RIP Don Maynard

[jacknyc]

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-don-ma...r-and-hall-of-famer-dies-at-86-195612229.html

I don't think it's been mentioned here yet that Don Maynard died recently.
He played for the NY Jets, and is still the team's all time receiving leader.
Also he was the league's all-time receiving leader in receptions and yards at the time he retired.
A quote from his QB, Joe Namath:
“He was the man our opponents worried about, the knockout punch. Lightening in a bottle. Nitro just waiting to explode. I mean he could fly. But with the grace of a great thoroughbred. The man could flat play. He galloped through the best of the very best football players of the world.”

 

[white lightning]

Another Lance Alworth type with speed to burn and great hands. May he r.i.p. and my prayers go out to the Maynard Family.

 

[Don Wassall]

I started a Don Maynard thread in the Jets forum some years ago, but the YouTube highlight film linked there not surprisingly is no longer available. But a couple can still be found. One of them is posted below.

Maynard had effortless, graceful deep speed (not to mention fantastic hands), like Lance Alworth and Jordy Nelson. Also Patrick Jeffers before his career was wrecked just as it was starting. Other than outliers like Nelson though, White men magically lost the ability to be outside receivers one day in 1985, one of those great mysteries which of course isn't when one understands the history of the Caste System.

Maynard certainly benefited by having big-armed Joe Namath throwing to him for a good portion of his career. Hard to believe, but Maynard was paired with George Sauer on the outside for several years, who was a terrific outside receiver in his own right. A New York team with two outstanding White deep receivers during the era of Broadway Joe, seems impossible to the indoctrinated now.

I'm old enough to remember the AFL and awesome players like Don Maynard, one of the all-time greats. RIP

 

[Warhawk_46]

Such grace and effortless speed as mentioned, Maynard was a fluid and elite athlete. RIP.

 

[Quiet Speed]

RIP, Don Maynard.

 

[sport historian]

I saw an NFL Films segment on Don Maynard of not too many years ago. In it Maynard said, "People said I was one of the fastest runners in football. They were wrong. I was the fastest runner in football."

In the early 60s I think he was. In the late 60s, when Maynard was well into his 30s, he was easily blowing by DBs with his speed as you can see in the above film.

 

[white is right]

Maynard was also a Methuselah type for his era as he played well into his 30's as he played pro football from 58' through 74' in one pro league or another. I think he would still be among the top 3 or 4 stats leaders in NFL history if the league didn't change the pass interference rules in 78'.

I remember when Charlie Joiner (who played roughly as long as Maynard did) broke his record for total yards in league history and from I remember of Joiner he wasn't the spectacular receiver that Maynard was during his prime but with the rule changes he benefited from the less blanket coverage corner backs could give receivers. After that the flood gates were open and even Steve Largent who possessed all of the lifetime records at his retirement is now well down the lifetime lists.

In his later years Maynard was known for being on the autograph circuit which might have been born out of necessity as much as anything else as too many sad stories abound about journeymen to legends that played in his era have had failing health and thread bare bank accounts to pay their bills.

Sad news, indeed.