Sammy Baugh was the last surviving member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 1963.
After starring at Texas Christian University, Baugh played with the Redskins from 1937 to 1952, leading them to the NFL title in his rookie season and again in 1942.
Interestingly enough, Baugh did not get his nickname "Sligin' Sammy" from Football, but from the way he slung Baseballs from the Shortstop and Third Base Position.
Baugh was the best all-around player in an era when versatility was required. In 1943, he led the league in passing, punting and interceptions. In one game, he threw four touchdowns and also intercepted four passes. He threw six touchdowns passes in a game twice. His 51.4-yard punting average in 1940 remains the NFL record.
This I think will stand out most about Sammy Baugh: Four touchdowns on offense and then picking off four passes on defense in the same game! He also led the league in passing , and also led defensively in interceptions. Oh, for good measure, he also lead the league in punting! The NFL has changed so much that we will never see a player this versatile ever again.
The NFL has lost perhaps their greatest All Around Player.
Rest In Peace, Slingin' Sammy. You will be missed.
Joe Gibbs resigned as coach and team president of the Washington Redskins on Tuesday, three days after his team's playoff loss concluded a season marked by the killing of safety Sean Taylor.
The Redskins said in a statement that Gibbs will remain part of the Redskins family and serve as a special adviser to owner Dan Snyder.
The Redskins will begin a search for a new coach immediately. Among the certain candidates are two former head coaches on Gibbs' staff, Gregg Williams and Al Saunders.
Gibbs went 31-36, including 1-2 in the playoffs, after emerging from NFL retirement and his NASCAR career to sign a five-year, $27.5 million contract in 2004. He had always maintained that he intended to fulfill the contract, but the 67-year-old coach wavered from that stance Monday when asked if he would return for the final year of his deal.
Gibbs' resignation brings an apparent end to a Hall of Fame coaching career in which he twice raised the Redskins from mediocrity into a playoff team, although he failed in his goal of bringing the team back to the Super Bowl during his second stint in Washington. Gibbs won three NFL titles during his first tenure from 1981-92; the second time around he took the team to the postseason in two of his four seasons.
It also follows one of the best coaching performances of his career, his leadership helping the Redskins focus after Taylor's death on Nov. 27. Washington won its final four regular season games after Taylor's funeral, going from 5-7 to 9-7 to claim the final playoff berth in the NFC.
The emotional run ended Saturday, when the Redskins lost 35-14 at Seattle in the wild-card playoffs.
"It was the toughest (season) for me," Gibbs said Monday. "When you go through a season like that, for a while it's kind of hard to re-grasp reality."
Gibbs has also endured a personal crisis for a year. One of his grandsons, Taylor, was diagnosed with leukemia last January at the age of 2. Gibbs frequently talks lovingly about his "grandbabies," and he made an overnight to North Carolina on Sunday to be with his family, interrupting the postseason routine of meetings that usually follow the final game of the season.
Still, for much of the season, Gibbs seemed intent on returning to coach. Players and coaches said publicly and privately over the last week that they would be shocked if he didn't stay on to finish the job. Last month, he said he would be open to discussing a contract extension so that he would not return next season as a lame-duck coach.
At a news conference Monday, Gibbs spoke about plans for next season — the team's approach to free agency, offseason workouts and the possibility of an open quarterback competition at training camp — as if he were going to remain on the sidelines. However, he hedged when asked if he would definitely be back, saying it would hinge on his meeting Monday night with Snyder.
"Everybody's situation will be taken into context here — including mine, and my future here and all that," Gibbs said Monday.
Click On The Video Below To See Sean Taylor's Big Hit during last year's Pro Bowl.
Pro Bowl safety Sean Taylor died Tuesday after he was shot in his home by an apparent intruder, leaving the Washington Redskins in mourning for a teammate who seemed to have reordered his life since becoming a father.
The 24-year-old player died at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he had been airlifted after the shooting early Monday.
"It is with deep regret that a young man had to come to his end so soon," father Pedro Taylor said in a statement on behalf of the family. "Many of his fans loved him because the way he played football. Many of his opponents feared him the way he approached the game. Others misunderstood him, many appreciated him and his family loved him."
A string of mourners, including Taylor's father, visited the player's home and embraced outside. Authorities entered the home, but it was unclear what they were doing.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will honor Taylor's memory at all games this weekend.
Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said what he would remember most about Taylor was his excitement about playing football.
"God made him to play football," Gibbs said Tuesday during a news conference. "To me, he just loved and thrived on the competition part of it. ... Sean, he loved football. He loved these guys here."
Gibbs acknowledged it will be hard to concentrate on football this week.
"I don't know how we'll deal with it, except we'll all do it together," he said.
Fans already had begun a makeshift memorial by laying flowers on a field near the front entrance to the Redskins' practice facility in Ashburn, Va.
"This is a terrible, terrible tragedy," Redskins owner Daniel Snyder said.
He added the team would honor Taylor with a patch on the jersey and the No. 21 on the helmet.
Taylor's death comes nearly a year after Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed in a drive-by shooting following an argument at a Denver nightclub on Jan. 1. University of Miami defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot to death in November 2006 several miles from Taylor's home in an unsolved killing.
Doctors had been encouraged late Monday when Taylor squeezed a nurse's hand, according to Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins' vice president of football operations. But family friend Richard Sharpstein said he was told Taylor never regained consciousness after being taken to the hospital.
Taylor, the fifth overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft following an All-American season at Miami, was shot early Monday in the upper leg, damaging the key femoral artery and causing significant blood loss.
Sean Taylor leaves behind his girlfriend and 18 month old daughter.
This Is a Very Sad Time for the Taylor Family & Friends, The Washington Redskins, the NFL, and all Football Fans. Rest In Peace, Sean Taylor. You will be missed.
