re: Arch Manning's stock is falling.

Plunkett also had the best “feel good” story that year. He was raised by two legally blind parents. TLDR, but…


Off the bench






Plunkett kept coming back
By Bob Carter
Special to ESPN.com


"It surprised me that he was able to come back because I thought physically he had been so punished that he couldn't come back - and he certainly did," says Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi about Jim Plunkett on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series.

Jim Plunkett
Jim Plunkett, playing for Stanford, won the 1970 Heisman Trophy.
Back and forth he swung, the pendulum passer. Rarely did an athlete reach the highs and lows, and highs again, of Jim Plunkett.

Success as a California high school quarterback was followed by an unsteady start in college, a beginning in which his coach almost took the ball from his hands. Then followed three sensational seasons at Stanford, culminating with the 1970 Heisman Trophy.
An outstanding rookie year in the NFL with the New England Patriots preceded numerous injuries and a drift to the ranks of the ordinary. He even spent two seasons on the bench with the Raiders.
And suddenly, from near-oblivion, a rise again to the top as 1981 Super Bowl MVP. "I'm proud of that game," Plunkett said of Oakland's 27-10 victory over Philadelphia. "Many people felt I was washed up, and I wasn't sure they were wrong."
Three years later, Plunkett helped Oakland to another Super Bowl triumph, this one over Washington.

"He has to be one of the great comeback stories of our time," said Raiders owner Al Davis.

Plunkett was born on Dec. 5, 1947, in San Jose, Calif., the youngest of three children. He grew up in Santa Clara before the family sought less-expensive housing in San Jose.

His parents were both blind. His mother, Carmen, was sightless since she was 19 because of typhoid fever. His father, William, was legally blind and worked as a news vendor.

Plunkett delivered newspapers and took odd jobs to earn pocket money but still found time for football. In junior high school, he became a passing quarterback.

Leading James Lick High School in San Jose to an unbeaten season as a senior, he was chosen for a state all-star game and was heavily recruited by colleges. Wanting to stay near home and attend a university with strong academics, Plunkett selected Stanford over California, in part because the radical political environment in Berkeley could be hard on athletes.

Surgery for a benign tumor in his neck in August 1966 slowed him physically and academically during his first year at Stanford. He didn't play well for the freshman team, and when his performance didn't improve the next spring, coach John Ralston suggested a switch to defensive end.

Plunkett, 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, rejected the idea, and Ralston redshirted him in 1967. The year of practice and no play helped Plunkett. In 1968, he threw for 14 touchdowns and set a Pac-8 record with 2,156 yards passing.

His junior year was even better when he set league records for touchdown passes (20), passing yards (2,673) and total offense (2,786), ranking third nationally in total offense and fifth in passing. "The best college football player I've ever seen," said Washington State coach Jim Sweeney.

Resisting the temptation to turn pro in 1970, Plunkett stayed for his senior season. It was a memorable year as he surpassed many of his league records, passing for 2,715 yards and 18 touchdowns as Stanford went 8-3 and won the Pac-8.

With a career total offense of 7,887 yards, including passing for 7,544, Plunkett set an NCAA record. In the "Year of the Quarterback," he was voted the Heisman Trophy, easily beating out Notre Dame's Joe Theismann and Mississippi's Archie Manning. "When I found out I'd finished second to Jim," said Theismann in 1984, "I was genuinely crushed."

Plunkett, shy and modest, took a different view: "I wanted the Heisman, but my whole life wasn't centered on it."

He then capped his collegiate career by leading Stanford to a 27-17 upset of unbeaten Ohio State in the 1971 Rose Bowl, completing 20-of-30 passes for 265 yards and one touchdown. "They'd never faced a passing team such as ours," he said.



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In at 100 down votes to texag7

USA Fan
College Station
Member since Apr 2014
33024 posts

Cooper was the most athletic but wasn’t SEC quality snd Peyton was all pro qb?

Yeah that makes sense.

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Archie might have won the Heisman his Sr. year but he got hurt.

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Yep, I remember Archie out there against LSU playing with a full cast on his left arm, and giving it his all. LSU was up about 62-17 or some such thing, and Archie still refused to come out of the game. I've had nothing but admiration for him since.

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Extremely overrated. Just like his grandpa

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Watching Archie run for his life as the Saints’s qb haunts my childhood. I still see him as a hunted wildebeest.

seriously i just had to watch that shite storm against kansas live, Arch can’t save your program, not even Satan couldn’t do that.

Arch moved up to the #1 player in the country by 24/7 today. Watched him play earlier this year and thought he had some talent, but didn’t jump off the screen.

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Archie is the most overrated player in college football history.

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Basically any white skill players pre-integration were overrated. Most of the old Boomer Arkansas greats would probably be playing at stAte or UCA these days.

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Notre Dame's Joe Theismann and Mississippi's Archie Manning. "When I found out I'd finished second to Jim," said Theismann in 1984, "I was genuinely crushed."

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well at least Theismann has been consistent.... He's been an arrogant insufferable prick from the time he was born

I was making a joke buddy don't take it too personal