Merlin Olsen at 2005 NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio.
Former football player and actor Merlin Olsen has died after a long battle with cancer, the St. Louis Rams said Thursday. He was 69.
Known as much for his brain as his brawn, the 6-foot-5, 270-lb. defensive tackle also graduated summa cum laude and Phi Kappa Phi from Utah State University in 1962 and earned a master's degree in economics in the off-season during his 15-year career.
"Merlin Olsen was a coach's player. Punctual, steady, gifted, a quiet leader, a player you could always count on," says his biography on the National Football League Hall of Fame Web site.
"He was a standout as a rookie and thereafter stood out in every game he played for the Rams in a 15-year career. Every game. Fifteen years."
Olsen played in 14 Pro Bowls, made two All-Decade teams and was a six-time All-Pro. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.
He accomplished all those feats while playing for an often less-than-stellar Los Angeles Rams team. The Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995.
"It was Olsen's hard luck to perform for many mediocre teams in Los Angeles - he never won a Super Bowl - but he had as much to do as any other individual with glamorizing defensive football in the NFL," his NFL biography says.
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I remember mostly from Little House on the Prarie. RIP
RIP. He was an excellent color commentator; was a Bronco first.
REST IN PEACE MAN LOVE U!
merlin was drafted by the los angeles and played his intire career there never was he a bronco rip
The "Fearsome Foursome" : Olsen, Roosevelt Grier, Lamar Lundy, and, the best of that line, David "Deacon" Jones. They formed "one of the most formidable defensive line in NFL history". The Rams teams were not very good in the beginning – unitl George Allen got there and with this defense led the Rams to two division titles (1967 & 1969). In 1967 Roger Brown replaced a retired Roosevelt Grier. In 1968 Grier assisted in the capture of S. Sirhan, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy. I went to many of the games in the 1960s at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. The stadium was never full and you could walk up and buy tickets. Try that today. Olsen was a great one, and provided many memories.
A favorite...his character on Little House must have been exemplified his true character. He seemed so genuine...a teddy bear. So lovable. I so enjoy the reruns of this show. Condolences to his family and friends. He made the world a better place.
When you take a look at football players who have made it into the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame, usually you find a player who has spent the vast majority of his career with one team. This is mainly because when a team gets a player with exceptional ability like that; they usually do all they can to hold onto him.