Top 10 White Running Backs

[RaZon]

Won't go way way back to The Galloping Ghost, Bronko Nagurski, will start with Steve Van Buren.

1.Steve Van Buren, big and fast
2.Hugh "King" McElhenny, Cali State hurdles champion. elusive
3.John Riggins twice the Kansas state 100 yard champ, ran 9.8
4.Jim Taylor, actually gained more yards than Jim Brown one season
5.Larry Csonka, ultimate power back, classic banger
6.Frank Gifford he could fo it all
7.Paul Hornung see above

All the above in the Hall of Fame

8.Christian McCaffrey......yes he is actually better than all those above, but these things have to be done by era's. Dominance of your era. Don Hutson the best example of that.

Now here is where you come in, so who do we have at 9/10?

The fastest white RB of all time never played pro football, this was Cyrus Leland out of TCU in the 30's, he ran a world record 9.4.

How about this offense?

QB..Aaron Rodgers
RB..Christian McCaffrey
RB..John Riggins
WR...Lance Alworth
WR...Steve Largent
TE...Travis Kelce

 

[chris371]

My favorites are Mike Alstott and Peyton Hillis. When they got the ball and had some blocking, great things happened. They only received a few opportunities. Far too few...

 

[HaywoodZarathustra]

Another extremely fast rb given few to no chances was Travis Jervey. Even on kickoffs the considerably slower Desmond Howard got all the returns.

 

[RaZon]

My favorites are Mike Alstott and Peyton Hillis. When they got the ball and had some blocking, great things happened. They only received a few opportunities. Far too few...

Alstott had over 700 touchs at Purdue, over 1800 touches in the NFL, so.....few opportunities?

Hillis couldn't stay healthy.

 

[RaZon]

Another extremely fast rb given few to no chances was Travis Jervey. Even on kickoffs the considerably slower Desmond Howard got all the returns.

4.35 seconds is what Howard ran the 40 in and he was far more elusive than Jervey.

Like Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, last year's college football sensation, Howard is a speed burner and breakaway kick returner. He covers football's yardstick of speed, the 40-yard dash, in 4.35 seconds. Though he stands just 5 feet 9, 176 pounds, he's acquired the fearlessness that all great returners have.Nov 21, 1991

 

[Don Wassall]

This know nothing pops up here every few years. If you want to debate him he'll just rehash the same few points over and over, come up with his lists, and never admit that it's possible that White athletes are discriminated against. He's old enough to remember when there were lots of fast White football players and sprinters in California but pretends what's happened since is purely natural rather than directed, so he speaks purely from a far-left anti-White perspective.

 

[sport historian]

This know nothing pops up here every few years. If you want to debate him he'll just rehash the same few points over and over, come up with his lists, and never admit that it's possible that White athletes are discriminated against. He's old enough to remember when there were lots of fast White football players and sprinters in California but pretends what's happened since is purely natural rather than directed, so he speaks purely from a far-left anti-White perspective.

Was this Brutal again? It reads like him.

 

[Don Wassall]

Yes, it's him.

 

[La France Blanche]

Is he even White as he claims? I read his post on the sprinting/football thread claiming that not just Whites, but also Asians are supposedly incapable of being as athletic as blacks. He comes off, with his constant need to belittle other races, as having an obsessive emotional investment in black supremacism.

 

[white is right]

Is he even White as he claims? I read his post on the sprinting/football thread claiming that not just Whites, but also Asians are supposedly incapable of being as athletic as blacks. He comes off, with his constant need to belittle other races, as having an obsessive emotional investment in black supremacism.

There was another guy with a blog called Charlie who literally felt Whites and Asians would literally break down if they broke the 10 second barrier in the 100m dash.

Brutal while not being this stupid is a "historian" of sprinting and football, you could actually argue that he's "racist" because he argues Blacks aren't as good as Whites and Asians in leadership and real life societal skills. He also has been banned from many main stream boards for trolling.

The lock down must have caused extreme boredom for him as he has made about his 6th appearance on this board over the years and he's usually banned within a few hours...

 

[Arerequired]

There was another guy with a blog called Charlie who literally felt Whites and Asians would literally break down if they broke the 10 second barrier in the 100m dash.

Brutal while not being this stupid is a "historian" of sprinting and football, you could actually argue that he's "racist" because he argues Blacks aren't as good as Whites and Asians in leadership and real life societal skills. He also has been banned from many main stream boards for trolling.

The lock down must have caused extreme boredom for him as he has made about his 6th appearance on this board over the years and he's usually banned within a few hours...

At least he is better than the ones that poo-poo any possible racial differences in competence or intelligence but have an unshakable belief in black athletic superiority, there being no evidence to justify such a ridiculous position.

