Earl McCullouch

Earl McCullouch
Medal record
Men's track and field
Representing the United States
Pan American Games

Receptions:	124
Receiving yards:	2,319
Touchdowns:	19

Earl McCullouch
	1968 / Round: 1 / Pick: 24
Career history
	Detroit Lions (1968–1973); New Orleans Saints (1974);
Career highlights and awards
	NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (1968); National champion (1967);
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:
Receptions:	124
Receiving yards:	2,319
Touchdowns:	19
	Player stats at NFL.com

Earl R. McCullouch (born January 10, 1946) is a retired American football wide receiver. McCullouch was the world record holder for the 110 meter men's high hurdle sprint from July 1967 to July 1969. When attending the University of Southern California, McCullouch was a member of the USC Trojan Football teams (wide receiver) and the USC Track & Field teams (120 yard high hurdles and 4×110 sprint relay) in 1967 and 1968. The USC Track 4×110 yard relay team, for which McCullouch ran the start leg, set the world record in 1967 that remains today, as the metric 4 × 100 m relay is now the commonly contested event.

High school career

McCullouch attended

Encino, California) in the 180 yard low hurdles at 18.1. The record was never broken and the event was discontinued in regular high school competition in 1974.^[1] He swept both the 120 yard high hurdles and the 180 low hurdles at the CIF California State Meet in 1964 (defeating Caminiti).^[2]

In 1964 McCullouch was named Co-Athlete of the Year in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section by the Helms Athletic Foundation.^[3] He earned the award in conjunction with pole vaulter Paul Wilson.^[3]

College career

Next he attended community college and played football at Long Beach City College where he helped lead the [1964 Long Beach Vikings footall team]] to the junor college national championship. He later transferred to the University of Southern California.

McCullouch played

1968 NFL Draft after his senior year. McCullouch was known for having elite sprinter speed and used it on both the track and the football field. Wearing No. 22 during the 1967 and 1968 seasons, McCulloch played wide receiver on an offensive USC Trojan Football squad that featured tailback O. J. Simpson. Defensive coverages had difficulty covering McCullouch in pass routes and chasing him after pass completions due to his sprinter's speed. McCullouch also provided down-field blocking on break-away plays, often for 1968 Heisman Trophy

winner Simpson.

As a member of the USC Track & Field team, McCulloch was the NCAA 110 Yard High Hurdle champion in 1967 and 1968, the NCAA 60 yard indoor high hurdle champion in 1968, and was the lead leg sprinter of the USC NCAA 4 X 110 yard sprint relay team in 1967 and 1968 (the team also featured Simpson and future Olympian sprinter Lennox Miller). The USC Trojan sprint relay team (McCulloch, Fred Kuller, Simpson, and Lennox Miller – in order) set a 4 X 110 yard sprint relay world record (38.6 sec.) in the 1967 NCAA Track & Field Championships in Provo, Utah on June 17, 1967. In the era of metric-distance sprint world records, this world record still stands today and is likely not to be broken.

McCullough was on the cover of the April 1968 issue of

Track and Field News.^[4]

Professional career

As the world record holder and

Olympic Trials^[5] and Olympics were scheduled for late in the year, September and October respectively, well into the football season. And while the Olympics meant glory, there was no money to be made in the amateur days of the Olympics. McCullouch had a tough choice between his two sports. He chose to enter the NFL draft. Willie Davenport

went on to win both the trials and the Olympics. A year later, Davenport finally beat McCullouch's world record.

McCullouch was drafted by the

NFL Rookie of the Year in 1968. He played 7 seasons for the Lions between 1968 and 1973, then finished off his career with a non-productive season with the New Orleans Saints in 1974.^[7]

References

^ National High School Record Book. nfhs.org
^ "California State Meet Results – 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Southern California High School Track & Field Record, 1965 Season (PDF), Helms Athletic Foundation, 1965, retrieved March 24, 2013
^ Past Covers 1968 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Trackandfieldnews.com. Retrieved on July 17, 2015.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 20, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys - September 15th, 1968". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
^ "Earl McCullouch Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com.

External links

Records
Preceded by Martin Lauer	Men's 110m Hurdles World Record Holder July 16, 1967 — July 4, 1969	Succeeded by Willie Davenport
Sporting positions
Preceded by Willie Davenport	Men's 110m Hurdles Best Year Performance 1967	Succeeded by Willie Davenport

[1] National High School Record Book. nfhs.org

[2] "California State Meet Results – 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2012.

