Lee Grosscup

Clyde Lee Edward Grosscup (December 27, 1936 – June 1, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies and Utah Redskins and was selected by the New York Giants in the first round of the 1959 NFL draft.

He later became a sportscaster.

Early life Grosscup was born on December 27, 1936, in Santa Monica, California. He was raised in Santa Monica, and attended Santa Monica High School. In 1954, he was an All-American quarterback at Santa Monica High. He played high school football under coach Jim Sutherland.

Collegiate career Grosscup was a quarterback for the University of Washington in Seattle in 1955. However, there was a player revolt against heavy-handed head coach John Cherberg. Grosscup and three former high school teammates left the school shortly after their freshman season; deciding to sit out a year instead of continuing to play for the "tyrannical" Cherberg in Seattle. Cherberg, who was fired, had also revealed there was an alumni slush fund to pay players, which created a scandal. Years later, Grosscup revealed he had received $100/month from the fund, in addition to his scholarship. He then transferred to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1957, leading a passing offense under head coach Jack Curtice that was advanced for its time. Grosscup considered Curtice a genius in developing the passing game.

Grosscup finished his junior season in 1957, completing 94 of 137 passes (68.6%, a collegiate record at the time), passing for 10 touchdowns and a nation-leading 1,398 yards. His 68.6% completion rate was a Utah school record until 2019, when broken by Tyler Huntley. He only threw two interceptions, also leading the nation.

In 1958, Grosscup passed for 828 yards, three touchdowns, and a 54.8 completion percentage. but Grosscup was selected to play in the Senior Bowl in early 1959. He was first-team All-Skyline Conference in 1957 and 1958. Grosscup appeared in eight games in his two seasons with the Giants.

After being waived by the Giants, in August 1962, his contract was purchased for $100 by the second-year Minnesota Vikings, but he was cut before the beginning of the season. This allowed Grosscup to return to New York in September, this time with the New York Titans of the American Football League (later known as the New York Jets), in its third season. He began the season as the starter, but missed six weeks with a knee injury. Grosscup was cut on the final day of the 1963 preseason and signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League three days later. That same year, Grosscup released his first book, entitled Fourth and One.

After failing to make the San Francisco 49ers, Grosscup spent the 1964 season on the Oakland Raiders' taxi squad.

While skilled as a quarterback, Grosscup had the artistic temperament of a poet or writer, rather than the hard-bitten or violent temperament typically associated with professional football at the time. Before joining the NFL, he held a public written correspondence about football with a sportswriter. While popular generally, Grosscup came off as arrogant to his future Giants teammates, who originally isolated him when he joined the team and where he remained on the fringes of the team's players throughout his two years there.

Grosscup was also a broadcaster in the USFL, first as a radio analyst for the Oakland Invaders, then as a television analyst on ABC from 1984–1985 or 1982–1985.

California Golden Bears Grosscup was a member of the California Golden Bears broadcast team for 32 years, including 17 years as a color analyst and 15 years as part of the team's postgame coverage.

From 1986 to 2003, Grosscup was the radio analyst for broadcasts alongside Joe Starkey. Grosscup hosted the postgame radio show for Cal football games from 2004 until his retirement in 2018.