If You Wonder Why Football Is So Dangerous, Look at Jim Taylor’s Obituary

Unlike baseball, I have not written much about football.  I was, however, a football fan a long time ago,¹ which is why I noticed an obituary in Sunday’s newspaper for Jim Taylor, a Hall of Fame fullback, who played for the Green Bay Packers in the late 1950s and 1960s (Chicago Bears fans may boo now).

There were a couple of interesting things in the obituary, especially comparing pro football today with pro football back then.  First, Jim Taylor died at 83.  How many football players today, who play ten years in the NFL, like he did, are going to live to 83?

Second, he was a fullback – and he was six-feet tall and weighed 216 pounds.  Football players in high school weigh 300 pounds now, and yet Jim Taylor played the big, hard-driving position in the backfield of an NFL team that won four championships in his ten years.  And he rushed for 1000+ yards five times.  At 216 pounds.

Look at the size, and speed, of football players today, compared with guys like Jim Taylor.  It doesn’t matter what kind of equipment you have, it is pretty clear why football is such a dangerous game today.
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¹ See here and, especially, my RIP for my favorite football player, Harlon Hill, here.