Pat Fischer, a feisty and fearsome if diminutive defensive back who played 17 seasons in the National Football League, including the final 10 with Washington, died Oct. 8 in Ashburn, Va., after suffering from dementia. He was 84.
By Leonard Shapiro
His playing style was not.
As a cornerback responsible for covering many of the game’s finest receivers and tackling some of its most physical runners, Mr. Fischer was fearless. Early in his pro career with the St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Colts Hall of Fame quarterback John Unitas was asked what he thought of “the kid playing corner.”
“That kid is Pat Fischer,” Unitas replied, “and if he hits you, he’ll knock your socks off!”
For most of his 17 seasons in the NFL, and before that at the University of Nebraska, Mr. Fischer was constantly facing opponents who were bigger, faster and stronger. It never seemed to matter much, including in his classic duels in the mid-1970s with the Philadelphia Eagles’ 6-7 Harold Carmichael, then the tallest wide receiver in the league. Mr. Fischer took great pride in mostly neutralizing Carmichael, even as Eagles quarterbacks were told by their coaches to “fire high” whenever the two were matched up.
Mr. Fischer also is believed to be one of the earliest defensive backs to employ the “bump and run” technique. He would initiate contact at the line of scrimmage, throwing a wide receiver off balance and disrupting his path toward his normal pass route.
“Fischer was in at the birth of the bump-and-run,” Washington Post sports columnist William Barry Furlong wrote in 1974. “Normally, it’s credited to Kent McCloughan and Willie Brown, Oakland Raider cornerbacks in the mid-to-late 1960s. Fischer is not inclined to get into a historical dispute, but he is inclined to credit the maneuver to Abe Woodson, a teammate of his on the St. Louis Cardinals.”
“History keeps trying to do Fischer out of another distinction,” wrote the late Dave Brady, The Post’s longtime NFL reporter, in 1976. “The recent issue of ‘Pro,’ the official publication of the NFL, credits former cornerback Kent McCloughan with originating the practice of bump-and-run pass defense. Fischer was knocking receivers off-stride for St. Louis years before McCloughan passed up playing with the Redskins to sign with the Oakland Raiders.”
Said Mr. Fischer in 2015: “I had just come into the league [in 1961]. And then our defensive backs coach [in St. Louis], Chuck Drulis, said that’s what he wanted us to do. I had a terrible time adjusting to it. When I finally figured out how to do it, it worked out pretty well.”
Mr. Fischer’s tackling technique also worked out. He rarely hesitated to go after the powerful running backs of his era, including 230-pound Jim Brown, 225-pound Larry Csonka and 215-pound Paul Hornung.
He once described his technique for stopping those behemoth backs to NFL Films: “Stay low, keep my head up and, when I make contact, lift and take one of his legs away from him. If I get him off the ground with one leg, I’m going to win the war, because now he doesn’t have any power. He has to have both legs driving in order for him to run over me.”
Mr. Fischer also will be remembered for his role in one of the most controversial plays in the history of the Washington franchise. Late in the 1975 season, Washington needed a victory over the Cardinals to take over first place in the division. With less than two minutes remaining and Washington ahead, the St. Louis quarterback aimed a fourth-down pass at fleet wide receiver Mel Gray in the end zone.
As the ball hit Gray’s hands, Mr. Fischer delivered a heavy blow that knocked the ball loose, seemingly for an incomplete pass. But game officials saw it differently and, after a five-minute discussion, awarded the Cardinals the touchdown that tied the score. Washington eventually lost by a field goal in overtime, and its season unraveled thereafter. The team missed the playoffs and finished third in the division on what came to be known as “The Phantom Catch.”
Mr. Fischer was born Jan. 2, 1940, in St. Edward, Neb., one of nine children, including five boys. He played football and was a three-sport letterman at Omaha Westside High School, where he was named to Nebraska’s all-state team.
In 1958, he followed three of his older brothers to the University of Nebraska.
He played defensive back, running back and quarterback on mediocre Nebraska teams from 1958 to 1960. He led the Cornhuskers in all-purpose yards and kickoff return yards each year and served as a team captain his senior season. One of his teammates was Ron McDole, a defensive lineman who played with him when both were with Washington in the 1970s.
Mr. Fischer was taken in the 17th round of the 1961 NFL draft by the Cardinals. (McDole was a fourth-round pick that year.) He was so small, he spent his first few practices in shorts and a T-shirt as the team tried to find equipment that would fit him.
Still, his play impressed the coaching staff almost immediately. And in seven seasons with St. Louis, from 1961 to 1967, he had 29 interceptions and averaged 24.5 yards as a kickoff returner.
Still, he was not happy with the Cardinals’ coach, Charley Winner, and he left the team when his contract ran out and signed with Washington for the 1968 season.
He is believed to be the first free agent affected by what was then the newly instituted Rozelle Rule (named after NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle), which called for teams to be compensated if a free agent signed with another team. The Cardinals got a second-round pick from Washington in the 1969 draft and a third-round selection in 1970.
Mr. Fischer played for four Washington coaches — Otto Graham (1968), Vince Lombardi (1969), Bill Austin (1970) and George Allen (1971-77) — and was part of one of the NFL’s finest secondaries under Allen, a defense-oriented coach. He was paired with cornerback Mike Bass, strong safety Ken Houston and free safety Brig Owens.
“I’m devastated,” Bass wrote in an email Tuesday after learning about Mr. Fischer’s death. “Pat and I were as close as two cornerbacks on the same team could be. Learning from him in our quiet talks opened my eyes to playing the cornerback position as it should be played. We have lost a great football player, great man, and to me, a great friend.”
Mr. Fischer also was one of those “characters with character” Allen loved to have on his roster. He reportedly chewed on a mouthful of stickum to relax before games. He taped disposable diapers as makeshift pads around his knees. And there were reports that he occasionally asked kids in the stands to fetch him coffee to stay warm in games played in frigid conditions. After games, he frequently sat for many minutes facing inside his locker, smoking cigarettes and off-limits to the media so he could calm down from his day’s work.
During his 213 games, he had 56 interceptions and 941 return yards, including four touchdowns. In his final full season, despite playing in pain with a back injury that later needed surgery, he had five interceptions.
After he was knocked out of a game against the Cardinals because of a concussion in his final season, a reporter asked Mr. Fischer whether he was badly hurt.
“Nah,” he said. “I was just knocked out.”
After he retired, Mr. Fischer pursued opportunities in real estate, investment banking, public speaking and training and owning race horses. In recent years, he began suffering from dementia. Former Washington team trainer Bubba Tyer made it a point to look out for his old friend, arranging for him to move into an assisted-living facility in Ashburn.
Mr. Fischer has been nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the past without being elected and is one of 60 players being considered this year for induction as a senior candidate. In 2002, he was recognized as one of the 70 greatest players in Washington franchise history.
Survivors include two children, Allison Shannon and Martin Fischer, and six grandchildren.
