Merlin Olsen

1940-

American football player

He excelled at the toughest of positions in the roughest of sports and was part of a unit called the "Fearsome Foursome," yet Merlin Olsen played a gentlemanly priest on television and so visibly endorsed flowers, people named him the "Flower Man." He worked five Super Bowls as part of a broadcast team one critic called "whole-some." And when he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after fifteen years at defensive tackle, Merlin Olsen was credited for his cerebral approach to the game.

"It was Olsen's career-long quest to master the intellectual side of football, and he achieved his goal during a marvelous 15-year career," Anthony Holden wrote in CBS Sports Line.com. "The key to consistency of performance is concentration," Olsen once said. "I probably held my ability to concentrate over a longer period of time than some athletes. Each game, at the beginning of each play, I thought of it as the most important play of the year. I went into every play as if the game depended on it."

Olsen missed just two games in twenty-two years of scholastic, college and National Football League (NFL) ball, and played his last 198 consecutive games. He qualified for the Pro Bowl, the NFL's all-star game for fourteen straight seasons. "Going to the Pro Bowl 14 times adds up to an entire season of play," Olsen said.

After ending his career with his only pro team, the Los Angeles (now St. Louis) Rams, after the 1976 season, Olsen embarked on a broadcasting and acting career

which including working National Football games with Dick Enberg on NBC and appearing on such popular television shows as "Little House on the Prairie" and "Father Murphy."

Outland Trophy Winner

Olsen grew up the eldest of nine children in Logan, Utah. "Everything was planned," Olsen said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. "We'd drive a truck up into Idaho and haul back a ton of potatoes. We'd can 1,600 quarts of peaches a season, buy 100 chickens at a time."

After playing football and running hurdles for the track and field team at Logan High School, Olsen, who then stood at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, earned a scholarship at Utah State University, also in Logan. Olsen, called the "Gentle Giant" for his soft, off-field personality, helped lead the Aggies to a Sun Bowl appearance in 1960 and the Gotham Bowl a year later. In 1961, he earned All-America at defensive tackle and received the Outland Trophy as the nation's best collegiate interior lineman. He excelled academically, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors, and would go on to earn a master's degree in economics. The Rams made Olsen their first pick in the 1962 NFL draft, as did the Denver Broncos of the upstart American Football League (AFL). Olsen signed with Los Angeles.

"Fearsome Foursome"

The Rams were building into a contender and doing so around their defense. Olsen's arrival coincided with that of Roosevelt Grier, in a trade with the New York Giants. Olsen and Grier were the tackles, and mainstays David "Deacon" Jones and Lamar Lundy at defensive end. Team publicist called them the "Fearsome Foursome." "The Fearsome Foursome changed the way football was played and watched," Michael Gershman wrote on the Colosseum Web site. "They invented stunting and looping techniques, coined the term 'sack,' and made defense a focal point of football." Olsen said the four communicated well. Jones, for instance, charged quickly off the start of a play and was effective at stuffing the run, but often left areas uncovered. "So I accepted the responsibility of covering that territory," Olsen said. "That's how we got the job done."

"I constantly look for new ways to improve my performance," Olsen once said. "I critique myself, I say to myself, 'maybe there's a better way to rush the passer or fight off a blocker.' Just because you've been doing it a certain way for 50 years doesn't mean there can't be a better way." Added former lineman and assistant coach Tony Torgeson: "Merlin had some of the test techniques of any lineman ever. He had great leverage and balance, and never was in a bad position. He was always ready to make a play."

The Rams made the National Football Conference (NFC) playoffs six times in a ten-year span from 1967-1976, but in three consecutive seasons, 1974-76, Los Angeles lost the NFC Championship game and fell one victory short of reaching the Super Bowl. Olsen retired after the 1976 season. He bridged two eras, having played against Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown and Walter Payton .

Transition to Broadcasting, Acting

Olsen joined Dick Enberg in the NBC booth and "won plaudits for his insight and precision." He effectively countered the exuberant Enberg, whose trademark call was "Oh, my!" They became NBC's top broadcast team and worked five Super Bowls, several American Football Conference championship games and major college bowls such as the Rose and Orange.

Chronology

Making, as German wrote, "a more difficult transition to acting," Olsen achieved popularity as Jonathan Garvey in the NBC show "Little House on the Prairie." He also starred on both "Father Murphy," in which he played a prospector-turned-clergyman and saves the orphanage he founded, and "Aaron's Law." Olsen has also been a nationwide spokesman for FTD Florist.

Olsen Legacy

Olsen, who also gives motivational speeches to businesses and makes appearances on behalf of charities, has succeeded in many endeavors and has parlayed his affability into professional success.

Possibly his best attribute was his consistency. "Olsen played for five different head coaches during his days with the Rams," Holden wrote, "and though they had different styles and philosophies, those five men had one thing in common: Olsen never had a bad year, a bad game or a bad play." Ex-players recall how nurturing he was as a teammate. "If I hadn't had Merlin beside me those first three, four, or five years, I probably would not have turned out to be the football player that I did," former Rams linebacker Jack Young-blood said. Olsen presented Youngblood into the Hall of Fame in 2001.

Career Statistics

Awards and Accomplishments

Olsen, still a spokesman for FTD Florist, is a motivational speaker, working with some of the largest corporations in the United States. He lives in California. Utah State players in August 2002 received a surprise visit from Olsen, who gave a pep talk to the Aggies. "We talked about a couple of things that might help them individually to improve their performance during the year," said Olsen. Added linebacker Jesse Busta: "Anytime you have one of the best players to ever play here and in the NFL, it is inspirational."

FURTHER INFORMATION

Other

"End of an Era in Television," Courier Houma. http://www.houmatoday.com/sports/columns/stories/10237sportscolumnrowone.html, (January 26, 2002).

"Merlin Olsen." CBS SportsLine.com, http://cbs.sportsline.com/ (December 9, 2002).

"Merlin Olsen." CBS Sports Line.com, http://cbs.sportsline.com/ (December 9, 2002).

"Merlin Olsen Biography." Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/players/enshrinees/molsen.cfm (2001).

"Merlin Olsen Drops by Football Practice." USU Athletics. http://www.fansonly.com/schools/ust/sports (August 19, 2002).

"Merlin Olsen: Gentlemanly Giant." Colosseum Web site, http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/ (December 9, 2002).

"Merlin Olsen: NFL Hall of Famer & 14-Time Pro Bowl Selection." Speakers.com, http://speakers.com/molsen.html (December 9, 2002).

Sketch by Paul Burton