- Jim Ringo
Infobox NFLretired
|caption=
width=
position=Center
number=51, 54
birthdate=birth date|1931|11|21Orange, New Jersey
deathdate=death date and age|2007|11|19|1931|11|21Virginia Beach, Virginia
debutyear=1953
finalyear=1967
draftyear=1953
draftround=7
draftpick=79
college=Syracuse
teams=Playing career
*Green Bay Packers (1953-1963)
*Philadelphia Eagles (1964-1967)Coaching career
*Buffalo Bills (1976-1977)
stat1label=Games played
stat1value=187
stat2label=Rushing yards
stat2value=13
stat3label=Coaching record
stat3value=3-20-0 cite web| url=http://www.databasefootball.com/coaches/coachpage.htm?ilkid=RINGOJIM01 | title=Jim Ringo's coaching stats | publisher=Databasefootball.com| accessdate=2007-11-19]
nfl=RIN498348
highlights=
* 10xPro Bowl selection
(1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961,
1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967)cite web| url=http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/RingJi00.htm | title=Jim Ringo's stats | publisher=pro-football-reference.com| accessdate=2007-11-19]
* 2x NFL champion (1961, 1962)
* 7x All-NFL
*NFL 1960s All-Decade Team cite web| url=http://www.nfl.com/history/legends/1960s | title=NFL's 1960s All-Decade Team | publisher=www.nfl.com| accessdate=2007-11-19] "'
HOF=181James Stephen "Jim" Ringo cite web| url=http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=RINGOJIM01 | title=Jim Ringo's playing stats | publisher=Databasefootball.com| accessdate=2007-11-19] (
November 21 ,1931 –November 19 ,2007 ) was a professional football player, a Hall of Fame center and coach. He was a ten timePro Bowl er during his career. cite web| url=http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/RingJi00.htm | title=Jim Ringo's stats | publisher=pro-football-reference.com| accessdate=2007-11-19] "'Ringo played high school football at Phillipsburg High School in
Phillipsburg, New Jersey . He went on to playcollege football atSyracuse University .Pro Football career
Green Bay Packers
The Packers selected him in the seventh round of the 1953 NFL draft out of Syracuse. Ringo was considered vastly undersized at 211 pounds.
He was not, however, unfit for the role, using his outstanding quickness and excellent technique to build a 15-year NFL career, including 11 seasons with the Packers, as one of the game's best centers.
Ringo played for four different head coaches in his Packers tenure. In his first six seasons in Green Bay, playing under
Gene Ronzani (1953), Lisle Blackbourn (1954-57) and Ray "Scooter" McLean (1958), the Packers went 20-50-2 (.291).But
Vince Lombardi 's arrival in 1959 changed everything, and for Ringo's next five seasons the Packers went 50-15-1 (.765) and 2-1 in championship games. Ringo certainly knew individual success before the Lombardi era, attending his first of seven straightPro Bowl s in 1957,but he flourished under the coaching legend, earning consensus All-Pro honors from 1959-63. Ringo's speed and mobility made him an ideal blocker for Lombardi's famous power sweep, and all but one of running back Jim Taylor's five 1,000-yard seasons, including his then-record 1,474-yard effort in 1962, came with Ringo at center.Philadelphia Eagles
Ringo was a member of the Packers' NFL Championship teams of 1961 and 1962, but was traded to the
Philadelphia Eagles in 1964; the Packers went on to win three more NFL titles from 1965-67.The details of Ringo's trade have been the subject of speculation. For years it was said that following the 1963 season, Ringo showed up in Lombardi's office, with an agent in tow, looking to negotiate a raise. Lombardi, according to this account, was so angered that he excused himself for five minutes only to return and announce that he had traded Ringo to the Eagles. Over the years it has been suggested that that story is more fiction than fact. In reality, Lombardi had probably been negotiating a trade for some time. The Packers also traded fullback
Earl Gros and received in return linebackerLee Roy Caffey and a first-round draft pick that they used to select fullbackDonny Anderson . Still, the legend persists. Ringo, who played 126 consecutive games for the Packers from 1954-63, finished out his career with thePhiladelphia Eagles , attending three more Pro Bowls before retiring after the 1967 season.Coaching
He went on to work on the coaching staffs of the
Los Angeles Rams ,Buffalo Bills (2 separate engagements),Chicago Bears ,New England Patriots andNew York Jets and served as Bills head coach after the resignation ofLou Saban in 1976, posting a 3-11 record. He is best known as a coach for creating the dominant Bills offensive line of the early-mid '70s, called theElectric Company , in support of running backO.J. Simpson .Ringo was inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.Death
Ringo died in
Chesapeake, Virginia , onNovember 19 ,2007 from a short illness. cite web|title=Ringo dies at age 75 |work=profootballhalloffame.com |url=http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/story.jsp?story_id=2605 |accessdate=2007-11-19]References
External links
* [http://www.footballcardgallery.com/player/Jim+Ringo Football cards of Jim Ringo]
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