Norm Van Brocklin
Van Brocklin in 1974
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth: | March 15, 1926 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth: | Parade, South Dakota | ||||||||||||||
| Date of death: | May 2, 1983 (aged 57) | ||||||||||||||
| Place of death: | Social Circle, Georgia | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Lafayette (CA) Acalanes | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Oregon | ||||||||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1949 / Round: 4 / Pick: 37 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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| As coach: | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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| Pass attempts: | 2,895 |
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| Pass completions: | 1,553 |
| Percentage: | 53.6 |
| TD–INT: | 173–178 |
| Passing yards: | 23,611 |
| Passer rating: | 75.1 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Norman Mack Van Brocklin (March 15, 1926 – May 2, 1983), nicknamed "The Dutchman", was an American football quarterback, punter, and coach in the National Football League. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
Born in Parade, South Dakota, Van Brocklin was one of nine children of Mack and Ethel Van Brocklin. His father was a watchmaker, and the family moved to Northern California and settled in Walnut Creek, east of Oakland. Van Brocklin was a three-sport standout at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, where he quarterbacked the team to a 5-3 record as a sophomore and a 4-2-2 record as a junior. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 through 1945, foregoing his senior year of high school in the process.
Following the war, Van Brocklin followed two former high school teammates north and enrolled at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He became the starting quarterback in 1947 under first-year head coach Jim Aiken, and led the Ducks to a 16-5 record in his two seasons as a starter. In 1948, Oregon tied with California for the title of the Pacific Coast Conference, forerunner of the Pac-12. California was undefeated overall, and Oregon's only loss was at undefeated Michigan, that year's national champions, and the Ducks had seven victories in the PCC to Cal's six. Oregon did not go to the Rose Bowl, however, because Cal was voted by the other schools to represent the PCC in the game. Oregon need only a 5-5 tie vote, as Cal had been to the game more recently, and with six Northwest schools and four in California, appeared favored to advance. Oregon had opted for a playoff game, but California declined. Among the Cal voters was the University of Washington, which elevated the intensity of the Oregon-Washington rivalry. Breaking with tradition, the PCC allowed Oregon to accept an invitation to play SMU in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It was the first time that a Pacific Coast team played in a major bowl game other than the Rose Bowl (a policy which was continued by the Pac-8 through 1974). Both Oregon and California lost their New Year's Day bowl games. That season, Van Brocklin was honored with an All-America selection and finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Coincidentally, the Heisman Trophy winner that year was SMU running back Doak Walker. Both Walker and Van Brocklin got Outstanding Player recognition for their performance in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
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