Merlin Olsen Wikipedia biography reposting with link

Merlin Olsen
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Merlin Olsen
Merlin Olsen.jpg

No. 74

Defensive tackle

Personal information

Date of birth: September 15, 1940
Place of birth: Logan, Utah
Date of death: March 11, 2010 (aged 69)
Place of death: Duarte, California

Career information

College: Utah State
NFL Draft: 1962 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Debuted in 1962 for the Los Angeles Rams
Last played in 1976 for the Los Angeles Rams

Career history

Los Angeles Rams (1962–1976)


Career highlights and awards

14× Pro Bowl (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975)
6× First-team All-Pro selection (1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
3× Second-team All-Pro selection (1965, 1973, 1974)
NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
NFL 1970s All-Decade Team
NFL 1960s All-Decade Team
1974 Bert Bell Award
1968 Pro Bowl Co-MVP
1962 NFL Rookie of the Year
1961 Outland Trophy
2× All-American (1960, 1961)
St. Louis Rams #74 Retired


Career NFL statistics

Games 208
Sacks 94
Interceptions 1
Stats at NFL.com

Pro Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
Merlin Jay Olsen (September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010)[1] was an American football player in the National Football League, NFL commentator, and actor. He played his entire 15-year career with the Los Angeles Rams and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 14 of those seasons, a current record shared with Bruce Matthews and Tony Gonzalez. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. As an actor he portrayed the farmer Jonathan Garvey on Little House on the Prairie. After leaving that series, he starred in his own NBC drama, Father Murphy, playing the title role of a foster dad posing as a traveling priest.


