Alex Karras died this morning after battling kidney failure at the age of 77.
Karras was a star defensive tackle at the University of Iowa before spending his 12-year career terrorizing offenses for the Detroit Lions. It was a career with four All-Pro seasons and a missed 1963 season after he was suspended by then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle for gambling. The missed year was not enough to knock him off the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade Team for the 1960s.
For those of a younger vintage, however, Karras was better known for his acting. He was the dad on TV's "Webster" during the 1980s and other television series. However, his most memorable role, at least in this writer's opinion, was that Mongo in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles," which featured this memorable scene.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Remembering Alex Karras (1935-2012)
Labels:
alex karras,
blazing saddles,
detroit lions,
Football,
Iowa,
kidney,
mel brooks,
mongo,
nfl,
pete reozelle,
university of iowa,
webster
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1 comment:
Blazing Saddles was a funny movie.
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