February 27, 1932 - West Columbia, Texas - Baylor’s standout Tackle, Jim Ray Smith arrived into the world. For more on this legend, simply click his name.
February 27, 1933 - Corpus Christi, Texas - Raymond Berry an end from Southern Methodist University was born. Berry was selected by the Baltimore Colts as a 20th Draft round, Futures Choice and this surpirised many. You see Raymond only caught 33 ball in his entire career at SMU. He also had to wear one shoe with a thicker sole than the other because of one leg being longer than the other. The Colts minded none of this and they had a very clear vision of the kind of player this young man could be. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Raymond's bio says that he played with a lot of grit and hustle. These traits plus an amazing desire to play professional ball was a fire that drove Berry to stardom. On his account he developed 88 moves to get open as a receiver. His patterns were so crisp that it is said he was within inches of where the play diagrammed him to be consistently. His hands were tru and very soft to the catch. Oh and did we fail to mention he had the most prolific quarterback of the era tossing him the pigskin, Johnny Unitas? The Hall's bio on Berry goes on to say; "A first- or second-team All-Pro choice in 1957 through 1961 and again in 1965, he was selected to play in six Pro Bowl games during his career. A sure-handed receiver, Raymond fumbled only once in 13 years. Perhaps his greatest moment came in the famous overtime 1958 NFL Championship Game. He set a then-record with 12 catches for 178 yards and a touchdown. Several of his grabs came in the Colts’ life-or-death, last-minute drive to the tying field goal. In the overtime period, two receptions good for 33 yards were the major gains in Baltimore’s drive for the winning score." His career stas were 631 catches for 92375 yards and 68 scores. This is what gets a guy into the Pro Football Hall of Fame where Raymond Berry was enshrined in 1973.
February 27, 1972 - East St Louis, Illinois - Dana Howard the great linebacker from the University of Illinois was born. The National Football Foundation describes Dana as a “tackling machine!” The NFF’s Bio on Howard states that Dana Howard became the first player in school history to earn a major national award when he received 1994 Butkus Award as the best linebacker in the nation. Dana was a two-time First Team All-American in both 1994 and had the distinction of unanimous in 1994. When Howard stopped playing collegiate football he was Illinois’ all-time leading tackler with 595 career stops, which was a Big Ten record at the time. Dana Howard was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018. Dana was picked by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1995 NFL Draft in its 5th round. Howard also spent time with the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears. Dana also played football overseas for the Amsterdam Admirals in NFL Europe.
