A different era of NFL violence
The recent passing of NFL legend Bucko Kilroy, who was memorialized by Bob Ryan this weekend, reminded me of another time in NFL history where violence was making headlines. Unlike this temptuous summer of Michael Vick and Pacman Jones, it was the play on the field that caused outrage in the 1950s.
According to the excellent book, The Pro Football Chronicle by Dan Daly and Bob O’Donnell, Kilroy was called one of the league’s “bad men.” As part of a large expose in Life magazine entitled Savagery on Sunday, Kilroy was accused of injuring a Giants quarterback’s spine with a deliberate knee.
