 Towler, circa 1953 | |||||||||||||
| No. 32 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Halfback | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | March 6, 1928 Donora, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died | August 1, 2001 (aged 73) Pasadena, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 225 lb (102 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| College | Washington & Jefferson | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1950: 25th round, 324th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Daniel Lee "Deacon" Towler (March 6, 1928 – August 1, 2001) was an American professional football player. He played in the National Football League (NFL) as a fullback for the Los Angeles Rams from 1950 through 1955.
Career
[edit]A devout Methodist, Towler agreed to play football only if he could not miss class for his master's degree in theology.
He was the NFL leading rusher in 1952 and ranked among the top four rushers each year from 1951 to 1954. He graduated from Washington & Jefferson College.[1][2][3] One game that he remembered fondly was a 1953 game against Baltimore Colts, where he rushed for 205 yards on 14 carries that saw him moved from fullback to right halfback that saw him take tosses from the quarterback "and going every which way but the right way." Towler was part of a fullback lineup called the "Bull Elephant backfield" alongside Paul "Tank" Younger and Dick Hoerner that came about in 1950 to serve as a powerful weapon for games.
The football statistics website Football Nation calls Towler "the greatest running back you don't know," and "a bright, shining star who lit up the NFL for an oh-so-brief but spectacular three-year period unlike any before or since."[4] "[F]or a three-year period in the early 1950s," says Football Nation, "Towler was the closest thing the NFL has ever produced to an unstoppable ball carrier."[4] He retired after six seasons to become a Methodist minister, having gotten his degree in June.[5] After retiring from football, Towler was named pastor of the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church in Pasadena, California; he went from making $16,000 for his final season to making $3,600 as a pastor. He later earned a doctorate in education in 1972 while also expressing no regret for quitting football when he did.[6] He was one of the original directors of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. By the 1980s, he served as a chaplain at California State University, Los Angeles and president of the Los Angeles County Board of Education alongside serving as a statistician for the Associated Press for select USC and Rams games. He also founded an educational foundation to give financial assistance for college students.
Personal life
[edit]Towler died in his sleep on August 1, 2001 at the age of 73 in his Pasadena home. He was survived by his wife Rosalind and his daughter Roslyn.[7]
Legacy
[edit]The Professional Football Researchers Association named Towler to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2006.[8] He was inducted into the Washington Greene Hall of Fame in 1999.[9]
NFL career statistics
[edit]| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Won the NFL championship | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
[edit]| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1950 | RAM | 12 | 1 | 46 | 130 | 2.8 | 34 | 6 | 8 | 63 | 7.9 | 17 | 0 |
| 1951 | RAM | 12 | 5 | 126 | 854 | 6.8 | 79 | 6 | 16 | 257 | 16.1 | 46 | 0 |
| 1952 | RAM | 12 | 11 | 156 | 894 | 5.7 | 44 | 10 | 11 | 68 | 6.2 | 13 | 0 |
| 1953 | RAM | 12 | 9 | 152 | 879 | 5.8 | 73 | 7 | 11 | 125 | 11.4 | 49 | 1 |
| 1954 | RAM | 12 | 7 | 149 | 599 | 4.0 | 24 | 11 | 10 | 127 | 12.7 | 36 | 0 |
| 1955 | RAM | 7 | 3 | 43 | 137 | 3.2 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 25 | 4.2 | 11 | 0 |
| 67 | 36 | 672 | 3,493 | 5.2 | 79 | 43 | 62 | 665 | 10.7 | 49 | 1 | ||
Playoffs
[edit]| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1950 | RAM | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| 1951 | RAM | 1 | 1 | 16 | 36 | 2.3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1952 | RAM | 1 | 1 | 13 | 54 | 4.2 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 21.0 | 21 | 0 |
| 1955 | RAM | 1 | 1 | 14 | 64 | 4.6 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| 5 | 3 | 45 | 156 | 3.5 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 35 | 11.7 | 21 | 0 | ||
References
[edit]- ^ "Dan Towler". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
- ^ "Dan Towler". databaseFootball.com. databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on September 12, 2009.
- ^ "Dan Towler". NFL All-Time Players. NFL Enterprises LLC.
- ^ a b Terrible Towler: the greatest RB you don't know
- ^ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-05-sp-1531-story.html
- ^ Dick Strite (August 7, 1957). "Highclimber". Eugene Guard. p. D1.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/03/sports/dan-towler-73-all-pro-back-who-studied-for-the-ministry.html
- ^ "Hall of Very Good Class of 2006". Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
- ^ https://wash-greenesportshall.org/directory/reverend-daniel-l-towler/