Do You Remember Back in Old D.C. – Part 1

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June 20 2023

By Noonefromtampa

For this series of column, I will co-opt the opening line from a classic Beach Boys summertime tune; see if you can figure out which one. Summertime, specifically June and July are the slow months for NFL news. OTAs and minicamp are done, training camp is weeks away and the major breaking news is players getting arrested for doing dumb things. We are always looking for new ways to engage our loyal followers during this time. In past years, I have written about the best players at each number, some of the most memorable games against division opponents, and this year I’m going to look at some players from team history that you may not know a lot about or remember.

Becoming Consistent Winners

In 1970, Vince Lombardi coached the Washington Redskins to their first above 0.500 season since 1955. Unfortunately, he passed away before his second season with the team and his successor, Bill Austin, was not retained after a 6-8 season. Enter quote machine, head coach George Allen. Besides leading the team to the playoffs in five of seven years he was head coach, including Washington’s first Super Bowl appearance, his era was known for several quotes or phrases that are famous in team history, some of which include:

  • “We gave George an unlimited budget and he exceeded it.”
  • “Forty men together can’t lose.”
  • The Over the Hill Gang
  • Having team cheer “Hip, hip, Hooray!” after victories
  • “Every time you win, you’re reborn. Every time you lose, you die a little bit. You die inside, a portion of you. Not all of your organs. Maybe just your liver.”
  • “Losers never know why they are losing. They will mention injuries, the officiating, the weather and bad breaks.”
  • “Football isn’t necessarily won by the best players. It’s won by the team with the best attitude.”

One of the underrated hallmarks of Allen’s teams was special teams play. Allen had the first full time special teams coach in the league, a coach named Marv Levy. If that name seems familiar to you, it is because he went on to be the head coach of the Buffalo Bills and they made four Super Bowl appearances under him.

Another thing Allen did was have dedicated special teams players on his roster, like return specialists and gunners.

Leslie “Speedy” Duncan

Speedy Duncan was an aging AFL former All-Pro cornerback who came to the Redskins in the newly merged leagues. Duncan was primarily used as a return specialist and nickelback on passing downs.

Sidebar: Eagles defensive coach Jimmy Williams is credited with first using five defensive backs against the Packers in the 1960 championship game, but Allen was the defensive coordinator who made the five defensive back alignment part of a passing down scheme and named it the nickel.

Duncan was named to the Pro Bowl in 1971 for the Redskins with 1,003 all-purpose yards. That was very different for that era, where most leaders in all-purpose yards were running backs or wide receivers who also returned kicks. In 1971, the NFL leader in all-purpose yards was rookie running back Vic Washington of the 49ers, who had 1,986 all purpose yards with 811 yards rushing, 317 yards receiving and 858 yards in kickoff returns. At the time, the NFL record holder for all-purpose yards in a season was Hall of Fame player Gale Sayers, who set the record in 1966 with 2,400 yards. Today, the record is held by Darren Sproles, who gained 2,696 yards in 2011 with the Saints. Sproles had 1,300+ yards both in yards from scrimmage and return yards, which is going to be a tough record to surpass with all the rules changes in the return game.  Sayers is now 12th on the all-time single-season list.

Herb Mul-Key

Duncan, who passed away in 2021, held the return job for a couple of seasons and was supplanted by Herb Mul-Key. Mul-Key, who was a childhood friend of Redskins linebacker Harold McLinton, played one year of college football at Alabama State and was signed to the team from one of Allen’s famous “open tryouts”. He was actually the only player signed from the open tryouts, which were more of a PR stunt than an actual talent search. Mul-Key was also a Pro Bowl player in 1973 with 1,134 all-purpose yards including a 97 yard touchdown on a kickoff return after the Cardinals had just scored on a kickoff return. At that time, it was only the second time in NFL history that consecutive kickoff returns for touchdowns were made.

Bill Malinchak

The last player I will cover doesn’t even have much of a stat line, Bill Malinchak. He was drafted as a wide receiver by the Lions in 1966 before coming to Washington in 1970. Allen used him extensively on special teams as a tackler and a kick blocker. Not a lot of special teams statistics were tracked back in the 1970s but Allen always placed value on that portion of the game. Malinchak excelled at blocking punts, field goals and extra point attempts with incredible timing. The one game I remember was from October 1972 against the Patriots, in which he blocked a punt which went through the end zone for a safety. The Redskins ended up losing that game 24-23 after several missed opportunities.

I hope all you vacationing beach babies enjoy this post.

SWIDT

Sources: pro-football-reference.com