Larry Richard Csonka is an American former professional football fullback in the National Football League for the Miami Dolphins for the majority of his career, along with the New York Giants for three years.
46 Facts About Larry Csonka
2.
Larry Csonka had a short stint with the Memphis Southmen in the WFL.
3.
Larry Csonka was a commentator for the original run of American Gladiators.
4.
Larry Csonka was inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
5.
Larry Csonka is currently one of three former Miami Dolphins to have his jersey number retired.
6.
One of six children, Larry Csonka was born in the Akron suburb of Stow, Ohio, where he was raised on a farm by his Hungarian family.
7.
Larry Csonka chose Syracuse, where he played middle linebacker in his first season before being switched to fullback from 1965 to 1967, the position where he was named an All-American.
8.
Larry Csonka established many of the school's rushing records, breaking several that had been held by Ernie Davis, Jim Nance, Floyd Little, and Jim Brown.
9.
Larry Csonka was the No 1 pick by the American Football League's Miami Dolphins in the 1968 Common Draft, the eighth player and first running back drafted in the first round.
10.
Larry Csonka signed a three-year contract that paid him a signing bonus of $34,000 and a car, and a salary of $20,000, then $25,000, then $30,000 each year.
11.
Larry Csonka missed three games in 1968 and three more in 1969.
12.
Larry Csonka was described as a bulldozer or battering ram.
13.
Larry Csonka's running style reminded people of a legendary power runner from the 1930s, Bronko Nagurski.
14.
Larry Csonka's legs are just so strong he keeps moving.
15.
Larry Csonka broke his nose about ten times playing football in high school, college, and the pros, causing it to be permanently deformed, and he would remain in the game with blood pouring out of it.
16.
Larry Csonka may be the only running back to receive a personal foul for unnecessary roughness while running the ball, when, in a game against the Buffalo Bills in 1970, he knocked out Safety John Pitts with a forearm shot that was more like a right cross.
17.
Larry Csonka thought his back was broken and he actually crawled off the field.
18.
Larry Csonka was named the 10th toughest football player of all time in the 1996 NFL Films production The NFL's 100 Toughest Players.
19.
Larry Csonka's powerful running style set the tone for the ball-control Dolphins.
20.
Larry Csonka chose to run through defenders instead of around them, leading to three straight 1,000-yard seasons and two seasons in which he averaged more than 5 yards per carry, amazing for a fullback.
21.
Teammate Bob Kuechenberg said that Larry Csonka was the best back he ever saw for turning a 2-yard gain into a 5-yard gain.
22.
Larry Csonka led all rushers in Super Bowl VII with 112 yards on only 15 carries.
23.
Late in the third quarter, Larry Csonka had a run that epitomized his style.
24.
In 1973, Larry Csonka was voted Super Athlete of the Year by the Professional Football Writers Association.
25.
Larry Csonka signed a three-year guaranteed contract for a salary of $1.4 million.
26.
Larry Csonka carried the ball 99 times for 421 yards for 1 touchdown for Memphis in 1975.
27.
Larry Csonka blamed the injury in part on Giants Stadium's artificial turf, and has been a vocal critic of the surface and its injury potential ever since,.
28.
Larry Csonka's contract was up, too, and he returned to Miami the next year.
29.
Larry Csonka ran for over 800 yards, his best since their Super Bowl days, and rushed for a career-high 12 touchdowns while catching one more.
30.
Larry Csonka won Comeback Player of the Year for his 1979 season.
31.
Larry Csonka caught 106 passes for 820 yards and four touchdowns.
32.
Larry Csonka was among the NFL's top 10 ranked players in rushing yards four times, in rushing touchdowns five times, total touchdowns three times and yards from the line of scrimmage once.
33.
Larry Csonka earned All-AFC honors four times and was named All-Pro in 1971,1972, and 1973.
34.
Larry Csonka was selected to play in five Pro Bowls.
35.
Larry Csonka worked for the United States Football League Jacksonville Bulls in the mid-1980s, first as director of scouting and then as general manager.
36.
Larry Csonka was a color analyst for NFL games on NBC in 1988, and an analyst for the syndicated show American Gladiators from 1990 to 1993.
37.
Larry Csonka is one of 10 Dolphins in the Hall of Fame.
38.
Larry Csonka was named a member of the Super Bowl Dream Team in an NFL Films production.
39.
Between 1985 and 1990 Larry Csonka started spending time in Alaska, eventually living most of the year in Anchorage.
40.
From 1998 through 2013, Larry Csonka was producer and co-host of Napa's North to Alaska, before retiring the show.
41.
Larry Csonka maintains a farm in Lisbon, Ohio and operates Goodrich Seafood House in Oak Hill, Florida.
42.
Larry Csonka currently appears in television commercials for the Alaska Spine Institute, an Anchorage-based physical rehabilitation center.
43.
In November 2013, Larry Csonka was recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of "Hometown Hall of Famers," a national program honoring the hometown roots of the sport's greatest coaches, players and contributors with special ceremonies and plaque dedication events in local communities.
44.
Larry Csonka was presented with a plaque during a ceremony in the Stow High School gym, where the plaque will stay permanently to serve as an inspiration for the school's students and athletes.
45.
Larry Csonka played a fictional version of himself in the HBO series Ballers and was named head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
46.
Larry Csonka made a cameo with Dolphins legendary former head coach, Don Shula, during a fishing trip.