Or those in the alt-right who only talk about how blacks are supposedly "better athletes" or "higher testosterone" when giving examples of racial differences to leftists or non "racist" people unaware of them that they can't offend since it is socially acceptable to claim these things. I actually ran across this Charlie while looking at the older posts on Caste Football and he seems to one of people I am describing.

 

[La France Blanche]

Thanks for the info. I'd put this Brutal guy a notch below the typical HBD/Steve Sailer types, who like him cling to false theories of black athletic supremacy but at least don't make their arguments as personal as Mr. Brutal does, and a notch above the average black "we wuz kangz" troll.

 

[chris371]

Alstott had over 700 touchs at Purdue, over 1800 touches in the NFL, so.....few opportunities?

Hillis couldn't stay healthy.

Is that a joke? Lets compare : Warrick Dunn had approx 3200 touches in his career

 

[dwid]

Alstott rarely got to carry the ball outside of the 20 yard line except for short yardage. Look at his highlights, and he was money on those carries too. It was argued it was because he didn't have home run speed, but in 1999 his best year, Dunn also got 200 carries, for all of his home run speed had 0 TDs. Yea Alstott got goal line carries but you would think a speedster could break off at least a few TDs. Dunn was obviously having a down year for whatever reason averaging a measly 3.2 ypc, again not on short yardage or goal line carries. There's no reason why Alstott shouldn't have carried a few more to eclipse 1000 that year. That was the only year he got a few more carries than Dunn and in college split carries evenly with Corey Rogers except for Alstotts senior year. Alstott was clearly more gifted but Rogers was a highly prized recruit

I think the training regimen for Hillis did him no favours. He probably would have done better around 230 rather than 250. Pulling big trucks is only good for slow twitch power and it tightens you up which is probably why he always pulled his hamstring.

Plus if only a handful of White athletes get a chance of course it's gonna seem like they're injury prone. It's a numbers game. We're crossing our fingers for a handful of players while 100s upon 100s black athletes get chances every year and many of them do get injured but it's not like they have to worry about job security because if he "could only stay healthy he'd be the next "insert hall of fame player". I see messages like this all the time on dwf boards about black athletes

 

[dwid]

4.35 seconds is what Howard ran the 40 in and he was far more elusive than Jervey.

Like Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, last year's college football sensation, Howard is a speed burner and breakaway kick returner. He covers football's yardstick of speed, the 40-yard dash, in 4.35 seconds. Though he stands just 5 feet 9, 176 pounds, he's acquired the fearlessness that all great returners have.Nov 21, 1991

so you're saying Travis who was faster, and like 50 pounds heavier shouldn't have had any sort of significant role?

That's like saying if DK Metcalf were on the same team as Brandin Cooks, Metcalf shouldn't have a role because Cooks is more elusive. It's absurd because if the roles were reversed they would probably say Jervey was too small and if Jervey were black with that size and speed they would damn sure try their best to implement him heavily in the offense

 

[Warhawk_46]

Jervey was criminally ignored by the league. He quite literally ran one of the fastest running back times ever recorded and was ignored throughout his career.

The media and league like to say you can’t teach speed and Travis possessed it in spades. He was typically the fastest or worse 2nd fastest player on the field (both teams) whenever he played.

And as previously pointed out he weight 220 lbs.
It was racism, pure and simple, that he didn’t become a star.

 

[Warhawk_46]

Also in re: to Alstott and Hillis:

Alstott should have averaged 225 carries (at least) per year and had at least a couple seasons of 250+ carries. If Jerome Bettis deserved the carries then so did Alstott.

By my count, he should have eclipsed 250 carries 97, 98, 99 and 01 (he missed 3 games in 00) and likely hit 1,000 2-3 of those seasons and over 950 the other 1-2.

Peyton Hillis, on the other hand did have a wonderful year where he got enough carries. This despite peanuts the first 2.5 games of the season.

Had things played out differently, I think his next season would have hit another 1,000 and I like to think he stayed in Cleveland for another 3 seasons and had another 3 years surpassing 1,000 yards. Add in maybe 400 yards receiving each season and he would have been Pro Bowler and likely All Pro at least 1-2 of those seasons.

