 Grier in 2008 at the Movieguide Faith and Value Awards Gala | |||||||||
| No. 76 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positions | Defensive tackle Defensive end | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1932-07-14)July 14, 1932 (age 93) Cuthbert, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 284 lb (129 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Abraham Clark (Roselle, New Jersey) | ||||||||
| College | Penn St. | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1955:3rd round, 31st overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Roosevelt "Rosey"Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American formerfootball player, bodyguard, actor, singer,Protestantminister, and motivational speaker. He played professionally as adefensive tackle in theNational Football League (NFL) for theNew York Giants andLos Angeles Rams where he was a member of the original "Fearsome Foursome".
Grier playedcollege football for thePenn State Nittany Lions, earningAll-America honors and a place in theNCAA 100th anniversary list of 100 most influential student athletes.[1] A professional football player for 12 seasons in the NFL, Grier was a member of theNew York Giants and the originalFearsome Foursome of theLos Angeles Rams. He played in thePro Bowl twice, was selectedAll-Pro multiple times,[2] and won the1956 NFL championship with the Giants in the pre Super Bowl era.
After Grier's professional sports career in the NFL, he worked as a bodyguard forSenator Robert Kennedy during the1968 presidential campaign. Grier was guardingEthel Kennedy whenSenator Kennedy was shot. Although unable to prevent the assassination, Grier took control of the gun and subdued the shooter,Sirhan Sirhan.
Grier hosted his own Los Angeles television show and made approximately 70 appearances on various TV shows during the 1960s and 1970s.
Grier became an ordained Protestant minister in 1983. He founded American Neighborhood Enterprises, a nonprofit organization that serves inner city youth. He also travels as an inspirational speaker.
Among Grier's hobbies are crocheting, knitting, needlepoint and macramé. In 1972, Grier wroteRosey Grier's Needlepoint for Men, a book that was published byWalker and Company on January 1, 1973.[3][4][5]
Grier was born on July 14, 1932, inCuthbert, Georgia, one of twelve children. He was named after presidential candidateFranklin Delano Roosevelt.[6]
Grier's father grew sugar cane and peanuts where Grier and his siblings worked. Due to the need to work and the distance to walk to school, Grier was only able to attend school three times a week at this time. After World War II, when Grier was still in elementary school, the family moved toRoselle, New Jersey for more stable work opportunities. Grier was able to attend school regularly and ultimately playedfootball atAbraham Clark High School in Roselle and graduated in 1951.[7][8]
While in high school, Grier became a star athlete. At 6'5" Grier played both offense and defense line positions. He studied smaller players and developed explosive speed and quick footwork for his size.[9]
Grier also excelled and track and field in the shot put, discus, and javelin events in high school.[9]
Colleges began scouting Grier while in high school. UltimatelyPenn State University offered Grier a track scholarship which he accepted and also played football for theNittany Lions where he was an four-year starter and All American (in shot put).[10] Grier was known as a dominant lineman playing both ways. During Grier's time at Penn State under coachRip Engle, from 1952 to 1953, the team had 20 wins, 7 losses, 1 tie.[9]
During these days of early desegregation Grier had to deal with animosity from opponents especially when travelling to away games in the South such asTexas Christian Univerisity (TCU) inFort Worth, Texas.[9]
Grier also excelled in track and field in shot put, discus, and javelin while at Penn State. He was captain of the track team.[11] In track, he won the IC4A and Penn Relays shot put and discus, as well as qualifying for the javelin finals, and was a Track & Field All-American in 1954 and 1955.[12]
Grier was a member of theAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Grier was noted as being engaging by other students and developed interests outside of sports that remains through his life. “He was a big human being,” Penn State teammate Lenny Moore said, “but just as nice and truthful as you could be.”[9] Grier earned his degree in 1956.[13]
