Alex Karras has died at age 77. Karras was a star defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions for 12 years from 1958-1970. He should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but isn’t. He along with Paul Horning were suspended for the 1963 season for gambling on football. He was a 4 time All-Pro.
After his football career ended he got into acting. His greatest role was as “Mongo” in the funniest movie of all times, Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles” He would go on to announce for Monday Night Football for a few years and then star in the television show “Webster” in the early 1980’s.
slicethelife 
i think my favorite karras anecdote is after his return from the gambling suspension he was asked by the referee to call the coin flip and he replied – sorry sir i am not permitted to gamble. that is pure awesome. football wise he is probably more well known about his university of mars comment about otis sistrunk than for anything else.
this is a good article from john clayton.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8485788/alex-karras-humor-was-strength
this paragraph is very telling of the person
Through a friend, I got a note from one of his former teammates, Greg Barton. He played with Karras from 1968 to 1970, and Karras did the television commentary for Canadian Football League games for a couple of years when Barton played in the CFL.
“He is one of the funniest men I have ever been around,” Barton said. “Again, he was good to me and a friend. I remember playing a TV game in Canada and Alex was doing the color. I had talked to him prior to the game and told him that my father was very ill. He ‘talked’ to my dad on national television telling him he did a great job in raising a son and lots of other nice things. Boy that meant a lot to me.”