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| No. 26, 21 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Positions | Halfback, Return specialist | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1935-04-20)April 20, 1935 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | January 16, 2021(2021-01-16) (aged 85) Lake Oswego, Oregon, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 197 lb (89 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| High school | Manual Arts (CA) | ||||||||||||||||
| College | USC | ||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1957: 1st round,2nd overall pick | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
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Jon Dwane "Jaguar Jon"Arnett (April 20, 1935 – January 16, 2021) was an American professionalfootball player. He was a first-teamAll-American out ofUSC and was chosen in the first round, second pick overall, of the1957 NFL draft by theLos Angeles Rams.
Arnett was a prototype of the modernNational Football League all-purpose back, a game-breaker who excelled on runs from scrimmage, pass receptions and kick returns alike. In 10 seasons, he was selected five consecutive times to thePro Bowl (1957-1961) before chronic knee pain reduced his effectiveness. He was elected to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
Arnett was known to teammates as "The Cat"[1] and by the more common nickname of "Jaguar Jon" to fans and media.[2] The nicknames were attributed to an "unusual sense of balance and body coordination which enables him to dodge, cut, and slip from tacklers."[1]
Arnett was born on April 20, 1935 and attendedManual Arts High School inLos Angeles, where he competed on the schoolgymnastics team.[1] He later attributed much of his success on the gridiron to his gymnastics background.[1] Arnett also participated intrack and field in high school and later in college, specializing in thelong jump.[1] In 1954, he threatened the record of 24'8.75" in an NCAA meet.[1]
In 1952, Arnett scored 112 points as a senior, eclipsing the single-season high school record of 110 while leading the Manual Arts Toilers to the Los Angeles city championship.[3] The All-Southern California Board of Football, working through the Helms Athletic Association, named Arnett to the first team of the Los Angeles All-City high school football team as well as the Player of the Year.[3]
Arnett attended theUniversity of Southern California, where he was a member of the football and track teams. It was on the gridiron where he made his name. Arnett was the multiple recipient of theW. J. Voit Memorial Trophy as the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast. He was awarded the Voit Trophy in 1955 and 1956.[4][5]
During his sophomore season USC was granted a bid to the1955 Rose Bowl despite a second-place finish in thePacific Coast Conference, owing toUCLA being ruled ineligibile.[7] The speedy Arnett acquitted himself well, finishing with 123 yards gained on just 9 carries, including a 70-yard scamper in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans fell nonetheless by a score of 20–7.[7]
Arnett was a first team All-American during his 1955 junior year at USC but was limited to only half a season of eligibility in 1956 due toNCAA penalties against the Pacific Coast Conference for recruiting violations.[1]
Arnett was also anAll-American long jumper for theUSC Trojans track and field team, finishing runner-up in thelong jump at the1954 NCAA track and field championships.[8]
Arnett was selected by theLos Angeles Rams in the first round of the1957 NFL draft (No. 2 overall), one of two backs picked ahead of the legendarySyracuseJim Brown in the order.[1] His initial contract signed with the Rams was a one-year deal for $15,000.[2] The most he ever made in a single season during his ten-year career was $37,000.[2]
In addition to averaging 4.6 yards per carry during his first four seasons, Arnett also served as a punt return and kickoff return specialist. He also was among the team's top pass receivers and lined up at split end on occasion.[1]
Arnett's production fell off after the 1961 season — his last of five consecutive trips to thePro Bowl — when a chronic knee sprain began to exact its toll.[9] Largely robbed of the fluidity which made his open-field running a constant big play threat for the Rams, the veteran came to be viewed as expendable by the team in the run-up to the1964 season.[9] Arnett acknowledged his status, declaring "The hardest thing with any athlete is to be injured. The relationship with players and coaches becomes different."[9]
With predictions of the forthcoming move rife, Jon Arnett was traded to theChicago Bears in August, 1964.[10] In the 3-for-1 trade the Rams received four-year startingguardRoger Davis,centerJoe Wendryhoski, a veteran of theCanadian Football League, and rookiedefensive backFrank Budka.[10]
Legendary Bears head coachGeorge Halas declared that the addition of the veteran Arnett would help fill a "gaping hole" for his club in the aftermath of the untimely death of halfbackWillie Galimore before the season.[10] "Ron Bull has been filling in adequately," Halas said, "but we needed another man at the position."[10] Arnett never regained his former status, however, and he spent three uneventful seasons with the Bears before retiring after the1966 campaign.
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1957 | LAR | 12 | 9 | 86 | 347 | 4.0 | 68 | 2 | 18 | 322 | 17.9 | 66 | 3 |
| 1958 | LAR | 12 | 12 | 133 | 683 | 5.1 | 57 | 6 | 35 | 494 | 14.1 | 75 | 1 |
| 1959 | LAR | 12 | 11 | 73 | 371 | 5.1 | 80 | 2 | 38 | 419 | 11.0 | 38 | 1 |
| 1960 | LAR | 12 | 12 | 104 | 436 | 4.2 | 31 | 2 | 29 | 226 | 7.8 | 24 | 2 |
| 1961 | LAR | 14 | 14 | 158 | 609 | 3.9 | 26 | 4 | 28 | 194 | 6.9 | 29 | 0 |
| 1962 | LAR | 10 | 7 | 76 | 238 | 3.1 | 40 | 2 | 12 | 137 | 11.4 | 40 | 0 |
| 1963 | LAR | 9 | 8 | 58 | 208 | 3.6 | 20 | 1 | 15 | 119 | 7.9 | 41 | 1 |
| 1964 | CHI | 14 | 8 | 119 | 400 | 3.1 | 21 | 1 | 25 | 223 | 8.9 | 27 | 2 |
| 1965 | CHI | 14 | 3 | 102 | 363 | 3.6 | 24 | 5 | 12 | 114 | 9.5 | 30 | 0 |
| 1966 | CHI | 14 | 1 | 55 | 178 | 3.2 | 21 | 1 | 10 | 42 | 4.2 | 11 | 0 |
| Career[11] | 123 | 85 | 964 | 3,833 | 4.0 | 80 | 26 | 222 | 2,290 | 10.3 | 75 | 10 | |
Arnett was married in June 1959 to a former USC classmate andRose Parade princess, Yvonne Flint ofPasadena.[12]
During his NFL years Arnett worked in the off-season as a stock and bond broker for the firm of Hayden, Stone & Co. ofBeverly Hills.[1]
Arnett ran a distribution service and supplied frozen foods toCostco,Sam's Club, andWal-Mart. After living for many years in theLos Angeles County coastal town ofRancho Palos Verdes, Arnett and his family moved toLake Oswego, Oregon.[2]
"I went to grammar school, junior high school, high school, USC, and the Rams, all within a 5 mile radius," Arnett told an Oregon journalist in 2008. "I was really a Southern California person. Now you couldn’t get me to go back there."[2]
Arnett died on January 16, 2021, from heart failure inLake Oswego, Oregon.[13]
Arnett was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 and theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2001 as a member of the USC Trojans.[14]