Contents  [hide]
1 Early life
2 College 2.1 Awards and honors
3 NFL
4 Post-retirement 4.1 Broadcaster
4.2 Actor
4.3 Pitchman
4.4 Awards
5 Personal life
6 Mesothelioma diagnosis and death
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Early life[edit]
Born to Lynn Jay and Merle Barrus Olsen in Logan, Utah, the second of nine siblings and the first-born son, Merlin Olsen had three brothers and five sisters: Colleen, Clark, Lorraine, Gwen, Phil, Winona, Ramona, and Orrin.
College[edit]
Olsen attended Utah State University where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and was a three-year letterman in football as a defensive tackle. He graduated from the College of Business and Social Sciences at USU with a bachelor's degree in Finance in 1962 and a master's degree in Economics in 1971.[2] He later received an honorary doctorate degree in business from the Huntsman School.[2] In football, as a senior, he was a consensus All-American selection (making the vast majority of All-America teams) and was the winner of the Outland Trophy. After Olsen's junior year of 1960 he was also named All-American by the Football Writers Association of America and Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was also All-Conference in both 1960 and 1961. Olsen and Utah State were in the 1960 Sun Bowl, losing to New Mexico State, 20–13. Led by Olsen, the Aggie defense held the New Mexico State Aggies to just 44 rushing yards on 32 carries.[3]
The Aggie defense Olsen anchored as a senior gave up an average of 50.8 rushing yards (which led the nation), 88.6 passing yards, and 139.4 total yards which all still stand as school records for defense. The 1961 Aggie defense gave up an average 7.8 points a game, which is second in team history behind Olsen's 1960 team, which allowed 6.5 points per game.[4] Additionally, the Aggie defense held four opponents to less than 100 total yards. One, the University of Idaho, was held to a school-record 23 total yards, with the Aggies winning 69–0.
The Aggies, not known as a national power football program, finished 10th in both the AP and UPI post-season polls, the only time that has occurred in school history. The Aggies had a combined 18–3–1 record during Olsen's junior and senior seasons under coach John Ralston and were conference champions those two seasons as well.[5]
Awards and honors[edit]
Olsen played in the East-West Shrine Game in 1961 and in 2003 was voted to the game's Hall of Fame.[6] He also played in the Hula Bowl after his senior season and was voted MVP of the game.[7]
Olsen is a member of the State of Utah’s Sports Hall of Fame, the Utah State University Sports Hall of Fame and USU’s All-Century Football Team. In 2000, he was selected by Sports Illustrated as one of the State of Utah’s Top 50 Athletes of the Century. He was voted to the All-Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1969, he was voted to the Newspaper Enterprise Association All-Time All-America team with collegiate greats such as Bronco Nagurski, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, and O. J. Simpson, among others.[8]
In 2008, Olsen was named to the 75th Anniversary All-Sun Bowl Team to commemorate the Sun Bowl Association's Diamond Anniversary.[9]
Utah State University announced the intention to name its football field after Olsen during a ceremony in Logan during halftime of the USU-St. Mary’s basketball game on December 5, 2009.[10] HOF Sculptor Blair Buswell created a bronze sculpture that sits at the entrance to Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium.
Olsen also was a three-time academic All-American at Utah State and graduated summa cum laude in 1962 with a degree in finance.[4]
NFL[edit]
Coming out of college, Olsen had offers from both Los Angeles of the NFL and the Denver Broncos of the rival American Football League. He chose the security of the NFL and signed with the Rams. Olsen's first contract was for around $50,000 for two years, plus a signing bonus. It was 1962, and the average football player salary at the time was around $12,000 a year. He was the first USU Aggie to be drafted in the 1st round of the NFL draft.[4]
Olsen played professionally (from 1962 to 1976) for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League. A leading defensive star of his era, he missed only two games in his 15-season NFL career. He was named the NFL's Rookie of the Year in 1962 and was First-team All-Pro in 1964, and 1966 through 1970. He was voted Second-team All-Pro in 1965, 1973 and 1974.[11]
Olsen almost ended up on offense, but was later moved to the defensive line after a few experiments in practice. Soon he became part of one of the best front fours in NFL history. Deacon Jones, Rosey Grier, and Lamar Lundy joined Olsen on the defensive line in 1963 that was nicknamed "The Fearsome Foursome".[11] He was named the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Week for week 12 in 1965. Olsen scored his first touchdown in that game.
Throughout the 1960s, this quartet terrorized opposing offenses. Olsen's play helped the Rams to the playoffs in 1967 and 1969. He was voted the club's Outstanding Defensive Lineman from 1967–70 by the Los Angeles Rams Alumni. In week 14, 1967, Olsen and the rest of the Fearsome Foursome were named the AP NFL Defensive Players of the Week for their performance against the Baltimore Colts. In the 1970s, Olsen continued his dominant play at defensive tackle and his eleven sacks in 1972 were second on the team. After week 8 in 1972, Olsen was named the Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Week for the third time in his career.[11]
The Rams won the NFC West crown in 1973 through 1976 thanks in part to the play of Olsen. They ranked first in the NFL in run defense in 1973 and 1974 and finished second in sacking opposing passers both years. In 1973 Olsen was voted the NFLPA NFC Defensive Lineman of the Year and the next season, 1974, he was the recipient of Bert Bell Award as the NFL MVP as voted by the Maxwell Club. Olsen accepted the award "on behalf of all who toil in the NFL trenches".
Three of the Olsen brothers, Merlin, Phil, and Orrin, played in the NFL, with Merlin and Phil playing together for the Rams from 1971–74. A nephew, Hans, son of his brother, Clark, also played professional football. In 1975 and 1976, the Rams defense finished second in the NFL against the run while ranking in the top five in sacking opposing quarterbacks and compiling a 22-5-1 record over those two seasons.
Olsen's last game was the NFC Championship game in 1976 at Bloomington, Minnesota. The Vikings took advantage on a freak play early in the game. A blocked field goal returned 90 yards for a touchdown shocked the Rams in the first quarter. The defense was later victimized by a couple of big plays by the Vikings. The Rams came up short, losing 24–13, bringing the storied career of the Rams finest defensive tackle to an end.
Olsen made the Pro Bowl a record 14 times, only missing it in his final year. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982 in his first year of eligibility; he selected his college position coach Tony Knap as his presenter.[12] In 1999, Olsen was ranked 25th on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.[13][14]
Post-retirement[edit]
