The Five Best Running Backs In San Diego Chargers History

Over the years, the San Diego Chargers have had some very good seasons.  This hasn't resulted in Super Bowl titles, but it has made them one of the more formidable teams from time to time.  

The Chargers have primarily been known as a passing team, thanks in large part to the great quarterbacks that have gone through there, including Dan Fouts, Drew Brees, John Hadl, and Philip Rivers.  Who though have been the best running backs the team has ever had?

With two and a half times as many rushing yards and more than three times as many rushing touchdowns as the second highest Chargers running back in those categories, it goes without saying that LaDainian Tomlinson ranks at the top of the list of all time great Chargers running backs.  Here is a little bit about him and the rest of the top five.

#1 - LaDainian Tomlinson

LaDainian Tomlinson is by far the best running back that the Chargers have ever had.  During his career he set the team record for most games, attempts, yards, and touchdowns.  By the time his time with the team was done, it was obvious that he had put together a career worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  He finished his time there with 2,880 attempts for 12,490 yards, and 138 touchdowns.  He also finished with seven of the top eight individual rushing seasons in team history too.

#2 - Natrone Means

Natrone Means came to the Chargers as a highly rated running back out of the University of North Carolina.  In 1994, his second season in the league, he set the team record for carries and total yards when he carried the ball 343 times for 1,350 yards.  That is still the third best season ever by a Chargers running back.  He would eventually put up 3,885 yards and 34 touchdowns for San Diego during his career.

#3 - Paul Lowe

Paul Loe was the first main running back the team had, debuting for the Chargers in their first season ever, 1960.  He would play until 1968, putting up a total of 4,972 yards in his career.  That total would stand as a team record until it was eclipsed by Tomlinson more than 35 years later.  His 38 career rushing touchdowns would also stand as a record until Tomlinson came along too.

#4 - Marion Butts

He wasn't flashy, but he was very effective, and Marion Butts was a fan favorite during his five seasons in San Diego.  When he rushed for 1,225 yards during his rookie season in 1990, it set a team record for rushing yards in one season.  He finished his career with San Diego with 1,031 attempts, the most in team history at that point, for 4,297 yards and 31 touchdowns.

#5 - Chuck Muncie

Chuck Muncie came to San Diego from the New Orleans Saints during the famed "Air Coryell" years.  He was not only a very good runner, but he had decent pass catching skills too.  He played for the team from 1980 to 1984 and by the time he was done he had set the team record for career rushing touchdowns with 43, a record that stood until eclipsed by LaDainian Tomlinson in the early 2000s.

More great San Diego Chargers trivia can be found at IQFB.com! Use the knowledge found there to impress your friends, win bets, or even just for general information. Football trivia is popular with a lot of people whether they are fans of the NFL, USFL, Arena Football, Canadian Football, College Football, or any other level of the game. IQFB... Get Football Smart.

Sports Wall Graphics - Feel Your Team Spirit

From that first little league softball game to that spiral kick on the football field that gives many of us the true devotion for the love of the game. A sport not only builds character but by participating you become part of a team. We all have different attributes and interests which make every person unique. Our surroundings should become part of us and help to proudly display our personalities. With sports consuming a big portion of our lives, it would only be natural to want to show off our pride to others.

A new interior decorating idea that has become very popular is to use vinyl wall decals. Fortunately, for the sports enthusiast there are numerous sport wall graphics literally from skateboarding to rock climbing. They are made on a tear resistant adhesive backed vinyl and are UV treated. This means they won't fade even if under constant direct sunlight. You just apply these on any smooth surface by peel and stick.

Home wall decorating can't be much easier then this technique. Sport wall graphics are contour cut, removable, repositionable, reusable and leave no sticky residue behind.

You can feature your sport wall graphics on any wall and in any room of the house. You tend to see this design in bedrooms, family rooms, garages and most dorm rooms. This trend has also taken quite a hold on apartment dwellers. For tenants that cannot paint this is a great outlet to awaken those dull walls. Since it leaves no marks or damage to the walls you can still decorate with piece of mind and get your deposit back when you move.

