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Today in Patriots History
Who needs a stinking face mask?
Who needs a stinking face mask?
Happy 83rd birthday to Pat Studstill
Born June 4, 1938 in Shreveport, Louisiana
Patriot punter, 1972; uniform #2
Claimed off waivers from Rams on September 6, 1972
The Patriots signed Pat Studstill for what would be the final season of his NFL career at the age of 34. He played in all 14 games with 75 punts, averaging a career low 38.1 yards.
Over the course of his NFL career Pats Studstill led the league in an incredible 11 different single season categories. As a rookie with Detroit it was number of kick returns for a touchdown . The next season he led the NFL in punt returns, punt return yards, and average (15.8 yards per return). In '65 he led the league for the first of three times in number of punts, with 78. The following season he made the Pro Bowl for the second time, leading the league with 1,266 yards receiving. That works out to 90.4 yards a game, in an era when the rules where nowhere near as conducive to the passing game as they are now. He also tied an NFL record for the longest pass reception (99 yards), which can obviously never be broken. A year later he had an NFL-best 44.5 yards per punt, as well as the season's longest punt (78 yards).
He also would have led the league in receptions in 1966, but for a choice that is unfathomable today. Studstill was dealing with a knee injury but asked to sit the game out (Detroit was already eliminated from the playoffs) - so that he could go to the Pro Bowl! In the final week of the season Hall of Fame WR Charley Taylor had eight receptions to surpass Studstill for most catches on the year. While at the Pro Bowl, Studstill met and played for Rams coach George Allen, who traded for him the following year. Allen left to become head coach for Washington in 1972, and new Rams HC Tommy Prothro wanted Studstill to focus strictly on punting. A year later he signed with the Patriots.
Besides the fact that he had versatility (punter, punt returner, kick returner, flanker, split end and halfback) and speed (9.8 seconds in the 100-yard dash in college) that would make Bill Belichick drool, Studstill is also known for being the last NFL player to not wear a face mask.
As good as a player as he was, Pat Studstill came very close to never playing in the NFL. He was miscast by his coach at the University of Houston to play quarterback, a position he hated. The coach begrudgingly acquiesced to a request to switch to play wide receiver and punter. The coach didn't like it, and he liked the fact that Studstill then got married even less. The coach had said 'if anybody on this team gets married, I will take him off scholarship'. He benched Studstill for no on-field reason during his junior season, and played him for all of about ten minutes as a senior.
Fortunately one of the assistants put in a call to a Detroit scout. Studstill left his job working for a regional freight company and hitchhiked from Texas to Detroit for a tryout. He was recruited to be a defensive back, but wasn't very good at the position he had never before played. The Lions were impressed with his speed though, so they used him on punt and kick returns, and eventually at receiver. In his first preseason game he caught a 78 yard pass and in another he ran a kickoff back 100 yards for a touchdown. Studstill made the roster, and the rest is history.
During the offseasons in LA, Studstill worked in real estate, and while in New England he expanded his portfolio to include pensions and profit sharing plans for closely held corporations., fields that he worked in for about ten years.
Backtrack to Detroit. One of the big movies in 1968 was Paper Lion, based on George Plimpton's book about trying out for the Lions. Most of the parts were portrayed by real NFL players - including Studstill. His wife encouraged Pat to try doing more movies, or commercials. In 1981 he auditioned for a role in a Chevrolet ad, and got the part.
"They put me in a big ol' Stetson hat and a suit. I'm driving this Chevrolet Impala down some road. I look out the window, and the camera's right there, and I say, 'This is it.'
"That TV commercial ran all year long and I made about $20,000. I said, 'This is what I want to do!'
"Since then I've made over 300 commercials. I get a better retirement from that than I do with the NFL."
Studstill also appeared in a few made for TV movies, single episodes on Magnum, PI and Dukes of Hazard, and worked stunts and behind the camera as a consultant on the original version of The Longest Yard.
Pat Studstill: Returning, Receiving and Punting for the Lions and Rams | The Coffin Corner
Punt? Catch? Return kicks? Studstill did it all for Lions - Vintage Detroit Collection
Despite not being drafted and having played just ten minutes his senior year in college with the Houston Cougars, Pat Studstill became a fan favorite with the Detroit Lions in the 1960’s as one of the team’s most versatile and valuable players. From 1961 through 1967, the speedy Studstill, who...
www.vintagedetroit.com
Profiling Pat Studstill
Lions great Pat Studstill holds one of the more obscure records in all of football
www.footballperspective.com
