{"id":734532,"date":"2026-02-07T00:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734532\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T00:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:21:10","slug":"remembering-sonny-jurgensen-the-greatest-quarterback-in-our-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734532\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Sonny Jurgensen, \u2018the greatest quarterback in our history\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washingtonians are remembering the life and legacy of legendary quarterback Sonny Jurgensen. The Hall-of-Famer died Friday at the age of 91.<\/p>\n<p>                            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Obit-Jurgensen_Football_54872-480x320.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                            FILE &#8211; Washington quarterback Sonny Jurgensen looks to pass against the New York Giants during an NFL football game in 1974. (AP Photo\/File)<\/p>\n<p>                                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Obit-Jurgensen_Football_54872-780x520.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                                FILE &#8211; Washington quarterback Sonny Jurgensen looks to pass against the New York Giants during an NFL football game in 1974. (AP Photo\/File)<\/p>\n<p>Washingtonians are remembering the life and legacy of legendary quarterback Sonny Jurgensen.<\/p>\n<p>The Hall-of-Famer died Friday at the age of 91.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was shocked today when I heard the news,\u201d said Frank Herzog, former WTOP broadcaster who shared broadcasting duties with Jurgensen and the late Sam Huff, calling radio play-by-play during Washington football games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI expected Sonny to live to 100,\u201d Herzog said. \u201cHe was tough. He was ornery. He could do it. I was sure of it. You see, I was a big fan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his 11 seasons with Washington\u2019s football team, Jurgensen led the league in passing yards three times (1966, 1967, 1969), led in touchdown passes in 1967 and posted the NFL\u2019s best completion percentage in 1970. He was also selected to the NFL\u2019s All-Decade Team for the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>By the time he retired in 1974, Jurgensen had amassed 2,433 completions, 32,224 passing yards, 255 touchdown passes and five 3,000-yard seasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSonny, Sam and Frank,\u201d said legendary Washington cornerback Hall-of-Famer Darrell Green, referring to how the trio was identified during their broadcasts. \u201cYou\u2019re not one of us until those guys crown you as one us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSonny Jurgensen was always just a great gentleman,\u201d Green said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ll remember about Sonny Jurgensen. And, of course, the greatest quarterback in our history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commanders.com\/news\/hall-of-fame-quarterback-sonny-jurgensen-passes-away-at-91\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">statement issued by the Commanders<\/a> organization, the team said, \u201cSonny Jurgensen is, and always will be, one of the defining legends of Washington football. He was a giant of the game, and a beloved part of our team\u2019s identity. Our hearts and prayers are with Sonny\u2019s family, friends and everyone who loved him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Jurgensen chose to remain close to home for college, enrolling at Duke University. He earned first-team All-ACC honors twice and helped lead Duke to multiple conference championships and a victory in the 1955 Orange Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s going to be well-missed. We loved him. Everybody loved him,\u201d Green said. \u201cWhat the man did and who the man is, second to none.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jurgensen retired at age 40, remaining active in the organization through broadcasting for 38 consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Sonny did think he could still play if he could play out of the shotgun and if he didn\u2019t have to use his knees,\u201d Herzog joked. \u201cHe didn\u2019t mind being in front of the public on television and as a player, but he kind of squirmed being with the public, because people so much adored him, they wouldn\u2019t leave him alone. And it got very uncomfortable for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jurgensen was traded to Washington by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964 and made a quick impact in D.C. He was selected to the Pro Bowl and named second team all pro in his first season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll I ask of my blockers is four seconds,\u201d Jurgensen once said. \u201cI try to stay on my feet and not be forced out of the pocket \u2026 I beat people by throwing, not running. I won\u2019t let them intimidate me into doing something which is not the best thing I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up <a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/newsletter-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">\u00a9 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washingtonians are remembering the life and legacy of legendary quarterback Sonny Jurgensen. The Hall-of-Famer died Friday at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[23771,427,7,6,1371,106039,855,111,20056,2480],"class_list":["post-734532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-alan-etter","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pro-football-hall-of-fame","tag-sonny-jurgensen","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washington-football","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116026496237639454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}