In Larry Wilson’s first preseason game in 1960, he was burned by the legendary Raymond Berry, a humbling experience that propelled Wilson to work harder and transition from cornerback to a Hall of Fame safety.
Berry passed away on May 25 at the age of 93. The Hall of Fame wide receiver played 13 seasons with the Baltimore Colts.
The Unforgiving Preseason Welcome
Wilson was drafted as a halfback by the Chicago Cardinals in the 7th round out of Utah after the 1959 season.
The Cardinals offered no bonus but a $ 9,500 salary contingent on him making the team. He almost didn’t.
Wilson lasted only one practice at running back.
“I had been an offensive back in college,” he said, but after one day in camp, I summoned up all the courage I could find and told Coach (Pop) Ivy I wanted to try out on defense.”
Ivy agreed and turned Wilson over to defensive coordinator Chuck Drulis.
“Chuck gave me a shot at cornerback first, but I wasn’t fast enough so he put me at safety.”
Larry saw his first action in the third exhibition game against the Colts, the best team in football.
The young Wilson was matched up against Berry, who was known for his precision route-running and extensive prep work. Berry thoroughly tormented Wilson for several big plays, including two touchdowns. Wilson found himself benched immediately following the game and worried he would be cut from the roster.
“I got killed,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It might have been the lowest moment of my life. I was sure I was going to be cut as soon as the team returned to training camp.”
“Sure he got killed,” Drulis said after the game. “I was sure he would. The best defensive backs in football get their brains beat out every week by Ray Berry. I wanted to see how he would react. He never flinched. He never played it cozy,, laying back. He played his man tough all the way. I liked that.”
Wilson participated in the next two games but only played sporadically. As he approached the final exhibition game against the San Francisco 49ers, he believed he would be released afterward. Therefore, he asked his wife, Dee Ann, who had come to San Francisco to see him, to return home.
“You’d better go back to Rigby (Idaho),” he told her. “I expect I’ll be back there looking for a teaching job in a week or so. I’m all packed and ready to go.”
However, plans changed. Due to injuries, Larry was forced into action. He shut down the Niners’ top receiver, R.C. Owens, and intercepted a Y.A. Tittle pass to secure his position on the team. A week later, he would be the starting free safety in the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams.
“That was my biggest thrill,” said Wilson, “making the club and then having us open with a big one over the Rams.”
Wilson’s Redemption and Legendary Career
The very same defensive coordinator who pulled him out of that Colts game, Chuck Drulis, went on to pioneer the “safety blitz” (a precursor to his nickname “Wildcat”). Wilson would go on to have a legendary 13-year career, famously intercepting a pass with two broken hands in 1965 and becoming one of the most punishing safeties in NFL history. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978 and remained in the Cardinals front office for decades.
Berry’s Electrifying Career
Raymond Berry, who was already a two-time NFL Champion and one of Johnny Unitas’ favorite targets at the time of their matchup against Wilson, retired in 1967 as the NFL’s all-time leading receiver. He went on to have an impressive coaching career as well, taking the New England Patriots to their first-ever Super Bowl (Super Bowl XX) in 1985. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973.
THE BIG RED ZONE 
Raymond Berry was the best of his generation… Jerry Rice the GOAT. Berry played when throwing was not as common as it would become, so his catches were more strategic than the ones are today. Now they throw whenever but then, often a catch was a must. Wonder how many first down grabs he had lifetime.
I saw Wilson’s first regular season home game at age 7 in Sportsman’s Park. I recall him hitting hard on tackles.
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Thanks for your comment, Bill. I agree, it was a completely different era in the 1950s and 1960s. Offenses weren’t spreading the field with shotgun formations, three-receiver sets, and pass-heavy game plans like they do today.
That’s one reason why the accomplishments of Berry are so impressive. He put up remarkable numbers in an era when teams threw far less often and NFL seasons were only 12 games long (expanding to 14 games in 1961). When you consider the style of play and the shorter schedules, his production becomes even more extraordinary.
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What a magnificent and complete football player Raymond Berry was for the Colts.
In Baltimore’s 47-27 stomping of the Cardinals in October 1964, Berry caught a TD pass from Johnny Unitas, but his most impressive play that day was the block he put on defensive back Jimmy Hill to spring Tom Matte for an 80-yard TD run. “We caught them in a blitz with their outside linebacker coming in,” Matte told the Baltimore Evening Sun. “Raymond knocked off the halfback (Hill). Then I just had to outrun them.”
After getting burned too often by Berry’s precision routes and tip-top timing with Unitas, Abe Woodson said it was Berry who inspired him to develop his bump-and-run coverage in 1963. “I know (Berry) can’t outrun me,” Woodson explained to the San Rafael Daily Independent. “So I decided to move up to him at the line of scrimmage. By staying right with him, it eliminates the double fake he uses so well. It makes him play my game. When you take away Berry’s moves, he’s just another end.”
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Great stuff, as usual, Mark! Thanks for your comment.
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Sorry to hear about the passing away of Raymond Berry. He is certainly one of the all time greats to ever play in the NFL. In today’s game his receiving stats would be astronomical. I can’t help but think that for Larry Wilson it was baptism by fire having to try to defend against Raymond Berry. I like how Coach Drulis described the situation. Yeah, Larry got killed against Berry, and he knows it. But as we all know Larry Wilson learned his lesson well.
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Berry’s 17 game average would have been 70 receptions for 1,024 yards and 8 TDs. Those are giant numbers for a receiver from that era.
Drulis admitted later that Wilson made the team based on his play against Berry and the Colts, but he never told Larry that!
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