The Shocking Trade of Detroit Lions Legend Bobby Layne

Late-night reveller Bobby Layne enjoyed jazz, Cutty Sark, cards, gambling, a room full of drinking companions singing “Ida Red,” and topping up the tab supplemented with a fat tip.
Known as the original “two minute quarterback,” the daring “ramblin,” “gamblin,” and Texan enjoyed the challenge of rallying from behind against all odds to win in the final seconds in front of ecstatic supporters at Briggs Stadium.

“I continue to believe that Bobby Layne was the sole person accountable for the triumph of football in Detroit,” stated legendary Lion Joe Schmidt, who was previously selected as the “Mr. Detroit Lion” by a local media panel.

The fact that the Lions have only won one postseason game since Bobby Layne was moved 51 years ago is one of the reasons given by some fans and journalists to justify the enigmatic “Curse of Bobby Layne” and the team’s losing ways.

The true question, though, is why the most renowned player on the club was abruptly traded following the 1958 season’s second game.

Notwithstanding all of his accomplishments, Detroit’s defeat by Chicago in the 1956 season’s final game sowed the seeds for Layne’s eventual exit. Ed Meadows of the Bears surprised Layne with a “dirty” hit late in the game, and backup Harry Gilmer was unable to get the Lions to respond.

Needing a reliable backup quarterback, Detroit unexpectedly chose to trade for Tobin Rote, the NFL’s top passer in 1956, from Green Bay.

During a contentious season in 1957, the astute decision would soon pay handsomely.

During training camp, Buddy Parker abruptly quit, George Wilson, the new coach, declared that he would switch up the quarterback position, and Layne was jailed for driving under the influence two weeks prior to the start of the season. Layne even made the embarrassing offer to retire. Only a few days before he suffered a broken ankle in the season’s final game, he was found not guilty. After leading the Lions to their third championship in six years, Rote emerged as the gridiron hero.

Layne and Rote continued to share time as the 1958 season got underway, with the team losing three exhibition games and the season opener in Baltimore.

“We have not had a solid quarterbacking job from them yet, but we know what Layne and Rote can do; it’s just a matter of getting everything working together,” George Wilson said to the Free Press on the eve of the second game in Green Bay.

But Layne’s final game as a Lion would be against Green Bay.

Layne’s wife Carol flew into Detroit, despite the fact that a business acquaintance talked him out of it. Layne was paged over the public address system as the pair entered the terminal. The news that he had been traded to Pittsburgh for quarterback Earl Morrall and two draft picks came from George Wilson. The only thing that gave Layne hope was that he would be reunited with Buddy Parker, who had taken over the Steelers.

Detroit was rocked by the decision.

“Like everyone else, my first thought was, ‘Why?'” said Los Angeles-based Alex Karras. Nobody was able to provide us with a satisfactory explanation, which really upset him. The team simply wasn’t the same once he left. He had to have done something that wasn’t beneficial to the NFL.

It had been challenging to alternate two number one quarterbacks, Wilson told reporters, and the Lions were receiving a younger quarterback and two high draft picks by acquiring Morrall.