After playingcollege football atPenn State University, Grier was the 31st overall pick of the1955 NFL draft, taken in thethird round by theNew York Giants. At the timeJim Lee Howell was the coach. He started in 85 games with the Giants as a defensive tackle from1955 through1962. This included playing in anNFL Championship in1956 and five Eastern Conference titles (1956,1958,1959,1961,1962). As a stand out tackle, Grier worked with Tom Landry as Landry developed his flex defense later utilized with the Cowboys.[14] Grier was selected for thePro Bowl in 1956 and 1960, and was namedAll-Pro atdefensive tackle in 1956 and 1958–1962.[15] The Giants defense at the time, had become so significant to the their success that they began the unheard of practice at the time of announcing the defense unit instead of the offense before the game.[16]
After eight seasons with New York, Grier was traded in July1963 to theLos Angeles Rams in exchange for defensive tackleJohn LoVetere and a high future draft pick.[17][18] He was part of the "Fearsome Foursome", along withDeacon Jones,Merlin Olsen, andLamar Lundy,[19] considered one of the best defensive lines in football history. Dick Butkus described them as "the most dominant line in football history."[20] His career ended in1967 due to atornAchilles tendon. Despite being the oldest member of the Fearsome Foursome, Grier is the last surviving member following the passing of Jones on June 3, 2013.[21]
Presently, Rosey Grier is one of the oldest living NFL players having spent his entire career in the NFL prior to theNFL-AFL merger. Thought he did play in NFL Championship games, Grier never had a chance to play in aSuper Bowl because his entire playing career pre-dated the Super Bowl era. During his playing years statistics were not tracked as they are in the modern era. Known statistical highlights of Grier's career include:
Grier played with number 76 all 11 years.
After a highly successful professional football career, Grier went on to have further successes in diverse fields. This ranged from acting as a bodyguard, television acting, and writing, speaking, and being a minister.
After his retirement, Grier hosted theRosey Grier Show for three seasons from 1968 to 1970 onKABC-TV, a weekly half-hour television show discussing community affairs in Los Angeles.[24]
Grier served as a bodyguard for his friend,United States senator and presidential candidateRobert F. Kennedy. He was guardingEthel Kennedy, the Senator's wife, who was then expecting a child, the night that Kennedy wasassassinated in Los Angeles in 1968. Grier and Olympicdecathlongold medalistRafer Johnson heard shots fired ahead of them; Johnson rushed ahead to see what had happened. As Grier caught up he saw Johnson and sports-writerGeorge Plimpton wrestling with gunmanSirhan Sirhan; Grier immediately jumped into the fray and Sirhan was overpowered, disarmed and subdued. Grier states, "So I see George Plimpton has the gun pointed at his face, and I'm concerned that it is going to go off, so I put my hand under the trigger housing and I pulled back the hammer so it couldn't strike. I wrench the gun from Sirhan. I find the pin and I ripped it out and held it. Now I have the gun in my hand, so I shove it in my pocket." Grier later said, "I grabbed the man's legs and dragged him onto a table. There was a guy angrily twisting the killer's legs and other angry faces coming towards him, as though they were going to tear him to pieces. I fought them off. I would not allow more violence."[25][18]
In December 1968, during the height of theVietnam War, Grier accompaniedBob Hope on "Operation Holly," Hope's 1968USO tour. Grier performed alongside headlinerAnn-Margret and others at the U.S. military bases atLong Bình,Cam Ranh Bay,Da Nang,Chu Lai, andPhù Cát, as well as aboard the carrierUSSHancock and the battleshipUSSNew Jersey, and atKorat Royal Thai Air Force Base andU-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield in Thailand, along with stops inSouth Korea andGuam.[26]
Grier has appeared in a number of films and television shows. One of the first football stars to successfully make the transition to acting, he made about 70 television guest appearances. They include a role as one of the security contingent in "The Brain Killer Affair" episode ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), as well as acameo playing an athletic trainer in an episode ofI Dream of Jeannie. He became a regular cast member, starting in 1969, on the seriesDaniel Boone,[27]Make Room for Granddaddy, andThe White Shadow. In oneWhite Shadow appearance, he donned his No. 76 Los Angeles Rams jersey from his NFL playing days.
