Raymond Lucian Mallouf (July 11, 1918 – June 6, 2008) was an

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

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and punter who played professionally in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played four seasons for the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

, interrupted by World War II, and one season with 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

Biography

Mallouf played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the sport, athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. SMU was founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor Bears, Baylor, Rice Owls, ...

, where he was nicknamed the "slinging

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

". He was drafted in the 10th round of the 1941 NFL draft by the

. After playing for the Cardinals in 1941, Mallouf missed the 1942 through 1945 seasons due to his service in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during World War II. After the war, he resumed his career with the Cardinals in the 1946 season. Mallouf was a member of the 1947 Chicago Cardinals, winners of the 1947 NFL Championship Game over 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

. The following season, he was the Cardinals' starting quarterback in the 1948 NFL Championship Game due to a wrist injury to Paul Christman against the Bears in the regular season finale. The championship game, played in blizzard conditions, saw the Cardinals lose, 7–0, in a rematch with the Eagles. He went 3-for-7 for 38 yards, which actually made him the leading passer in the whole game (his teammate Charley Trippi and Charley Eikenberg each threw four incompletions, one of which resulted in an interception). Mallouf also punted eight times. An attempted handoff by Mallouf to Elmer Angsman resulted in a fumble recovered by the Eagles ( Frank Kilroy) that led to the only score of the game in the fourth quarter. Mallouf was the last Cardinal to start a playoff game until Jim Hart in 1974 and the last to start a championship game until Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XLIII in 2009. In September 1949, the Cardinals traded Mallouf to the

for a player to be named later. He completed his NFL career that season, with the Giants. After being released by he Giants in January 1950, Mallouf was selected by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

late in the 1950 NFL draft—allowed under draft rules at the time—but never played for the Packers. Mallouf was the first quarterback in NFL history to achieve a perfect

passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

of 158.3, which he achieved on October 17, 1948, when he led the Cardinals to a 63–35 victory over the Giants. He completed 14 of 18 passes, totaling 252 yards, along with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

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* 1918 births 2008 deaths American football punters American football quarterbacks Chicago Cardinals players Military personnel from Oklahoma New York Giants players People from Sayre, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Saint Mary's Pre-Flight Air Devils football players SMU Mustangs football players United States Navy personnel of World War II {{Amfoot-punter-stub

Biography

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