In celebration of the NFL Draft, we've asked the members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to share some of their thoughts and recollections from when they were drafted. Follow a Hall of Famer as he takes a trip down memory lane, and relive draft history.
The AFL-NFL "war" was near its height when Hall of Fame linebacker Dave Wilcox was a senior at the University of Oregon in 1963. A common practice at the time was for a team to "kidnap" potential draftees to get them to sign before a club from the rival league could contact the player. Wilcox's "kidnapping" came at the hands of San Francisco 49ers.
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| Dave Wilcox |
"Mel Renfro and myself were invited to a hotel to witness the draft in December of 1963," recalls Wilcox. "Our hosts were the 49ers Red Hickey and Franklin Mieuli (an owner of the 49ers)."
The pair of future Hall of Famers got to the hotel at around 8:00 a.m. The phone kept ringing as teams inquired about Renfro's injured wrist. Lucky for Renfro, he was drafted in the second round by the Dallas Cowboys. He eventually went home some time in the afternoon but Wilcox remained and waited to find out when his turn would come.
"I stayed around, finally went to dinner with the 49er people and then went home to the dorm," Wilcox shared with www.profootballhof.com recently.
By the time he returned to the dorm Dave learned that the AFL's Houston Oilers had selected him in the 6th round of their draft.
"I went back to the hotel on Sunday morning and told the 49er guys about the AFL draft and that I was going to call the Oilers back later that morning and talk to them," Wilcox remembered.
He never got the chance as the 49ers drafted him in the third round just minutes later. While the club officials didn't want Dave to leave the hotel without attaching his name to a contract, collegiate rules prohibited him from doing so since the Oregon Ducks still had to play in the Sun Bowl.
"I ended up signing right after the Sun Bowl game," he said.
Then, for the next 11 seasons in San Francisco, Wilcox honed his reputation as a hard-hitting and aggressive defender to become what many believe was the best outside linebacker of his era. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year.
Hall of Famers Taken in the 1964 NFL Draft
Charley Taylor, HB, Washington Redskins - 1st round (3rd overall)
Paul Warfield, HB, Cleveland Browns - 1st round (11th overall)
Mel Renfro, DB, Dallas Cowboys - 2nd round (17th overall)
Paul Krause, S, Washington Redskins - 2nd round (18th overall)
Dave Wilcox, LB, San Francisco 49ers - 3rd round (29th overall)
Leroy Kelly, RB, Cleveland Browns - 8th round (110th overall)
Roger Staubach, QB, Dallas Cowboys - 10th round (129th overall)