Sherrill Headrick
| No. 69 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Linebacker | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth: | March 13, 1937 | ||
| Place of birth: | Waco, Texas | ||
| Date of death: | September 10, 2008 (aged 71) | ||
| Place of death: | Fort Worth, Texas | ||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Weight: | 240 lb (109 kg) | ||
| Career information | |||
| College: | Texas Christian | ||
| Undrafted: | 1960 | ||
| Career history | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||
| Player stats at NFL.com |
Sherrill Headrick (March 13, 1937 – September 10, 2008) was an American professional football player,
Headrick grew up in Fort Worth, Texas where he was an All-District fullback at North Side High School. He played college football at Texas Christian University, playing offensive guard. However, he had to drop out due to poor grades after his junior season. He then spent one year playing in the Canadian Football League.
While working in the west Texas and New Mexico oil fields during the off-season, in 1960 he became one of the first players to sign with the Dallas Texans in 1960 as an undrafted free agent. He played linebacker and went on to star for the team while they were the Texans and when they became the Kansas City Chiefs.
In his first year with the Texans, Headrick set the standard for playing hurt, after fracturing a vertebra in his neck in a pre-game collision at Houston. Despite feeling pain in his neck, he played the entire game. He learned of the fracture five days later, but went on to play the following week, earning the nickname "Psycho".
In his book "The American Football League – A Year-by-Year History, 1960–1969", Ed Gruver quotes Texans/Chiefs coach Hank Stram as saying that Headrick, who refused to wear hip pads, had the highest pain threshold [he'd] ever seen in an athlete. Headrick played with a broken neck, infected gums, and a fractured thumb. When an injury left the bone in his finger protruding from the skin, Headrick popped the bones in place without missing a play.
"He was a fantastic football player", former Chiefs tight end Fred Arbanas told The Kansas City Star. "Sherrill was so quick, most of the offensive linemen couldn’t get to him. He was such a wild man, people didn’t realize he was such a student of the game. Teams would come out in different formations, and Sherrill knew exactly where the ball was going to go."
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