Roman Gabriel obit

Rams legend, former NFL MVP quarterback Roman Gabriel dies at age 83

One of the best QBs of his generation, Gabriel still owns the Rams' all-time record with 154 TD passes

 

He was not on the list.

Roman Gabriel, one of pro football's best quarterbacks during the 1960s, passed away Saturday morning, his son announced. He was 83 years old.

"I am sad to announce my father Roman Gabriel @RGabriel4HOF passed away peacefully this morning of natural causes at his home . The entire family asked for your prayers , and to please respect our privacy - I love you dad"

In 1962, Gabriel, who played at NC State from 1959-1961, was the No. 1 overall pick in the AFL Draft and the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Instead of signing with the AFL's Raiders, Gabriel joined the NFL's Rams, a decision that paid major dividends for the franchise.

The Rams issued a statement, paying respect to their former player:

"We mourn the loss of Rams legend and football pioneer, Roman Gabriel. We extend our condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time." 

By the end of the '60s, Gabriel emerged as one of the NFL's best quarterbacks. He was a Pro Bowler each year from 1967-69 and was tabbed as an All-Pro and league MVP in 1969, when he led the NFL in touchdown passes.

Gabriel, along with the Rams' Fearsome Foursome defensive line, led Los Angeles to a 32-7-3 regular season record over that span that included a pair of division titles.

Gabriel's Rams came up short twice in the playoffs against the eventual NFL champions. In 1967, the Rams were defeated by the Packers during what was Green Bay's last title run under Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi. Two years later, the Rams were edged 23-20 by a Vikings team that lost just one game prior to that year's Super Bowl.

In 1973, Gabriel signed with the Eagles after 11 seasons with the Rams. That year, Gabriel won Comeback Player of the Year (and was named to his fourth and final Pro Bowl) after pacing the NFL in attempts, completions, passing yards and touchdown passes. He played four more seasons in Philadelphia before retiring after the 1977 season.

While he is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Gabriel's career rivals several quarterbacks who are in Canton, Ohio. He has more career passing yards and touchdown passes, for example, than Hall of Fame quarterbacks Bart Starr, Roger Staubach and Bob Griese. He also has more career passing yards than Terry Bradshaw. Championships is really the only difference in resumes between those quarterbacks and Gabriel.

"He was as good as the very best at the time," Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil once said of Gabriel. "He had a very strong arm and was a real worker. No one at the time was preparing to play each week with more effort than Roman at that time. He was a real student of the game."

Gabriel is still the Rams' all-time career leader with 154 touchdown passes.

"The way they throw the ball now, it's surprising I'm still ranked up there," he told Sports Illustrated in 1997. "But if I'd had the martial arts all along, my career would have lasted at least three more years."

Gabriel is a 1989 inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame and an inaugural member of the North Carolina State Athletic Hall of Fame. He was a two-time ACC Player of the Year, set 22 school records and was the first ACC quarterback to throw for over 1,000 yards in a season.

From 1962 through 1965, Gabriel had a difficult time securing a starting quarterback job. Los Angeles Rams' coaches gave Zeke Bratkowski or Bill Munson the nod over Gabriel. However, due to other quarterbacks slumping or being injured, Gabriel did get to start 23 games from 1962 through 1965. The team's record in those games was 11–11–1. Although his record as a starter was average, the other Rams quarterbacks who started the other 33 games combined record was 4–27–2. Gabriel's significant wins include a 1965 victory to beat the eventual NFL champion Green Bay Packers and the 11–3 Cleveland Browns.

When George Allen took over for Harland Svare to coach the Rams in 1966, one of his first moves was to make Gabriel the primary starter. Gabriel started all fourteen games and the Rams went 8–6, their first winning season since 1958. In 1967 the Rams went 11–1–2 and made the playoffs as NFL Coastal Division champions. Gabriel was named the AP Offensive Player of the Week the last two weeks of the season. In week 13, needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, Gabriel was 20-for-36 with three touchdowns (including the game-winner in the last minute) in a 27–24 come from behind win over the defending champion Green Bay Packers. The next week, in a game against the Baltimore Colts that would decide the division title, Gabriel completed 18-of-22 passes with three touchdowns as the Rams won 34–10. The 1967 Rams finished as the highest-scoring team in the NFL but were eliminated from the playoffs by the Packers 28–7. Gabriel threw for 2,779 yards and 25 touchdowns and was a second-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler.

