Daryle Lamonica, who became one of the winningest quarterbacks in professional football after playing at Notre Dame, has died at age 80. In 12 seasons with the Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders, he compiled a 66-16-6 record. After winning back-to-back AFL championships with the Bills in 1964 and 1965 as a backup to Jack Kemp, he came into his own with the Raiders. He was selected to two post-merger Pro Bowls, had two First Team All-Pro selections led the AFL with 30 touchdown passes in 1967 and 3,302 passing yards in 1969.
Lamonica played 30 games for the Irish between 1960 and 1962, a forgettable period in which they went 12-18 under coach Joe Kuharich. It was not until Lamonica’s third and final collegiate season that he was made the primary quarterback. He completed 99 passes for 1,363 yards and eight touchdowns. On the ground, he ran for 353 yards and 10 touchdowns on 144 carries.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lamonica’s family during this time.
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