 

[dwid]

Even with how everything played out Hillis still could have had more 1k seasons. Could have gotten more carries for KC. Could have been a potent offense being the thunder to Jamaal Charles's lightning. Instead they went 2-14 under Romeo Crennel. Also could have gotten 1k in New York... it's not like they were loaded at RB at the time, he received about as many carries as a washed up 31 year old Brandon Jacobs

 

[Booth]

Although they didn't have long or great careers here are 6 white backs with great speed.
1.Scott Lockwood 4.3 40
2.Rob Lytle 4.5 40
3. Sam McGuffie 4.4 40
4. Billy Cannon 9.6 100
5. Joe Don Looney 9.6 100
6. Norm Bulaich 9.6 100

 

[Warhawk_46]

Dwid, I agree completely. Here was a big, 240 lbs man with quick feet, excellent hands and pretty damn good speed for someone his size. He should have received 200 carries in KC and ideally spent a couple years there.

Im curious how much the powers that be didn’t want to see a white Man running over hapless black defenses... I’m willing to bet it played a substantial role.

 

[shamrock]

Dwid, I agree completely. Here was a big, 240 lbs man with quick feet, excellent hands and pretty damn good speed for someone his size. He should have received 200 carries in KC and ideally spent a couple years there.

Im curious how much the powers that be didn’t want to see a white Man running over hapless black defenses... I’m willing to bet it played a substantial role.

Tim Tebow, in his junior year at Florida, ran over hapless black defenders as well as any white guy I've ever seen. In Florida's championship finale that year, with Florida holding a narrow lead over Oklahoma, the Gators needed a couple of first downs in the last couple of minutes of play in order to clinch the win. Tebow, determined and taking no chances, simply called his own number every play in the remaining time, bulling through the Sooner defenders like it was paper. Tebow would charge into the line, gain six or seven yards, then go right back and call his own number again, stomping through "hapless black defenders" again and again to secure the national championship. You could plainly see the frustration in the faces of the Sooner defenders, but they knew they were helpless against the bull-like charges of this powerful young white lad. Seldom have I seen a player exert such utter physical dominance in the crucial moments of a national championship game.

Many of the NFL's greatest white runners never had a chance to play running back because they were too essential at the critical QB position. How great a running back might Roger "the Dodger" Staubach have been? He was elusive as any running back of the 1970s. And John Elway was both elusive and powerful, slashing his way into the end zone or escaping a rush and picking up first downs on his own time and again. Then there's Steve Young, one of the greatest runners I've ever seen, darting through the line and weaving in and out on his way to a big gainer or a TD. Young might have been among the greatest running backs ever if he hadn't been one of the greatest QBs ever. But perhaps as electrifying as anyone was Fran Tarkenton, QB of the Vikings in the 1970s. If you never saw Tarkenton run, check out the You Tube clips on him. He often ran circles around the entire defense, exhausting his own blockers in the process - "Here he comes back this way again!" they'd yell, panting for breath while Fran did the old dipsy doodle all over the field.

In college football, I never saw better white running backs than Billy Cannon (LSU, 1958) and an early star of the AFL; the incredible Jon Arnett of USC in the late '50s; Jimmy Swink of TCU (1956); and Jim Saxton of the Texas Longhorns in 1961. Jim Saxton, with multiple TD runs over 50 yards that year, was Heisman runner-up but the writers, pushing a liberal diversity agenda even back then, gave the trophy to Ohio State's big, slow, and black Bob Ferguson instead. Each of these white fellows were the nation's best runners their senior year, with the sole exception of Swink, whose senior season coincided with Jim Brown's.

Texas's Saxton was so great that TCU went full bore after him to put him out of the game, something they succeeded in doing on three different occasions that day before finally permanently sidelining him with savage late hits and out-of-bounds piling on. The result was a 6-0 TCU victory, the only game Texas lost in 1961, and the game that cost them the national championship.

Of course the best of the great white running backs may have been the dazzling Hugh McElhenny, star runner at U of Washington and in the pros with the 49ers and later the Vikes. McElhenny scored on a long TD run the first time he touched the ball in the NFL and averaged 8(!), yes, 8, yards per carry his rookie NFL season, possibly as good a rookie season as anyone ever had outside of Gale Sayers' 1965 season.

Last, there's Grange. From today's perspective it's hard to say how Grange stacks up against these guys. During his own time, of course, he never competed against black players, but abundant historical testimony to his greatness means that we must allow for the possibility that Red Grange may have been the greatest running back ever. His collegiate performances were almost unbelievable.

 

[sport historian]

Tim Tebow, in his junior year at Florida, ran over hapless black defenders as well as any white guy I've ever seen. In Florida's championship finale that year, with Florida holding a narrow lead over Oklahoma, the Gators needed a couple of first downs in the last couple of minutes of play in order to clinch the win. Tebow, determined and taking no chances, simply called his own number every play in the remaining time, bulling through the Sooner defenders like it was paper. Tebow would charge into the line, gain six or seven yards, then go right back and call his own number again, stomping through "hapless black defenders" again and again to secure the national championship. You could plainly see the frustration in the faces of the Sooner defenders, but they knew they were helpless against the bull-like charges of this powerful young white lad. Seldom have I seen a player exert such utter physical dominance in the crucial moments of a national championship game.

