic Book (1962)

LOOKING BACK

By Chris Willis, NFL Films

In 1962 the NFL and the Baltimore Colts produced a comic book for football fans. An Official NFL Publication with the NFL shield on the cover, the comic book was published by George Wright Hawkins Associates, Inc. in Baltimore. The cover shows a bucking colt with a football helmet on holding a football and it sold for 25 cents.

Also on the cover it has printed, No. 1 in the National Football League Fact Book Series, but it doesn’t look like another team was ever done. Since the Colts were involved in helping put this one together, it seems they were in this project by themselves. 32 pages in length The Baltimore Colts became a minor hit with Colts fans. The main man behind getting the project done for the Colts was Harry Hulmes, the team’s Publicity Director.  

Harry Hulmes, on left, with Johnny Unitas

Hulmes, a native of Philadelphia, graduated from Northeast High School in the city before entering the U.S. Navy for World War II. He served three years as a radarman in the South Pacific and Persian Gulf. After returning from the war Hulmes graduated with a B.A. degree in journalism from the University of Pennsylvania.

He began his career in sports in 1954 as an assistant business manager with the Baltimore Orioles. He then became the sports information director at Bucknell University.

Hulmes moved to the NFL in 1958 as the Colts’ business manager. The perfect year to join the Colts- as they won the NFL Championship that season, defeating the New York Giants in the “Greatest Game Ever Played.” He was part of another championship squad in 1959 as the Colts won back-to-back titles. He spent 12 seasons (1958-1969) with the Colts in numerous positions including public relations director and General Manager for three seasons (1967-1969), help building a team that went to Super Bowl III- but lost in dramatic fashion against the New York Jets. The next year Hulmes left the Baltimore Colts organization. 

Longtime NFL General Manager Ernie Accorsi first met Hulmes in 1963 as a young sports writer who wanted to cover Colts games. He began a friendship with Hulmes and thinks Hulmes was forced out of Baltimore because of the loss in Super Bowl III.

“They promoted Harry from P.R. Director to G.M. (in the spring of 1966),” said Accorsi to Giants.com in 2016. “He was G.M. for three years, and in those three years, they went 9-5, 11-1-2 and 13-1, and he got fired. He got demoted to assistant G.M. because once they lost Super Bowl III. Carroll Rosenbloom was going to shake everything up. But he had a tremendous record.”

In 1970, he joined the New Orleans Saints as Director of Public Relations and Assistant General Manager. He spent 13 years with the Saints (1970-1983), serving as Director of Player Personal also. In 1983, he joined the Arizona Wranglers of the USFL, for one year as Chief Operating Officer. The following year he joined the New York Giants as Special Assistant to General Manager George Young. Hulmes stayed with the Giants until he retired in 1998.

In 1962 Hulmes was the Publicity Director of the Colts. Besides taking care of media requests and editing the team’s game day programs, one of his big projects that season was putting together the Colts comic book. Working with George Wright Hawkins Associates, Hulmes did pretty much everything for the comic. He wrote the copy, laid out the story sequence and did all the editing. The cover layout was done by Al Walker.

The comic book was laid out much like a team’s media guide. The first five pages had the history of the team, player depth chart, and the “Baltimore Brass,” as they were called, featuring drawings of owner Carroll Rosenbloom, General Manager Don Kellett, and executive Keith Molesworth; as well as the whole coaching staff, head coach Weeb Ewbank, Charlie Winner (backs), Herman Ball (offensive line), John Sandusky (defensive line), and Don McCafferty (ends and scout).

Starting on page six the rest of the comic featured the Colts players. Going to page 29, each veteran Colts player had a one-page layout that featured comic drawings of them in action on the field and one drawing of them off-the-field. Each page also featured stats and some biographical information provided by Hulmes. 24 Colts players, including seven future Hall of Famers, received the one-page treatment.

Raymond Berry (Hall of Famer)

Bob Boyd

Ordell Braase

Jackie Burkett

Art Donovan (Hall of Famer)

Tom Gilburg

Alex Hawkins

Gino Marchetti (Hall of Famer)

Lenny Moore (Hall of Famer)

R.C. Owens

Steve Myhra

Andy Nelson

Jimmy Orr

Jim Parker (Hall of Famer)

Bill Pellingotn

Joe Perry (Hall of Famer)

George Preas

Palmer Pyle

Ales Sandusky

Don Shinnick

Billy Ray Smith

Dick Szymanski

Johnny Unitas (Hall of Famer)

Jim Welch

The last three pages featured the rookies and young players on the Colts. Three to a page “Calling All Colts” had drawings of a few future Colts and NFL players like Tom Matte, Dee Mackey, Bill Saul and Dan Sullivan. Recently, the comic has been listed on Amazon and EBay for $100, as it is tough to find.

After retiring full-time in 1998 with the Giants, Hulmes stayed on with New York as a scout emeritus until he finally called it quits following the 2008 season. Hulmes witnessed the 1958 NFL Championship; watched the greatness of Johnny Unitas; saw Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms win two Super Bowls; and as a scout emeritus had a front-row seat for David Tyree’s helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII.

Six weeks ago on February 21, 2016, Harry Hulmes passed away of natural causes at the age of 88.

Hulmes spent nearly half of century in the NFL and maybe not his greatest achievement, the 1962 comic book The Baltimore Colts continues to live on