Hoyle Granger

[Gary]

Do you men remember a good White running back named Hoyle Granger? He was 6'1 225lbs from Mississippi State. He played pro football for the Houston Oilers. Twice in the pro bowl. He is the Oilers all-time best career avg. per carry man with 4.5 yards. He had 11 games of 100 yards or more. One year 1967 he had 236 carries for 1,194 yards. He seems forgotten these days. But he was a very good running back. How many of you remember him?

 

[Don Wassall]

The Internet is great in many ways, but not when it comes to finding information about a lot of things that happened before the mid-1990s,for examplethe careers of white athletes. Without Pro Football Reference.com many football players of the past would be completely forgotten. Here's Granger's career stats:


http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/GranHo00.htm

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I know his son, but I never could remember his dad's name after he told me. Now I know when and where he played, thanks to someone on a thread last week. I wish I could see some video footage of him.

 

[sport historian]

Yes, (as usual) I remember Hoyle Granger. I even recall him playing against Tennessee for Mississippi State. His name was pronounced- Grunjay. He was a Cajun from Louisiana. He was a powerful runner at Mississipi State from 1963-65.


There are several reasons he never became famous. First, he didn't have much of a personality, or at least didn't say much. Second Miss. St. was very much overshadowed by Ole Miss in those years. Granger may have been a Cajun who was uncomfortable away from home.


Third, Houston players received very little national publicity before the Bum Phillips era. Next, as his stats show, his yardage fell off after 1967. He was the type of runner who wore down after a few years. He never did anything spectacular to be remembered for. I do recall him running up yardage when Houston won a surprise division title in 1967. In the AFL Title game that year, Oakland beat Houston 40-7. Granger was held to 14 carries for 19 yards.

 

[Realgeorge]

Aaaggh! I'm old enough to remember Hoyle Granger!
[Hey Sports Historian: Excellent post!]
And I'm using Sky Blue as a reverent homage to a great defunct institution, the Houston Oilers. Several excellent I-love-the-Oilers websites immortalize the franchise, correctly chastising the rotten owner what pushed them to Tennessee.
The old AFL telecasts on NBC in the 1960s were a hoot, and I recall watching the Oilers playing the San Diego Chargers with some guy named Hadl as the Quarterback, and Hoyle Granger carrying for Houston. The old AFL was fun, 2-pointconversions, lots of passing and offense, very little TV glitz and glitter. Short halftimes! and concentration on the football, not the marketing
The center blocking for Granger in the third photo above is Walt Suggs, a beast of a blockerEdited by: Realgeorge

 

[Deacon]

Damn, I've never heard of the guy until now. Nice find.

 

[Mojotex]

Great HS Back from the 1960's

I realize that this is an ancient post, but I just found this site. Hoyle Granger was not only a superb HS back, he was also a HS track star. I do not recall any of his times, but he was a sprinter of the best order back then, winning regularly at 100 yards. He was totally out of place on the track with 20+" diameter calves and an upper body built like a tank ... running along side 135 pound wire thin sprinters !

I played against him in HS. I recall one particular time when I had a clear head on shot at him at the line of scrimmage. I was 14 at the time and weighed in at a whopping 165#. Hoyle was a senior. It was during this attempt to bring him down that I learned what being run over by a bush-hog must feel like ! That summer i served as a "manager" of the Louisiana HS football All Stars. Hoyle was one. He was then a very quiet, unassuming guy. He was as tough a runner as I have ever seen in HS. His HS, Oberlin, was a tiny HS and I am convinced that is why many big schools did not recruit him hard. he wound up at Mississippi State where he starred.

Another back of this same ilk was Danny Brabham (Sp) from Greensboro, Louisiana. I think he wound up at Arkansas.

 

[sport historian]

I realize that this is an ancient post, but I just found this site. Hoyle Granger was not only a superb HS back, he was also a HS track star. I do not recall any of his times, but he was a sprinter of the best order back then, winning regularly at 100 yards. He was totally out of place on the track with 20+" diameter calves and an upper body built like a tank ... running along side 135 pound wire thin sprinters !

I played against him in HS. I recall one particular time when I had a clear head on shot at him at the line of scrimmage. I was 14 at the time and weighed in at a whopping 165#. Hoyle was a senior. It was during this attempt to bring him down that I learned what being run over by a bush-hog must feel like ! That summer i served as a "manager" of the Louisiana HS football All Stars. Hoyle was one. He was then a very quiet, unassuming guy. He was as tough a runner as I have ever seen in HS. His HS, Oberlin, was a tiny HS and I am convinced that is why many big schools did not recruit him hard. he wound up at Mississippi State where he starred.

Another back of this same ilk was Danny Brabham (Sp) from Greensboro, Louisiana. I think he wound up at Arkansas.

Thanks for the anecdote. As I wrote in my post six years ago, I well remember Hoyle Granger.