+++The first time Alex Karras spoke in front of a network television camera in 1957 he was a mumbling, nervous recipient of the Outland Trophy as the nation's top lineman. Jack Lescoulie of NBC's Today Show prompted the young tackle to say "some very corny things"--as Karras described in his biography, Even Big Guys Cry--such as "Without the big guys up front the little guys can't do it..."
It was hardly Karras' last appearance before a TV camera. After an All-Pro career as a cat-quick defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions, Karras replaced Emmy Award winner Don Meredith on the ABC Monday Night Football telecasts with Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell. Although the beloved Meredith proved a tough act to follow, Karras injected his own colorful persona into the threesome in the broadcast booth. Karras added a sense of the bizarre; what was probably his best line captioned a sideline close-up of the steaming, shaved head of a big Oakland Raider: "That's Otis Sistrunk, Raiders defensive tackle...out of the University of Mars."
Karras' broadcast performances triggered several movie opportunities and he appeared in tremendously diverse roles in such films as "Paper Lion," "Blazing Saddles," and "Victor Victoria." Karras played himself in "Paper Lion" and the trail hand Mongo in Mel Brooks' novel comedy, "Blazing Saddles," in which he stole the show in a legendary, hysterical gas-passing campfire scene. His character opened "Victor Victor" as a macho bodyguard and ended it sleeping with a gay cabaret performer played by Robert Preston. Karras also starred as the adoptive father of little Emmanuel Lewis in the TV series "Webster." His actress wife Susan Clark became his co-star on several occasions, including the couple's wonderful portrayals of sports great Babe Didrickson Zaharias and her wrestler husband George.
Immaterial to his acting career was his one-year suspension in 1963 for betting on NFL games. Not that gambling was Karras' first bit of misbehavior. He admitted that he goofed around so much and grew overweight during his early years at Iowa that he got under the skin of coach Forest Evashevski so badly that they barked at each other constantly and even got into a knockdown-dragout wrestling match in the coach's office. A let-down Evashevski had talked up Karras to the press prior to his tackle's sophomore year (1955), then in a tiff chose not to play Karras sufficiently so as to prevent him from even winning a letter despite his obvious talent.
Karras eventually came around and was voted All America for two straight seasons (1956-57) and won his Outland Trophy after his senior year. Also, Karras was tapped second in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year of 1957. No interior lineman has ever polled better, and since award recipient John David Crow of Texas A&M had an injury-slowed season, one wonders what might have been if voters had displayed even partially open minds about the importance of two-way tackles.
During all his glorious play, Karras, angry at what he considered poor treatment by Evashevski, asked for and received a policy of no interaction with the coaches. He prospered, but it also distanced him considerably from a from an excellent group of teammates. Strange as it may seem--while the football Writers Association pegged Karras as the top lineman in the country--his greatness failed to earn even the team's MVP vote in 1957. Right guard Bob Commings, a popular team leader but one of the smallest linemen in the Big Ten, was the choice of Iowa players as the Chicago Tribune award winner for Hawkeyes MVP. This occurred even though Commings had a rough time in the year's most important game in November. Ohio State ran effectively against the Hawkeyes even without its injured, all-conference halfback Don Clark. At halftime, a somewhat-frantic Evashevski felt compelled to move his tackles, Karras and Dick Klein, inside to the guard positions to better protect against the power runs up the middle of Buckeyes sophomore fullback Bob White. Ohio State knocked the Hawkeyes out of conference title contention with a clutch drive by sending White smashing off tackle and through the weak right side of Iowa's line and steering clear of Karras at left defensive guard.
Karras and fellow defensive tackle Roger Brown of the Lions played so well in one game that it prompted no less an NFL idol than Vince Lombardi to force a change in NFL scheduling procedure. Since 1951, the Green Bay Packers, for whom Lonbardi coached with great success from 1959-67, had served as the yearly Thanksgiving Day opponent for the traditional game in Detroit. Karras and Brown so dismantled the Packers' offensive line in a 26-14 Turkey Day upset win over previously-undefeated Green Bay in 1962 that Lombardi convinved the league that it was unfair to have his Packers facing the fired-up Lions every Thanksgiving. Within two years, a rotating schedule served up different opponents on the Lions' holiday table. Although Karras and Brown made life miserable for star Packer guards Jerry Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston that Thanksgiving, Green Bay finished the season with a 13-1 record and beat the New York Giants for their second straight NFL championship.
The miserable way things have developed since that time 50 years ago, Detroit fans surely wish they still had the colorful Alex Karras playing in the middle of the Lions defensive line.+++
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