Wikipedia

Lynn Dickey

Clifford Lynn Dickey (born October 19, 1949) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats and was selected in the third round of the 1971 NFL draft by the Houston Oilers, where he spent his first five seasons. Dickey was a member of the Packers for his remaining 10 seasons, leading them in 1982 to their first playoff appearance since 1972 and victory since 1967. He also led the league in passing touchdowns during the 1983 season. For his accomplishments with the franchise, he was inducted to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1992.

Lynn Dickey
refer to caption
Dickey signing autographs in 2007
No. 10, 12
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1949-10-19) October 19, 1949 (age 75)
Paola, Kansas, U.S.
Height:6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:214 lb (97 kg)
Career information
High school:Osawatomie
(Osawatomie, Kansas)
College:Kansas State (1968–1970)
NFL draft:1971 / round: 3 / pick: 56
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Passing attempts:3,125
Passing completions:1,747
Completion percentage:55.9%
TD–INT:141–179
Passing yards:23,322
Passer rating:70.9
Rushing yards:121
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Early life

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Born in Paola, Kansas, and raised in Osawatomie, Kansas, southwest of Kansas City, Dickey led Osawatomie High School to a state championship and graduated in 1967. Its football stadium is named after him, and his number "10" was retired by the school in January 1971.[1]

College career

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Dickey was recruited to Kansas State University. Following his senior season in 1970, Dickey finished tenth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy and was named MVP of the North–South Shrine Game.[2] His 6,208 career passing yards was the record at Kansas State for 38 years, until passed by Josh Freeman in 2008.

Professional career

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Houston Oilers

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Dickey was selected in the third round of the 1971 NFL draft, 56th overall, by the Houston Oilers,[3] where he played four seasons, splitting time with fellow 1971 draft pick Dan Pastorini (third overall).[4] He and Pastorini were in competition for the starting quarterback role in 1972, and Dickey was having a good preseason. However, he suffered the first in a long line of serious injuries throughout his career, a dislocated and broken hip in the fourth preseason game, which cost him the rest of the year.[5] Dickey started ten games with the Oilers, winning two overall, including Houston's lone win in the 1973 season.[6]

Green Bay Packers

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In 1976, he was traded to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for John Hadl.[7] His Packers career got off to a rocky start. Dickey suffered a broken leg in 1977, causing him to miss two full calendar years. But by 1980 he was back as the starter. Dickey led the Packers to the 16-team playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The Packers won the opening round after Dickey went 19 of 26 (73%) for 286 yards with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions in a 41–16 triumph over the St. Louis Cardinals.[8] Green Bay was eliminated the following week by the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round after Dickey went 24 of 37 for 274 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions as the team fell 37–26.[9]

Perhaps the high point of Dickey's NFL career came in 1983 when he powered the Packers' offense to a then-team record 429 points.[10][11] His 4,458 yards that season served as the team record until being surpassed by Aaron Rodgers in 2011[12] and threw a career-best 32 touchdowns, the most in the NFL in 1983.[13]

According to sportswriter Alex Rubenstein of SB Nation, Dickey's back-to-back performances on Sept. 4 and 11 of the 1983 season were the greatest by an NFL quarterback through a two-game stretch throughout the first 98 NFL seasons. If a QB rating were not artificially capped at 158.3, Dickey's rating across those two games would have been 164.1, a mark not reached again across multiple games until Peyton Manning in the 2003 playoffs; the first to surpass that mark in the regular season across two games was Patrick Mahomes in 2018. In the two games, a 41-38 win over the Houston Oilers followed by a 21-25 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dickey completed 41 of his 51 passes for 623 yards with eight touchdowns and 1 interception.[14]

Dickey was named second-team All-NFC behind Joe Theismann.[citation needed] Dickey's Packers had beaten Theismann's Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins in a thrilling Monday Night Football game earlier that season (Washington kicker Mark Moseley missed a field goal in the closing seconds, preserving the Packers' 48–47 win).[15] The game is included in NFL Network's program "Top Ten Quarterback Duels."

