Students, I was saddened to see this article about a good friend of mine, Merlin Olsen. I want you to pay special attention to the bold text, for herein lies a vital message for each of us pertaining to pursuing our dreams. He always chose the right. Throughout his high school, college, and professional career, he never did: drink, smoke, or use steroids or any harmful drugs. He enjoyed freedom because he did Choose the Right.
Merlin Olsen, Football Star, Commentator and Actor, Dies at 69
Published: March 11, 2010
Merlin Olsen, the Hall of Fame tackle who anchored the Los Angeles Rams’ Fearsome Foursome, the line that glamorized defensive play in the N.F.L., died early Thursday at a hospital in Duarte, Calif. He was 69.
His death was announced by his brother Orrin, who said he had been treated for mesothelioma, a form of cancer.
“Merlin had superhuman strength,” Jones told The Los Angeles Times in 1985. “If I was beating my man inside, he’d hold him up and free me to make the tackle. If he had to make an adjustment to sacrifice his life and limb, he would make it. A lot of the plays I made were because he or the others would make the sacrifice.”
Olsen felt that the Fearsome Foursome could have excelled in any era.
“We could all run,” Olsen said. “The other thing we had going for us was a rare chemistry. There was also a very special kind of unselfishness.”
Joining the Rams in 1962 from Utah State University, where he won the Outland Trophy as college football’s best interior lineman, Olsen spent his entire 15-year career with Los Angeles.
Olsen was voted to the Pro Bowl every year except for his final season, he was an all-N.F.L. selection six times, and he was chosen by the Maxwell Club of Philadelphia as the N.F.L.’s most valuable player in 1974. He was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982. He was named, along with Jones, to the 75th anniversary all-N.F.L. team in 1994 in a vote by the news media and league personnel.
Olsen may have exuded a fearsome presence in his own right, but he was hardly a brute. He was named one of the nation’s top scholar athletes by the National Football Foundation in his senior year at Utah State and he received a master’s degree in economics while playing for the Rams.
Merlin Jay Olsen, a native of Logan, Utah, was born on Sept. 15, 1940. He was so awkward while pursuing sports in the ninth grade that a coach discouraged him from athletic aspirations.
“I was either stubborn or foolish, but I was unwilling to give up on my dreams,” The South Bend Tribune quoted him as telling a College Football Hall of Fame luncheon in 2007.
Olsen played a major role in reviving the football program at Utah State, leading the Aggies to appearances in the Sun Bowl and Gotham Bowl. He was one of the Rams’ two first-round draft picks in 1962, going third over all after they drafted quarterback Roman Gabriel.
Olsen was the N.F.L.’s rookie of the year.
Utah State brought an ailing Olsen back to the campus for a halftime ceremony of a basketball game in December 2009, when it announced it would dedicate the football field at its Romney Stadium as Merlin Olsen Field in 2010. The St. Louis Rams — the Los Angeles Rams’ successor franchise — honored Olsen at a home game that month although he was unable to attend because of his illness.
“My roughness and aggressiveness at certain times are prompted by my desire to be a better football player.
(Article taken from nytimes.com on March 11, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/sports/football/12olsen.h
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