 Lundy receives 1956 Purdue MVP award | |||||||||||||||
| No. 85 | |||||||||||||||
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| Positions | Defensive end End | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1935-04-17)April 17, 1935 Richmond, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died | February 24, 2007(2007-02-24) (aged 71) Richmond, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 245 lb (111 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Richmond (Richmond, Indiana) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Purdue | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1957: 4th round, 47th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Lamar J. Lundy Jr. (April 17, 1935 – February 24, 2007) was an American professionalfootball player who was adefensive end for 13 seasons with theLos Angeles Rams of theNational Football League (NFL) from 1957 to 1969. He playedcollege football for thePurdue Boilermakers and was selected by the Rams in the fourth round of the1957 NFL draft.
Along withDeacon Jones,Merlin Olsen, andRosey Grier, Lundy was a member of theFearsome Foursome, often considered one of the best defensive lines in NFL history. All four also did some acting; Lundy portrayed the boulder-hurling cyclops in the unaired pilot ofLost in Space (this pilot was later made into episode 4 of the series, entitled "There Were Giants in the Earth").[1][2]
Lundy was born inRichmond, Indiana, on April 17, 1935, the first child of Lamar Lundy Sr. and Sarah Corine (Ferguson) Lundy.[3][4] He attended Nicholson Elementary School and Test Junior High School in Richmond, and graduated fromRichmond High School where he was a two-sport star in basketball and football, and was an All-American in both sports. Lundy led the Red Devils to the State Finals in basketball, playing for Hall of Fame Coach,Art Beckner. He was selected to the Indiana Basketball All-Star team that defeated the Kentucky All-Stars in 1953. He was also an All-State player in football.[3][5][6][7][8][4] He was All-State in football in 1951 and 1952.[2] The football team was undefeated in 1952 and 1953, and the basketball team went to the final four in 1953.[9] He was named a distinguished alumnus in 1998.[2]
When it came time to choose a college, Lamar selected and attendedPurdue University, where he was the first black student to receive afootball scholarship,[3] and where he was named Most Valuable Play (MVP) of both the football andbasketball teams in his senior year.[5][2] He led theBoilermakers football team in receiving his senior season and was a two-time second-teamAll-Big Ten end.[10][11]
As a collegiate basketball player atcenter, Lamar scored 678 points (73rd all-time for the Boilermakers) and collected 533 rebounds (29th all-time for the Boilermakers).[10][2] He averaged 10.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game from 1954 to 1957.[11] He was a third-team All-Big Ten center in 1957.[2]
Lundy was inducted into theIndiana Football Hall of Fame in 1975, theIndiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990, and the Purdue Hall of Fame in 1995; being one of only two people inducted into both Indiana's football and basketball Halls of Fame.[3][5] In June 1968, he was honored by the city of Richmond.[3] Lundy played in theChicago College All Star game, where college all-stars played an NFL team.[3]
In 2023, the John Purdue Club created the Lundy League, a capital gift society for donors to support Purdue Athletics, and to honor Lundy and his "above and beyond" mentality.[10]
At 6 ft 7 in or 6 ft 8 in and 245 or 250 pounds,[12][6] Lundy was drafted by both NFL andNBA teams, but he opted for a career in football. He was drafted by theSt. Louis Hawks in the1957 NBA draft, and the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth round of the1957 NFL draft (47th overall).[3][12] Early in his professional career (1957–1959), Lundy (number 85) played mostly at tight end,[13] catching 35 passes for 584 yards, a 16.7 yards per catch average, and 6touchdowns. Twenty-five of those receptions were in 1958.[12] He switched to defensive end full time in 1960.[13] He scored an additional 3 touchdowns oninterception returns, an NFL record for defensive linemen[3] (and the only 3 interceptions of his NFL career[12]).
He was a member of the Rams "Fearsome Foursome" defensive lines, with Hall of Fame defensive endDeacon Jones, Hall of Fame tackleMerlin Olsen, and originally tackleRoosevelt "Rosey" Grier in the mid-1960s. From 1967 to 1969 tackleRoger Brown became the fourth lineman, with some considering them the most dominant defensive line in NFL history.[14][15][3][6] Jones, a member of theNFL 100th Anniversary All Time Team at defensive end (Olsen holding the same honor at tackle),[16] considered Lundy his mentor in Jones' difficult early years with the Rams.[11][13] Lundy was on the Rams defense that ended Hall of Fame, and 100th anniversary team member, Baltimore Colts quarterbackJohnny Unitas's 47 game touchdown streak.[6]
Lundy played 152 games over thirteen years for the Rams, leading the team inquarterback sacks in 1961, with 60.5 sacks over his Rams' career.[3][12] He was selected to thePro Bowl in 1959, and wasAll -Pro in1967.[3][12][17] When he retired as a player, Lundy became an assistant coach for theSan Diego Chargers under Hall of Fame coachSid Gillman,[18] but was forced by illness to cease coaching.[3][4]
Lundy died at age 71 on February 24, 2007. He was the first of the Fearsome Foursome to pass away. Lundy was ill withdiabetes,Graves disease,myasthenia gravis,cancer, andheart disease. At the time of his death he had 5 children, 19 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.[13]