Raiders T Harry Schuh Was a 5-Time AFL All-Star
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Tackle Harry Schuh was a standout for the Oakland Raiders during several years in the American Football League, helping the Silver and Black reach the Super Bowl for first time at the end of the 1967 season, when they won their first AFL Championship.
The 6-3, 260-pound Schuh was selected by the Raiders with the third overall pick of the 1965 AFL Draft by General Manager and Coach Al Davis after the New York Jets chose quarterback Joe Namath out of Alabama and the Houston Oilers chose wide receiver Larry Elkins of Baylor.
There were a lot of shenanigans that went on during the AFL-NFL war, and the Raiders after drafting Schuh hid him out in a hotel Las Vegas because the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL also were interested in him.
The Raiders signed Schuh before the Rams even had a chance to pick him.
“I always laugh at how Schuh joined the Raiders after a cross-country escape to counter the NFL’s Operation Handholding, in which he hid from (Harp Pool of the Rams) in a Vegas hotel before being drafted in Hawaii,” one observer said. “It doesn’t take away from his great career, but the story’s always stuck with me.”
Schuh, who was selected as a first-team All-American at the University of Memphis in 1964 and 1965, stepped right into the starting lineup for the Raiders during his rookie season in Oakland and remained there for almost six full years.
“Schuh’s best seasons in football came in his last four years in Oakland,” when he helped protect quarterback Daryle Lamonica and opened holes for running back Charlie Smith, according to Fansided. “Schuh played in 88 games during his time with the Raiders.
“Schuh would make the AFL All-Star team in 1967 and 1969, as well as his lone trip to the Pro Bowl in 1970, the year the AFL-NFL merger was completed, after also making All-Pro honors in 1969. During that four-year run from 1967 to 1970, Schuh was without doubt one of the best offensive tackles in football.”
Schuh was a mainstay for the 1967 Raiders, who posted a 13-1 record during the regular season before routing the Houston Oilers, 40-7, in the AFL Championship Game, but they lost to the Green Bay Packers, 33-14, in Super Bowl II.
In 1970, Schuh made his only appearance in the Pro Bowl after the merger, although he was a regular in the AFL All-Star Game for the five previous seasons. He was the first Raiders offensive tackle to go to a Pro Bowl and be named first-team All-Pro.
“We had a great offensive line in those days, with Hall of Famers Jim Otto, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, and guys like Harry Schuh, who in my mind even though he received some honors, was very underrated,” Lamonica said. “Just like those other guys, I knew I could always count on him.”
Schuh, who is a member of the Raiders’ all-time team and also was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in Pennsylvania where he grew up, was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1971 for another future Hall of Famer, Bob Brown, who replaced him at right tackle.
After starring for the Rams over the next three seasons, he was dealt again to the Green Bay Packers, where he finished his career in 1974.
Schuh became the fifth Memphis player to have his jersey (No. 79, which he also wore with the Raiders) retired in a ceremony at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Oct. 15, 2011, and was selected to the M-Club Hall of Fame in 1981 in addition to the Tennessee State Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.
On May 20, 2013, Schuh passed away suddenly at his home in Memphis, Tenn., at the age of 70. No cause of death was given.
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