Guy Prather
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| No. 51 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Linebacker | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | March 28, 1958 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Gaithersburg, Maryland | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 230 lb (104 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | Grambling State | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics as of 1985 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
March 28th, 2016-April 20th, 2016 (Age 58) Guy Prather is a former linebacker in the National Football League. He played five seasons with the Green Bay Packers.[1] The No. 51 jersey of former Green Bay Packers linebacker Guy Prather hangs on a wall outside the main gym at Gaithersburg High School. Prather’s jersey is nestled among a cadre of Gaithersburg High alums who played in the National Football League. Names like Tony Greene (Buffalo Bills), Steve Young, (Houston Oilers), Phil Livingston (Oakland Raiders), Tom McHale (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), James Joyce (Denver Broncos) and Robert Jackson (Arizona Cardinals) also adorn the wall.
The Gaithersburg football program has a storied history that dates back to the 1950’s when the legendary John H. Harvill roamed the sidelines.
Ellsworth “Tookey” Turner remembers watching a teenaged Prather during a junior varsity scrimmage at Gaithersburg High in the early 1970’s.
“Damn, this kid is all over the place,” remembered Turner, a former Gaithersburg quarterback who went on to play at North Carolina A&T, “I knew Harvill was going to bring him up to the varsity.”
Prather, who was diagnosed with colon cancer last May, recounted fond memories of growing up in Gaithersburg with his first cousin, Garland Owens.
After Prather’s parents divorced, he moved in with the Owens family and developed a love for the game of football.
Guy Prather's jersey hangs in Gaithersburg High School. He credits Fred Joyce, a former Gaithersburg assistant coach who died last month, with helping him develop into a college football prospect.
“Coach Joyce was a heck of a football player in college,” Prather said about the former University of Maryland standout. “He taught me the fundamentals of football.”
During his tenure at Gaithersburg, Prather helped guide the Trojans to a 24-6 record including a combined 15-5 mark in his junior and senior campaigns.
“John Harvill also taught me quite a bit,” said Prather, “I did well in all phases: offense, defense and special teams.”
Prather, 57, spent three seasons on the Gaithersburg varsity before earning a football scholarship to Grambling State University where he played for the legendary Eddie Robinson.
“I used to read about Eddie Robinson,” Prather recalled. “I used to watch Grambling football every Saturday and he inspired me.”
At Grambling, Prather also shared a locker room with a tall, lanky quarterback named Doug Williams. In 1977, Williams emerged as one of the NCAA’s passing leaders in several categories including passing yardage and touchdown passes. He also finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Prather, who was also recruited by Kentucky, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Maryland, recalled a conversation he once had with Grambling’s star quarterback.
“Doug Williams pulled me aside,” Prather remembered. “He said ‘son you’re going to be great one day’ and that inspired me to play.”
During his tenure at Grambling, Williams guided the Tigers to three conference championships and was twice named the Black College Player of the Year.
“Doug was one of my heroes,” Prather admitted. “I looked up to him.”
The Gaithersburg native signed on as an NFL free agent with the Dallas Cowboys before landing with the Packers. He spent five seasons with the Packers before hanging up his cleats in 1985.
“I went from John Harvill to Eddie Robinson to Bart Starr to Forrest Gregg,” he said.
During his NFL tenure, Prather played against some of the league’s all-time greats such as Tony Dorsett, Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen and rubbed elbows with coaching legends like Mike Ditka, Dan Reeves and Gene Stallings.
“My NFL experience was so phenomenal,” he added. “Some of the guys I played against came out of the Montgomery County area.”
Prather even recalled playing against former Churchill standout Brian Holloway who once toiled for the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Raiders.
“Montgomery County put out a lot of ballplayers,” said Prather. “Trust what I’m saying.”
@BLS1969 [2]
References
- ↑ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/P/PratGu20.htm
- ↑ Simms, Brandy L. (February 27, 2016). "The Packers Connection". The Sentinel.