Rosey Grier

Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier was a highly accomplished athlete and actor who lived one of the most colorful and varied lives in American sports history. Born on July 14, 1932 in Cuthbert, GA, Grier was a high school football sensation at Abraham Clark High School in Roselle, NJ. After graduating high school in 1951, Grier was drafted by Penn State University, where he played on the defensive line, and has what is considered today to be one of the most fruitful college football careers ever. In 1955, Grier was drafted by the New York Giants, with whom he played until 1962. During those years, Grier lead the team to an NFL Championship in 1956 (the Super Bowl did not yet exist), and to the Easern Conference Championships in 1958, 1959, 1961, and 1962. In 1963, Grier was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, where he and fellow defensive linemen Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Lamar Lundy formed what became known as "The Fearsome Foursome," arguably the best defensive line in NFL history. Sadly, due to a torn Achilles tendon, Grier was forced to retire in 1967. After football, Grier became a bodyguard for Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for president at the time. On the night of Kennedy's assassination, Grier was guarding RFK's wife, Ethel Kennedy, when the shots rang out, and it was Grier who eventually tackled and subdued the assassin, Sirhan Sirhan. That December, Grier entertained the troops in Vietnam as a part of "Operation Hope," a USO Christmas show organized by Bob Hope, and co-starring Ann-Margret. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Grier was a regular face on network television, making cameo appearances in a number of popular programs, including "The Love Boat" (ABC, 1977-1986), "Quincy, M.E." (NBC, 1976-1983), "Kojak" (CBS, 1973-1978), and "CHiPs" (NBC, 1977-1983). Always full of surprises, Grier released a book about his love of needlepoint and macrame, entitled "Rosey Grier's Needlepoint For Men," in 1973. In 1984, Grier endorsed Ronald Reagan for re-election, and spoke at that year's Republican Convention. It seems that those political aspirations stayed with Grier, for in 2017, at the age of 84, he announced that he was running for Governor of California in the 2018 gubernatorial election, as a Republican.