Elvin "Al" Worley (August 8, 1946 – December 14, 2020) was an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach, a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

from

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

– 68. Worley was named a consensus All-American in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

, when he set an NCAA record of 14 interceptions in a season. He played for one season for the

Seattle Rangers The Seattle Rangers were a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The team was founded in 1967 as a member of the Continental Football League and played in the Western Division. The original franchise name of Jets was a ...

of the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to beco ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

High school

Born in

Chelan, Washington Chelan ( ) is a city in Chelan County, Washington, United States. The estimated population was 3,850 at the 2010 census with a margin of error of ±15. The population was 4,222 at 2018 Estimate from Office of Financial Management. It lies on ...

and raised in

Wenatchee Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part ...

, Worley grew up in a family with ten children. He attended Wenatchee High School and was a three-sport standout in football, basketball, and baseball, finishing as the school's fourth all-time leading scorer in basketball. Worley stated he was lightly recruited and "I was surprised that Washington even offered me a scholarship. I was not what you'd call a widely recruited athlete. I was an all-nothing in high school." Worley was selected as the "Panther Best" award recipient his senior year and is a member of the Wenatchee High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

College career

After playing split end during his freshman year at Washington in 1964, assistant coach Ed Peasley told head coach

Jim Owens James Donald Owens (March 6, 1927 – June 6, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at the University of Washington from 1957 to 1974, compiling a record of in 18 seasons. Owens played college football at the U ...

that "Al Worley will never play varsity football at the University of Washington." Dave Williams, Washington's All-America tight end and a future

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pick, disagreed, stating "That kid in the red shirt gives me more trouble than anybody else." Worley was a

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1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

, suffering a broken hand. He saw playing time in the secondary in the

and

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

seasons, progressing to a full-time starter for the 1968 season as a fifth-year senior. For the 1968 team, Worley recorded three interceptions in Washington's 21–17 victory at

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, two with Wisconsin inside Washington's 10-yard line, setting a conference single-game record. Against

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

at Husky Stadium, Worley recorded four of Washington's school-record eight interceptions in a 37–7 victory, which re-established his conference single-game record. Worley finished the 1968 season with an NCAA record 14 interceptions. In

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, his record was tied by

Gerod Holliman Gerod Holliman (born May 6, 1994) is an American football safety who is currently a free agent. At the University of Louisville, he won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back in college football. He set an NCAA record for most i ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Worley's record season was accomplished in a 10-game season, while Holliman played in a 12-game regular season plus a bowl game and with his team facing twice as many pass attempts.

Professional career

Worley's size did not draw interest from the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

, so he signed with the

of the Continental Football League in May 1969. Worley was a 1969 CFL Pacific Division All-Star at safety with the

, which folded after the season.

Later years

Worley was a part-time

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

assistant and a substitute teacher in Seattle. Worley then became a full time coach at

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...

from 1971 to 1974 under head coach Ed Peasley. He was later an assistant at

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

under head coach

Mouse Davis Darrel "Mouse" Davis (born September 6, 1932) is a retired American football coach and former player. A veteran coach at the high school, college, and professional levels, he last coached with Jerry Glanville at Portland State and with June Jones ...

. In 1979, Worley became head coach of the Yokosuka Base Seahawks, a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

service team in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Worley settled in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and worked as a facilities and projects manager. In 2015 and 2016, Worley was nominated for induction to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. He was named to the University of Washington's All-Century Team and was inducted into the school's hall of fame Worley retired in 2015 and moved to

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

. He died there in 2020 at the age of 74.

External links

Sports Reference profile

References