These decals come in all sizes, shapes and colors. You can purchase complete ready made kits or you can pick and choose to create your own design. With new technology you can take a picture and have it printed right on the vinyl. For an example I had a graphic made of my son in his football gear 4'x 4' and he became the focal point of the wall. You might say that my star is now the wall star! Around his picture are smaller pictures of pros and their stats. This was all my son's idea and because of this, his room is truly his own haven. He can't wait to bring his friends up to his room and hear their comments when they see his creation.

Gift giving seems like it is getting harder and harder no mater who the recipient is. This example might get your imagination churning. For my nephews high school graduation gift I put together sport wall graphics for his new dorm room for college. He was a huge fan of the hometown soccer league in his area. He also had a black belt in karate. Without his knowledge I was able to capture him at a competition and had a wall sports graphics mural made from that snap shot.

To his amazement I also had every face of all the soccer players. When I came to visit him on a family weekend I was the one that was amazed to see the work of art he had created with my gift. When you entered his domain you had the feeling you were enveloped in the world of sports. It was an awesome feeling.

Try this inexpensive technique that promotes drama, intrigue, fun and conversation according to your sports interests. Add on or take off from your design. One thing is for sure, you will never get bored. Open up your mind and get to work before next season starts. Stand up and cheer for your favorite team!

Barbara Tobiasz is an expert in interior/exterior decorating. Along with her husband Joe, they own and operate Wall-Decor-Concepts.com. For more information on Sports Wall Graphics, go to Wall Graphics at: http://www.Wall-Decor-Concepts.com

Heisman Memorial Trophy Design

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is a statue cast in bronze during a process called bronze medal molding, its finished product standing over a foot tall and weighing twenty-five pounds. The trophy's figure is depicted as sidestepping and straight-arming an imaginary tackler on his way down-field to score a touchdown.

When the Club Trophy Committee, appointed by the Downtown Athletic Club, set out to visualize an appropriate design for the trophy, its members bypassed the idea of the cup or bowl commonly associated with awards honoring athletic achievement. They wanted their DAC Trophy to have a distinctive look that was all its own as a visual symbol of the athletic talent it would seek to recognize each year. They finally agreed upon the figure of a muscular football player making a dash down the field in pursuit of a touchdown. Once the design was finalized, they decided, they would erect the figure in bronze as a symbolic conveyance of imperishability.

The committee then commissioned sculptor Frank Eliscu to design the trophy, which was modeled in the likeness of Ed Smith, a New York University football player who had been the leading college football player in 1934. To get the pose just right for his figure, Eliscu had developed a rough clay prototype - then after the prototype gained the approval of the Club Trophy Committee, it was passed along for inspection by Jim Crowley, head coach at Fordham University. Eliscu visited the football field on the Rose Hill campus, where Crowley had his players demonstrate the football sidestep, forward drive, and strong arm as the sculptor manipulated the limbs of his prototype until he was satisfied that its pose effectively conveyed their actions - football firmly tucked under the left arm, right stiff-arm outstretched, right leg extended forward in a lunge position. Satisfied with his developments, the sculptor cast the figure in plaster. Upon receiving approval at a 1935 dinner event at the McAlpin Hotel, which was attended by the entire Notre Dame football team and its coach who were all astonished by the utterly lifelike depiction of a football player in action. Thus, the model was approved once and for all, cast in bronze, and presented to the first Heisman Trophy recipient, Jay Berwanger, later in December of that same year - although at that time, the recipient received it as the DAC Trophy.

Heisman trophies have sold for amounts in the six-figures ranging from $228,000 in 2005 for sculptor Frank Eliscu's original plaster cast for the trophy to just over $395,000 for the 1941 trophy of Bruce Smith, former University of Minnesota halfback. In 1999, O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy sold, as part of the $33million settlement for his murder case, for $230,000. Not long after the 1994 chase involving his white Ford Bronco, his alma mater's replica of the trophy was stolen from Heritage Hall at the University of Southern California and has never since been recovered despite extensive investigations. In 1999, Larry Kelley also sold his Heisman Trophy for $318,110 in order to settle his estate and have something to pass on to his younger relatives when he died. Not long after selling the trophy, he had a stroke and died of a gunshot wound that was determined to be self-iNFLicted. The Heisman Trophy is arguably the most notable trophy in all of sports, being elevated far beyond the standard crystal sports award.

The author of this article is 10 year veteran in the crystal awards and recognition gifts industry.