Earl McCullouch

Last updated

Earl McCullouch
Earl McCullouch 1968.jpg
Earl McCullouch c. 1968
No. 25
Position: Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1946-01-10) January 10, 1946 (age 78)
Clarksville, Texas, U.S.
Career information
High school: Long Beach Polytechnic
(Long Beach, California)
College: USC
NFL draft: 1968  / Round: 1 / Pick: 24
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:124
Receiving yards:2,319
Touchdowns:19
Earl McCullouch
Medal record
Men's track and field
Representing the Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1967 Winnipeg 110 m hurdles
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1967 Winnipeg 4×100 m relay

Earl R. McCullouch (born January 10, 1946) is a retired American football wide receiver. McCullouch was the world record holder for the 110 meter men's high hurdle sprint from July 1967 to July 1969. When attending the University of Southern California, McCullouch was a member of the USC Trojan Football teams (wide receiver) and the USC Track & Field teams (120 yard high hurdles and 4×110 sprint relay) in 1967 and 1968. The USC Track 4×110 yard relay team, for which McCullouch ran the start leg, set the world record in 1967 that remains today, as the metric 4 × 100 m relay is now the commonly contested event.

Contents

High school career

McCullouch attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. He tied the national high school record (also held by Don Castronovo from Oceanside High School in Oceanside, New York, and Steve Caminiti from Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California) in the 180 yard low hurdles at 18.1. The record was never broken and the event was discontinued in regular high school competition in 1974. [1] He swept both the 120 yard high hurdles and the 180 low hurdles at the CIF California State Meet in 1964 (defeating Caminiti). [2]

In 1964 McCullouch was named Co-Athlete of the Year in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section by the Helms Athletic Foundation. [3] He earned the award in conjunction with pole vaulter Paul Wilson. [3]

College career

Next he attended community college and played football at Long Beach City College where he helped lead the 1964 Long Beach Vikings footall team to the junor college national championship. He later transferred to the University of Southern California.

McCullouch played college football at the University of Southern California, where he was part of the 1967 National Championship team. He was one of five USC Trojans players taken in the first round of the 1968 NFL Draft after his senior year. McCullouch was known for having elite sprinter speed and used it on both the track and the football field. Wearing No. 22 during the 1967 and 1968 seasons, McCulloch played wide receiver on an offensive USC Trojan Football squad that featured tailback O. J. Simpson. Defensive coverages had difficulty covering McCullouch in pass routes and chasing him after pass completions due to his sprinter's speed. McCullouch also provided down-field blocking on break-away plays, often for 1968 Heisman Trophy winner Simpson.

As a member of the USC Track & Field team, McCulloch was the NCAA 110 Yard High Hurdle champion in 1967 and 1968, the NCAA 60 yard indoor high hurdle champion in 1968, and was the lead leg sprinter of the USC NCAA 4 X 110 yard sprint relay team in 1967 and 1968 (the team also featured Simpson and future Olympian sprinter Lennox Miller). The USC Trojan sprint relay team (McCulloch, Fred Kuller, Simpson, and Lennox Miller – in order) set a 4 X 110 yard sprint relay world record (38.6 sec.) in the 1967 NCAA Track & Field Championships in Provo, Utah on June 17, 1967. In the era of metric-distance sprint world records, this world record still stands today and is likely not to be broken.

McCullough was on the cover of the April 1968 issue of Track and Field News. [4]

Professional career

As the world record holder and National Champion in the hurdles, McCullouch was a favorite for the Olympic Gold Medal. In 1968, the Olympic Trials held a Semi-Final event a week after the National Championships. There, Campbell hit several hurdles and finished poorly in 7th place. The final Olympic Trials [5] and Olympics were scheduled for late in the year, September and October respectively, well into the football season. And while the Olympics meant glory, there was no money to be made in the amateur days of the Olympics. McCullouch had a tough choice between his two sports. He chose to enter the NFL draft. Willie Davenport went on to win both the trials and the Olympics. A year later, Davenport finally beat McCullouch's world record.

