Slingin’ Sammy Baugh

Don Cantrell

Time was when harbor area boys were drawn to the football jersey

number 33 and looked forward to meeting and cheering Slingin’ Sammy Baugh

of the Washington Redskins at what is now called Eddie West Stadium in

Santa Ana.

In the ‘40s, Redskins management wanted to bolster fan support on the

West Coast. It finally surveyed Southern California and selected the old

Santa Ana Bowl as a site for its annual intrasquad game.

Harbor area kids could grab the old county blue bus for a dime each

and make the grand ride to Santa Ana. The evening games were scheduled at

a proper time.

In addition, the Redskins worked out a program near the bowl where the

team could train and drill in advance of the bowl game. It was an advance

before the annual clash out west with the Los Angeles Rams.

This period also allowed time for Redskins team members to sign

autographs for the kids, chat with them and extend treasured pointers

about football.

Baugh, one of 17 charter members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame,

would sometimes draw his young fans together and show them good form in

punting and passing. He’d encourage football and relate some of his

experiences.

Many of the old local Redskins fans have disappeared over th eyears,

although they would still recall the flair of Sammy Baugh. Baugh retired

in 1952 from the Redskins.

Rear Adm. Jim Seely (U.S. Navy, ret.) is a one-time local who remains

a die-hard Redskins fan. His loyalty has probably increased since the

Redskins have become neighbors up the road from Seely’s home in

Alexandria, Va.

His memory might be sketchy on many of the yesteryear stars, but he

does remember the great breakaway runner Buddy Young of Fleet City Navy,

and Baugh.

At any rate, Baugh, as a prep freshman, signed up for end, but seemed

amused to recall that the team was so mediocre that his coach kept

shifting players around to different positions. In time, the coach

discovered that Baugh could throw the ball better than any of the backs,

so he wound up as the passer.

Baugh was playing semi-pro ball for Abilene, Tex., when he caught the

eye of Coach Dutch Meyer, who invented the noted TCU spread formation,

which also came to be known as the Dutch Meyer Spread. It had a

tremendous influence on the game of football. Baugh would run the Spread

for Meyer.

Baugh, who easily won teammates over with his dry wit, good nature and

forthright approach to problems, was on his way. He gained a scholarship

and played three sports at TCU - football, basketball and baseball.

But his supreme grid marks would be made in the pros.

In fact, Baugh beat the pros before he became a pro.

He quarterbacked the College All-Stars in 1937 and threw the winning

touchdown pass to Gaynell Tinsley that defeated the defending NFL

champion Green Bay Packers.

The Packers and other pro teams soon found that his All-Star debut was

no fluke.

Rookie Baugh proceeded to guide the Redskins to their first NFL

championsip and was honored as the ’37 All-Pro tailback. The single wing

was a fixture in those days, but Baugh made a smooth transition to the

T-formation when its success couldn’t be ignored.

One thing that used to astonish Baugh’s young Orange County fans was

how he could look left while tossing an unerring pass out to a receiver

in the right flat. It often left linebackers in a tizzy trying to follow

the deceptive head and passing arm movements.

It wasn’t uncommon to find kids in the harbor area yearning to wear

No. 33 when school jerseys were issued.

By the time Baugh retired at 38 in ‘52, he had thrown 2,995 passes,

completed 1,693, gained 21,886 yards and passed for 187 touchdowns.

But one of his most sensational marks was a 70.33% completion mark in

1945. His lifetime passing percentage was 56.5.

Some years back, Baugh, now living on his ranch in the Texas

panhandle, said pro football was more of a defensive game in his time. He

noted that today’s two-platoon system allows more offense and a more

wide-open game. A player had to go both ways before platooning.

He said, “Back then a lot of damn good offensive ball players wre

eliminated from the pro ranks because they couldn’t play defense well

enough.”

Sammy Baugh, a legend with the Redskins who touched home with a lot of

youngsters in Newport-Mesa circles.