Filed under: Rams, NFL Hall of Fame
Some players are considered “throwbacks.” Merlin Olsen was a glimpse of the future.
Olsen, who died Thursday at age 69, came out of Utah State in 1962 as the seventh overall pick in the NFL draft, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound defensive tackle who was an athlete first in an era when most players his size were simply big bodies picked to stuff the middle and stop the run.
“He was way ahead of his time,” said Gil Brandt, who in those days was in the first decade of a 30-year career as personnel director of the Dallas Cowboys.
“He was strong, he was fast, he was like the athlete of today back in 1962. He was as good as I’ve ever seen at that position. If there’s someone better, I don’t know who it is.”
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Filed under: NFL Police Blotter
Over three years after the death of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, Willie Clark was found guilty of murder Thursday. Clark, 26, was facing 21 charges, including two counts of first-degree murder.
After 11 days of testimony from over 40 witnesses, the jury deliberated for around 12 hours over the course of three days before arriving at the guilty verdict. Clark now faces life in prison.
According to the prosecution, Clark was involved in an altercation with people in Williams’ group of friends at a New Year’s (2007) party, and later was one of two gunmen who peppered Williams’ Hummer limo while passing by in a white Chevy Tahoe. Clark will be detained in a Denver area jail, where he’s also still facing another, unrelated murder charge.
Among the witnesses who testified against Clark were former teammates Elvis Dumervil and Brandon Marshall. Marshall testified that it was Clark in the altercation outside the club, and admitted to still being tormented by the ordeal. The star witness, though, was a man named Daniel Harris, who goes by the nickname “Ponytail.” Harris was the only one who identified Clark as the shooter. Harris was already serving a life sentence for another case, but had it trimmed to five years in exchange for his testimony.
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Filed under: Steelers, FanHouse Exclusive, NFL Quarterbacks
Judging by the relatively tame media coverage associated with Ben Roethlisberger’s alleged sexual assault down in Georgia, you’d think that the case isn’t that serious.
You’d be wrong.
Big Ben is in a huge mess, one that could potentially keep him off the field this upcoming season and more. As a lawyer, it’s amazing to me that this story hasn’t gotten more attention than it has. Given that Big Ben is one of the 20 most famous players in the NFL, a two-time Super Bowl winner, and the quarterback of one of the five most popular teams in the most popular sport in American history, the relative lack of solid analysis is astounding.
Particularly in our heightened media environment when merely cheating on your wife can lead the news cycle for months. The comparative media silence is deafening.
I think that’s partly because people don’t realize the seriousness of this allegations or the penalties that could ensue.
I spent the past two days on the phone with Georgia lawyers — public defenders and district attorneys — the men and women who would typically defend or prosecute criminal cases in Georgia courts to discuss the particulars of this incident. Here’s what I learned.
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