R.I.P. Apollo (Carl Weathers)

[nycdan]

Just saw the news that Carl Weathers has died.  Loved him in Rocky, Predator, and more recently The Mandalorian.  

Also of note, he was a linebacker for the Raiders in 1970/71.

[TuscanyTile2]

[nycdan]

 

[Barry McCockinner]

[section314]

RIP Apollo. 😩

[The Crusher]

Thank  you for the memories Champ! RIP

[hmhertz]

He ruined the career of a promising jets guard who ran the

40 in 4.7-

Here we can speak of premature endings in another way. Sometimes an injury is the true ending of a career that moves on past the injury, but never with the same high expectations. In 1971, Roy Kirksey #63 was a promising rookie offensive guard whom the Jets drafted in 1971 and were using on kickoffs and punts. According to a curiously vague PDF on his career, Kirksey's promise was cut short that rookie year when he tore ligaments in his right ankle during the second preseason game.

The story takes a curious turn when we go back to the actual origins of the injury, to an allegedly dirty hit by Apollo Creed himself, Carl Weathers, who played in #49 for the Oakland Raiders in 1971. Later in his career, Weathers would also play for the British Columbia Lions, and in his CFL Scrapbook bio, which quotes from a 1979 article by Jim Proudfoot in the Toronto Star, the matter of his "cruel elimination of Roy Kirksey" is taken up.

Sounding almost like a mounty, the writer insists that Kirksey "was one of those reckless chaps who dashes madly downfield under punts and kickoffs." Indeed, my good man. However, in a rookie season not yet even formed, Kirksey had already caught the attention of the Raiders, who played the Jets in the second preseason game. There's enough evidence in the article to suggest that the Raiders - those paragons of fair play and human decency - had put their special teams on notice that Kirksey showed speed and good pursuit on kickoffs and would be singled out for punishment because of it. Drafted in 1971, in the eighth round, Roy Kirksey was about to have his dream cut short. As he went after the man with the ball, Kirksey was hunted from behind by Carl Weathers, who hit him low to the ground and wrecked Kirksey's ankle.

Proudfoot says:

Weathers never denied that he’d deserved a clipping penalty (for the hit), though none was imposed. He’s also admitted he’d been costing Raiders so much yardage, game in and game out, for clips that coach John Madden had threatened to fine him for his next offence. And he finally confirms that Raiders had decided, after watching films of Jets at work, that Kirksey would have to be singled out for special treatment.

Does a bounty need to be formal to be real, or is football just a game that necessitates that "somebody stop that guy," regardless of how he is stopped? The fact that Weathers did what he did would be typical of the way the Raiders did business back in those days, but it also smacks of what football is - a war of attrition, a game of elimination.

The "cruel" part of the elimination is that because of the ankle injury Kirksey never saw his potential realized. He played sporadically for the Jets and the Eagles afterwards. What does it mean to know that everything you have heretofore worked for can be eliminated in a single moment that was, in many ways, brought about because your opponents actually recognized your talent? "I think about Weathers every day when the weather turns cold and that ankle starts hurting," Kirksey is quoted as saying. "I think about how that one play messed up my whole career. I saw the films on it and how No. 49 followed me all the way and went for my legs." He might have been reminded of the pain of it again if he ever watched Action Jackson, or maybe if he ever watches the four Rocky films in which Apollo Creed appears. I cannot help but feel that if he ever sees Rocky Balboa going to work on Creed in I and II, or when Drago finishes him off in IV, that Roy Kirksey may have a special desire to see Carl Weathers brought low, if only in a fiction, as Shakespeare puts it, in a dream of passion.

 

Posted by Infinite Jets at 1:00 PM 

[Pac]

This is a bummer.  Between the Rocky's, Predator, and Happy Gilmore he was in movies I've seen dozens of times throughout my youth.  In fact I just got the Rocky collection on 4k blu ray and had watched them all again last week. Rip. 

[slimjasi]

RIP 

legend 

[Adoni Beast]

L E G E N D A R Y 

[Paradis]

Dillon!! 

[Adoni Beast]

37 minutes ago, nycdan said:

Just saw the news that Carl Weathers has died.  Loved him in Rocky, Predator, and more recently The Mandalorian.  

