Robert Driscoll Garrett (August 16, 1932 – 5 December 1987) 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 Am ...

who played for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

and played one season 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 majo ...

. He is a member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. Born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, Garrett was an All-American quarterback at

. Garrett became Stanford's starting quarterback in 1952, his junior year. He led Stanford to a 5–3 record in games he started. After he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in a loss to USC, Stanford lost its two remaining games, finishing with a 5–5 record. In 1953, Garrett led Stanford to a 6-3-1 record. Stanford finished second behind UCLA in the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including ...

, with a 4-1-1 conference record. Garrett not only played quarterback but also played as 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 ...

, punted, and kicked PATs. Although he passed right-handed, he kicked PATs with his left foot. The highlight of Stanford's season was a 21–20 victory over fourth-ranked UCLA in which Garrett, who played every minute on offense and defense, threw three touchdown passes, kicked three extra points, recovered a fumble, and intercepted a pass. After the game, UCLA coach "Red" Sanders stated, "I have never seen a game so dominated by one man." In a losing effort against USC, Garrett set a Pacific Coast Conference record for passing yardage in a single game, with 324 yards. For the 1953 season, Garrett completed 118 passes in 205 attempts with 10 interceptions for 1,637 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also rushed for two touchdowns. He kicked 26 PATs in 30 attempts and intercepted 9 passes. His 17 touchdown passes set a PCC single-season record. His 17 touchdown passes, 19 total touchdowns, 1,637 passing yards, 57.6% completion rate among passers with 150 or more attempts, 26 PATs, and 9 interceptions on defense all led the nation. Honors he received included: * W.J. Voit Memorial Trophy as the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast * Pop Warner Trophy as the most valuable senior player on the West Coast *

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 partic ...

of 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 Salma ...

of the

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first st ...

The

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

selected Garrett with the first overall pick of the

1954 NFL draft The 1954 National Football League Draft was held on January 28, 1954, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. This was the eighth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery. With the previous seven winners i ...

, and signed him to a contract of $15,000 a year with a $5,000 signing bonus, which at the time was a record contract for a rookie. Cleveland traded Garrett to the Green Bay Packers before he arrived in Cleveland, apparently because Garrett's required military service did not fit in with the Browns' plans. Garrett appeared in 9 games in 1954 as the Packers' second-string quarterback, completing 15 of 30 passes. Garrett then served two years in the Air Force, after which Cleveland re-acquired him from Green Bay. Garrett never played a game for the Browns. He resigned from pro football during the 1957 season. Garrett stuttered. One of his teammates on the Packers stated that he had difficulty calling plays in the huddle, but a Stanford sportswriter disputes this, pointing out that his stutter was not an issue at Stanford.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett, Bobby 1932 births 1987 deaths Players of American football from Los Angeles Green Bay Packers players National Football League first-overall draft picks American football defensive backs American football quarterbacks Stanford Cardinal football players

See also

References