Gold Jacket Spotlight: Art Monk ‘best player never to explain himself’

ART MONK was considered soft-spoken and seldom granted interviews.

His on-field, record-setting performances spoke volumes, however, and teammates respected his words when offered.

Pro Football Hall of Fame coach JOE GIBBS once described Art as “... a quiet leader, and when he says something, guys on the team listen.”

The quiet leader with a powerful message steps into the Gold Jacket Spotlight this week.

“He was a leader,” Gibbs told Richard Justice of the Washington Post. “Here’s a guy that probably said the least of any guy on the team, yet he was one of our best leaders. I know the couple of times he did say something, it stirred the whole team up. That’s one of the things you learn about sports. The players know who the leaders are.”

In a 1991 story, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer quoted Gibbs as saying, “He (Art) is a shy, quiet individual who runs away from the limelight. He is one star who just wants to do his job and then go home to his family every night.”

Unquestionably, Art did his job very well.

Over the course of his 16-season NFL career, Art set the bar for a number of milestones that stood as NFL or Washington team records for an impressive period of time.

Included among the milestones Art achieved: first NFL receiver to catch 900 passes and first to catch a touchdown pass in 15 consecutive seasons. The dominating wide receiver also caught a pass in 183 games in a row.

Art earned the distinction of being the first Washington receiver to amass three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and the first to catch 70 or more passes in three consecutive seasons.

With Art, it wasn’t only the number of receptions, but also the timing of many of his catches that proved noteworthy.

Frank Herzog, Washington’s broadcaster of 1979-2004, once observed, “He was just Mr. Clutch. He was an absolute clutch player.”

Washington quarterback Joe Theismann acknowledged, “Art Monk is one of the greatest players to ever put on a (Washington) uniform. He was the guy that would always come up with the big catch when we needed it.”

Hall of Famer CHARLEY TAYLOR, a former receiver for Washington and Art’s position coach, also recounted Art’s unselfishness as a receiver.

“He’ll never say, ‘Call on me.’ But he’s always there when you do call,” Taylor said.

Former Washington General Manager – the man who selected Art in the 1980 NFL Draft – and Pro Football Hall of Famer BOBBY BEATHARD heaped praise on Art for his off-the-field demeanor.

“Art’s the nicest guy. That soft voice. Classy dresser. So handsome,” Beathard said. “He could be anything in Washington he wanted to be. What’s neat about him is that he doesn’t have to satisfy his ego. He may still be embarrassed by it all.”

Art once told the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell, “I don’t consider myself a standout player. I never thought I had the ability to play in the NFL,” prompting Boswell to describe Monk as the “best player to never explain himself.”

He might have been the only one to doubt his ability to play in the NFL.

Taylor’s belief in Art’s ability went back to a time when the coach was on a scouting trip to observe a Syracuse teammate of Art’s. While the purpose of Taylor’s trip was to scout a defensive back and running back who could be switched to a receiver, it was Art who caught Taylor’s attention.

“I watched him all that day, and then I talked to him for a while and watched some game films,” Taylor told the Washington Times in 1989. “I came back and said we had to take this guy. There was no doubt we had a steal.”

Washington used its first-round selection in 1980 to chose Art. He would play 14 seasons with the organization before ending his career by playing one season each with the Jets and Eagles.

Art was a member of three Super Bowl championship teams (XVII, XXII and XXVI) and was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.