Milt Plum

Milton Ross Plum (born January 20, 1935) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns (1957–1961), Detroit Lions (1962–1967), Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants (1969) of the National Football League (NFL).

Early life Plum was born on January 20, 1935, in Westville, New Jersey, ten miles south of Philadelphia, growing up a Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Eagles fan. Plum attended Woodbury High School, where for three years he played football (as quarterback and kicker), baseball (as a power hitting catcher), and basketball. He was selected as a first team All-State quarterback. He led an undefeated football team that won both the Colonial Conference and South Jersey Group III titles. His baseball and basketball teams also won Colonial Conference titles. After graduating in 1953, he chose college football over minor league baseball.

College career Plum received a football scholarship to Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), playing under coach Rip Engle for three years (1954-1956). He did spend considerable time studying game film with his quarterback coach, future Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. He played both quarterback and safety at Penn State, as well as placekicker and was an excellent punter. ). In that game, Plum threw a touchdown pass, intercepted a pass, scored the game-tying touchdown, and then kicked the extra point that won the game. Most memorably, he tackled Brown in the open field to prevent a touchdown.

Professional career After using their first-round pick in the 1957 NFL Draft on Jim Brown, the Browns chose Plum in the second round (17th overall pick). and over the next four years, Plum was a consistent part of an offense built around the running of Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell. For his five seasons with Cleveland combined, Plum had a rating of 89.9, ranking him first among Browns quarterbacks with at least 750 pass attempts.

In 1960 and 1961, Plum's backup was Len Dawson, who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League. Dawson did not see a future as a backup quarterback on a team that focused on the running game.

Plum had become frustrated with the offense in 1961, primarily because of coach Paul Brown's insistence on calling plays with no room for Plum to change calls, and refusal to use Bobby Mitchell as a receiver.

The Browns traded Plum to the Lions as part of a six-player deal before the 1962 season. The Lions lacked the powerful running game of the Browns, Late in the season, head coach George Wilson benched Plum several times in favor of Earl Morrall.

Plum lost the starting-quarterback job to Morrall in 1963, but regained it when Morrall got hurt early in the 1964 season. 1964 wound up being Plum's best year in Detroit; he threw for 2,241 yards and 18 touchdowns, and the Lions finished 7–5–2. The Lions traded Morrall to the Giants before the 1965 season, and Plum struggled that year, completing fewer than half of his passes.

Plum backed up Roman Gabriel on the 1968 Rams and Fran Tarkenton and Gary Wood on the 1969 Giants, playing sparingly both years. He also holds the NFL record for longest completed pass to himself (20 yards).

Plum played in two Pro Bowls (1960 and 1961), was named Associated Press second team All-Pro in 1960, and was player of the week in week 7 of the 1964 season.

NFL career statistics Legend Led the league Bold Career high

Regular season Year Team Games Passing Rushing Sacks 1957 CLE 9 3 2–1 41 76 53.9 590 7.8 58 2 5 60.7 26 118 4.5 30 0 - 85 1958 CLE 12 11 9–2 102 189 54.0 1,619 8.6 74 11 11 77.9 37 107 2.9 22 4 - 145 1959 CLE 12 12 7–5 156 266 58.6 1,992 7.5 76 14 8 87.2 21 20 1.0 17 1 - 157 1960 CLE 12 12 8–3–1 151 250 60.4 2,297 9.2 86 21 5 110.4 17 -24 -1.4 7 2 6 275 1961 CLE 14 13 7–5–1 177 302 58.6 2,416 8.0 77 18 10 90.3 24 -17 -0.7 14 1 17 145 1962 DET 14 14 11–3 179 325 55.1 2,378 7.3 80 15 20 68.2 29 170 5.9 45 1 19 211 1963 DET 10 4 1–3 27 77 35.1 339 4.4 39 2 12 18.7 9 26 2.9 13 0 4 31 1964 DET 12 11 4–5–2 154 287 53.7 2,241 7.8 92 18 15 78.5 12 28 2.3 18 1 27 235 1965 DET 14 11 4–6–1 143 308 46.4 1,710 5.6 55 12 19 51.2 21 37 1.8 15 3 22 213 1966 DET 6 6 2–4 82 146 56.2 943 6.5 63 4 13 47.8 12 59 4.9 15 0 11 103 1967 DET 9 6 1–4–1 86 172 50.0 925 5.4 43 4 8 54.5 6 5 0.8 10 0 8 84 1968 LA 4 0 – 5 12 41.7 49 4.1 25 1 1 46.9 2 3 1.5 2 0 1 15 1969 NYG 1 0 – 3 9 33.3 37 4.1 23 0 0 47.0 1 -1 -1.0 -1 0 1 12 Career 129 103 56–41–6 1,306 2,419 54.0 17,536 7.2 92 122 127 72.2 217 531 2.4 45 13 116 1,711

Playoffs Year Team Games Passing Rushing Sacks 1957 CLE 1 0 0-0 5 12 41.7 51 4.3 18 0 2 14.9 3 46 15.3 20 0 - - 1958 CLE 1 1 0–1 7 12 58.3 83 6.9 29 0 2 39.9 3 13 4.3 15 0 - - Career 2 1 0–1 12 24 50.0 134 5.6 29 0 4 27.4 6 59 9.8 20 0 - -