He appeared as a panelist on the television game showMatch Game 74. Grier starred in television shows and films includingThe Wild, Wild West (1967),The Desperate Mission (1969),Carter's Army (1970),Skyjacked (1972),The Thing with Two Heads (1972),McMillan & Wife (1974),Sesame Street (1975),The Treasure of Jamaica Reef (1975),The Love Boat (1979),The Glove (1979),Roots: The Next Generations (1979) andThe Seekers (1979). Grier appeared in the 1974–1976 NBC TV seriesMovin' On withClaude Akins, which was filmed in Grier's home state of Georgia. He appeared in a third-season episode ofQuincy, M.E. titled "Crib Job" in which he played himself as the director of a group called Giant Step. He appeared in two episodes ofKojak, one in the third season and one in the fourth season, as a bounty hunter named Salathiel Harms. He also appeared on a 1977 episode ofCHiPs as a distraught motorist who, during a routine traffic stop, proceeds to destroy his car in frustration by pulling it apart piece by piece. He appeared as a celebrity contestant onCelebrity Bullseye during that program's 1981–82 season. In 1983 he also appeared in the seriesThe Jeffersons, (episode 10x8 titled 'The List') as the owner of a pool hall in Harlem, who in the past had been a bully to George Jefferson at school. He made a guest appearance as himself onHBO's hit series,The Larry Sanders Show withGary Shandling in 1998. Grier also guest-voiced a 1999 episode ofThe Simpsons titled "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday".[26]
Grier first released singles on the A label in 1960, and over the following twenty-five years he continued to record on various labels including Liberty, Ric, MGM, and A&M.[28] His recording of a tribute to Robert Kennedy, "People Make the World" (written byBobby Womack), was his only chart single, peaking at No. 128 in 1968. Grier sang "It's All Right to Cry" for the children's album and TV programFree to Be… You and Me.
Grier spent his early life campaigning for Democrats before becoming a Republican in the early 80s.[citation needed] He appeared in the Democratic fundraiser "America Goes Public" on September 15, 1973[29] and regularly attended the Democratic National Convention, including the conventions at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago on August 28, 1968[30] and at Madison Square Garden in New York City on August 11, 1980.[31] Grier was a featured speaker at the1984 Republican National Convention; during its evening session on August 20, 1984, he endorsed PresidentRonald Reagan for re-election.[32]
In 1994, Grier visitedO. J. Simpson in jail, who allegedly yelled out a confession to the crime.[33][34]
On January 5, 2017, Grier announced his intention to run for governor of California as a Republican in the2018 California gubernatorial election.[35] He ended his candidacy in July 2017.[36]
Grier has written a number of books:
Grier also works as a motivational speaker.[39][40]
Grier is a cofounder of American Neighborhood Enterprises (ANE),[2] an organization that works to help disadvantagedcity dwellers buy homes and receive vocational training. Grier was ordained a Protestant minister in 1983, and the next year he founded his nonprofit resource center for inner-city teens, developing spiritual and educational programs for disadvantaged youths. Grier supports The Prostate Cancer Foundation with his time and effort.[41]
He is also on theMilken Family Foundation board of trustees and serves as its program administrator of community affairs.[40]
In addition to his many football honors (see above), Grier is noted for the following honors:
Grier has a daughter, Sherryl Brown-Tubbs, from an early relationship. He married Beatrice Lewis in 1962. She had one child, Denise, whom Grier adopted. Grier and Lewis divorced in 1970. In 1973, Grier married Margie Grier; they had one son, Roosevelt Kennedy Grier, in 1972. The couple divorced in 1978. They remarried in 1981 and remained married until her death in 2011.[45] Grier marriedWichita school teacher, Cydnee Seyler, on April 30, 2013.[46] Grier's nephew,Mike Grier, followed his uncle's career in sports when he enrolled as a student atBoston University, but he playedice hockey instead of football; he subsequently had a 14-yearNHL playing career and became the league's first black general manager with theSan Jose Sharks.[47][48]
Grier was well known in the 1970s for his hobbies ofneedlepoint[49] andmacrame. He authoredRosey Grier's Needlepoint for Men in 1973.[49]
Rosey never forgot his roots, often returning to his home town to run track with a local track hero named Bruce "Red Beard".
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
