Cliff Branch

Sometimes great players have a delay in getting rocognized for their great play in the National Football League. This year we have a man getting enshrined over 35 years after he last donned a helmet in competiton. Cliff Branch is our subject bio today in our salute to the 2022 Hall of Fame Enshrinee class.

August 1, 1948 - Houston Texas - Legendary wide receiver Cliff Branch was born. Branch grew up in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Houston and attended Worthing High School. Cliff never forgot his roots back at Worthington as he was often seen at homecoming games even after retirement from football. The gifted athlete long ago was placed in the Worthington High Hall of Fame but it took decades for the stud receiver to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Unfortunately the world lost Mr. Branch Legendary wide receiver Cliff Branch was born. Branch grew up in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Houston and attended Worthing High School. Cliff never forgot his roots back at Worthington as he was often seen at homecoming games even after retirement from football. The gifted athlete long ago was placed in the Worthington High Hall of Fame but it took decades for the stud receiver to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Unfortunately the world lost Mr. Branch in 2019, so his posthumous enshrinement is bittersweet for 2022.
Branch's blazing speed was an important part of his talents. After high school graduation, he had a two-year stint at Wharton County Junior College in his home state of Texas. There, he was an All-American not just in football but in track as well. After his junior college eligibility had expired, Branch departed for Boulder, Colorado where he hoped to compete in both sports at the University of Colorado. That he most certainly did. The 5-foot, 11-inch and 170 pound athlete may have had a slight build, but believe me, all opponents of the Buffaloes were struck with nightmares in how to defend against him in the nights leading up to playing Colorado. For starters Branch quickly established himself as one of the most explosive kick returners in the country. CU's original "Speedy" returned a combined four kicks and punts for touchdowns as a junior and added four more as a senior. It had simply never been done before, and as a matter of fact only one player has since accomplished the feat, and that was thirty years after Branch did it. His 6 punt returns for TD are still a CU record, and remember he did it in just two seasons there!
Yes the man could fly down the track and the football field, but he also had a great set of hands, exceptional route running ability, and played smart. Like I said, a nightmare for a DB.  In an offense and an era where a strong running game was dominant, Cliff hauled in 36 balls for 665 yards and 11 touchdowns and boasted an 18.5 yards per catch average, which was a school record at the time. Oh and did I mention that he also ran for another 354 career yards on 31 rushing attempts during  his collegiate career?
On the track he may have been even more dominant. Branch set several CU records in track, none bigger than a 10.0 second mark in the 100-meter dash at the 1972 NCAA Outdoor Championships. He ran the anchor leg on CU's  4X400 and mile relay teams, each of which still hold school records in their respective events. Branch finished his collegiate career with school records in the 60-yard dash and the 300-yard dash, and during his junior and senior seasons, he was the Big Eight Conference indoor champion in the 60-yard dash. Though he did well as an individual, Cliff Branch loved the team aspect that football provided. CUBUFFS.com posts that Branch once said, "Playing on a team is more gratifying than an individual sport because it's about a group of guys trying to achieve the same goal. You have to be unselfish."
Fortunately for Cliff the NFL was his next stop. The Oakland Raiders in the 1972 Draft selected Branch as the 98th overall pick. He had such a great impact that he remained on that Raiders team for the next 13 seasons. He had a real nice career too with 501 receptions for 8685 yards and 67 touchdowns. It was a slow start to greatness though for Branch as he had very few catches in his first couple of years. At the end of that second season in Oakland though he started to gain a rhythm with quarterback Kn Stabler, and soon caugh this first TD pass from Snake. In year three he really had an NFL coming out party when he caught 60 passes for 13 touchdowns and 1,092 yards (the former two were career highs). He went to the Pro Bowl while also being named First Team All-Pro, owing to him leading the league in yards, touchdowns, and yards per game as a receiver. In the postseason, he had his best game for the AFC Championship, where he caught nine passes for 186 yards and a touchdown, but the Raiders lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-13.
 Cliff went on a four year tear that resulted in four Pro Bowl appearances and  three All-Pro selections. The 1976 season resulted in a career high 1,111 yards to go with 12 scores on 46 catches. That was the year, that the Raiders won their first Super Bowl championship, with Cliff Branch only catching nine combined passes in three games for under 50 yards each, but the resiliant Raiders still found their way to wining the Lombardi. The coverages that rolled to Cliff Branch opened up others like Freddy Biletnikof and other Oakland receivers. Like we said earlier Cliff Branch loved the team sport, and what ever he could do to help the team win, that is what he did.

The picture in the banner above is fcourtesy of Wikimedia Commons of a cropped version of a night game against FSU in 2007. Hopefully to be added to Buffaloes/Folsom Field articles. Contributed by TongTracer.