March 6

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss some player backgrounds as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

March 6, 1898 - St. Louis, Missouri - Jimmy Conzelman  the quarterback of the Great lakes Navy Blue Jackets in 1918 and the Washington University of St. Louis Pikers in 1919 arrived into this world. We have much more on this legend.

March 6, 1927 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - The brilliant end of the Oklahoma Sooners from 1946 through 1949, Jim Owens was born. 

March 6, 1942 - Dallas, Texas - The quarterback who played at SMU in 1961 then transferred to play the same position in 1963 and 1964 for Tulsa, Jerry Rhome celebrated his birth.  The NFF’s bio on Rhome tells how in 1963 Jerry was third in the nation in passing as well the third highest collegian in total offense. He tossed many of those passes to the top receiver in the country, Howard Twilley. For the 1964 season, Jerry was credited with 32 touchdown passes, including seven in one game against Louisville. Rhome was an All-America selection and was named Player of the Year by the Academy of Sports Editors, the Washington Touchdown Club, and the Knute Rockne Club. He received the Walter Camp Trophy and was runner-up in the Heisman vote. Tulsa retired his jersey, No. 17 after the completion of his playing time there. The National Football Foundation carried the gridiron legacy of Jerry Rhome into the College football Hall of Fame in 1998.

March 6, 1943 - Houston, Texas - Ronnie Caveness the two way center and linebacker from the University of Arkansas from 1962 to 1964 was born. The FootballFoundation.org says that Ronnie was a First-Team all-American in his senior campaign of 1964 as he helped the Razorbacks take a share of the National Championship. There were a couple of other notable players on that Championship team of the Razorbacks in ‘64... Jimmy Johnson, a 2012  College Hall of Fame inductee as a coach and 2020 Pro Football HOF enshrinee, and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The College Football Hall of Fame included the name of Ronnie Caveness in 2010. Ronnie was picked up in the AFL by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1965, as he spent one year with the franchise before playing out the remainder of his five-year professional career with the Houston Oilers.

March 6, 1950 - Birmingham, Alabama - The Crimson Tide running back from 1969 through the 1971 season, Johnny Musso was born. Johnny was a straightforward bruising back and described in his NFF bio as a bulldozer type of runner. Musso made  the All-America selections in 1970 and 1971 and as a senior he was fourth in the Heisman vote. The American Football Coaches Association gave him the Ernie Davis Award. Johnny Musso was selected by the National Football Foundation voters in 2000 to secure a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame. 
 

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer Carol M. Highsmith circa 2014 and is titled "Jerry Jones, right, the owner, president, and general manager of the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys, and his wife, Gene, often visit with players, coaches, and team officials of both the Cowboys and their opponents prior to games at the Cowboys' home field AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas." It has a tie in with one of our stories in this edition.