Alex Karras Has Passed

[Wishboned]

Sounds like he had a long list of ailments. Stomach cancer, kidney disease, dementia, heart disease. He was 77.

[olevetonahill]

RIP, Mongo
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/05/Blazing-Saddles-Mongo_l.jpg

[StoopTroup]

Met him once. He was very funny. Seemed to love life.

RIP Alex...

You made us all laugh our asses off.

[Lott's Bandana]

Paper Lion

[cleller]

Remember "The 500 Pound Jerk"? Alex played an olympic weightlifter that falls in love with a Russian gymnast. From his softer side.

[stoopified]

Sounds like he had a long list of ailments. Stomach cancer, kidney disease, dementia, heart disease. He was 77.Sad, he was a truly great player in his day. RIP

[Mississippi Sooner]

Here's one y'all probably don't remember. Mad Bull. Pretty sure it was a made for tv movie back in the 70s. Alex played a pro wrestler who was questioning his choices in life, but was also unknowingly being stalked by a deranged fan. Not an award winner, but I thought it was pretty cool when I was 12 years old.

[hawaii 5-0]

Anyone else remember when he still played football?


RIP Alex.

5-0

[TUSooner]

I still remember when he cracked up everybody who was over at our house watching MNF. He was going through the line-ups -- ho hum -- you know, Whozit, from the U of Whatzit. nobody's really paying attention.
When he got to
http://imageshack.us/a/img826/5136/otissistrunk.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/826/otissistrunk.jpg/)
Otis Sistrunk, he deadpanned, "from the University of Mars."

I guess you had to be there, but guys did not shave their heads then like they do now. It was totally unexpected and funny.

[TUSooner]

Anyone else remember when he still played football?


RIP Alex.

5-0
I read "Instant Replay" back in the day and recall Jerry Kramer saying how Alex whipped his butt in one game.

[hawaii 5-0]

He was intense.

Maybe not quite like Butkus.

Too bad he played for the sucky Lions.

5-0

[StoopTroup]

We lived in Detroit from 1966 to 1970. My Dad did his Residency as a Surgeon in Pontiac. I was just a little kid from Oklahoma and had grown up watching the Cowboys and the St. Louis Cardinals as the Tulsa Oilers were the Farm Team of the Cards. It was pretty infectious when the Tigers won the 1968 World Series and Karras played for the Lions. Since Karras's Father was a Dr. from Chicago and later practiced in Indiana....Karras got talked about a lot by my Dad and his friends and associates. I remember how everyone that lived there loved the guy. When we moved back to Tulsa and Blazing Saddles was out...Karras was again just a guy that could suddenly have everyone talking about him. It's strange that I never really became a huge Lions Fan. If anything it was the Cowboys till Staubach was replaced by Danny White and I followed Mike Fanning with the Rams as he and his Family were from Tulsa and my Father knew his Dad. Fanning replaced Merlin Olson who was also on the 1960's All-Decade Team with Bob Lily and Alex Karras. It was a good time for Big Tough Guys to make a name for themselves in LA once their Football Careers were coming to a close.

Great times. I got to go to the roll out at Ford for the Mustangs when we lived there. Auto Shows then were awesome. Great Memories.