“Slingin Sammy” Baugh did it all during his tenure at TCU.
A three-sport star, Baugh played football, baseball, and basketball for TCU and ended up playing both football and baseball professionally. While at TCU, Baugh threw 587 passes in his three varsity seasons for 39 touchdowns and was named an All-American in 1935 and 1936.
Not only did Baugh play quarterback, but he also played as a defensive back and a punter throughout college and his professional career. During his career in the NFL, Baugh set 13 NFL records in all three positions he played.
Over time, all of these feats had been exceeded except one: Baugh’s 29 wins as the starting quarterback of TCU. Last Saturday night, Andy Dalton surpassed Baugh with the Horned Frog’s 30-21 win over Oregon State.
The best part? Dalton still has the rest of his senior season to build upon his new record.
Dalton already has two bowl wins on his resume: a 20-13 victory over the University of Houston in the Texas Bowl his freshman season and a 17-16 win over Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl two seasons ago in ’08. He could earn his third bowl victory this season if the Horned Frogs can continue upon their winning ways.
Dalton and the rest of the Horned Frogs still have their sights on a national championship, something the team during Baugh’s time never accomplished.
If Dalton can lead the Horned Frogs to a national championship, he will be considered, along with Baugh and Davey O’Brien, to be one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play at TCU.
Now that’s a pretty elite group. Baugh is arguably the greatest football player of all time and O’Brien laid the foundations for how today’s quarterbacks play the game. Not to mention O’Brien has a trophy named after him: the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Trophy.
The tricky thing with quarterbacks is comparing them. Yardage, touchdowns and completion percentage are all not an option because the game has changed so much since Baugh and O’Brien were players. So what do you go by? Wins as a starting quarterback. And right now, Andy Dalton ranks up there with the best of them.
Judge Howell is a sophomore broadcast journalism major from Plano.