Many of the NFL's greatest white runners never had a chance to play running back because they were too essential at the critical QB position. How great a running back might Roger "the Dodger" Staubach have been? He was elusive as any running back of the 1970s. And John Elway was both elusive and powerful, slashing his way into the end zone or escaping a rush and picking up first downs on his own time and again. Then there's Steve Young, one of the greatest runners I've ever seen, darting through the line and weaving in and out on his way to a big gainer or a TD. Young might have been among the greatest running backs ever if he hadn't been one of the greatest QBs ever. But perhaps as electrifying as anyone was Fran Tarkenton, QB of the Vikings in the 1970s. If you never saw Tarkenton run, check out the You Tube clips on him. He often ran circles around the entire defense, exhausting his own blockers in the process - "Here he comes back this way again!" they'd yell, panting for breath while Fran did the old dipsy doodle all over the field.

In college football, I never saw better white running backs than Billy Cannon (LSU, 1958) and an early star of the AFL; the incredible Jon Arnett of USC in the late '50s; Jimmy Swink of TCU (1956); and Jim Saxton of the Texas Longhorns in 1961. Jim Saxton, with multiple TD runs over 50 yards that year, was Heisman runner-up but the writers, pushing a liberal diversity agenda even back then, gave the trophy to Ohio State's big, slow, and black Bob Ferguson instead. Each of these white fellows were the nation's best runners their senior year, with the sole exception of Swink, whose senior season coincided with Jim Brown's.

Texas's Saxton was so great that TCU went full bore after him to put him out of the game, something they succeeded in doing on three different occasions that day before finally permanently sidelining him with savage late hits and out-of-bounds piling on. The result was a 6-0 TCU victory, the only game Texas lost in 1961, and the game that cost them the national championship.

Of course the best of the great white running backs may have been the dazzling Hugh McElhenny, star runner at U of Washington and in the pros with the 49ers and later the Vikes. McElhenny scored on a long TD run the first time he touched the ball in the NFL and averaged 8(!), yes, 8, yards per carry his rookie NFL season, possibly as good a rookie season as anyone ever had outside of Gale Sayer's 1965 season.

Last, there's Grange. From today's perspective it's hard to say how Grange stacks up against these guys. During his own time, of course, he never competed against black players, but abundant historical testimony to his greatness means that we must allow for the possibility that Red Grange may have been the greatest running back ever. His collegiate performances were almost unbelievable.

Where did you get the idea that Ohio State's Bob Ferguson won the 1961 Heisman Trophy? It went to Syracuse's Ernie Davis, who was and is a famous winner. There's even a movie about him. There was no dispute that Davis was the best choice for the 1961 Heisman.

 

[Rocky B]

Where did you get the idea that Ohio State's Bob Ferguson won the 1961 Heisman Trophy? It went to Syracuse's Ernie Davis, who was and is a famous winner. There's even a movie about him. There was no dispute that Davis was the best choice for the 1961 Heisman.

Ferguson was the runner up in ‘61 for the Heisman, per my research.....still all significant points.....
Good article Shamrock....I found this site years ago because of my interest in white running backs...
Rooting for the underdog....My friends think it’s a tad racist....bull crap....
People rooting for their own kind is normal....In this limp, cancel culture era, everyone can root for their own kind except whites......

 

[Carolina Speed]

Although they didn't have long or great careers here are 6 white backs with great speed.
1.Scott Lockwood 4.3 40
2.Rob Lytle 4.5 40
3. Sam McGuffie 4.4 40
4. Billy Cannon 9.6 100
5. Joe Don Looney 9.6 100
6. Norm Bulaich 9.6 100

Pretty good list booth. I would like to add Bert Coan. He was a Texas HS legend. Sometimes listed as big as 6'5, 220lbs., he ran a 9.4 100. He won the 100 and 220 in HS. He initially went to TCU, then transferred to Kansas and got into trouble due with his ineligibility. Also had some injuries in college.
Eventually, he had a mild career with the KC Chiefs. Led the league 5.4 yard/att. in 1966. Had 521 yards rushing in 66' as well.
Another big fast white RB. I would've liked to seen him play. If anyone can find some highlights on him, I'd like to see them?

 

[Leonardfan]

Toby Gerhart is my favorite college RB of all time. He never got a fair shake in the NFL as he was drafted as Adrian Peterson's back up and then screwed over in Jacksonville.