McCullouch was drafted by the Detroit Lions as their second pick of the first round (24th overall). By the time the Olympic races rolled around, Detroit had already played 5 official games of the regular season and was about to take the lead in the Central Division. By that time, McCullouch had already amassed 419 yards receiving and scored three touchdowns, including an 80-yard reception, from the Lions' other first round pick Greg Landry, in his first NFL game. [6] He finished the season with 680 yards receiving, plus another 13 in 3 rushing attempts, 5 touchdowns and a 43-yard per touch average and was named the NFL Rookie of the Year in 1968. He played 7 seasons for the Lions between 1968 and 1973, then finished off his career with a non-productive season with the New Orleans Saints in 1974. [7]

Related Research Articles

Lennox Valencia Miller was a champion runner and father of Inger Miller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renaldo Nehemiah</span> American football player

Renaldo Nehemiah is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the 110 m hurdles. He was ranked number one in the world for four straight years, and is a former world record holder. Nehemiah is the first man to run the event in under 13 seconds. Nehemiah also played pro football in the National Football League (NFL) as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers from 1982 to 1985, before returning to track and field athletics from 1986 to 1991. After retiring from competition, he has worked in sports management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mort Kaer</span> American football player and pentathlete (1903–1992)

Morton Armour Kaer, nicknamed "Devil May", was an American athlete in track and an All-American collegiate and professional football player. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and died in Mount Shasta, California.

Kareem Kelly is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. World junior record holder over indoor 50 meters 5.67 sec. He played college football at USC.

Michael Bruce Hull is a former American football fullback that played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Southern California and was one of five USC Trojans players taken in the first round of the 1968 NFL Draft after his senior year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USC Trojans</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Southern California

The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy. The program participates in the Pac-12 Conference and has won 136 team national championships, 112 of which are National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships. USC's official colors are cardinal and gold. The Trojans have a cross-town rivalry in several sports with UCLA. However, USC's football rivalry with Notre Dame predates the UCLA rivalry by three years. The Notre Dame rivalry stems mainly from the annual football game played between these two universities and is considered the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football. The Trojans also enjoy a rivalry with the Stanford Cardinal. The USC Trojans are considered one of the most successful college athletic programs of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Cromwell</span> American sports coach (1879–1962)

Dean Bartlett Cromwell, nicknamed "Maker of Champions", was an American athletic coach in multiple sports, principally at the University of Southern California (USC). He was the head coach of the USC track team from 1909 to 1948, excepting 1914 and 1915, and guided the team to 12 NCAA team national championships and 34 individual NCAA titles. He was the head coach for the U.S. track team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, and assistant head coach for the U.S. track team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brice Taylor</span> American football player and coach

Brice Union Taylor was an American football player and coach and track athlete. He played college football as a guard at the University of Southern California (USC), where he was one of first All-Americans in 1925 and the first African-American player for the USC Trojans. Taylor served as the head football coach at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1927 and from 1932 to 1933, Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 1928 to 1931, Bishop College in Marshall, Texas from 1934 to 1935, and Samuel Huston College in Austin, Texas from 1936 to 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Barnard</span> American sprinter and hurdler

Arthur "Art" Barnard was an American sprinter. He competed mainly in the 110 m hurdles event, winning a bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics. Barnard attended the University of Southern California. Running for La Jolla High School, he finished second in the 120 yard high hurdles at the 1947 CIF California State Meet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ervin Hall</span>

Ervin Henry "Erv" Hall is a retired American sprinter who won a silver medal in the 110 m hurdles at the 1968 Olympics. In the semifinal he set an Olympic record at 13.3 seconds. He was 0.1 s slower in the final, and lost to Willie Davenport, who ran 13.3.

The 1967 UCLA vs. USC football game was an American college football game played during the 1967 NCAA University Division football season on November 18, 1967. The UCLA Bruins, 7–0–1 and ranked No. 1, with senior quarterback Gary Beban as a Heisman Trophy candidate, played the USC Trojans, 8–1 and ranked No. 4, with junior running back O. J. Simpson also as a Heisman candidate. This game is widely regarded as the signature game in the UCLA–USC rivalry as well as one of the 20th-century Games of the Century. The 64-yard run by Simpson for the winning touchdown is regarded as one of the greatest run plays in college football.

