Charles Albert Conerly Jr. (September 19, 1921 – February 13, 1996) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) for the
New York Giants from 1948 through 1961. Conerly was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame in 1966. He was married to Perian Conerly, a sports columnist for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''.
College career
Conerly attended and played
college football at the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...
(Ole Miss). He started at Ole Miss in 1942, but left to serve as a
Marine in the
South Pacific during World War II where he fought in the
Battle of Guam.
Bowden Bowden may refer to:
Places Australia
* Bowden Island, one of the Family Islands in Queensland
* Bowden, South Australia, northwestern suburb of Adelaide
* Bowden railway station
Canada
* Bowden, Alberta, town in central Alberta
England
* Bowde ...
(2008), p. 112.
He returned to Mississippi in 1946 and led the team to their first
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
(SEC) championship in 1947. During that season, he led the nation in pass completions with 133, rushed for nine touchdowns and passed for 18 more, was a consensus
All-American selection, and was named Player of the Year by the
Helms Athletic Foundation.
[ He played the halfback position for the Rebels. He earned consensus All-America in 1947 when he led the Rebels to a record of 9–2 including a 13–9 win over TCU in the ]Delta Bowl
The Delta Bowl was a college football game played at Crump Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997. Page A1. It was the precursor to the now long-standing Liberty ...
at Crump Stadium
Crump Stadium is a sports stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, built in 1934 and significantly downsized in 2006. It was built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project with a capacity of 7,500. In 1939 it was enlarged to hold 25,000 spectators. ...
in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
.
Conerly's 1947 squad had upset wins over Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
(14–7 in Oxford), Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
(14–6 in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
), LSU
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
(20–18 in Baton Rouge), and Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
(43–13 in Memphis). He placed fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting and was a two-time All SEC performer. He was named Player of the Year and Back of the Year of the SEC in 1947. He set numerous school records and still ranked 12th in 2008 in career total offense with 3,076 yards. He was ranked 12th in career passing with 2,313 yards and 26 TDs.
Conerly also played baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
at Ole Miss, where he hit .467 in 1948 and was offered a professional contract.[
]
Professional career
Conerly was drafted in the 13th round of the 1945 NFL Draft
The 1945 National Football League Draft was held on April 8, 1945, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Chicago Cardinals selected halfback Charley Trippi.
Player selections
Round o ...
by the Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
. He played his entire career with the New York Giants as a quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
, where he was a two-time Pro Bowl
The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players.
The format has changed thro ...
selection in 1950 and 1956 and was NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1959 by the Newspaper Enterprise Association
The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...
. Conerly was named NFL "Rookie of the Year" in 1948, a season when he set many Giants rookie franchise records that still stand. He led the Giants to three NFL Championship games in four seasons (1956, 1958–1959), including a 47–7 victory over the Chicago Bears in the 1956 NFL Championship Game
In the 1956 NFL Championship Game was the league's 24th championship game, played at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx in New York City on December 30.
The New York Giants (8–3–1) won the Eastern Conference title and hosted the Chicago Bears (9â ...
. During his professional career, he earned the alliterative
Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...
nickname "Chucking Charlie Conerly".
The Hit
On November 20, 1960 at Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...
in The Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, Conerly played a small role in one of the most famed plays in NFL history, known as The Hit. In the fourth quarter of a tied game against the Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
, Conerly threw a short forward pass to Giants running back Frank Gifford
Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Foo ...
, who was clothes-line tackled by Eagles linebacker Chuck Bednarik. Gifford immediately fell the ground unconscious, was removed from the field by stretcher and transported to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a severe concussion. The concussion forced Gifford into an 18-month-long retirement until he had recuperated sufficiently to later return with the Giants.
Giants franchise records
's NFL off-season, Charlie Conerly held at least 10 Giants franchise records, including:
* Most Completions (rookie season): 162 (1948)
* Most Pass Attempts (rookie season): 299 (1948)
* Most Passing Yards (rookie season): 2,175 (1948)
* Most Passing TDs (rookie season): 22 (1948)
* Most Intercepted (game): 5 (1951-10-14 CRD and 1953-12-13 DET; tied with Jeff Rutledge and Eli Manning)
* Highest Passer Rating (rookie season): 84.0 (1948)
* Most Yds/Pass Att (season): 8.79 (1959)
* Most Yds/Pass Att (playoff career): 8.53
* Most Yds/Pass Att (playoff season): 10.48 (1958)
* Most Pass Yds/Game (rookie season): 181.3 (1948)
Later life and honors
Conerly portrayed the "Marlboro Man
The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. ...
" in commercials after playing for the Giants. Conerly and his wife, Perian (author of the book, ''Backseat Quarterback'') retired to his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he spent his final days. Conerly owned shoe stores throughout the Mississippi Delta. On December 13, 1959, Perian appeared on an episode of ''What's My Line?
''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...
''. Her line was she wrote a football column for newspapers.
Conerly was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 and the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. He is also a member of the Ole Miss Team of the Century (1893–1992). Conerly is the namesake of the football award, the Conerly Trophy
The C Spire Conerly Trophy is an award given annually to the best college football player in the state of Mississippi by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.
Voting
Sixty media representatives from across Mississippi determine the Trophy recipie ...
, given annually to the top college player in the State of Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
. The Professional Football Researchers Association named Conerly to the PRFA Hall of Very Good Class of 2006.
He is a seven-time Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist, but has yet to be elected as a member of the Hall.
Illness and death
Conerly underwent triple-bypass heart surgery on September 19, 1995, his birthday. He died on February 13, 1996, of heart failure following a long illness, his wife told ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. He was also survived by his sisters, Ruth Meredith and Ray Steele.[Anderson, Dave, "Charlie Conerly, 74, Is Dead; Giants' Quarterback in 50's," ''The New York Times'', February 14, 1996, https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/14/sports/charlie-conerly-74-is-dead-giants-quarterback-in-50-s.html]
See also
* List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
The list of college football yearly passing and total offense leaders identifies the major college passing leaders for each season from 1937 to the present. It includes yearly leaders in three statistical categories: (1) passing yardage; (2) pass ...
* History of the New York Giants (1925–78)
The New York Giants, an American football team which currently plays in the National Football League's National Football Conference, has a history dating back more than 80 seasons. The Giants have won 4 Super Bowls and drafted, Daniel Jones, in 2 ...
* Ole Miss Rebels
The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893.
Originally known as th ...
References
Sources
* ''The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL'' (2008; )
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conerly, Charlie
1921 births
1996 deaths
All-American college football players
American football halfbacks
American football quarterbacks
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
New York Giants players
Ole Miss Rebels baseball players
Ole Miss Rebels football players
National Football League players with retired numbers
Players of American football from Mississippi
Sportspeople from Clarksdale, Mississippi
United States Marines