Rob Lytle

Rob Lytle

refer to caption

Lytle scores a Michigan touchdown, 1974
No. 25, 41
Position: Running back
Personal information
Date of birth: (1954-11-12)November 12, 1954
Place of birth: Fremont, Ohio
Date of death: November 20, 2010(2010-11-20) (aged 56)
Place of death: Fremont, Ohio
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight: 198 lb (90 kg)
Career information
High school: Ross (Fremont, OH)
College: Michigan
NFL draft: 1977 / Round: 2 / Pick: 45
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games: 87
Rushing yards: 1,451
Touchdowns: 14
Player stats at PFR

Robert William "Rob" Lytle (November 12, 1954 – November 20, 2010) was an American football player.

A native of Fremont, Ohio, Lytle played college football as a tailback and fullback for the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1976. He broke Michigan's career record with 3,307 rushing yards and was selected as a consensus first-team running back on the 1976 College Football All-America Team. He was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

Lytle later played at the running back position for the Denver Broncos of National Football League (NFL) from 1977 to 1983. In seven NFL seasons, Lytle compiled 1,451 rushing yards and 562 receiving yards and scored the Broncos' only touchdown in Super Bowl XII.

Early years

Lytle was born in Fremont, Ohio, in 1954. He attended Ross High School in Fremont.[1]

University of Michigan

Lytle enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1973 and played college football as a tailback and fullback for Bo Schembechler's Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1973 to 1976.[2]

As a sophomore, Lytle was the second leading rusher on the 1974 Michigan Wolverines football team with 802 rushing yards on 140 carries for an average of 5.7 yards per carry.[3]

As a junior, Lytle was the starting fullback in all 12 games for the 1975 Michigan Wolverines football team.[4] Lytle was the again the team's second leading rusher with 1,030 rushing yards on 193 carries for an average of 5.3 yards per carry.[3]

As a senior, Lytle started nine games at fullback and three games at tailback for the 1976 Michigan Wolverines football team that compiled a 10-2 record and finished the season ranked #3 in the final AP Poll.[5] He was the team's leading rusher with 1,469 rushing yards on 221 carries and 14 rushing touchdowns.[3] At the end of his senior year, he was selected as a consensus first-team running back on the 1976 College Football All-America Team.[6] He also finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting behind Tony Dorsett and Ricky Bell.

During three years as a regular player at Michigan, Lytle broke the Michigan career record with 3,307 rushing yards. His record was broken five years later by Butch Woolfolk, and he now ranks seventh in rushing yards by a Michigan player.[7] Lytle was involved in two games in which Michigan had three rushers accumulate 100 yards.[8] Lytle was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015.[9]

Professional football

Lytle was selected by the Denver Broncos in the second round (45th overall pick) of the 1977 NFL Draft.[1] Lytle spent seven seasons in the NFL with the Broncos. During that time, he rushed for 1,451 yards, caught 61 passes for 562 yards, returned six kickoffs for 99 yards, and scored 14 touchdowns (12 rushing and two receiving).[1] He also scored the only touchdown of the game for the Broncos in Super Bowl XII. Lytle holds the distinction of being the first player to score a touchdown in both a Rose Bowl and a Super Bowl.

Later years

Lytle suffered a heart attack and died at Fremont Memorial Hospital in Fremont, Ohio. He is survived by his wife Tracy Lytle, his son Kelly Lytle, his daughter Erin Lytle Tober, his granddaughter Audrey and his father William Lytle.[10][11][12][13][14]

Footage of Lytle with the Denver Broncos was used in the 1988 film Everybody's All-American.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Rob Lytle". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  2. ↑ "All-Time Football Roster Database". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Michigan Football Statistic Archive Query Page". University of Michigan. Retrieved March 27, 2015.(to retrieve information for a particular season, go to "Games & Totals by Season" and select the year for which statistics are to be retrieved)
  4. ↑ "1975 Football Team". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  5. ↑ "1976 Football Team". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  6. ↑ "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. p. 7. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Michigan Football Statistic Archive Query Page". Regents of the University of Michigan. 2003. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  8. ↑ "Michigan Football Statistic Archive Query Page". University of Michigan. (The two games are: October 18, 1975 vs. Northwestern - Huckleby [157], Lytle [105], Bell [100]; September 18, 1976 vs. Stanford - Huckleby [157], Davis [116], Lytle [100])
  9. ↑ Mark Snyder (January 9, 2015). "Former U-M RB Lytle elected to College Football HOF". Detroit Free Press.
  10. ↑ "U-M All-American Rob Lytle dies at 56".
  11. ↑ "Rob Lytle, All-American Back, Dies at 56". The New York Times. November 21, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Michigan All-American Rob Lytle dies at 56". The Detroit News. November 21, 2010.
  13. ↑ "ROB LYTLE, 1954-2010: Fremont native was All-American". Toledo Blade. November 21, 2010.
  14. ↑ Mike Klis (November 21, 2010). "Lytle a super rookie with '77 Broncos: Former teammates are stunned to hear about the death of "a great guy" and tough runner". Denver Post.
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