If he had just had his head wired to his ass, we might be talking about Joe Don Looney as the greatest back in history instead of having to hear about Jim Brown. The problem is that Looney's primary claim to fame was as a natural rebel and it laid waste to all that football talent. All of you are familiar with John Riggins but there are a few of you who might know about Looney who at 6-1, 230 pounds was eerily similar to Riggins as both a player and a character but 10 years ahead of the Diesel. I first learned about Looney from my cousin who grew up with him in Fort Worth. Looney lived on Highview Terrace, just a short walk from the TCU campus and Amon Carter Stadium. My cousin lived across the way on Stadium Drive. They played football and ran track at Paschal High School.
Looney was a rarity for his time, a football player with sprinter speed (9.7) and shot-putter's strength. As a punter he could boom 70 yard kicks. His father, Don Looney, had been an end on TCU's 1938 national championship team where he was Davey O'Brien's favorite receiver and then played with the Eagles and the Steelers before WWII came along. As a high schooler, Joe Don became obsessed with physical fitness and became a workout fiend at a time when weight training was actually considered harmful for athletes. The only people who banged iron in the 1950s were juvenile delinquents and beach bums.
After high school, Joe Don enrolled at the University of Texas. He flunked out his first semester and moved back home with intentions of walking on the TCU football team. When he found out that he'd lose a year's eligibility due to SWC transfer rules, he packed up and headed to Cameron Junior College in Cameron, Oklahoma and led them to the 1961 JC National Championship and played in the Junior Rose Bowl.
In 1962 Looney moved on to the University of Oklahoma --the only junior college athlete ever recruited by Bud Wilkinson. In his first game, with the Sooners losing 3-0 to Syracuse late in the fourth quarter, he walked up to Wilkinson and said, "Put me in the game, and I'll win this SOB." Wilkinson decided to let him prove it, and that's exactly what he did. On Looney's first carry he took the ball 60 yards on a sweep and won the game for OU. That season he averaged 6.2 yards per carry as a halfback, dominated as a linebacker, and led the nation in punting with a 43.4 average and was named all-American. Joe Don spent the summer of 1963 in Baton Rouge training with Alvin Roy. Roy was renowned for producing Billy Cannon and was the earliest known steroid guru in football. There Looney popped Dianabol pills and put on 20 pounds of solid muscle bulking up to 230 pounds. But he played in only three games in 1963. Wilkinson kicked him off the team after Looney punched a graduate-assistant coach.
He was the New York Giants' 1st round draft selection in 1964. He was with the team 25 days often refusing to practice before the Giants traded him to the Baltimore Colts just before the start of the season. The Colts traded Looney to the Detroit Lions following the 1964 season. He put together one good season, racking up 114 carries for 356 yards and 5 touchdowns. That came to an end when Lions coach Harry Gilmer wanted Looney to carry in a play to the quarterback. Looney refused and told Gilmer "If you want a messenger boy, call Western Union. Detroit traded him to the Washington Redskins. On one play he was pass protecting for quarterback Sonny Jurgensen on a play, and decked a pass rusher with a right hook. In 1968, Looney was called up by the United States Army to go to Vietnam. There Joe Don became heavily involved in drugs while guarding fuel facilities When he returned to the States, he signed with the New Orleans Saints as a free agent. He had three carries for -3 yards with the Saints that year, and retired after the season.
After football Joe Don bought an old schooner, sailed the Pacific, indulged in Hinduism and dope. He eventually joined a swami in India. He left India in the early 1980s and returned to Texas, living in an octagon house in the Big Bend area. He was killed riding his motorcycle in 1988.
This is just a thumbnail sketch of his crazy life and those who never heard of him should look him up. J. Brent Clark wrote a fair biography of Looney called Third Down and Forever which is full of gaps and lacks a certain degree of insight into Looney, preferring to protect him than be too critical.
I met Joe Don Looney in the early 1980s and spent a lazy afternoon and evening drinking beer with him and trying to figure out how to fix an Indian motorcycle at my cousin's house in Fort Worth. I knew I'd heard his name before but couldn't place him.
Edited by: Bronk
Looney was a rarity for his time, a football player with sprinter speed (9.7) and shot-putter's strength. As a punter he could boom 70 yard kicks. His father, Don Looney, had been an end on TCU's 1938 national championship team where he was Davey O'Brien's favorite receiver and then played with the Eagles and the Steelers before WWII came along. As a high schooler, Joe Don became obsessed with physical fitness and became a workout fiend at a time when weight training was actually considered harmful for athletes. The only people who banged iron in the 1950s were juvenile delinquents and beach bums.
After high school, Joe Don enrolled at the University of Texas. He flunked out his first semester and moved back home with intentions of walking on the TCU football team. When he found out that he'd lose a year's eligibility due to SWC transfer rules, he packed up and headed to Cameron Junior College in Cameron, Oklahoma and led them to the 1961 JC National Championship and played in the Junior Rose Bowl.
In 1962 Looney moved on to the University of Oklahoma --the only junior college athlete ever recruited by Bud Wilkinson. In his first game, with the Sooners losing 3-0 to Syracuse late in the fourth quarter, he walked up to Wilkinson and said, "Put me in the game, and I'll win this SOB." Wilkinson decided to let him prove it, and that's exactly what he did. On Looney's first carry he took the ball 60 yards on a sweep and won the game for OU. That season he averaged 6.2 yards per carry as a halfback, dominated as a linebacker, and led the nation in punting with a 43.4 average and was named all-American. Joe Don spent the summer of 1963 in Baton Rouge training with Alvin Roy. Roy was renowned for producing Billy Cannon and was the earliest known steroid guru in football. There Looney popped Dianabol pills and put on 20 pounds of solid muscle bulking up to 230 pounds. But he played in only three games in 1963. Wilkinson kicked him off the team after Looney punched a graduate-assistant coach.
He was the New York Giants' 1st round draft selection in 1964. He was with the team 25 days often refusing to practice before the Giants traded him to the Baltimore Colts just before the start of the season. The Colts traded Looney to the Detroit Lions following the 1964 season. He put together one good season, racking up 114 carries for 356 yards and 5 touchdowns. That came to an end when Lions coach Harry Gilmer wanted Looney to carry in a play to the quarterback. Looney refused and told Gilmer "If you want a messenger boy, call Western Union. Detroit traded him to the Washington Redskins. On one play he was pass protecting for quarterback Sonny Jurgensen on a play, and decked a pass rusher with a right hook. In 1968, Looney was called up by the United States Army to go to Vietnam. There Joe Don became heavily involved in drugs while guarding fuel facilities When he returned to the States, he signed with the New Orleans Saints as a free agent. He had three carries for -3 yards with the Saints that year, and retired after the season.
After football Joe Don bought an old schooner, sailed the Pacific, indulged in Hinduism and dope. He eventually joined a swami in India. He left India in the early 1980s and returned to Texas, living in an octagon house in the Big Bend area. He was killed riding his motorcycle in 1988.
This is just a thumbnail sketch of his crazy life and those who never heard of him should look him up. J. Brent Clark wrote a fair biography of Looney called Third Down and Forever which is full of gaps and lacks a certain degree of insight into Looney, preferring to protect him than be too critical.
I met Joe Don Looney in the early 1980s and spent a lazy afternoon and evening drinking beer with him and trying to figure out how to fix an Indian motorcycle at my cousin's house in Fort Worth. I knew I'd heard his name before but couldn't place him.
