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    They Pay Me to Catch Footballs
    They Pay Me to Catch Footballs
    They Pay Me to Catch Footballs
    Ebook134 pages1 hour

    They Pay Me to Catch Footballs

    By Tommy McDonald and Ed Richter

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    About this ebook

    Football’s premier pass-catcher, Tommy McDonald, says of himself, “I’m just a little guy in a big guy’s game.” This five-foot-ten-inch, 175-pound fireball has proved that speed, balance, and savvy are more than a match for the league of giants in which he plays!

    Here’s McDonald’s story.

    Thomas Franklin McDonald (July 26, 1934 – September 24, 2018) was an American football flanker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, and Cleveland Browns. He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarakaldo Books
    Release dateJun 25, 2020
    ISBN9781839745485
    They Pay Me to Catch Footballs

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      Book preview

      They Pay Me to Catch Footballs - Tommy McDonald

      © Barakaldo Books 2020, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      THEY PAY ME TO CATCH FOOTBALLS!

      BY

      TOMMY MCDONALD

      AS TOLD TO ED RICHTER

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

      DEDICATION 5

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6

      FOREWORD 7

      CHAPTER 1—That’s About the Size of It 9

      CHAPTER 2—My Little Ladies and Big Shoes 14

      CHAPTER 3—We Move to the Big Town 26

      CHAPTER 4—Our Go-Go Sooners 35

      CHAPTER 5—Philadelphia’s Welcome 41

      CHAPTER 6—I Pay Off in Steaks 46

      CHAPTER 7—Like the Hands of a Clock 50

      CHAPTER 8—On the Way to a Title 65

      CHAPTER 9—We’re Champs at Last! 70

      CHAPTER 10—My Demise and Comeback 81

      Tommy McDonald 93

      REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 94

      DEDICATION

      To My Mother and Dad

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      WRITING BOOKS is at least as difficult as catching footballs for a living. In my case, I find myself indebted to dozens of people for what appears in these pages under my name. (In a way, it’s something like getting the credit for scoring a long touchdown after a whole team has made it possible.)

      The list of my literary teammates would fill out a king-sized roster. But I’d like to cite a few whose contributions are worthy of more than just brief mention. I’ve never been a giant at statistics-citing or name-spelling, and if I appear to be in this volume it’s because of these people and what they did to help:

      Walter J. Drelling, Sharon A. Moring, and Norm Daly of Philadelphia; Gary Karr of Oklahoma City; J. D. Kailer of Albuquerque; Edward T. Swasey of Upper Darby, Pa.; Edward S. Hogan, James Gallagher, and the rest of the Eagles’ office staff; the ever-patient Eagle players themselves, who had to put up with a McDonald-turned-author; dozens of other NFL players who offered off-the-field encouragement along with on-the-field harassment; and all the pressbox personnel who so readily opened their extensive files.

      I also owe a special note of thanks to a quarter-back named Sonny Jurgensen, whose lavish praise is as appreciated as his end-zone passes.

      TOMMY MCDONALD

      FOREWORD

      THOMAS FRANKLIN MCDONALD has been described as a football great, an eternal optimist, and a little bit of a joker. I’ll vouch for all three.

      No one can argue his greatness, and I’m willing to admit that (at times) he pulls off some clownish stunts. But I think that the optimism label best describes the man McDonald. What I haven’t yet figured out, after sharing five National Football League seasons with him, is whether the optimism produces success, or whether it’s the other way around.

      You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Tommy in an Eagles’ huddle. After studying his man intently on running plays and pass patterns going in the other direction, Tommy scampers into the huddle with a confident grin. I got that guy beat, Sonny, he’ll say. Give me the cross pattern and were ahead. Or: Hey, he’s sure I’m going long this time. How about the slant?" Sixty minutes of football enthusiasm like this is contagious.

      I had read about Tommy for three years before I saw him play. I was at Duke and he was at Oklahoma, and we didn’t see each other until the North-South college all-star game in Miami in 1956. Tom didn’t score a point, but was named the North’s most valuable player. For the South, the award went to Billy Barnes. Later the three of us teamed up in the Eagles’ backfield.

      Our first professional TD came on November 24, 1957, against the Washington Redskins at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, and directly followed some typical McDonald enthusiasm. Tommy, as usual, was full of suggestions. I can beat him deep, he said as we trailed by 6 points. We were bogged down on our own 39-yard line. Okay, I answered, and performed the play-calling ritual.

      True to his word, Tommy scooted out hard and ran an almost perfect pattern. I threw the ball 32 yards. Joe Walton and another Redskin were there, but Tommy timed his leap perfectly, came down with the ball and whizzed 29 yards into the end zone. NFL Commissioner Bert Bell later called it the most fantastic catch he’d ever seen. We didn’t have to wait long to team up again for a score; in the fourth quarter Tommy grabbed another 36-yard toss for our third TD, and we won, 21-12.

      Tommy’s been jumping, twisting, catching, and smiling ever since. But despite the laughing antics and the wisecracks, the player McDonald is far from a clown. He’s a dedicated student of the game, and a pro in every sense of the label. His sixty-four catches last year set a new Eagle record.

      Tommy’s an exceptional pass-catcher in a league which stresses the forward pass. He also has a penchant for changing pass patterns while he’s running them, which can lead to interceptions and drive his quarterback crazy. But it leads to touchdowns, too, as Tommy has proved on many occasions. It isn’t every receiver who can parlay a short hook-pass pattern into a 60-yard affair and wind up scoring on the play. Tommy has done that and more.

      A dozen or more newsmen asked me last season whether I wouldn’t rather throw to McDonald in a clutch situation than to any other Eagle. I always answered no, explaining it this way: In a clutch situation, everybody in the ball park would be expecting a long throw to McDonald, and he’d probably draw more defenders than autograph hounds.

      I can’t think of a better tribute to a man who makes his living catching passes.

      Sonny Jurgensen

      CHAPTER 1—That’s About the Size of It

      I’M TOO SMALL for football. I’ve heard that comment at least fifty times a season, each season, for more than a decade. And it still makes me bristle a little, even after five bruising seasons in the National Football League, where teeth are something that come in plastic molds and are stored in lockers while the game is played.

      I remember hearing it one time, though, when all I could do was laugh. It was a couple of years ago on a train to Washington. Chuck Bednarik, J. D. Smith, and I walked down to the dining car and were stopped by two little old ladies.

      Excuse me, sir, said one of them. I noticed all you big fellows on the train. Can you tell me what you do for a living?

      Yes, ma’am, answered Chuck. Were professional football players and were on our way down to play the Redskins.

      The woman nodded, looked from Chuck over to the even larger Smith and then at me in the middle.

      Isn’t that nice, she said to her companion, he’s taking his son down to see the game.

      I laughed so hard that Chuck and Smitty practically had to carry me to a table. For weeks afterward I called them both Daddy.

      Size has been more of a problem off the field than on. I could always run, and I’ve always loved to play football. Putting the two things together on a gridiron came naturally. The big problem was getting the opportunity to play. When I was in grade school back in the little town of Roy, New Mexico, people took one look at McDonald and said too small. At high school in Albuquerque, some said too little. At Oklahoma University the opinion came in the form of funny looks from coaches, players, and fans. And as

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