Charles Albert Conerly Jr. (September 19, 1921 – February 13, 1996) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

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in the

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(NFL) for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

from 1948 through 1961. Conerly was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were v ...

in 1966. He was married to Perian Conerly, a sports columnist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

College career

Conerly attended and played college football at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

(Ole Miss). He started at Ole Miss in 1942, but left to serve as a Marine in the

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during World War II where he fought in the Battle of Guam. Bowden (2008), p. 112. He returned to Mississippi in 1946 and led the team to their first

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) championship in 1947. During that season, he led the nation in pass completions with 133, rushed for nine touchdowns and passed for 18 more, was a consensus All-American selection, and was named Player of the Year by the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owners ...

. He played the halfback position for the Rebels. He earned consensus All-America in 1947 when he led the Rebels to a record of 9–2 including a 13–9 win over

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

in the Delta Bowl at

Crump Stadium Crump Stadium is a sports stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, built in 1934 and significantly downsized in 2006. It was built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project with a capacity of 7,500. In 1939 it was enlarged to hold 25,000 spectators. ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

. Conerly's 1947 squad had upset wins over

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

(14–7 in Oxford),

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(14–6 in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

), LSU (20–18 in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

), and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

(43–13 in Memphis). He placed fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting and was a two-time All SEC performer. He was named Player of the Year and Back of the Year of the SEC in 1947. He set numerous school records and still ranked 12th in 2008 in career total offense with 3,076 yards. He was ranked 12th in career passing with 2,313 yards and 26 TDs. Conerly also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

at Ole Miss, where he hit .467 in 1948 and was offered a professional contract.

Professional career

Conerly was drafted in the 13th round of the

1945 NFL Draft The 1945 National Football League Draft was held on April 8, 1945, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the ...

by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

. He played his entire career with the

as a

, where he was a two-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection in 1950 and 1956 and was NFL's

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

in 1959 by the

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. Conerly was named NFL "Rookie of the Year" in 1948, a season when he set many Giants rookie franchise records that still stand. He led the Giants to three

NFL Championship Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

games in four seasons (1956, 1958–1959), including a 47–7 victory over the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

in the

1956 NFL Championship Game In the 1956 NFL Championship Game was the league's 24th championship game, played at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx in New York City on December 30. The New York Giants (8–3–1) won the Eastern Conference title and hosted the Chicago Bears ...

. During his professional career, he earned the

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nickname "Chucking Charlie Conerly".

The Hit

On November 20, 1960 at

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, Conerly played a small role in one of the most famed plays in NFL history, known as The Hit. In the fourth quarter of a tied game against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

, Conerly threw a short forward pass to Giants running back

Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Footba ...

, who was clothes-line tackled by Eagles linebacker Chuck Bednarik. Gifford immediately fell the ground unconscious, was removed from the field by stretcher and transported to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a severe concussion. The concussion forced Gifford into an 18-month-long retirement until he had recuperated sufficiently to later return with the Giants.

Giants franchise records

's NFL off-season, Charlie Conerly held at least 10 Giants franchise records, including: * Most Completions (rookie season): 162 (1948) * Most Pass Attempts (rookie season): 299 (1948) * Most Passing Yards (rookie season): 2,175 (1948) * Most Passing TDs (rookie season): 22 (1948) * Most Intercepted (game): 5 (1951-10-14 CRD and 1953-12-13 DET; tied with Jeff Rutledge and

Eli Manning Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning football dynasty, he is the youngest son o ...

) * Highest Passer Rating (rookie season): 84.0 (1948) * Most Yds/Pass Att (season): 8.79 (1959) * Most Yds/Pass Att (playoff career): 8.53 * Most Yds/Pass Att (playoff season): 10.48 (1958) * Most Pass Yds/Game (rookie season): 181.3 (1948)

Later life and honors

Conerly portrayed the "

Marlboro Man The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. ...

" in commercials after playing for the Giants. Conerly and his wife, Perian (author of the book, ''Backseat Quarterback'') retired to his hometown of

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establish ...

, where he spent his final days. Conerly owned shoe stores throughout the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yaz ...

. On December 13, 1959, Perian appeared on an episode of ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity paneli ...

''. Her line was she wrote a football column for newspapers. Conerly was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 and the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. He is also a member of the Ole Miss Team of the Century (1893–1992). Conerly is the namesake of the football award, the Conerly Trophy, given annually to the top college player in the State of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

. The

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/hist ...

named Conerly to the PRFA Hall of Very Good Class of 2006. He is a seven-time Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist, but has yet to be elected as a member of the Hall.

Illness and death

Conerly underwent triple-bypass heart surgery on September 19, 1995, his birthday. He died on February 13, 1996, of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

following a long illness, his wife told ''

''. He was also survived by his sisters, Ruth Meredith and Ray Steele.Anderson, Dave, "Charlie Conerly, 74, Is Dead; Giants' Quarterback in 50's," ''The New York Times'', February 14, 1996, https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/14/sports/charlie-conerly-74-is-dead-giants-quarterback-in-50-s.html

References

Sources

* ''The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL'' (2008; )

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conerly, Charlie 1921 births 1996 deaths All-American college football players American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II College Football Hall of Fame inductees Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players New York Giants players Ole Miss Rebels baseball players Ole Miss Rebels football players National Football League players with retired numbers Players of American football from Mississippi Sportspeople from Clarksdale, Mississippi United States Marines