Dickey retired from professional football prior to the 1986 season after he was waived late in training camp.[16][17][18] He holds Packers records for highest completion percentage in a game with a minimum of 20 attempts (19–21, 90.48%, versus New Orleans on December 13, 1981).[19] His record for most passing yards in a 1980 game (418 versus Tampa Bay on October 12) was broken by Matt Flynn on January 1, 2012, with 480 yards. (Aaron Rodgers had 422 in a playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals); and highest average gain in a season (9.21 yards per attempt in 1983). The latter is an NFL single-season record for quarterbacks with 400 or more attempts.

Career stats

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Year Team GP Att Cmp Pct Yds TD Int Rtg
1971 HOU 7 57 19 33.3 315 0 9 13.3
1972 HOU DNP
1973 HOU 12 120 71 59.2 888 6 10 64.2
1974 HOU 14 113 63 55.8 704 2 8 50.9
1975 HOU 14 4 2 50.0 46 0 1 52.1
1976 GB 10 243 115 47.3 1,465 7 14 52.2
1977 GB 9 220 113 51.4 1,346 5 14 51.4
1978 GB DNP
1979 GB 5 119 60 50.4 787 5 4 71.7
1980 GB 16 478 278 58.2 3,529 15 25 70.0
1981 GB 13 354 204 57.6 2,593 17 15 79.0
1982 GB 9 218 124 56.9 1,790 12 14 75.3
1983 GB 16 484 289 59.7 4,458 32 29 87.3
1984 GB 15 401 237 59.1 3,195 25 19 85.6
1985 GB 12 314 172 54.8 2,206 15 17 70.4
Career 152 3,125 1,747 55.9 23,322 141 179 70.9

Personal life

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After retiring from football, Dickey relocated to the greater Kansas City area where he opened a football-themed restaurant. Dickey has three grown daughters; Natalie, Meredith, and Elizabeth and resides in Leawood, Kansas. He then worked for the popular Kansas City AM station Sports Radio 810 on the show "Crunch Time", airing at 9:00 a.m. He now works at Serve You Rx, a pharmacy benefit management company home based in Milwaukee.

Honors

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In 1996, when the Big Eight expanded to the Big 12 Conference, the Associated Press named Dickey as the All-Time Big Eight Quarterback. Kansas State University has retired the No. 11 to jointly honor Dickey and his successor at KSU, Steve Grogan. It is the only number retired by Kansas State's football program.

Dickey is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame[20] and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

References

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  1. ^ "Osawatamie High to retire Dickey's old prep number". Lawrence Journal-World. Kansas. Associated Press. January 28, 1971. p. 10.
  2. ^ Mizell, Hubert (December 27, 1970). "Dickey leads North to 28-7 Shrine win". Daily News. Bowling Green, Kentucky. p. 18.
  3. ^ "Kansas State passing ace signs Houston Oiler pact". Victoria Advocate. Texas. Associated Press. February 25, 1971. p. 2B.
  4. ^ 1971, 1973-75
  5. ^ "Houston Wins, But Loses Lynn Dickey". The Paris News. Paris, Texas. Associated Press. August 25, 1972. p. 8.
  6. ^ The Oilers went 1–13 in 1973, Pro-Football-Reference.com: Lynn Dickey
  7. ^ "Sarasota Journal - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  8. ^ "Wild Card - St. Louis Cardinals at Green Bay Packers - January 8th, 1983". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  9. ^ "Divisional Round - Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys - January 16th, 1983". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  10. ^ "1983 Green Bay Packers Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  11. ^ "Packers.com » History » Record Book » Team Records » Scoring". Archived from the original on February 4, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  12. ^ "Aaron Rodgers Stats". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 8, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ Rubenstein, Alex. "The NFL's greatest QB performances are actually better than they have us believe". YouTube. SB Nation. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  15. ^ "Washington Redskins at Green Bay Packers - October 17th, 1983". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  16. ^ Lea, Bud (September 2, 1986). "Pack waives Dickey, Coffman". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
  17. ^ Van Sickle, Gary (September 2, 1986). "Dickey waves goodby again". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1C.
  18. ^ "Lynn Dickey Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  19. ^ "Green Bay Packers at New Orleans Saints - December 13th, 1981". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  20. ^ Christl, Cliff. "Lynn Dickey". Packers.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
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