BALTIMORE COLT RAYMOND BERRY---PERFECT ROUTES, SURE HANDS
Raymond Emmett Berry (born February 27, 1933) played for 13 seasons with the Baltimore Colts; including their two NFL championship wins. He later had a career in coaching, highlighted by his trip to Super Bowl XX as head coach of the New England Patriots. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In three seasons at Southern Methodist University, Berry received only 33 passes total before being selected by the Colts in the 20th round of the 1954 NFL draft. Of course, during the early 1950s, colleges specialized in the running game. As Berry said, "I didn't catch many passes because not many were thrown".
Berry, however, became a permanent starter on the team by his second NFL season, and didn't miss a single game until his eighth year in the league. During his career, he led the NFL in receptions three times, and was renowned for his great hands and precise pass patterns. In his career he only dropped a total of two passes[citation needed] and fumbled only twice. He was selected to the Pro Bowl six times, from 1957–61 and in 1965. He also made the all-NFL team from 1958-1960. Berry was considered the very identity of the great Baltimore Colts' teams of the 1950s and 1960s (along with Johnny Unitas, Alan Ameche, Lenny Moore, John Mackey, Gino Marchetti, Art Donovan and Jim Parker). He was famous for his attention to detail and preparation. He and quarterback John Unitas regularly worked after practice and developed the timing and knowledge of each other's abilities that made each more effective.
One of Berry's most notable performances was in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played," in which he caught a championship-record 12 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown. During the Baltimore Colts' final game-winning drive in overtime, Berry had two key receptions for 33 yards. He also caught three consecutive passes for 62 yards to set up the Colts tying field goal at the end of regulation.
Raymond Berry ended his NFL career in 1967 with an NFL record 631 receptions for 9,275 yards and 68 touchdowns (14.7 yards per catch). In 1973, Berry was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. In 1999, he was ranked No. 40 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.
Texas-born Raymond Berry Still Loves Baltimore
August 4, 2013 by Joe Platania
CANTON, OHIO -- The purple-clad members of the younger generation that crowded football's cradle this weekend loudly reveled in Jonathan Ogden's induction.
But if they had been here 40 years ago, not only would they have seen the enshrinement of someone who helped pave the way for players such as Ogden, but they would also have witnessed the induction of another Charm City notable who made football just as important to the Chesapeake Bay as it is to those who live near Lake Erie.
Baltimore Colts receiver Raymond Berry may be 80 years old, but his enthusiasm for the game and lack of pretense in talking about it drew a good media crowd at a session for returning Hall of Famers; more than 120 of them gathered here this weekend -- a record for any sport's Hall -- for the golden-anniversary induction ceremony.
And even though Berry, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, lived his life and played the game in a mostly quiet, efficient fashion, he fondly remembered the Memorial Stadium noise that rained down on him and his Colts teammates during a 13-year career in Baltimore.
Berry and teammate Jim Parker -- the first pure left tackle to get in to Canton -- were part of a three-man induction class in 1973, something that would be impossible under today's rules, which require 4-7 people to be annually enshrined.
But perhaps more important than that is the fact that Berry is one of many athletes who came to Baltimore from all over the country not knowing much about it, but soon realizing that is is a pretty special place to be.
"No question about it," Berry said. "Back then, players lived in their home [team] city year-round, and the years I was there were so special, and the fans were such a big part of that. They were so loud that any team that came to play against the Baltimore Colts was at a distinct disadvantage.
"The noise levels and decibel levels were such that not much was going to happen for other teams."
Berry's unpretentiousness was perfect for the time; he lived quietly in a rented basement only a block from the stadium in Waverly and ate plenty of meals at Hooper's near Greenmount Avenue.
That sort of no-frills approach served him well no matter what the occasion, such as the much-discussed and well-remembered 1958 NFL championship game at Yankee Stadium against the New York Giants.
During that game, a 23-17 overtime win, Berry hauled in 178 receiving yards on 12 passes -- one more catch than anyone who has played in all 47 Super Bowls -- using a limited playbook.
"Our coach, Weeb Ewbank, said that we had to throw and throw a lot," Berry said. "There was no way we could run consistently against that New York Giants defense. I had just four pass routes, and we just ran those.
"John [Unitas] said that you just had to get [to your assigned spot] when you were supposed to be there. We knew each other's moves in our sleep."
As a testimony to the way the game has changed, Berry's 631 career catches still rank 53rd in league history, but the active player closest to him, Atlanta's Roddy White, has hauled in 622 even though he has played five fewer seasons.
Berry's 68 touchdowns are 36th most by a pass catcher, but Santana Moss and Plaxico Burress -- good players, but without Berry's consistency and durability -- have only four fewer with much less playing time. But no receiver could do -- or, for that matter, is doing -- what Berry did, combining size-12 feet with a slight frame and less-than-blazing speed to get open play after play. It was a combination that earned him the nickname "Skis."
When asked what has made the Ravens so successful in the same city, Berry's response was as smooth as a well-run slalom.
"If you have the right owner that hires the right head coach, the championships will come," he said. "Carroll Rosenbloom was a big key to our success. It all starts at the top."
Despite their greatness, Berry, Parker and Ogden will have to look up to the top of the ladder at Baltimore's first Hall of Famer, defensive tackle Art Donovan, inducted 45 years to the day before Ogden's enshrinement.
But during the weekend that Baltimore's first homegrown Raven got his gold jacket, reports had already surfaced about Donovan's failing health, a cruel irony given the good-natured humor associated with the man called "Fatso."
Despite their differing backgrounds and temperaments, Berry and Donovan forged one of the many tight bonds found on those title-winning Colt teams.
"He's the greatest character I knew in pro football, and the funniest guy I've been around," Berry said of Donovan. "They just put him at defensive tackle and he was a force against the run, and he collapsed the pocket, too -- a great all-around player."
All around, it appears that Baltimore's Hall of Fame circle is complete, with Berry's quiet greatness as integral a part of it as anyone else's.
