Pete Lammons, the tight finish for the Jets crew that surprised the professional soccer world with a victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl, died on Thursday in a boating accident at an expert fishing event in East Texas. He was 77 and had been residing in Houston.

Major League Fishing, the sponsor of the event, stated that Lammons, who was taking part in the occasion, had fallen out of his boat on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir, a well-liked spot for bass fishing, and that the different man in the boat tried to rescue him. A crew geared up with sonar recovered Lammons’s physique just a few hours later.

Lammons’s nephew Lance Lammons informed The Jacksonville Progress newspaper of East Texas that he had seemed to be fatigued after receiving two coronary heart stents. Lammons had competed in additional than 50 Major League Fishing tournaments over the years.

He performed for the Jets from 1966 to 1971, spending his first 4 seasons with them after they performed in the American Football League, which struggled to outlive in the shadow of the lengthy established National Football League.

The Jets had been losers in the early years of the A.F.L., which was based in 1960. Then got here the arrival of their charismatic quarterback Joe Namath in 1965.

Lammons caught a landing go from Namath in the Jets’ 27-23 victory over the Oakland Raiders in the 1968 A.F.L. championship recreation that arrange their January 1969 Super Bowl III matchup in opposition to the N.F.L.’s Colts, who had been heavy favorites.

He caught an 11-yard go from Namath in the Super Bowl that was adopted by Jim Turner’s subject purpose, giving the Jets a 13-Zero lead. They held on for a 16-7 victory.

The Jets stated on their web site that Weeb Ewbank, who coached them to their Super Bowl triumph, had referred to as Lammons and his large receiver teammates George Sauer Jr. and Don Maynard “the finest trio of receivers in pro ball to throw to.”

Lammons referred to as Ewbank “an outstanding coach as long as you got accomplished what he wanted.”

“He kept it pretty simple,” he stated in 2019 of Ewbank. “It was blocking and tackling.”

After taking part in for 3 seasons with the University of Texas, Lammons was chosen by the Jets in the eighth spherical of the 1966 A.F.L. draft and by the Cleveland Browns in the 14th spherical of the N.F.L. draft. Choosing the A.F.L., he performed in the league’s All-Star Game after the 1967 season.

Lammons, at 6 toes three inches and 230 kilos, grew to become a mainstay of a Jets offense that featured Namath’s passing together with the operating of Emerson Boozer and Matt Snell. He concluded his professional profession with the 1972 season with the Green Bay Packers.

In his seven professional seasons, he caught 185 passes for two,364 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Peter Spencer Lammons Jr. was born on Oct. 20, 1943, in Crockett, Texas, about 115 miles north of Houston. He performed soccer for Jacksonville High School, additionally in East Texas, after which performed for the University of Texas from 1963 to 1965. He caught 47 passes for 706 yards and 5 touchdowns for the Longhorns, who had been ranked No. 1 for the 1963 season.

Apart from his nephew, an inventory of Lammons’s survivors was not instantly obtainable.

After retiring from soccer, Lammons labored in actual property and partnered with Jim Hudson, his former Texas and Jets teammate at defensive again, in the thoroughbred enterprise, breeding and racing horses.

In January 2010, when Texas was on the brink of play Alabama at the Rose Bowl for the Bowl Championship Series nationwide title, Lammons remembered how his Longhorns had defeated the Crimson Tide, 21-17, in the New Year’s Day 1965 Orange Bowl recreation, when Alabama was top-ranked and had Namath as quarterback and Texas was ranked No. 5.

Lammons, taking part in at finish and linebacker, intercepted a go by Namath, caught two passes, one establishing a rating, and recovered a fumble.

“Best game of my life, a career day,” he informed George Vecsey of The New York Times.

For the second, Lammons had passed over one other nice day at the Orange Bowl stadium, at least for the Jets, after they pulled off their astonishing upset of the Colts in Super Bowl III.



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