Six decades ago, a real Eagles sack attack

Norm Willey seemed determined that his football-card images be worthy of his "Wild Man" nickname.

On one, the 1950s Eagles defensive end looks like a winged raptor about to snatch a prairie dog. As he glides menacingly toward the camera, Willey's arms are spread wide, his mouth agape, his long fingers curled and outstretched like talons.

That's how he must have looked to New York Giants quarterback Charlie Conerly on Oct. 26, 1952, the most memorable day of Willey's eight-year Eagles career. Now, 62 years later, in the aftermath of the Eagles' Sunday night mauling of another Giants QB, that game is worth recalling.

The central parallel is striking: Both games were Eagles victories in which their relentless defense mercilessly hounded a strong-armed Giants quarterback who had been a University of Mississippi star.

As impressive as the Eagles' season-high six sacks of Eli Manning were, they didn't come close to the output Willey and his teammates managed that Sunday afternoon at the Polo Grounds.

During that 14-10 Eagles victory, the 6-foot-2, 224-pound Willey, at least according to one account, sacked Conerly an astounding 17 times.

"Willey awed inhabitants of the Polo Grounds by dumping New York Giants quarterback Charlie Conerly 17 times as he attempted to pass," Hugh Brown of the Evening Bulletin wrote.

In one stretch, the quarterback was tackled for losses on 11 straight plays, though it's not clear if Willey was responsible for them all.

The NFL didn't start officially recording sacks until 1982, so no one kept an official count.

The website This Day in Pro Football History suggested the total might have been 15. An Eagles teammate, Bucko Kilroy, estimated 12. Paul Zimmerman, the sportswriter and pro football historian who attended the game, said the Eagles' sack total was probably 14, eight of which were Willey's.

Whatever Willey's total, nearly six-plus decades later, it would remain an NFL record. The current mark is seven, by Kansas City linebacker Derrick Thomas in 1990. The single-game team record is 12.

"I almost felt sorry for Charlie," Eagles coach Jim Trimble said later. "He was just getting mauled by Norm."

The Eagles defense knocked six Giants out of the game, including Conerly and Frank Gifford. New York managed only 54 yards on the ground and, thanks to the 127 yards lost on sacks, a net of just 55 passing.

"Norm Willey was very fast," Gifford recalled in 1996, "and we were very slow."

Willey's big day didn't come against stumblebums. The Giants were 3-1 heading into the game (the Eagles were 2-2) and they'd finish at 7-5, tied with the Eagles for second place behind Cleveland in the NFL's American Division.

According to the Eagles Encyclopedia, Willey was rewarded for his big day with an illicit payment - a $170 bonus that amounted to $10 for each sack.

"It was illegal but the coaches did it anyway," Willey, who never made more than $9,000 a season, told the book's author, Ray Didinger. "They would look at the film and decide who got what."

Born in West Virginia, Willey served in the Navy during World War II. He was a ferociously tough fullback at Marshall and the Eagles made him their 13th-round pick in the 1950 draft. With two fullbacks ahead of him, Willey was moved to the other side of the ball, where coaches felt his aggression might be better channeled.

He twice made the Pro Bowl (1954 and 1955) and in 1954 was named a first-team all-pro. Willey broke his leg in 1956 and retired a year later. He was named to the franchise's all-century team in 2000.

According to the Eagles Encyclopedia, Willey earned his nickname as a rookie. Eager to impress in training camp, he flattened quarterback Tommy Thompson during one scrimmage.

"Will somebody block that wild man?" Thompson yelled.

After his playing career, he coached and taught drivers education at Pennsville (N.J.) High. He was so highly regarded there that the winner of the school's annual Thanksgiving game with Penns Grove is awarded the Norm Willey Boot.

"He was a funny man," Pennsville superintendent Mark Jones told the South Jersey Times in 2011. "They told him he had to write lesson plans for his drivers education class. So he gave them one that said, 'Turn right. Turn left. Stop. Go.' "

Willey died at 83 in 2011.