Tag: Herb Adderley

Cowboys great, former Super Bowl champ Herb Adderley dies at 81

The Hall of Fame cornerback is best-known for his tenure as a Green Bay Packer, but he won the last of his 6 world titles in Dallas.

Herb Adderley, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and one of only four men to play on six world championship teams- including one as a Dallas Cowboy- has died.

Adderley came to Dallas in 1970 as part of a trade with the Green Bay Packers. The cornerback was a key component of the Cowboys’ legendary “Doomsday Defense” that helped define the franchise in that transformative decade. His play helped lead Dallas to Super Bowl V, where they lost to the Baltimore Colts, and then again to Super Bowl VI, in which the team beat the Miami Dolphins to claim their first league title. Adderley recorded nine interceptions over the course of those two seasons.

Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette writes:

“To watch [Adderley] up close, unforgettable,’ said Pat Toomay, a defensive lineman who was a Cowboys teammate for Adderley’s final two seasons in the NFL. “Never have I seen such grace. And he could just hang, hang, hang. It was like he was in slow motion. He’d go up and up and up, and hang and hang and hang, and then bat down the ball or pick it.”

But Adderley’s success in Dallas was largely overshadowed by his unhappiness with coach Tom Landry’s system, which mandated that players execute their assignments to the letter, even when they were counterintuitive to the player’s instincts or what actually transpired during action.

In his book The Dallas Cowboys: The Outrageous History of the Biggest, Loudest, Most Hated, Best Loved Football Team in America, author Joe Nick Patoski relays a story about Adderley receiving Landry’s ire after batting away a potential scoring pass during a 1972 game.

“Herb, you’ve got to play the defense like everybody else!”

“You mean I’m supposed to let a guy run by me and catch a touchdown pass?” Adderley protested.

“Yes, if that’s what your keys tell you to do!”

“No,” Adderley argued, “I don’t play that way.”

“Then you won’t play at all. Stay or leave; I don’t care.”

Landry benched the four-time All-Pro and traded him to the Rams after the season.

Outspoken against the often-poor treatment he received in the still-segregated South, Adderley all but disavowed his tenure with the Cowboys. He preferred instead to associate his career solely with the team that he won five championships with, the team that put him in their Hall of Fame in 1981.

“I’m the only man with a Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl ring who doesn’t wear it,” Adderley was quoted as saying later in life. “I’m a Green Bay Packer.”

He had been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame the year prior and is still considered one of the greatest cornerbacks to ever play the game.

Herb Adderley was 81 years old.

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Former Spartan Herb Adderley passes away at 81

A former Michigan State Spartan passed away early Friday morning. Herb Adderley, who attended MSU from 1957-1960, was 81 years old.

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A former Michigan State Spartan passed away early Friday morning. Herb Adderley, who attended MSU from 1957-1960, was 81 years old. He played under legendary head coach Duffy Daugherty and played primarily as a running back. He led the team in rushing yards as a junior in 1959 and pass receptions in 1959 and 1960. Adderley was co-captain in 1960 of the team as a senior, and made the All-Big Ten Conference team and played in the East-West Shrine Game, the Coaches’ All-American, and the College All-Star game.  He made the All-MSU team in 1970.

Adderley ran for 807 yards on 198 carries, had 519 receiving yards on 28 catches, and eight total touchdowns over the course of his collegiate career. This led to him getting drafted 12th overall in the 1961 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. He started as a running back, but transitioned to cornerback due to the firepower at running back already.

His career lasted 12 seasons across two teams: nine seasons with the Packers and three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.  He enjoyed a fruitful NFL career where he won three Super Bowls, six NFL Championships, was a five time Pro Bowler, four time First-team All-Pro, and made the NFL’s 1960s All-Decade Team.

He had nice stats to back up his impressive resume as he had 48 interceptions, 1,046 interception return yards and seven interception touchdowns. He also had 14 fumble recoveries for 65 yards and returned 120 kickoffs for 3,080 yards and two touchdowns. He had a career worthy enough to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame as he was inducted in 1980.

Rest in Peace Herb Adderley.

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HOF DB Herb Adderley saw football greatness again in cousin Nasir Adderley

Hall of Fame defensive back Herb Adderley, who died this week at age 81, got to see greatness all over again in cousin (and Chargers safety) Nasir Adderley.

Sad news in the NFL on Friday, as it was announced that Herb Adderley, who was selected by the Packers with the 12th overall pick in the 1961 draft and amassed 48 interceptions in a 12-year career with Green Bay and Dallas, died at age 81.

“The entire Pro Football Hall of Fame family mourns the passing of Herb Adderley,” Pro Football Hall of Fame President & CEO David Baker said in a statement. “He was a great player and an even greater man. Herb left an indelible mark on the game and was respected tremendously by players and personnel across the league.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Herb’s wife, Brenda, and their entire family. We will forever keep his legacy alive to serve as inspiration for future generations. The Hall of Fame flag will be flown at half-staff in Herb’s memory.”

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980, Adderley played in five Pro Bowls. He was also in four of the first six Super Bowls, winning championship rings in three of them. He also played in seven NFL championship games in an 11-year span from 1961 through 1971, winning each one – five times with the Packers and twice with the Cowboys. Adderley’s 60-yard interception return for a clinching touchdown for the Packers in Super Bowl II was the only interception return for a touchdown in the first 10 Super Bowls.

Adderley was one of the greatest defensive backs of his era and of all time, and one of the more remarkable things about his life is that he got to see NFL greatness again, many years later, through the eyes of his cousin, Chargers safety Nasir Adderley.

Selected in the second round of the 2019 draft out of Delaware, the younger Adderley plays with an aggressive, feisty style that obviously has familial roots, and though he’s been limited this season with hamstring injuries, he’s been a formidable coverage safety when on the field.

Herb Adderley would not have been surprised.

“He played offense in high school, the same as I did,” Herb Adderley told Chargers.com in May, 2019. “And then once he got to Delaware, he called me and said, ‘Guess what happened?’ I said, ‘What?’ And he said they switched him to defense. I said, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter what side of the ball you play on, you have the ability to play.’ I asked him what position (they switched him to) and he said cornerback. I said, ‘Which side?’ He said the left side and I almost fell out of the chair! That was the side I played and the position I could help him most at.”

Herb also helped Nasir with the switch to safety based on his own experience with the Packers.

“When I mentioned [switching to safety] to Coach Lombardi, he said they couldn’t move me because Willie Wood was already playing there and if they moved me in there, he wouldn’t have a job. But Nasir called me after his second year playing corner, where he mentioned having safety being his natural position (with his defensive backs coach). Lo and behold, he moved him to free safety and that’s where he played his last two years. During the time he was playing, I told him he was special because there aren’t many guys who can play all the positions in the secondary. He has the ability to play either corner, free safety [or] strong safety, and he can cover the slot receiver. There are very few guys in the NFL right now who can do that. So in case of emergency, he can switch to any of those positions. All those teams who passed over him, they’re going to find out what a great athlete he is, and how he’s going to make the Chargers a great secondary.”

Nasir Adderley was always grateful for the guidance.

“He told me’ he can’t thank me enough and I said, ‘Well, you’ve already re-paid me by doing the right thing and making it.’ He said without me, it would have been difficult for him making it through college. But he did it. I told him, ‘You did it, Nasir. You had a lot of help and family support, but you’re the one on the field and you had to go out and do it and get recognized by the NFL to show that you are capable of being drafted.”

Greatness helping greatness. It’s a meaningful family story in this case, and it demonstrates another way in which Herb Adderley will be missed.