Lindy Berry (December 21, 1927 – April 19, 2014) was an American gridiron football

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 ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

. Berry was selected in the 1950 NFL Draft, and played professional football for two seasons with the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

in what later became the

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 ...

(CFL). In 1950, he received the

Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy The Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy is a trophy awarded to the Canadian Football League West Division's most outstanding player, chosen from the nominees from each team in the division. Either this trophy winner or the winner of the Terry Evanshen T ...

for the CFL West Division's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

Early life

Berry attended

Wichita Falls High School Wichita Falls High School (WFHS) is a public school in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States. It is part of the Wichita Falls Independent School District (WFISD) and is one of the district's three high schools. Located at 2149 Avenue H and Coyote ...

Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...

. While there, he played

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 ...

under head coach Thurman "Tugboat" Jones. During his junior season in 1944, he led the Coyotes to an 8–3 record and the district championship. Nevertheless, Berry said, "There was this café in town where people went on Saturday mornings to rehash the game from the night before. One morning I heard a couple of guys in there talking about me. One said, 'He will never make it.' I said to myself, 'We'll see.'"Gholson: In the Nick of Time
, ''

Times Record News ''Times Record News'' is a daily newspaper established in 1907 in Wichita Falls, Texas and owned by Gannett. From 1976 until 1997, the ''Times Record News'' was part of Harte Hanks chain, when Scripps acquired the paper. ''The Times Record ...

'', June 21, 2008. As a senior in 1945, Berry led Wichita Falls to an 11–1–1 record. The Coyotes' sole loss was to the eventual state champions, Highland Park High School, which eliminated Wichita Falls in the semifinals.

College career

Berry attended

where he played on the Horned Frogs varsity football team all four seasons. In addition to playing quarterback, he was also TCU's punt and

kickoff returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

and played

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

on defense. His passing duo with

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

Morris Bailey was nicknamed the "Berry-to-Bailey Battery." Wichita Falls' ''

'' reported an incident that demonstrated Berry was "tough as nails". In one unspecified game against the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

, Berry dropped back in the

pocket A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag o ...

looking to pass. A Longhorns defender, Errol Fry, dodged a

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

and sacked Berry. During the tackle, Fry's elbow struck Berry in the face and knocked out two of his front teeth and broke his jaw. Nevertheless, Berry played the following week, while wearing a

hockey mask A goaltender mask, commonly referred to as a goalie mask, is a mask worn by goaltenders in a variety of sports to protect the head and face from injury from the ball or puck, as they constantly face incoming shots on goal. Some sports requiring th ...

to protect his jaw that had been wired shut. He earned his first

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

as a freshman in 1946. In 1947, he led the team in passing with 429 yards, 31 completions on 67 attempts, and one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

. He also led the team in rushing with 379 yards on 112 attempts and four

s. In 1948, Berry recorded 706 passing yards, 61 completions on 134 attempts, and two touchdowns. Midway through the season, he ranked second in the nation in total offensive yards until surpassed by Charlie Justice of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. Berry finished the season as the team's rushing leader with 783 yards on 190 attempts and four touchdowns.Records, p. 142. He was named an All-

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

selection.Records, p. 169. He also received the Rogers Trophy as the team's

. In 1949, Berry compiled 1,445 passing yards, 106 completions on 220 attempts, and seven touchdowns.Records, p. 145. He also threw 23

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s, which to date remains the school record. He was named a first-team All-American and an All-Southwest Conference selection. After the season, he participated in the

East-West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

. During that season, he compiled 1,445 passing yards in 10 games. At the time, only one other TCU quarterback had exceeded that in a season,

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

winner

Davey O'Brien Robert David O'Brien (June 22, 1917 – November 18, 1977) was an American football quarterback. He played college football at Texas Christian University (TCU) and professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Philadelphia Eagle ...

, and he had the benefit of playing in one additional game. During his college career, Berry had recorded 1,745 rushing yards, 1,372 punt return yards, 729 kickoff return yards, 185 interception return yards, and 32 receiving yards. He graduated from TCU as its all-time career leader in all-purpose yardage, a distinction which stood through the mid-1980s when his mark was surpassed by

Tony Jeffery Tony Loranzo Jeffery (born July 9, 1964) is a former American football running back who played two seasons with the Phoenix Cardinals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Phoenix Cardinals in the second round of the 1988 NFL Draf ...

. Berry's 2,101 total kick return yards set a school record that stood until 2005, when it was broken by Cory Rodgers.

Professional career

Berry was selected in the seventh round of the 1950 NFL Draft by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

as the 89th overall pick. He played two seasons for the

in what later became known as the

(CFL) from 1950 to 1951. He was awarded the

in 1950 as the West Division's

. He was named to the CFL's 1950 All-West second team.

Regular season statistics

Personal life

In 1951, Berry married Mary, the secretary of his former college coach

Dutch Meyer Leo Robert "Dutch" Meyer (January 15, 1898 – December 3, 1982) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU) from 1934 to 1952, compiling a record ...

. Their grandson, Charlie Berry, played for Highland Park High School and the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

as a

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. Since those are both rivals of the elder Berry's alma maters, he said, "It wasn't easy but I had to cheer for Charlie." Berry was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in 2004. In 2008, he was inducted into the

Oil Bowl The Oil Bowl was a college football bowl game played three times at Rice Field in Houston, Texas in the 1940s. Muddy conditions for the first game, and freezing temperatures for the third game, doomed future contests. In 1949, a junior college bow ...

Hall of Fame, which honors the most outstanding past participants of a high school football all-star game between Texas and Oklahoma players. That same year, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' listed him among six others as "worthy of consideration" as the best player to have ever worn the

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...

43. Berry is the great-uncle of Lana Berry, a popular figure on Twitter and other social media sites, and sports podcaster.

References