Friday, November 14, 2014

1971 Profile: Don Maynard

Flanker
No. 13
Texas Western
"Pro football's all-time receiving leader (among active players), Don Maynard got into just seven games in 1970 and was able to add only 525 yards to his career total, which now stands at 10,898 yards on 582 catches and 84 touchdowns. The 34-year-old flanker started experiencing leg troubles during the 1970 preseason and they were the cause of his abbreviated regular season.
Tall and skinny, Maynard is entering his 15th season in the pro ranks, and his 13th with the Jets. Originally drafted by the New York Giants after a collegiate career at Texas Western, Don spent one unproductive season in New York and another with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian League before entering the infant American League as a member of New York's original AFL Titans in 1960. Don has enjoyed five 1,000-yard years, with a high of 1,434 in 1967."

-Brenda Zanger, Pro Football 1971

"No. 13 is now in his 13th year. But pro football's greatest yardage gainer via pass routes had his bad luck last season. Half of his season was wiped out by injuries. Still, he shared the team lead in receptions with George Sauer with 31.
Maynard is the greatest pass receiver in AFL history. His 582 catches are second only to Ray Berry's all-pro record of 631. Maynard's announced desire to play four more years gives him ample time to surpass Berry.
Rich Caster's arrival seemed to devalue Maynard's role with the Jets but Sauer's departure enhances it again. Maynard must avoid leg injuries, though.
He has made outspoken criticism of the Jets for allowing the shabby conditions of the field at Shea Stadium. But the former New York Giant reject thinks like a winner and has given the Jets some great years. His honors include several All-League mentions, Jets' MVP in 1967 and an All-Star game selection four times.
He's married, with three kids."

-John Devaney, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football (1971 Edition)

"Don's total pro career pass reception yardage is an all-time pro record and his 582 catches put him second to Raymond Berry's 631 on the all-time list. He holds or shares 12 Jet records.
In 1968 Don closed out the season with four straight 100-yard games and added another 118 yards and two touchdowns in the AFL championship game.
Don works for a sporting goods company."

-1971 Topps No. 19

"The all-time pro record holder for receiving yardage with a career total of 10,898 yards through his 12 seasons to date, Maynard has also hauled in 84 touchdown passes, the all-time AFL record. 
He led the Jets in receiving for the fourth time last year but was hobbled throughout the season by a series of leg injuries. He caught only 31 passes, his fewest since coming to New York in 1960.
Don suffered a contused right calf in training camp and was forced out of four pre-season games. He started the season opener against Cleveland and caught four for 59 yards. He played briefly against Boston and then suffered a hyperextended left knee. He sat out the Buffalo and Miami games, but returned to action against Baltimore at Shea Stadium and caught nine for 148 yards, his best day of the year. He missed the Oakland and Baltimore games late in the season.
Overall, Maynard missed four games entirely and was limited in two others. Despite the injuries, he passed Lionel Taylor in total catches and now has 582 for his career. Only Raymond Berry with 631 catches stands ahead of Maynard.
He was named to four All-Star teams in the American Football League and a is member of the all-time All-AFL team as chosen by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was Jet MVP in 1967 and co-MVP of the '68 All-Star Game. 
Don has been over the 100-yard mark 48 times in his career. He closed the 1968 season with four straight 100-yard games and added 118 more and two touchdowns in the AFL Championship game. He holds or shares 12 all-time Jets records.
His biggest thrill in athletics was catching the two TD passes late in the Championship game to set up and then score the winning touchdown.
Don works for Prices Creameries of El Paso, a subsidiary of Sea Container, Inc. and a distributor of anti-pollution devices. His hometown is El Paso, Texas."

-The New York Jets Official 1971 Yearbook, edited by Frank Ramos

DON MAYNARD: ONCE UNWANTED, NOW LEADING RECEIVER
He Was Dropped By Giants, Failed In Canada, But Succeeded As A Jet
"When pro football buffs laugh about 'the ones that got away,' the misjudged talent of the past, they usually recall Pittsburgh cutting John Unitas, Green Bay giving up on Timmy Brown and a number of teams banishing Lenny Dawson?
But what about Don Maynard? The guy who was unwanted in two countries.
In 1958, following an unheralded career at Texas Western University, Maynard hung on by his fingernails with the New York Giants. In those days, he was a running back- and the Giants had three fellows ahead of him named Rote, Gifford and Webster.
The following summer, he was cut. So he packed his bag and went to Canada, where he played most of the season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats- being cut loose five games before the end of the season.
So, there was Don Maynard, two years into his pro 'career'- a hardly robust 179-pounder who wasn't very fast and who had caught a total of five passes for 94 yards.
That was approximately 600 catches, more than 80 touchdowns and almost 11,000 yards ago. In the interim, between 1959 and 1971, Maynard has become the most prolific yardage receiver in pro football history.
You can talk all you want about Hutson, Berry, Mitchell, McDonald, Hirsch and Alworth- the New York Jets' skinny, slow Don Maynard has them all beat. Every one.
And the thing about the guy who wears No. 13 on his jersey, is that his circumstances haven't been the best.
What initially saved his career was the establishment of the AFL. Out of work at the end of 1959, he joined the New York Titans in '60. And for the next seven seasons, he never played on a team with a better than .500 record.
What's more, in the early days of the Titans-Jets, quarterbacks came and went with unbelievable haste. In his years in New York Maynard has caught balls thrown by no fewer than 18 quarterbacks- ranging from Donald Allard to Richard Wood and Al Woodall, with most, of course, coming from Joe Namath.
Of Maynard, Namath has said flatly: 'He's the best long receiver in the game.'
Observers who have studied the 33-year-old veteran claim that his style is deceptive. He is as fast as he has to be, going full-speed only when he is chasing the ball.
And of the delicate relationship between receiver and quarterback, Maynard comments: 'When you work with a quarterback long enough, you become part of a machine. He lifts his arm and you move your right foot. He pumps and you turn left.
'At first, it's odd, but after a while all the movements become comfortable and you can feel each other's moves, even when you don't see them.'
With statistical credentials like those mentioned, Maynard has, of course, had his share of great days- going over the 100-yard mark in receptions 48 times.
But perhaps his greatest contribution to a Jet victory came in the memorable Super Bowl upset of Baltimore. And statistically, he was less than sensational that day.
'Maynard had a bad leg,' one of the Jet coaches recalls, 'and Baltimore didn't really know how well he could run. He showed them on one play.
'After probing for a weakness, Namath unloaded a bomb for Maynard, down the right sideline, a 60-yard shot which missed by inches.
'He showed them on that one play that he could still run. They had to be ready for the rest of the game. I think that one pass put the fear of God into them.'
And Namath adds: 'While they were looking at Don, I was passing to George Sauer (eight catches for 133 yards).
Of that victory, Maynard, a slow-talking Texas, admits: 'I guess there will never be anything like it for us again. Except maybe I'll be more thrilled when I tell my grandchildren about it.'
And about how close he came to having no pro career at all."

-Rich Koster, St. Louis Globe-Democrat  (Football Digest, January 1972)

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