 Ratterman,c. 1952 | |||||||||||||||||||
| No. 61, 25, 71, 16 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1926-11-12)November 12, 1926 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Died | November 3, 2007(2007-11-03) (aged 80) Centennial, Colorado, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 182 lb (83 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||
| High school | St. Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio) | ||||||||||||||||||
| College | Notre Dame | ||||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1948: 16th round, 139th overall pick | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||||||
| Career AAFC/NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||||
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George William Ratterman (November 12, 1926 – November 3, 2007) was an American professionalfootballquarterback who played in theAll-America Football Conference (AAFC) and theNational Football League (NFL).
He was born inCincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated fromSt. Xavier High School in 1944.[1] He playedcollege football at theUniversity of Notre Dame from 1944 through 1946, primarily as a backup toquarterbacksFrank Dancewicz andJohnny Lujack. He was the last of only four students in Notre Dame history to earn letters in four different sports (football, basketball, baseball, tennis). Legendary football coachFrank Leahy called him "the greatest all-around athlete in the history of Notre Dame."
He played professional football with theBuffalo Bills of the AAFC from 1947 to 1949, when the league merged with the NFL. In his first year, 1947, at the age of 20, Ratterman threw 22 touchdown passes, setting a professional football rookie record that stood for more than fifty years until broken byPeyton Manning in 1998. He continued his career with theNew York Yanks of the NFL in 1950 and 1951, theMontreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League in 1951 and finished with theCleveland Browns of the NFL from1952 through1956. He led the NFL in TD passes in 1950 while playing for New York. In1956, he became the Browns' starting quarterback, succeedingOtto Graham, and was first player in the history of football to wear a radio receiver in his helmet, which allowed Cleveland CoachPaul Brown to call plays using a microphone instead of sending in messenger players for each play.[2] Ratterman wasfeatured on the cover ofSports Illustrated, October 8, 1956. A leg injury on October 21, 1956, ended his football career.
He earned his law degree in 1956 and was admitted to practice in Ohio and Kentucky. He acted as general counsel for the American Football League Players Association in the mid-1960s, whenJack Kemp was the president of the union.
Ratterman was elected sheriff ofCampbell County, Kentucky, in 1961 after an irregular campaign season during which Ratterman was drugged withchloral hydrate and put in bed with astripper as part of a failed blackmail attempt. The publicity from the botched frame-up attempt catapulted him and his party to victory in the election.
Ratterman's tenure as sheriff was marked by a dramatic diminishment of gambling, prostitution and vice businesses that had dominatedNewport since theCivil War. Ratterman's co-ordination with federal agents and his personal relationship with Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy have been credited.[3][4]
He was an unsuccessful candidate for county judge[citation needed] andUnited States Congress in the 1960s. He finished third in theRepublicanprimary forKentucky's 4th congressional district behindGene Snyder.[5]
He is the author of a book,Confessions of a Gypsy Quarterback, Coward-McCann, 1962, containing hilarious anecdotes of his experiences and hijinks in professional football. In the foreword,Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbackOtto Graham says Ratterman was the "best natural clown and comic I ever saw in professional football." Once, while playing in a game for the Browns, Ratterman received a play call made by, then coach,Paul Brown's messenger guard system. Ratterman told the guard to "go back and get another one" as he did not like the play. The guard, a rookie namedJoe Skibinski, obediently turned to run back to the bench and Coach Brown before Ratterman and other players stopped him.
He worked as a color commentator on TV and radio broadcasts ofAFL and NFL football games forABC-TV (1960–1964) andNBC-TV (1965–1973). He was frequently paired withJack Buck andCharlie Jones on broadcast teams. He had the distinction of providing color analysis to Jim Simpson's play-by-play of Super Bowl I on Sunday, January 15, 1967, for the NBC Radio Network. During half-time of the first NFL-AFL Championship Game at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Ratterman interviewed Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith and San Diego Chargers wide receiver Lance Alworth about their thoughts on the game's first half.
Ratterman died inCentennial,Colorado, on November 3, 2007, from complications ofAlzheimer's disease.[6] He and his wife of 59 years, Anne, had ten children.