Falcons great dies at 74
Tommy Nobis, the first player drafted by the expansion Atlanta Falcons and a hard-hitting middle linebacker who was never fully recognized for his talents on a struggling franchise that failed to make the playoffs during his long career, died Wednesday. He was 74.
The team said he died at his suburban Atlanta home after an extended illness with his wife of more than 50 years, Lynn, at his side. Nobis was among hundreds of ex-NFL players who struggled with physical and cognitive ailments after their careers ended, having played in an era when no one paid much attention to the lingering impact of concussions nor thought twice about groggily going back on the field after a shot to the head.
When the Falcons reached the Super Bowl last season, his wife told the Houston Chronicle she wasn’t sure if Nobis had any idea what his former team had accomplished.
“We’ve told him the Falcons are in the Super Bowl, and we wear red and black,” Lynn Nobis said. “But it doesn’t seem to click. I don’t know if he understands.”
A native of San Antonio who sported a red-headed crew cut, Nobis starred on both sides of the line at the University of Texas, where his No. 60 is one of six numbers retired by the school. Despite being slowed by a knee injury during his senior season, he won the Maxwell Award as the nation’s best allaround player and the Outland Trophy as top lineman. He also finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy balloting — highest among those who played defence — and appeared on the cover of Life and Sports Illustrated. He was drafted first overall by the Falcons and also picked by his home-state Houston Oilers of the American Football League, leading to a spirited bidding war that drew interest as far away as outer space. While orbiting the Earth in his Gemini spacecraft, astronaut Frank Borman — whose two sons were ball boys for the Oilers — urged Nobis to sign with Houston.
“I hope he comes here,” Borman said as his spaceship flew over Houston during its 59th orbit.
Nobis wound up signing with Atlanta, becoming the first player in franchise history and a beloved figure who would forever be known as “Mr. Falcon.” He earned NFL rookie of the year honours and the first of five Pro Bowl berths in 1966, the launch of an 11-year career spent entirely with the Falcons.
No. 60 has never been worn by any other Atlanta player. Nobis was among the initial inductees into the team’s “Ring of Honor” in 2004. Former Falcons coach Dan Reeves, who entered the league a year ahead of Nobis and became good friends, called him “the best middle linebacker I ever played against in my time” — an era that included Hall of Famers such as Dick Butkus and Ray Nitschke.