Paul Warfield

Paul Warfield
Position(s): Wide receiver	Jersey #: N/A
Date of birth: November 28 1942 (1942--) (age 64)
Place of birth: Warren, Ohio
Career information
NFL Draft: 1964 / Round: 1/ Pick 11
College: Ohio State
Career highlights
Pro Bowls	8
Honors	NFL 1970s All-Decade Team
Teams
1964-1969 1970-1974 1975 1976-1977	Cleveland Browns Miami Dolphins Memphis Southmen (WFL) Cleveland Browns
Stats at DatabaseFootball.com
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1983

Paul Dryden Warfield (born November 28, 1942 in Warren, Ohio) was a professional American football wide receiver in the 1960s and 1970s known for his speed, fluid moves, grace, jumping ability and hands.

Football career

He graduated from the Ohio State University, where he shined as a two time all Big 10 halfback in 1962-63 and as a track team sprinter, jumper and hurdler, and played for the Cleveland Browns as a wide receiver from 1964 to 1969. In 1970, in a then controversial trade, Browns owner Art Modell dealt the still great Warfield to the Miami Dolphins for a draft pick which the Browns used on Purdue All-American QB Mike Phipps. Phipps never panned out for the Browns and Warfield was a major factor in the Dolphins' championships in the early 1970s.

Shortly before Super Bowl VI U.S. President Richard M. Nixon famously telephoned Miami coach Don Shula to suggest the Dolphins run a particular pass play to Warfield. The play, a crossing pattern, was tried and resulted in an incomplete pass.

In early 1974 shortly after the Dolphins' win in the Super Bowl Warfield and teammates Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick made what were then wholly surprising decisions to leave the Dolphins at the conclusion of the coming 1974 season for what appeared to be more lucrative pastures with the Toronto Northmen of World Football League. (The Northmen moved to Memphis without playing a game in Toronto.) Warfield played the 1975 season with the Memphis Southmen before finishing his playing career with the Cleveland Browns again in 1976 and 1977. He was a frequent Pro Bowl (8 times) and All League (6 times) selection.

In his 13 NFL seasons, Warfield caught 427 passes for 8,565 yards, giving him an amazing 20.1 yards per catch average, and scored 85 touchdowns. He added another 204 yards on 22 rushing attempts. In his only WFL season (1975) he caught 25 passes for 422 yards, a 16.9 yards per catch average, with 3 touchdowns.

In his rookie season 1964, he caught 52 receptions (his best season for receptions) for 920 yards and 9 touchdowns as the Browns won the NFL Championship.

In 1968 he caught 50 receptions and for the only time in his career, gained over 1,000 yards in receiving (1,067 yards) and scored 12 touchdowns as the Browns reached the NFL Championship for the third time in the 1960s.

For most of Warfield's tenure in Miami the Dolphins ran an offense which stressed running the ball. Even so, Warfield was a major threat on any given play. For example, even though he only caught 28 passes during the 1973 NFL season, 11 of those receptions were touchdown catches, with four coming in the first half of the regular season finale. Three years earlier when he arrived in Miami, he caught only 28 passes but he averaged 25.1 yards per catch.

Later years

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1999, he was ranked number 60 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Ohio State inducted him into its Varsity O Hall of Fame for both his football and track accomplishments in 1979.

In 1977 he earned a M.A. degree from Kent State University. He worked for WKYC in Cleveland as a sportscaster for several years. He has also worked as a scout and football front office executive.

Warfield had the honor of performing the coin flip at the Ohio State-Michigan game in 2006, in which the then #1 ranked Buckeyes beat the #2 ranked Wolverines 42-39 in Columbus, Ohio.

External links

• Paul Warfield at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.
• http://wflfootball.tripod.com/1975/memstats.html

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