Larry Grantham

Infobox Pro Football player


Color=green
fontcolor=white
DateOfBirth=Birth date and age|1938|9|16|mf=y
Birthplace=Crystal Springs, Mississippi
DateOfDeath=
Position=Linebacker
College=Mississippi
AFLDraftedYear=1960
AFLDraftedRound=: 1st Selection
Jersey=60
Stats=Y
Career Highlights=yes
DatabaseFootball=GRANTLAR01
PFR=GranLa00
Honors=AFL All-Time 2nd Team
Awards=
Records
years=1960-1962
1963-1969
1970-1972
teams=AFL New York Titans
AFL New York Jets
NFL New York Jets
AFLAllStar=1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1969
HOF=

Larry Grantham (born September 16, 1938 in Crystal Springs, Mississippi) is a former collegiate and professional American football player.

A member of the "Ole Miss" Athletic Hall of Fame, he was a linebacker of the University of Mississippi who came to the American Football League's New York Titans in the 1960 college draft and helped form the backbone of a New York Jets defense that reached the playoffs in 1968 and 1969, and in 1968 captured the AFL Championship and the World Championship, over the NFL's Baltimore Colts. Thus Grantham's team, with him as a starter throughout, went from being the worst team in an upstart league (the AFL) to World Champions in just nine years.

From his left outside linebacker spot, Grantham wrought havoc on opposing offenses. One of the Jets leading tacklers, he was named to the AFL All-Star team five times and played in eight league All-Star games. He was selected to the All-Time All- AFL second team.

He is one of only twenty players who were in the American Football League for its entire ten-year existence, and only seven AFL players who played their entire careers in one city. Grantham was also named the 1971 New York Jets MVP.

ee also

*Other American Football League players

External links

* [http://www.remembertheafl.com/1965ToppsJets.htm#LarryGrantham Grantham's 1965 Topps football card]