Free Republic

Lindon Crow, the former NFL defensive back who had three interceptions in the 1958 sudden-death NFL championship dubbed "the greatest game ever played," has died. He was 85. He died Thursday in Exeter, California, due to complications from a series of strokes, the University of Southern California said Friday. Crow led the NFL in interceptions with 11 in 1956 and had 41 picks in his pro career. He played defensive back for the Cardinals from 1955 to '57, New York Giants from 1958 to '60, and Los Angeles Rams from 1961 to '64.

On crisp autumn Saturdays on the football field of Notre Dame, the life of a young fullback named Mario "Motts" Tonelli was measured in hashmarks and goal lines. He was, by virtue of his ability to break into the clear, a hero, a man defined by athletic skill and physical power. But looking back on his life--a life of survival, renewal and redemption, of extraordinary courage and a will to live stronger than a prison death march--his accomplishments on the field seem almost a footnote. Mr. Tonelli did achieve true greatness, but a greatness realized through those traits that rarely...