Elmo didn’t play football until around his jr yr in high school. He was a musician (played Saxophone and piano). He said one day someone yelled, “hey Elmo” and he turned around and a football hit him in the mouth. Tore his lip up pretty bad and he couldn’t play the sax. He quit the band that day and the football coach asked him to join the team.
Two guys got injured and the coach put Elmo out there. He said his motivation was, “not getting hit”. However he was very elusive. He said he watched a lot of football and that helped him with his moves.
He said all of this in an interview when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Man he sure was fun to watch. At UH and also with the Chiefs.
Elmo was also one of the nicest human beings you could ever meet.
I remember the uproar within his Christian family when he was named first team All-America by Playboy magazine lol.
It wasn’t that he was named All-American, it was the fact that he was asked to attend the Playboy mansion to accept the award.
I remember interviewing Mo later and how embarrassed he was about going to Chicago (?) to accept the award. But as he blushed during the interview, he also had a rather slyish grin.
Last time I heard the Sweeny whiz was living in the Woodlands and working as an Engineer.
One last story, and I saw this with my own eyes at Mississippi. Elmo caught an 80 yard touchdown and before he could dance got tackled by a Rebel player…of course there was no call. The Coogs and Elmo got their revenge with a convincing 29-7 win after trailing 7-0 at the half to the Archie Manning led Rebels.
Phillips and Hazard were great receivers who caught a lot of passes. I would probably put Phillips on my all-time UH team, either him, Hazard or Dell. But you would have to be pretty mediocre not to catch a lot of passes in an offense that threw 63 times per game. Elmo is pretty much head and shoulders above everyone else. He was 1st Team AP All American his senior year and 2nd team as a junior. He averaged 20 ypc. IMO, the only positions where there’s a clear-cut best-ever are wide receiver, linebacker, and tight end.
I am assuming the GrayTheCoog isn’t old enough to think of Elmo Wright who is definitely our greatest receiver. But of those listed I chose Patrick Edwards
When posting a poll like that, one should always put a time frame because it’s always comparing apples and oranges. Piling up statistics in today’s games with the rules so protective of quarterbacks and receivers, with all of the restrictions on defensive players you really can’t compare. Add to that the fact that the first string used to play both ways and it took two plays to change out squads. Football today is a whole different game.
I’m not saying he was mediocre. I wrote that “I would probably put him on my all-time UH team.” I’m just making the point that catching a lot of passes during the run-n-shoot years isn’t necessarily indicative of greatness. Having said that, I would probably have Phillips on my 1st team all-time UH team with Elmo.