Also of note, he was a linebacker for the Raiders in 1970/71.

STUD!!!

[bicketybam]

[JiFtheOracle]

this is one of my very favorite gifs off all time and something I love to send to my golf buddies when we book a tee time

RIP 

[JetPotato]

Don't forget the epic appearances on Arrested Development 

[Alworth]

For us older Jets fans, the Roy Kirksey story that hmhettz brings to light above is the lead about Weathers, not his acting exploits. 

[Beerfish]

I first knew of him years and years ago when he played in the CFL briefly for the BC Lions, well before he became an actor.

[JetsFanatic]

RIP Apollo Creed

[maury77]

RIP Dillon, you sonnuva bitch. 

[Wit]

THERE IS MONEY IN THE BANANA STAND


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[doitny]

this is sad... R.I.P

on a side note the Gronk " kick of destiny" has Carl Weathers picking up Gronk telling him. " come with me and your not going to lose this time"

i guess they have all been taped already right? i wonder what if there still going to do that.

[rex-n-effect]

RIP. 

He never got to see Zach Wilson win a super bowl.

[Drums]

He taught me how to get a stew going. RIP.

[Jets0712]

RIP Apollo. Sad day. He was the co star in my 2 favorite movies of all time Rocky & Predator.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[Maxman]

Absolute legend. This is devastating, he was in amazing shape.

May he rest in peace.

They could not have cast a better Apollo Creed. He was made for the role and the franchise would not have been the same without him.

[The Crusher]

16 hours ago, hmhertz said:

He ruined the career of a promising jets guard who ran the

40 in 4.7-

Here we can speak of premature endings in another way. Sometimes an injury is the true ending of a career that moves on past the injury, but never with the same high expectations. In 1971, Roy Kirksey #63 was a promising rookie offensive guard whom the Jets drafted in 1971 and were using on kickoffs and punts. According to a curiously vague PDF on his career, Kirksey's promise was cut short that rookie year when he tore ligaments in his right ankle during the second preseason game.

The story takes a curious turn when we go back to the actual origins of the injury, to an allegedly dirty hit by Apollo Creed himself, Carl Weathers, who played in #49 for the Oakland Raiders in 1971. Later in his career, Weathers would also play for the British Columbia Lions, and in his CFL Scrapbook bio, which quotes from a 1979 article by Jim Proudfoot in the Toronto Star, the matter of his "cruel elimination of Roy Kirksey" is taken up.

Sounding almost like a mounty, the writer insists that Kirksey "was one of those reckless chaps who dashes madly downfield under punts and kickoffs." Indeed, my good man. However, in a rookie season not yet even formed, Kirksey had already caught the attention of the Raiders, who played the Jets in the second preseason game. There's enough evidence in the article to suggest that the Raiders - those paragons of fair play and human decency - had put their special teams on notice that Kirksey showed speed and good pursuit on kickoffs and would be singled out for punishment because of it. Drafted in 1971, in the eighth round, Roy Kirksey was about to have his dream cut short. As he went after the man with the ball, Kirksey was hunted from behind by Carl Weathers, who hit him low to the ground and wrecked Kirksey's ankle.

Proudfoot says:

Weathers never denied that he’d deserved a clipping penalty (for the hit), though none was imposed. He’s also admitted he’d been costing Raiders so much yardage, game in and game out, for clips that coach John Madden had threatened to fine him for his next offence. And he finally confirms that Raiders had decided, after watching films of Jets at work, that Kirksey would have to be singled out for special treatment.

Does a bounty need to be formal to be real, or is football just a game that necessitates that "somebody stop that guy," regardless of how he is stopped? The fact that Weathers did what he did would be typical of the way the Raiders did business back in those days, but it also smacks of what football is - a war of attrition, a game of elimination.

