What's sad is there have been only 3 replies to this thread. A lot of saplings on this site never heard of him or saw him play.
Van Pelt was an excellent linebacker. They were talking about Van Pelt yesterday on the radio and they brought up a stat - the average life expectancy of a former NFL player is 55 years old.
I was shocked when I read it in this Times this morning... I remember Brad very well and I'm turning 53 next month..
Brad stepped into Ted Hendricks' shoes with the Raiders after the Stork retired. Played for them in '84 and '85 and had two really good years. You can't replace a guy like Hendricks but I thought they did really well to get someone as good as Van Pelt. An excellent, hard-nosed player. RIP...
I never rooted for him as a player, of course (since he played for the hated Giants), but he was a very good player, and by all accounts a good human being (not quite as good a player as his partners Taylor and Carson, but a vastly better human being than LT). RIP. It might not apply to wide receivers (and of course kickers and punters), but otherwise, if you're a current or former NFL player, it seems that you shouldn't expect to live to qualify for Social Security or Medicare.
I saw his kid play at Colorado State. Very gutsy QB who liked to run a lot. Was very productive and a college hero. But he didn't do anything in the NFL as a QB. Too bad he didn't switch to be a LB like his old man.
I saw that the other day. Strange, retired NFL athletes dropping dead from heart attacks; but is it getting more and more prevalent, or is it just my imagination? Well, I know many young athletes die due to undetected congenital heart defects and the like, but it seems something is definitely going on here. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327171014.htm ^I did a search and it seems I'm not wrong. Steroid related, what? Anyway, not a Giants fan, but I always remembered Van Pelt because of his name more than because of his play (unlike Carson and LTurd). The Peanuts (Linus & Lucy), what can I say? I wasn't all that young, but I guess it was just a word association thing. Sad just the same.RIP.
Someone once posted the story about how he got to play LB and wear no. 10, but I forgot it. Great player, RIP. EDIT: Learn to read. Van Pelt wore No. 10 in college and then with the Giants, although that was not a number linebackers were supposed to wear. "They were supposed to give me a number in the 50s or 90s," he said. But I was also a backup kicker in college, which I also was my rookie year with the Giants. "They said, 'the league might give us a problem, but we'll give it to you as a kicker that happens to play linebacker.' It helped my career. I started to get to be a better linebacker and I started getting noticed a little more with that number. They couldn't forget it. 'Ten' just doesn't belong out there on defense. It was a lucky number for me."
Back in the 70's I was as much a Giants fan as a Jets fan. The Jets were always my #1, but I definitely rooted for the Giants. If the Giants had not been so bad in the seventies, I think VanPelt would have gotten at least some consideration for the HoF, he was that good... he WAS the Giants defense. I enjoyed watching him play, he was a sideline to sideline LB. He could cover and tackle. He was one of the best LB's inside the five yard line I ever saw. He stuffed a lot of runs in that area of the field. I saw a picture of him from 2007... he looked like he could still play. He also looked like he was 35 years old, chiseled face, still had a full head of blond hair. RIP, BVP
Yeah, we discussed that in a thread about Reggie Bush wanting to wear #5. Van Pelt was allowed to wear 10 because he kicked off a few times during his rookie season. http://forums.theganggreen.com/showpost.php?p=142603&postcount=28
