Former TCU Football Standout Dies
2/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 18, 2002
Former TCU football standout Tommy Joe Crutcher died in his sleep on Saturday. He was 60.
Crutcher played both fullback and linebacker at TCU, lettering from 1961-63. He earned All-America honors at fullback as a senior following the 1963 season. He was a key figure in the Horned Frogs' 6-0 upset of No. 1 Texas on November 18, 1961. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram selected Mr. Crutcher to its all-time TCU team as a linebacker in 1995.
Crutcher began and ended his nine-year NFL career in Green Bay. He was drafted by Green Bay out of TCU in 1964 and helped the Packers win three straight NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls. He was traded to the New York Giants following the team's third straight championship in 1967. He started two seasons for the Giants before being traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1970, where he spent the year on injured reserve. Crutcher rejoined the Packers in 1971 and retired after the 1972 season.
Crutcher was part owner and manager of the Southwest Grain Co. in McCook, Texas.
``He was a tough, hard-nosed football player in the Texas tradition,'' said Lee Remmel, who covered the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette during the Vince Lombardi era. ``He played with a great love for the game and always had a smile on his face.''
The funeral will be on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Turrentine Jackson & Morrow Funeral Home in McKinney, Texas. There is also a wake scheduled for family and friends at the funeral home on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