The "cruel" part of the elimination is that because of the ankle injury Kirksey never saw his potential realized. He played sporadically for the Jets and the Eagles afterwards. What does it mean to know that everything you have heretofore worked for can be eliminated in a single moment that was, in many ways, brought about because your opponents actually recognized your talent? "I think about Weathers every day when the weather turns cold and that ankle starts hurting," Kirksey is quoted as saying. "I think about how that one play messed up my whole career. I saw the films on it and how No. 49 followed me all the way and went for my legs." He might have been reminded of the pain of it again if he ever watched Action Jackson, or maybe if he ever watches the four Rocky films in which Apollo Creed appears. I cannot help but feel that if he ever sees Rocky Balboa going to work on Creed in I and II, or when Drago finishes him off in IV, that Roy Kirksey may have a special desire to see Carl Weathers brought low, if only in a fiction, as Shakespeare puts it, in a dream of passion.

 

Posted by Infinite Jets at 1:00 PM 

Are you sure it wasn’t the MetLife Turf? 

[playtowinthegame]

RIP, Carl Weathers

[TuscanyTile2]

 

[Integrity28]

Rest in peace to a great one.

[Jet_Engine1]

21 hours ago, hmhertz said:

He ruined the career of a promising jets guard who ran the

40 in 4.7-

Here we can speak of premature endings in another way. Sometimes an injury is the true ending of a career that moves on past the injury, but never with the same high expectations. In 1971, Roy Kirksey #63 was a promising rookie offensive guard whom the Jets drafted in 1971 and were using on kickoffs and punts. According to a curiously vague PDF on his career, Kirksey's promise was cut short that rookie year when he tore ligaments in his right ankle during the second preseason game.

The story takes a curious turn when we go back to the actual origins of the injury, to an allegedly dirty hit by Apollo Creed himself, Carl Weathers, who played in #49 for the Oakland Raiders in 1971. Later in his career, Weathers would also play for the British Columbia Lions, and in his CFL Scrapbook bio, which quotes from a 1979 article by Jim Proudfoot in the Toronto Star, the matter of his "cruel elimination of Roy Kirksey" is taken up.

Sounding almost like a mounty, the writer insists that Kirksey "was one of those reckless chaps who dashes madly downfield under punts and kickoffs." Indeed, my good man. However, in a rookie season not yet even formed, Kirksey had already caught the attention of the Raiders, who played the Jets in the second preseason game. There's enough evidence in the article to suggest that the Raiders - those paragons of fair play and human decency - had put their special teams on notice that Kirksey showed speed and good pursuit on kickoffs and would be singled out for punishment because of it. Drafted in 1971, in the eighth round, Roy Kirksey was about to have his dream cut short. As he went after the man with the ball, Kirksey was hunted from behind by Carl Weathers, who hit him low to the ground and wrecked Kirksey's ankle.

Proudfoot says:

Weathers never denied that he’d deserved a clipping penalty (for the hit), though none was imposed. He’s also admitted he’d been costing Raiders so much yardage, game in and game out, for clips that coach John Madden had threatened to fine him for his next offence. And he finally confirms that Raiders had decided, after watching films of Jets at work, that Kirksey would have to be singled out for special treatment.

Does a bounty need to be formal to be real, or is football just a game that necessitates that "somebody stop that guy," regardless of how he is stopped? The fact that Weathers did what he did would be typical of the way the Raiders did business back in those days, but it also smacks of what football is - a war of attrition, a game of elimination.

The "cruel" part of the elimination is that because of the ankle injury Kirksey never saw his potential realized. He played sporadically for the Jets and the Eagles afterwards. What does it mean to know that everything you have heretofore worked for can be eliminated in a single moment that was, in many ways, brought about because your opponents actually recognized your talent? "I think about Weathers every day when the weather turns cold and that ankle starts hurting," Kirksey is quoted as saying. "I think about how that one play messed up my whole career. I saw the films on it and how No. 49 followed me all the way and went for my legs." He might have been reminded of the pain of it again if he ever watched Action Jackson, or maybe if he ever watches the four Rocky films in which Apollo Creed appears. I cannot help but feel that if he ever sees Rocky Balboa going to work on Creed in I and II, or when Drago finishes him off in IV, that Roy Kirksey may have a special desire to see Carl Weathers brought low, if only in a fiction, as Shakespeare puts it, in a dream of passion.

 

Posted by Infinite Jets at 1:00 PM 

JFC....

[jetsons]

R.I.P. 🥊