[CIF-3] Southern California High School Track & Field Record, 1965 Season (PDF), Helms Athletic Foundation, 1965, retrieved March 24, 2013

[4] Past Covers 1968 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Trackandfieldnews.com. Retrieved on July 17, 2015.

[5] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 20, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[6] "Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys - September 15th, 1968". Pro-Football-Reference.com.

[7] "Earl McCullouch Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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[5]

[7]

v t e US National Championship winners in men's 110 m/120 yd hurdles
1876–1878 New York Athletic Club	1876: George Hitchcock 1877–78: Edwards Ficken
1879–1888 NAAAA	1879: Edward Haigh 1880: H.H. Moritz 1881–82: James Tivey (GBR) 1883–84: Silas Safford 1885–87: Alexander Jordan 1888^{Note 1}: Al Copland
1888–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1888^{Note 1}: Alexander Jordan 1889: George Schwegler 1890: Fred Ducharme 1891: Al Copland 1892–93: Fred Puffer 1894–95: Stephen Chase 1896: William Rogers 1897: John Thompson 1898–99: Alvin Kraenzlein 1900: Ralph Hutchinson 1901: Walter Fishleigh 1902: R.H. Hadfield 1903: Frederick Schule 1904: Frank Castleman 1905: Hugo Friend 1906: William Armstrong 1907: Forrest Smithson 1908: Arthur Shaw 1909: Forrest Smithson 1910: John Case 1911: Arthur Shaw 1912: John Nicholson 1913: Fred Kelly 1914: Harry Goelitz 1915: Feg Murray 1916: Robert Simpson 1917: Harold Barron 1918: Earl Thomson (CAN) 1919: Robert Simpson 1920: Harold Barron 1921–22: Earl Thomson (CAN) 1923: Karl Anderson 1924: Ivan Riley 1925: George Guthrie 1926: Leighton Dye 1927: Chuck Werner 1928–30: Steve Anderson 1931: Percy Beard 1932: Jack Keller 1933: John Morriss 1934–35: Percy Beard 1936: Forrest Towns 1937: Allen Tolmich 1938: Fred Wolcott 1939: Joe Batiste 1940–41: Fred Wolcott 1942–43: Bill Cummins 1944: Owen Cassidy 1945: Charles Morgan 1946–47: Harrison Dillard 1948: William Porter 1949: Craig Dixon 1950–51: Dick Attlesey 1952: Harrison Dillard 1953–54: Jack Davis 1955: Milt Campbell 1956–57: Lee Calhoun 1958: Hayes Jones 1959: Lee Calhoun 1960–61: Hayes Jones 1962: Jerry Tarr 1963–64: Hayes Jones 1965–67: Willie Davenport 1968: Earl McCullouch 1969: Willie Davenport & Leon Coleman 1970: Thomas Hill 1971–72: Rod Milburn 1973: Thomas Hill 1974: Charles Foster 1975: Jerry Wilson 1976: Thomas Hill 1977: James Owens & Charles Foster 1978–79: Renaldo Nehemiah
1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Renaldo Nehemiah 1981: Greg Foster 1982: Willie Gault 1983: Greg Foster 1984: Tonie Campbell 1985: Roger Kingdom 1986–87: Greg Foster 1988–90: Roger Kingdom 1991: Greg Foster 1992: Jack Pierce
1993–present USA Track & Field	1993: Jack Pierce 1994: Mark Crear 1995: Roger Kingdom 1996–97: Allen Johnson 1998: Reggie Torian 1999: Mark Crear 2000–03: Allen Johnson 2004: Terrence Trammell 2005: Allen Johnson 2006: Dominique Arnold 2007: Terrence Trammell 2008: David Oliver 2009: David Payne 2010–11: David Oliver 2012: Aries Merritt 2013: Ryan Wilson 2014: Devon Allen 2015: David Oliver 2016: Devon Allen 2017: Aleec Harris 2018: Devon Allen 2019: Daniel Roberts 2021^{2020 OT}: Grant Holloway 2022-23: Daniel Roberts
Notes	Note 1: In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championships 120 yd hurdles 1876–1927, 1929–31, 1953–55, 1957–58, 1961–63, 1965–67 and 1969–71; 110 m hurdles otherwise. First place was shared in 1969 and 1977. The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event. 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.