Richmond McDavid Flowers Jr. is a former American football safety in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. He played college football at the University of Tennessee and was drafted in the second round of the 1969 NFL Draft. He was also a track All-American in college.

The 1967 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1967 NCAA University Division football season. In their eighth year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled a 10–1 record, won the Athletic Association of Western Universities championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 258 to 87. The team was ranked #1 in the final AP and Coaches Polls.

The 1968 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. In their ninth year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled a 9–1–1 record, won the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 259 to 168. The team was ranked #2 in the final Coaches Poll and #4 in the final AP Poll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herschel Curry Smith</span> American athletic coach

Herschel Curry Smith (1903–1983) was an American athletic coach in the sport of track and field at Compton Jr. College. He is also popularly known as the founder of the Compton Invitational, and the co-founder of the Los Angeles Invitational, both track meets located in Southern California, the United States of America. Smith was also a sprint athlete and world record holder. As a team member of the University of Southern California (USC) track team, in 1927 his relay team broke the world record in the 800-meter and 880-yard relay. Smith was the head coach of Compton College from 1928 to 1968 and was the founder of the Compton Invitational and its director from 1936 to 1969. Herschel was also the co-founder, with Al Franken, and the meet director of the first indoor track meet on the west coast. Known as the Los Angeles Invitational (1959), its name later (1969) developed into the primary sponsors name, the Sunkist Invitational. Smith coached many world-class athletes including record high-jumpers Cornelius Johnson and Charles Dumas. From 1940 to 1942, Smith served as president of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Mance</span> American sprinter

Ronell Joshua "Josh" Mance is an American sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He attends Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, where he has transferred after two years at the University of Southern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Attlesey</span>

Richard Attlesey was an American sprinter who mostly competed in the 110-meter hurdles. He set world records for the event twice in 1950 with times of 13.6 and 13.5 seconds.

Low hurdle races are a generally defunct form of track and field hurdle racing. The event, generally run at or near a distance of 200 metres, was popular through 1960 at the international level. After that, the IAAF stopped ratifying records in the 200 metres low hurdles and it became far less common. United States high schools ran a shortened version of the race, the 180 yard low hurdles, until 1974, when most states and the NFHS converted to running the 330 yard low hurdles that with metrification evolved into the 300 meter intermediate hurdles, a shortened version of the international 400 metres hurdles. Because the race occurred in a male dominated era, there was no common female equivalent of the race. At the time the race lost its world record position, women were only occasionally running hurdles and when they did it was the 80 meter hurdles, over barriers the same height as the men's low hurdles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Keller (athlete)</span> American hurdler

John Alton Claude Keller was an American hurdler who set world records in both 120 yard/110 meter and 220 yard events. He won the 110 m hurdles at the 1932 United States Olympic Trials, but narrowly missed out on a medal at the Olympics, placing a close fourth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Norman (sprinter)</span> American sprinter

Michael Arthur Norman Jr. is an American sprinter. He previously held the world best time in the indoor 400 meters at 44.52 seconds. Outdoors, his 43.45, set at the 2019 Mt. SAC Relays is tied as the #4 on the all time list. In 2016, he became the world junior champion in both the 200 meters and 4×100 meter relay. In 2022, he became the world champion in both the 400 meters and 4x400 meter relay.

References

  1. National High School Record Book. nfhs.org
  2. "California State Meet Results – 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Southern California High School Track & Field Record, 1965 Season (PDF), Helms Athletic Foundation, 1965, retrieved March 24, 2013
  4. Past Covers 1968 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine . Trackandfieldnews.com. Retrieved on July 17, 2015.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 20, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys - September 15th, 1968". Pro-Football-Reference.com .
  7. "Earl McCullouch Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com .


Records
Preceded by Men's 110m Hurdles World Record Holder
July 16, 1967 — July 4, 1969
Succeeded by
Sporting positions
Preceded by Men's 110m Hurdles Best Year Performance
1967
Succeeded by