Berry Raymond - All the moves I had: a football life

All the Moves I Had

All the Moves I Had

A Football Life

Raymond Berry with Wayne Stewart

An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2016 by Raymond Berry and Wayne Stewart

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

ISBN 978-1-4930-1780-5 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4930-1781-2 (e-book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

To my father, Mark Raymond Berry, who was, without question, the biggest influence in my life, and to my mother, Bess, who also helped start me out right in life. Also to the man who was really responsible for my pro career, my head coach Weeb Ewbank. Without him I wouldnt have had a pro career.

Raymond Berry

To the Stewart family: my wife Nancy, sons Sean and Scott, and their wives Rachel and Katie; and to my grandson Nathan.

Wayne Stewart

Introduction

by Wayne Stewart

When I first interviewed Raymond Berry, it was for a book entitled Americas Cradle of Quarterbacks , which covered the great signal callers from the Pittsburgh vicinity. Raymond graciously shared his myriad memories of Johnny Unitas. Together these two men set records, won NFL titles, and captured the hearts of football fans everywhere. Their names are forever linked with a sweet nostalgic tinge, from countless broadcasters joining their surnames as if they possessed a communal name, Unitas-to-Berry.

After a while we strayed from the topic of Western Pennsylvania quarterbacks and Raymond regaled me with great stories about his life and career. I knew the basics about his journey in football, but here he was offering new on- and off-the-field insights. I was astonished when he said that no writer had ever approached him about putting together his autobiography. I knew right away the story of this all-time great, this legend, had to be preserved and shared.

Any fan would love, for example, Berrys great explanation of how, through thirteen grueling NFL seasons, he fumbled the ball just once, and, more important, the main reason behind why he became so skilled at protecting the football. His tales and take on Unitas and his Colt teammates are also priceless.

An autobiography also would give readers the opportunity to separate myth from realitya chance to hear from the man himself, for example, whether, just from his football instinct, he sensed that a practice field he was coaching on was not of regulation size. The tale has it that the field wasnt off by much, yet Berry knew something wasnt right.

This book affords Berry the platform to share many of his insights and to relive the happiness and achievements of his childhood and high school and college days in Texas. From there his life story continues, chronicling the glory of winning back-to-back NFL championships with the Baltimore Colts and continuing through his days of coaching, including his leading the New England Patriots to a date in the Super Bowl.

Raymond Berry is a man who, by the end of his playing days, had taken a few basic skills and some basic physical attributesnone of which were especially overwhelmingand, with single-minded determination, diligence, and intelligence, transformed himself into the greatest receiver of his time.

Prologue

Driving for Treasure in 1958

The setting is venerable Yankee Stadium, the House That Ruth Built, three days after Christmas 1958. The Baltimore Colts and New York Giants square off under the scrutiny of 64,185 fans (about 3,000 spectators shy of a sellout) and under the looming triple-decked structure adorned by its classic scalloped frieze. At stake: the NFL championship. The field is bejeweled with future Hall of Famers such as Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Lenny Moore, Giants coaches Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi, and two twenty-five-year-old men, born about two months apart. These players, who served as the Colts main passing combo, are rifle-armed Johnny Unitas and stellar receiver Raymond Berry.

Berry scores a touchdown on the Colts final possession in the first half as he maneuvers to find a crease between two defensive backs, five-time Pro Bowler Jimmy Patton and Hall of Famer Emlen Tunnell; and Unitas hits him with a 15-yard strike with just 1:20 left on the clock. It is one of Berrys record-setting twelve catches for a title game to go along with his other championship game record of 178 receiving yards. The Colts take a 143 lead into the locker room.

Flash ahead to the fourth quarter. The clock ticks down to just 1:56, and the Giants now cling to a slim 1714 lead. The Colts have the ball, but they are an astronomical 86 yards from a touchdown and only slightly less than that from field goal range. Determined to tally the first Colts score of the second half, Unitas, not yet the legend he would become, starts the two-minute drill, one Berry will years later call the best drive Unitas ever conducted.

But Johnny U. misfires on two passes.

Then he hits Moore for a first down at the Colts 25-yard line.

Next he goes for broke, but its another incompletion.

Then the most dramatic part of this monumental drive begins .

We got in the huddle, and I stared down the field. The goal posts looked like they were in Baltimore. On the drive to tie it, we didnt think specifically about field goal range or the end zone, we were just going to score whichever way time and position demanded. Unitas was terse, saying little more in the huddle than the play calls. It was just the way he was.

After we got to our 25-yard line, I caught three straight passes. None of these routesthere was a slant, a square-in, a hook patternwere thrown to the outside, to the sidelines, which would have stopped the clock if I had stepped out of bounds. We didnt go to the boundary on any of the three passes. That was what was unusual about the sequence of plays. It was exactly the opposite of what teams usually do, and it wasnt by design. We werent thinking at all. I dont think we were even aware of what we were doing.

It was catch-and-run, and our coach, Weeb Ewbank, had trained us in the no-huddle offense, so I dont think we were ever in the huddle but one time on this drive. Unitas hit me on the first one and we lined up and ran the second play, because Weeb taught Unitas and all of us to operate with two plays called in the huddle. So when we came on the field to begin that drive, Unitas had stepped in the huddle and called a onetwo punch. Wed worked, of course, on this type of thing all year.

The exact procedure was this: In the huddle Unitas would say, All right, first play is out left flank right 60. The second play will be out left flank right 68. So, when you went to the line of scrimmage, you ran the first playif it was incomplete, the clock stopped, so you came back in the huddle and hed call two plays again. The second play was always the one that, if you hit the first one in bounds, the clock runs, you get back on the line and you run it. You do not huddle.