Olsen enjoyed continued success after the NFL as a broadcaster, actor and businessman.[15]
Broadcaster[edit]
Olsen served as a television color commentator, teaming with Dick Enberg on NBC's coverage of the AFC throughout the 1980s. He and Enberg also teamed for the Super Bowl XXIII, Rose Bowl Game broadcast beginning with the 1980 Rose Bowl through the 1988 Rose Bowl. In 1989, Olsen was replaced by[16] Bill Walsh as NBC's lead NFL color commentator. For the 1989 season, Olsen worked with Charlie Jones on NBC's broadcasts. In 1990 and 1991, he moved to CBS Sports doing NFL games with Dick Stockton.
Actor[edit]
Olsen developed a successful career as an actor. When Little House on the Prairie actor Victor French left to star in his own comedy Carter Country in 1977, Olsen was tapped to play Michael Landon's new sidekick Jonathan Garvey for several years. One memorable quote from his character's son during the series, "My pa doesn't know anything about football!" was when Jonathan was to coach a boys football team. A couple of years later, Landon cast Olsen as the eponymous Father Murphy, which lasted for two seasons.
In the Highway to Heaven episode 2.12 ("The Good Doctor"), the main character Alex tells Mark Gordon (Victor French) that "All I could see was the flowers and the beard. I thought you were Merlin Olsen." This is an inside joke since all three actors, Merlin Olsen, Michael Landon, and Victor French were in the TV series Little House On the Prairie earlier in their careers.
Olsen's last acting work was in the short-lived 1988 TV series Aaron's Way, in which he played the lead role. He was also in the John Wayne movie The Undefeated as Little George along with teammate Roman Gabriel.
Pitchman[edit]
Olsen was also the commercial spokesman for FTD Florists for many years. A part-time resident of the Coachella Valley, Olsen was the longtime radio and television spokesman for Palm Desert-based El Paseo Bank.[17]
Olsen also appeared in many Sigma Chi fraternity promotional campaigns; Merlin, along with his brother Phil, was a Life Loyal Sig, Significant Sig (given to members for distinguishing acts outside the fraternity) and a member of the Order of Constantine (given for service to the Fraternity). Olsen donated one of his cleats, which were bronzed, to be used during the annual football rivalry between two Las Vegas high schools, Eldorado High School and Chaparral High School, which both opened in 1973. Each year, Olsen presented the "trophy" in the ceremony at the rivalry game.[citation needed]
Olsen often co-hosted the Children's Miracle Network telethons, a humanitarian organization founded in 1983 by Marie Osmond and John Schneider.
Awards[edit]
He was named the Walter Camp Man of the Year in 1982 and Athlete of the Century for the state of Utah. During halftime of a basketball game between Utah State, Olsen's alma mater, and Saint Mary's on December 5, 2009, it was announced that the playing surface inside Romney Stadium, home stadium for Utah State's football program, would be named Merlin Olsen Field in Olsen's honor. Because of Olsen's illness, Utah State decided not to wait until the 2010 football season to hold the ceremony; he was able to attend the game, but did not speak.[18] A sculpture of Olsen was unveiled in a plaza south of the stadium during an official dedication ceremony in Fall 2010.[19] Olsen was voted to the California Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2010, along with Bill Walton, Dwight Stones, and Jim Otto, among others.[20]
Personal life[edit]
He married fellow USU student Susan Wakley on March 30, 1962, and they had three children: Kelly, Jill, and Nathan, and four grandchildren. Olsen was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mesothelioma diagnosis and death[edit]
He was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in 2009,[21] and underwent three courses of chemotherapy. In December 2009 he filed a lawsuit against NBC Studios, NBC Universal, and 20th Century Fox for allegedly exposing him to the asbestos which he claimed had caused his cancer.[22] Olsen died on March 11, 2010 at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California,[23] at the age of 69.[18][24]
See also[edit]
List of NFL on NBC commentator pairings
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Smith, Michael David (11 March 2010). "Reports: Merlin Olsen dies at 69". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Honorary Degree Recipients
3.Jump up ^ "Merlin Olsen College". Lowongankerja2010x.com. Retrieved 12 March 2010.[dead link]
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Utah State University Media Guide
5.Jump up ^ "Utah State Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
6.Jump up ^ The East West Shrine Game | Hall of Fame
7.Jump up ^ Hula Bowl | History
8.Jump up ^ NEA All-Time All-America Team – Beckly Post-Herald, August 24, 1969
9.Jump up ^ Utah State's Merlin Olsen Named To 75th Anniversary All-Sun Bowl Team
10.Jump up ^ "Utah State University Will Honor Merlin Olsen on Saturday, Dec. 5 At Aggie Basketball Game – Utah State Official Athletic site". Utahstateaggies.com. 2009-11-16. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c 2008 St. Louis Rams Media Guide
12.Jump up ^ profootballhof.com - Merlin Olsen - enshrinement speech - 1982 - accessed 2012-03-25
13.Jump up ^ The Sporting News website
14.Jump up ^ Olsen's Entry
15.Jump up ^ Theenterprisereport.typepad.com
16.Jump up ^ "History of #1 analyst demotions". Classic Sports TV and Media. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
17.Jump up ^ Desert Sun interview with Olsen discussing his involvement with El Paseo Bank
18.^ Jump up to: a b "Olsen, Hall of Famer and member of 'Fearsome Foursome' dies". NFL.com. Associated Press. 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
19.Jump up ^ Harrison, Shawn (December 6, 2009). "Field named after Olsen". The Herald Journal. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
20.Jump up ^ California Sports Hall of Fame
21.Jump up ^ Utah State football names field after Merlin Olsen
22.Jump up ^ "Merlin Olsen suing NBC". TV Squad. 2009-12-31. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
23.Jump up ^ Thursby, Keith (2010-03-12). "Merlin Olsen dies at 69; Hall of Fame football star later became actor". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
24.Jump up ^ Notice of Merle Olsen's death
External links[edit]
Pro Football Hall of Fame page
Pro Football Reference Profile
Merlin Olsen at the Internet Movie Database
Merlin Olsen's football cards
Los Angeles Times Cover Story March 11, 2010
Goldstein, Richard."Merlin Olsen, Football Star, Commentator and Actor, Dies at 69" The New York Times, March 12, 2010


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Categories: 1940 births
2010 deaths
Cancer deaths in California
Deaths from mesothelioma
People from Los Angeles County, California
People from Logan, Utah
All-American college football players
American football defensive tackles
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Los Angeles Rams players
Western Conference Pro Bowl players
National Conference Pro Bowl players
American Latter Day Saints
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
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