Eric Crabtree

Eric Leslie Crabtree (born November 3, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. Crabtree played professionally for six seasons with the Denver Broncos (1966–1968), Cincinnati Bengals (1969–1971), and New England Patriots.

Early life Crabtree was born on November 3, 1944, in Monessen, Pennsylvania, the son of a white father and African American mother.

He attended Monessen High School, playing football under coach Joe Gladys. He was one of the key players on Monessen's 1961 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) championship team that won 11 games. Teammates Doug Crusan, Bill Malinchak and Sam Havrilak would also go on to play in the NFL. Crabtree was also a standout player of the school's basketball team, and played baseball as well. He considered playing professional baseball, but his mother discouraged him since she was concerned about him having to play in the South at that time, and so encouraged him to take a football scholarship instead.

Crabtree was selected All-State for football in both the 1960 and 1961 seasons. During 1960–61, he averaged 8.5 yards per rushing attempt, with 1,386 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns. He played in the Big 33 Football Classic, where he scored on a 54-yard pass and run play, and caught four other passes for 132 yards.

In 1998, Crabtree was inducted into the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame. The team had a 9–1 record in his sophomore season, and was ranked by the Associated Press (AP) as the number four team in the nation. and by the Denver Broncos in the 13th round of the 1966 AFL draft (112th overall). Crabtree chose to play for the Broncos.

He did not start during the 1966 season, and had only one reception. In 1967, he started every game as a receiver, and had 46 receptions for 716 yards (15.6 yards per reception), with five touchdown catches. He also started every game for Denver the following year, improving his yards per reception average to 17.2, and again catching five touchdown passes.

In 1968, Marlin Briscoe, playing for the Broncos, became the first African American to play at quarterback in the AFL, and the first black quarterback in modern American professional football. On his first play, he completed a 22-yard pass to Crabtree. He played sporadically at quarterback over the ensuing weeks, but eventually became the Broncos' starter. During this time, Crabtree would go to the Bronco's headquarters early in the day to sift through the mail, looking for hate mail and death threats sent to Briscoe, removing them before Briscoe could see them. It was not that much overall, but enough that it could have demoralized Briscoe. It would be decades before Crabtree told Briscoe about this.

Eric had the nickname "E-Tree" while on the Broncos, and roomed with future Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Floyd Little.

Crabtree was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals for Tom Smiley before the 1969 season. At Cincinnati, he played under two legendary coaches; head coach Paul Brown and wide receiver coach Bill Walsh. 1969 would be his best season in professional football. He had 40 receptions for 855 yards (21.4 yards per reception), with seven touchdowns. His production went down in 1970 (19 receptions for 231 and only seven games started). In 1971, his final season in the NFL, Crabtree was waived after seven games and was picked up by the New England Patriots, and played the last six games of his career for the Patriots.

NFL/AFL career statistics Legend Bold Career high

Year Team Games Receiving GP GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD 1966 DEN 14 0 1 38 38.0 38 0 1967 DEN 14 14 46 716 15.6 76 5 1968 DEN 14 14 35 601 17.2 72 5 1969 CIN 14 14 40 855 21.4 73 7 1970 CIN 14 7 19 231 12.2 29 2 1971 CIN 7 7 14 102 7.3 12 2 NWE 6 4 9 120 13.3 31 1 Career 83 60 164 2,663 16.2 76 22

After football Crabtree had established a business in Denver, which was a success for him in his years after football. Crabtree was knocked out a number of times during his career, and after one hit in 1968 at Denver that knocked him completely unconscious, thought he was dead.

In 2015, Crabtree was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.