Donny Anderson

Donny Anderson

Date of birth:	May 16, 1943 (1943-05-16) (age 68)
Place of birth:	Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas, USA
Career information
Position(s):	Running back, Punter
College:	Texas Tech
NFL Draft:	1965 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7
Organizations
As player:
1966-1971 1972-1974	Green Bay Packers St. Louis Cardinals
Career highlights and awards
Pro Bowls:	1
Honors:	Green Bay Packers HOF
Playing stats at DatabaseFootball.com
College Football Hall of Fame

Garry Don "Donny" Anderson (born May 16, 1943, in Borger, Texas) is a former professional American football player who played nine years in the National Football League. A halfback and punter from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University), Anderson was the first round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 1965 NFL Draft, the seventh overall selection in the draft that included future hall-of-famers Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers, Joe Namath and Fred Biletnikoff.

During his time at Texas Tech, Donny Anderson earned the nickname the "Golden Palomino". Anderson received All-American honors twice in 1964 and 1965 and was a three-time all-Southwest Conference halfback 1963-65. Anderson held many of Texas Tech's football records as his career ended with the 1965 season. He finished fourth in the 1965 Heisman Trophy race. Anderson is part of the Texas Tech Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Anderson began his career a year later in 1966, as #44 for the Packers. Anderson was drafted in the 1st Round as the 7th Pick for $600,000, the highest in NFL history to that date.

In 1972 he moved to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he played his final three seasons.

While with the Packers, Anderson originated the concept of hang time in punting. Until Anderson, punters typically strived for maximum distance, with the NFL's leaders usually averaging 45 or more yards a punt. Punt returns varied, with an average of perhaps 5 yards per return. In 1967, Anderson worked instead at punting the ball higher, shortening the distance traveled but increasing the ball's time in the air, allowing better coverage by his team on the punt return. Green Bay punted 66 times that year, 63 of them by Anderson; opponents were able to return only 13 of them, for a total of 22 yards or about 1/3 yard per punt. It was Anderson's coach, Vince Lombardi, who explained the concept to sportswriters who questioned why Lombardi didn't try to find a better punter than Anderson, who averaged only 36.6 yards per punt that year. Lombardi pointed out the lack of return yardage. Other punters soon followed Anderson, working for greater hang time. Eventually the NFL changed its rules governing punt coverage, to restore the ability to return punts.

Anderson graduated in 1961 from Stinnett High School, located in Stinnett, the seat of Hutchinson County.

External links

• College Football Hall of Fame - Donny Anderson - profile
• 1965 NFL Draft - from the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Donny Anderson football cards

Persondata
Name	Anderson, Donny
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 16, 1943
Place of birth	Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas, USA
Date of death
Place of death