Joe Don Looney's bio...Yeah I can see this in Tillery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Don_Looney
College career[edit]
In his first semester at the
University of Texas, Looney received four Fs and one D. Looney responded by dropping out and enrolling at
Texas Christian University. He was eventually kicked out of that school and transferred to
Cameron Junior College, where he played for Leroy Montgomery. He set a punting record in the 1961 Junior Rose Bowl, as his team won the junior college national championship. He made
All-American with the
University of Oklahoma in 1962, leading them to the
Big Eight Conference championship. He played in only three games in 1963. Head coach
Bud Wilkinson kicked him off the team after Looney netted four yards in six carries in a game against Texas.
[1] Looney did not get along with Wikinson, and it was also alleged he had punched assistant coach Johnny Tatum, though Tatum debunked that claim.
[1]
Professional career[edit]
Looney was
drafted in the first round (twelfth overall) of the
1964 NFL Draft by the
New York Giants. He was also selected in the sixth round of the
1964 AFL Draft by the
Kansas City Chiefs, but chose to play in the NFL instead. He was with the Giants just 28 days before they traded him to the
Baltimore Colts just before the 1964 season.
[1]
Looney had only 23 carries with Baltimore that season. In November, he got into an argument about politics with a couple, then later that night, broke into their apartment with a friend and attacked them.
[1] He received one year's probation and a fine.
[1]
The Colts traded Looney to the
Detroit Lions following the 1964 season. He put together one good season, racking up 114 carries for 356 yards and five touchdowns. While with Detroit, Looney was told by coach
Harry Gilmer to carry in a play to the quarterback. Looney refused and told Gilmer, "If you want a messenger boy, call
Western Union."
[1][2]
Detroit traded Looney to the
Washington Commanders, where he had an uneventful tenure. He had 55 carries for 178 yards. The only highlight of his time with the Commanders came on a play in which he did not even have the ball. He was pass protecting for quarterback
Sonny Jurgensen, and ended up leveling an onrushing pass rusher with a right hook to the jaw. When he tried to renegotiate his contract, he was let go.
[1]
In 1968, Looney was called up by the
United States Army to go to
Vietnam. He joined a lawsuit that claimed that a reserve unit could not be sent to fight in an undeclared war, but it was defeated.
[1]
When he returned to the United States, he signed on with the
New Orleans Saints. He had three carries for -3 yards with the Saints that year, and retired after the season.
Looney was ranked as the most uncoachable player in NFL history by NFL Films president Steve Sabol.
[3] He would often intentionally run the wrong way on plays in practice in order to make things more challenging for himself. He once skipped several practices. When questioned about his absences, he responded by saying, "If practice makes perfect and perfection is impossible, why practice?"
After football[edit]
After his retirement from football he converted to
Hinduism and joined the
Siddha Yoga movement led by Swami
Muktananda. Stan Trout, a fellow convert, alleged that Looney was one of Muktananda's "enforcers" who intimidated people into obeying him.
[4]
Looney pled guilty to illegal possession of a firearm in federal court on January 7, 1974. He was sentenced to three years' probation. On February 5, 1988, he received a presidential pardon from Ronald Reagan.
[5] Looney died at the age of 45, on September 24, 1988, near Luna Vista north of
Terlingua, Texas, when his
motorcycle ran off a rural highway and crashed into a fence.
[6]
