Bob Griese

1945-

American football player

Hall of fame quarterback Bob Griese, six-feet-one-inch and 190 pounds, did not possess exceptional speed or a necessarily spectacular throwing arm, but his ability to read defenses, deliver passes with pin-point precision, and lead his team methodically down the field is legendary. Often referred to as a field general, Griese thrived as the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins during the 1970s under the direction of hall of fame coach Don Shula . Griese appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls, winning two (1973-1974).

Baseball or Football?

Bob Griese was born on February 3, 1945 in Evansville, Indiana, where he grew up with two siblings and his parents, Sylverious, a plumber, and Ida (Ulrich), a secretary. Griese was involved in sports from a young age, competing regularly with his older brother Bill. When Griese was ten his father died, and the traumatic event seemed to solidify the boy's already quiet, serious personality. He played basketball and baseball as a youth. He did not play organized football until he was a freshman at Rex Mundi High School. During his last two years in school he was named as the best quarterback in Indiana. He also excelled as a baseball pitcher, posting a 17-1 record, with his only loss coming in the 1963 American Legion World Series.

Not heavily recruited out of high school, Griese, who wanted to get his education, passed up an offer from the Baltimore Orioles to sign him as a pitcher to attend nearby Purdue University. Under the tutelage of the Boilermakers' coach Bob DeMoss, Griese developed his fundamental skills as a passer. DeMoss corrected Griese's three-quarter side-armed throw (the same form he used to pitch baseballs) and got the young quarterback throwing straight overhand from behind the ear, giving him a quicker and straighter release. He earned the starting position as a sophomore, and by 1965, his junior year, he was becoming nationally recognized for his passing accuracy and his intelligent play. In that year he led his team to an upset victory over top-ranked University of Notre Dame, 25-21. On the day, Griese completed nineteen of twenty-two passes, with a streak of thirteen in a row.

Named a consensus All-American during his final two years, Griese's tenure at Purdue ended by winning the Rose Bowl, 15-14, over the University of Southern California. During his career as a Boilermaker, Griese completed 348 passes on 609 attempts. He was second in the bid for the 1966 Heisman Trophy, won by Steve Spurrier. Having also lettered in basketball, he graduated in 1967 with a degree in industrial management. On June 10, 1967, he married Judi Lassus, who would become a registered nurse. The couple had three sons.

Difficult Start in Miami

Griese was drafted in the first round by the Miami Dolphins, then a struggling team in the now-defunct American Football League (AFL). As expected, Griese suited up for his first pro game to stand on the sidelines and watch his teammates compete against the Denver Broncos. However, when starting quarterback John Stofa broke his ankle in the first quarter of play, Griese was called in. The rookie stepped up to the challenge, connecting on twelve of nineteen passing attempts, and the Dolphins won the game. After that day, Griese never relinquished his spot as the team's starting quarterback.

Griese's first few years were a struggle. The Dolphins won only four games during his rookie season, five games in 1968, and just three in 1969. With little protection from a porous front line, Griese was often required to scramble away from defensive onslaughts, but he still managed to post consistently impressive numbers. In his sophomore season, he threw twenty-one touchdown passes and only sixteen interceptions. He was invited to play in the AFC All-Star Game two years.

Shula and Griese: A Perfect Combination

In 1970 the Dolphins joined the National Football League (NFL) and hired future hall-of-famer Don Shula to coach the team. Shula used his first year to rebuild the team and teach his offensive system that focused on consistent, short-yardage gains. During the 1970 season Griese had an impressive completion rate of fifty-eight percent, but his twelve touchdown passes stood against seventeen interceptions. By 1971 Griese and the Dolphins had hit their stride, making it all the way to Super Bowl VI, before being defeated by the Dallas Cowboys, 24-3. For his performance on the field Griese was named as an All-Pro Player and The Sporting News American Football Conference (AFC) Player of the Year. He made his second trip to the Pro Bowl.

Chronology

Although he was hampered by injury during the 1972 season, sitting out all but six regular season games, the Dolphins rolled on undefeated. Griese returned for the playoffs, taking his team to Super Bowl VII, where they triumphed over the Washington Redskins. The 1972 Dolphins became the only NFL team to post a 17-game win streak in a single season. During the 1973 season Griese threw for seventeen touchdowns and only eight interceptions, and the Dolphins won once again won the Super Bowl, beating the Minnesota Vikings, 24-7.

In 1976 problems with double vision and dizziness caused by 20-200 vision in his right eye forced Griese to wear glasses, which did little to slow the quarterback down. In fact he was awarded the Maxwell Club's Bert Bell Memorial Trophy as NFL Player of the Year in 1977, a season he threw a career-high twenty-two touchdown passes. Following the 1980 season Griese, suffering from a painful and nagging shoulder injury, announced his retirement. During his fourteen years as a Miami Dolphin, he completed 1,926 of 3,429 passes for 25,092 yards. To his 192 passing touchdowns, he added seven more rushing touchdowns.

Griese was a perfect match for Shula's ball control offense, in which grinding away yards on the ground emphasized over a flashy passing game. Because Griese bought into his coach's system, he was just as happy to hand the ball off to his running backs as he was to throw it. It was a match made in heaven. A match made in heaven for the fans of the Miami Dolphins, as well.

Following his retirement, Griese worked as a sports analyst for NBC's coverage of the NFL from 1982 to 1986. In 1986 ABC invited Griese to join sportscaster Keith Jackson to cover college football. Since then Griese has developed a reputation as a skilled, thoughtful commentator. He has covered more than twenty seasons of college football and numerous college bowl and NFL games.

Griese's wife died in 1988 from breast cancer, leaving Griese at home with his youngest son, Brian, then 13-years-old. The two developed a special bond, and when Brian became a quarterback at the University of Michigan, Griese covered several of his son's games. Brian has since followed his father into professional football as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Griese remarried in 1994 to Shay Whitney; they reside in Jupiter, Florida.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: ABC Sports, 47 W. 56th Street, New York, New York 10023.

Career Statistics

Awards and Accomplishments

SELECTED WRITINGS BY GRIESE:

(With Jim Denney) Undefeated: How Father and Son Triumphed Over Unbelievable Odds Both On and Off the Field, T. Nelson Publishers, 2000.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Harrington, Denis J. The Pro Football Hall of Fame: Players, Coaches, Team Owners and League Officials, 1963-1991. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, 1991.

Hickok, Ralph. A Who's Who of Sports Champions: Their Stories and Records. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.

Perkins, Steve, and Bill Braucher. Miami Dolphins: Winning Them All. New York: Grosset and Dunlap Publishers, 1973.

Periodicals

Masin, Herman L. "Griese Kid Stuff." Coach and Athletic Director (March 1998): 14.

Montville, Leigh. "His Father's Son." Sports Illustrated (October 13, 1997): 76.

Tresniowski, Alex. "Top Gun and Son." People Weekly (December 1, 1997): 175-177.

Weber, Bruce. "Always on Sunday: Bob Griese Tells It Like It Is." Coach and Athletic Director (October 2000): 46-60.

Other

"Bob Griese: Analyst." ABC Sports/ESPN. http://espn.go.com/abcsports/columns/griese_bob/bio.html (December 30, 2002)

"Dolphins Hall of Famers: Bob Griese." Miami Dolphins. http://www.miamidolphins.com/history/halloffamers/halloffamers_griese_b.asp (December 30, 2002)

Sketch by Kari Bethel