After the 1972 season, the Rams hired Chuck Knox as their new coach and obtained John Hadl to be the quarterback. After he threatened to accept a $100,000 contract with the Las Vegas Casinos of the Southwestern Football League in April 1973, Gabriel was traded from the Rams to the Philadelphia Eagles for Harold Jackson, Tony Baker, a 1974 first-round selection (11th overall–John Cappelletti) and first- and third-round picks in 1975 (11th and 67th overall–Dennis Harrah and Dan Nugent) on June 8, 1973.

Gabriel improved a 2–11–1 Eagles team to a 5–8–1 record. Gabriel was voted to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time and was voted the "Comeback Player of the Year" by Pro Football Weekly. For the 1973 season, Gabriel led the Eagles with 270 completions, 460 attempts, and 3,219 yards, and 23 touchdowns (all were league highs) as the Eagle offense was the most prolific passing game in the NFL. Gabriel played through 1977 but his final two years were in a backup role. In his last season, he backed up Ron Jaworski, who had played for the Rams from 1973 to 1976.

In his career, he had a winning record of 86–64–7 and passed for over 29,000 yards and 201 touchdowns. He is the only quarterback from his era to still rank high in the "lowest interception percentage" category in NFL passing statistics. The Professional Football Researchers Association named Gabriel to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2013

After retiring from football, Gabriel enjoyed successful careers in acting, coaching and broadcasting. He also raised millions for various charities.

Gabriel was a frequent guest on television talk shows of the era, including The Merv Griffin Show, The Virginia Graham Show, The Rosey Grier Show, and The Joey Bishop Show.

Gabriel had a brief movie career, playing a prison guard in Otto Preminger's 1968 spoof Skidoo and a Native American named "Blue Boy" in the 1969 John Wayne and Rock Hudson film The Undefeated. He had previously appeared as a headhunter in the November 14, 1966, "Topsy-Turvey" episode of CBS' Gilligan's Island. With several of his Rams teammates, he made a cameo appearance as a football player in the 1965 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the 12th Wildcat", as well as in 1970 on an Ironside episode, "Blackout". He appeared twice on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. He was also on a 1978 episode of Wonder Woman, "The Deadly Sting.

Gabriel was the last football coach at Cal Poly Pomona, where from 1980 to 1982 his teams compiled an 8–24 record. On November 26, 1982, he resigned to become offensive coordinator with the Boston Breakers of the USFL. Cal Poly-Pomona terminated its football program.

Gabriel was head coach of the Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks of the World League of American Football. He was the only coach who did not win a game in the inaugural 1991 season, but came close to beat Jack Elway's 7-3 Frankfurt Galaxy in Germany. The 0-10 Skyhawks disbanded shortly thereafter, the franchise was replaced by Ohio Glory.

He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and died in Little River, South Carolina.

 

Actor

Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman (1975)

Wonder Woman

7.0

TV Series

Roman Gabriel

1978

1 episode

 

Khan! (1975)

Khan!

5.3

TV Series

1975

1 episode

 

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967)

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

8.0

TV Series

Guest Performer

1971–1972

2 episodes

 

Raymond Burr and Barbara Sigel in Ironside (1967)

Ironside

6.9

TV Series

Lieutenant Holloway

1970

1 episode

 

John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Antonio Aguilar, Bruce Cabot, Roman Gabriel, Big John Hamilton, Ben Johnson, Lee Meriwether, Melissa Newman, and Merlin Olsen in The Undefeated (1969)

The Undefeated

6.6

Blue Boy

1969

 

Skidoo (1968)

Skidoo

4.7

A Prison Guard

1968

 

Jim Backus, Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, Natalie Schafer, and Dawn Wells in Gilligan's Island (1964)

Gilligan's Island

7.4

TV Series

Native

1966

1 episode

 

Raymond Burr in Perry Mason (1957)

Perry Mason

8.3

TV Series

Roman Gabriel

1965

1 episode