Ernie Ladd

(1938)

Legendary defensive tackle Ernie Ladd was born in Orange, Texas and starred at Grambling
before beginning a stormy eight year career in the AFL. Ladd played for the San Diego Chargers
from 1961 to 1965, during which time which he played in three AFL championship games and was
twice named All-AFL. Ladd spent the 1966 season playing for the Houston Oilers before moving
to the Kansas City Chiefs for two years in 1967.

Ladd combined wrestling with his football career and was immensely strong and agile, with a
fearsome temper. He fought with management over his salary and with the league office over his
right to wear a beard. At 6'9" and 315 pounds, Ladd was the biggest player throughout the 1960s.
With Buck Buchanan of Kansas City, a former Grambling teammate, he formed what was
probably the biggest defensive tackle combination in history. (Buchanan was 6'7" and weighed
275 pounds.)

Ladd's appetite, it would seem, is in proportion to his weight. At a charity pancake-eating contest
in 1965, he ate 124 pancakes topped with 6 containers of syrup. That Ladd didn't win was
probably due to the fact that he was competing alone against two-man teams. Ladd claimed he
started late and was "only four pancakes behind at the end."

Submitted By: Misty Flannigan

Newspaper article submitted by: Donald Ladd March 11, 1999