Tag: Lee Grosscup

Utah star, New York Giants’ first-round pick Lee Grosscup dead at 83

Lee Grosscup, who finished 10th in the Heisman voting in 1957, died at the age of 83.

Lee Grosscup went from the University of Utah to become the 10th overall pick in the 1959 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. The quarterback who finished 10th in the Heisman voting in 1957 died Monday.

John Herrera, a long-time senior executive for the Raiders and a close friend, said Grosscup, who became a radio announcer for Cal, died at Bay View Rehabilitation Center in Alameda (Ca) while recuperating from hip surgery.

“I talked to him yesterday [Sunday], and he was fired up about coming home on Monday [June 8],” Herrera said.

Grosscup, a Santa Monica, Calif. native, began his college career at the University of Washington in 1955. After transferring to Santa Monica College in 1956, Grosscup played the 1957 and 1958 seasons at Utah.

In 1957, Grossman finished 10th in Heisman Trophy voting after completing 69% of his passes for 1,398 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Grosscup played in three games over his first three years with the Giants. His contract was purchased by the Minnesota Vikings but was cut. He had stints in the AFL and the Canadian Football League before retiring and joining the broadcasting side of the game.

He started four games for the New York Titans — now the Jets — in 1962 and won one, throwing for 855 yards with eight TD passes and eight picks.

Grosscup got his first broadcasting assignment in 1966, working AFL games for NBC. A year later, he began a 21-season run calling college football for ABC, working with announcers like Keith Jackson and Al Michaels.

He became an announcer for Cal in 1986 as an analyst. Grosscup worked on the Golden Bears’ postgame show after the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl.

 

Former Giants first-round pick Lee Grosscup dies at age 83

Former New York Giants first-round pick Lee Grosscup has passed away at the age of 83.

Former New York Giants first-round pick Lee Grosscup has passed away at the age of 83, Sports Illustrated reports.

Grosscup, who was born and raised in Santa Monica, California, had a stellar college career that first began at the University of Washington in 1955. He later transferred to Santa Monica College before finding his way to the University of Utah in 1957.

During the 1957 season, Grosscup 68 percent of his passes for 1,398 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was named a first-team All-American by multiple outlets. He was also credited with developing the shovel pass, which was known as the “Utah pass” at the time.

The New York Giants selected Grosscup in the first-round (No. 10 overall) of the 1959 NFL Draft, but he went on to appear in only eight games for the team, completing just 16 of his 47 pass attempts (34 percent) for 231 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.

In 1962, the Minnesota Vikings purchased Grosscup’s contract, but he was released prior to the start of the season. He ended up signing with the New York Titans (now the New York Jets) and started four games for them that year.

After his first stint in the NFL, Grosscup traveled north to the CFL, spending the 1963 season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He briefly returned to the NFL in 1964 as a member of the Oakland Raiders before ending his professional career with the Hartford Charter Oaks of the Atlantic Coast Football League.

Grosscup became a broadcaster in 1966, calling AFL games on NBC before joining ABC as a college football analyst, where he’d remain for the next 21 years. At the tail end of his career, Grosscup also served as an analyst in the USFL and a television analyst for ABC.

Grosscup officially retired in 2018.

Once a Giant, always a Giant.

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