Needlessly Obscure Players and the Cards that Immortalize Them, Part Vienteuno: Norm Willey
The NFL Record for Quarterback Sacks in a Game–7, by Derrick Thomas
Derrick Thomas, with seven? Well, sure…if you believe the NFL Record Book like some pathetic sheep. If sheep could read, anyway.
In 1952, Norm “Wildman” Willey had seventeen sacks against the New York Giants. Or fifteen. Or eight. Even Wildman wasn’t sure.
Remember that the “sack” (which didn’t even have that name until Deacon Jones came up with it) was not even officially looked at as a statistic until 1982. So, there are a lot of “Well, in nineteen aught diggity, I remember…” stories about old NFL statistics.
Which brings us to Wildman Willey. A two-time Pro Bowler, and two-time first-team All-Pro, and from the looks of his card, the nickname sounds legit.
The Philadelphia Eagles brutalized Charlie Conerley and backup QB Fred Benners for a total of 127 total lost passing yards. On eleven straight pass plays, Conerly was nailed–supposedly by Wildman.
Paul Zimmerman, who covered the game, said that the Eagles had fourteen total sacks, and that he credited Wildman with eight sacks–not nearly seventeen, but still one better than Derrick. Hall of Fame teammate Bucko Kilroy counted twelve. Wildman went back and forth between seventeen and fifteen. “They couldn’t block him,” Kilroy recalled.
Sadly, there’s no game film, and the newspapers don’t agree. But the Eagles gave Wildman “recognition”–back then, players were given $10 for sacking a quarterback…and the next day Wildman was given an envelope with $170.
“I guess I came along too soon,” Willey said. “I’d get two or three (sacks) a game, but no one kept count. If I played today, I’d be setting records and getting rich. Back then, no one paid attention to defense.”
But the legend remains.
Here is the untold story of Norm Willey
