PRESEASON EditiON - Detroit Lions

History Book
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PAPER LION
Filming of the George Plimpton book, “Paper Lion,” began in early
1968. Alan Alda starred as Plimpton, the sports illustrated feature
writer who masqueraded as a quarterback with the Lions during
training camp. the world premier was held thursday, oct. 3, 1968, at
the Adams theatre. the film introduced Lauren Hutton to the silver
screen, and featured actual members of the Detroit Lions, including
coach Joe schmidt, Alex karras, John Gordy, Mike Lucci, Pat studstill
and roger Brown.
‣ the 2003 season marked the 40th anniversary of George Plimpton’s
visit to Lions’ training camp when he began writing the
original script for his book. Last year was also the 35th anniversary
of the “Paper Lion” movie release.
‣ the Detroit Lions reunited most of the cast in 2003 with a “Paper
Lion” reunion that was held in sept.. Forty players, including
Plimpton and karras, rekindled friendships that formed during
their experience together in the 1960s.
‣ the reunion turned out to be the final chapter of Plimpton’s life as
he passed away days later (september 26, 2003) at the age of 76.
IN MEMORIAM
several members of the Detroit Lions served in World War ii and made
the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the fight against fascism.
‣ Lt. Charles Behan was killed by Japanese machine gun fire on
okinawa, May 18, 1945.
‣ sgt. Alex Ketzko was killed in France with Patch’s seventh
Army, Dec. 23, 1944.
‣ Lt. Chet Wetterlund was killed flying a Navy Hellcat on night
patrol along the New Jersey coast, sept. 5, 1944.
DEcADE OF DOMINANcE
only a handful of great teams over the years in the NFL can claim the
title of dynasty. one of those great teams was the Detroit Lions in the
1950s when the franchise captured world championships three times in
a six-year span. Winning three championships in six years has occurred
only nine times by eight different teams in the history of the NFL.
‣ Detroit won back-to-back titles in 1952 and 1953 and became
the third team since the beginning of NFL Championship games
in 1933 to win championships in consecutive years.
‣ overall since ‘33, back-to-back titles has occurred just 15 times.
including 1954, the Lions appeared in the NFL title game four times
in a six-year period. Above are images of the game program covers
from the team’s championship seasons in the 1950s.
DEEP IN THE HEART OF TExAS
the Detroit Lions have a deep history of outstanding players who have
texas roots. Five players on the Lions’ All-time team played college
football in the Lone star state, including : QB Bobby Layne (texas),
s Yale Lary (texas A&M), rB Doak Walker (southern Methodist), G
Harley Sewell (texas) and Dt Doug english (texas). Layne, Lary and
Walker are all members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
‣ Joining those stars on the franchise’s All-time team are texas
prepsters CB Dick “Night train” Lane (Austin), who is also a member
of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and rB Billy sims (Hooks).
‣ Layne, Lane, Lary and Walker are all members of the Pride of
the Lions charter class.
texas roots go back even deeper with Layne and Walker who grew up
only a few blocks apart in Dallas, texas, and were friends as children.
Both players started in the backfield at Highland Park High school in
1943. After stints in the military during World War ii, Layne went to
texas University while Walker played for rival southern Methodist
University. the two were reunited when they joined the Lions in 1950.
‣ that connection has been revisited with the Lions drafting QB
Matthew stafford with the first overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.
stafford also is from Highland Park, texas and went to the same
high school as Layne and Walker.
‣ He was joined in the first round of 2009 NFL Draft by another
texas prep star when the Lions drafted tE Brandon Pettigrew
who is from tyler, texas.
The Lions' current roster with connections to the Lonestar State:
‣ texas tech: C Dylan Gandy (Harlingen)
‣ texas A&M: Ls Don Muhlbach (Lufkin)
‣ Houston: Wr Patrick Edwards (Hearne)
‣ rice: Wr Jarrett Dillard (san Antonio)
‣ Others texas prepsters (High School hometown): DE Ugo
chinasa (richardson), t Jason Fox (Fort Worth), CB Chris Houston
(Austin), CB Jacob Lacey (Garland), LB travis Lewis (san Antonio),
tE Brandon Pettigrew (tyler), QB Matthew stafford (Highland
Park), Wr terrence tolliver (Hempstead)
THE ORIGINAL DETROIT LIONS OFFIcES
Where were the first offices of the Detroit Lions located? shortly after
the club’s move from Portsmouth, ohio, Lions owner G.A. richards,
who also owned radio station WJr, set up Head Coach George “Potsy”
Clark with a temporary office in room 2107 of the Fisher Building, in
downtown Detroit.
‣ since 2002, the Lions have operated out of the team’s headquarters
in Allen Park, with portions of the organization’s business
operations housed in the old Hudson’s warehouse portion of
Ford Field.
LIONS TRAINING cAMP LOcATIONS
since their first training camp in 1934, the Lions have trained at 10
different sites during the preseason.
Site YeArS CitY
Cranbrook 1934-41 Bloomfield Hills
Charlevoix 1942 Charlevoix
West shore Golf Club 1943-44 Grosse ile
Assumption College 1945 Windsor, ontario, CA
Alma College 1946-48 Alma
Michigan state Normal College 1949-1956 ypsilanti
Cranbrook 1957-74 Bloomfield Hills
oakland University 1975-89 rochester
Pontiac silverdome 1990-96 Pontiac
saginaw Valley state University 1997-01 saginaw
Lions Practice Facility 2002- Allen Park
LONGEST TENuRED cOAcHES
Lions Defensive Assistant Don Clemons retired in February 2012 after
serving 27 seasons on the Lions coaching staff, the most by any coach
in franchise history. Clemons has served at least 10 years more than
any coach who has ever worked for the Lions.
COACH YeArS SeASONS
Clemons, Don 1985-11 27
Forte, Aldo 1950-1965 16
Wilson, George 1949-1964 16
Doll, Don 1963-64, 78-88 13
Fontes, Wayne 1985-96 12
Hill, Bert 1990-00 11
Arapoff, Jason 2001- 11
Priefer, Chuck 1997-06 10
kwan, stan 1997-00, 04-09 10