George Verdell Nock (March 4, 1946 – November 22, 2020) was an American professional

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 who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and

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 ...

Pro football career

Nock was drafted by the Jets in the 16th round of the

1969 NFL Draft The 1969 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, the third and final year in which the NFL and American Football League (AFL) held a joint draft of college players. The draft took place January 28–29, 1969. The draft beg ...

. He played in 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. ...

(AFL) for the Jets in 1969, and made the transition into 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 Jets, continuing his career with them for two more seasons (1970–1971). Nock played out his option and was signed by the Redskins as a free agent before the 1972 season, with Washington surrendering two draft picks to the Jets in order to sign him. The Redskins were the National Football Conference champions for the 1972 season and Nock was on the Redskins roster for

Super Bowl VII Super Bowl VII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

, which the Redskins lost. After not playing for the Redskins in the 1973 season due to a knee injury, he was traded to the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

along with a draft pick in exchange for

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

Corny Johnson. Nock never played for the Colts and in September 1974 filed a lawsuit against the Redskins for negligence in treating a knee injury he suffered in a 1972 exhibition game against the Miami Dolphins.

Background

Nock was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and attended

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known ...

from 1964 to 1969, where he received a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in psychology. Nock was a star running back while at Morgan; he also received All-American honorable mention, All- CIAA, All-State, and All American-Black Colleges honors. He was named captain of the team for two years.

After Football

Nock worked as a sculptor in bronze and drew in multiple media. He created "Legends Plaza" in 2017 at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Death

Nock died from causes related to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

at Eastside Medical Center in

Snellville, Georgia Snellville is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States, east of Atlanta. The population was 18,242 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the estimated population was 20,077. It is a developed suburb of Atlanta and a part of the Atlanta metro ...

, on November 22, 2020. He was 74.George Nock, acclaimed artist and sculptor and former Morgan State running back, dies at 74
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References

1946 births 2020 deaths Artists from Baltimore Players of American football from Baltimore American football running backs Morgan State Bears football players New York Jets players Washington Redskins players American Football League players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia (U.S. state) {{runningback-1940s-stub

Pro football career

Background

After Football

Death

See also

References