Danny Abramowicz

Sport: Football

Induction Year: 1992

Induction Year: 1992

Danny Abramowicz, the first player to catch passes in 100 consecutive National Football League games, wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.

When he was a 5-10, 155-pound senior at Catholic Central High of Steubenville, Ohio, Abramowicz didn’t attract much attention from college coaches. The only school that offered him a football scholarship was Xavier University of Cincinnati.

He set Xavier records with 68 receptions in one season, 120 in his three-year career and 14 career touchdown catches. But pro talent scouts weren’t impressed. The New Orleans Saints finally picked him just before they turned out the lights in the 1967 draft—as No. 420, on the 17th round. He wouldn’t have been drafted at all if the NFL hadn’t held a common draft that year because of the pending merger with the American Football League.

By that time, he was nearly six feet tall and weighed 190 pounds. But the obvious problem was his lack of speed. Abramowicz was once clocked at 4.8 seconds in the 40 yard dash, but he usually ran it in five seconds flat.

Although the Saints were an expansion team, they obviously weren’t expecting Abramowicz to survive their San Diego training camp. They didn’t even bother inviting him to a mini-camp the previous spring.

Abramowicz had no desire to go back to the steel mills and coal mines around Steubenville. As one of 18 receivers in the Saints’ first training camp, he was determined to prove himself.

An assistant coach was dispatched to inform Abramowicz that the Saints had no place for him. “I’m not leaving,” he replied. “I haven’t gotten my chance.”

Head coach Tom Fears, one of the NFL’s all-time receiving greats, decided to give Abramowicz his chance. Fears liked what he saw. When his assistants submitted their final roster to him at the end of the training camp, Fears said, “You forgot Abramowicz.”

The unique thing about his record streak of receptions in 105 consecutive games is the fact that it spanned all of his eight seasons in the NFL—six with the Saints and two with the San Francisco 49ers. He played in 111 NFL games and cought passes in 109 of them.

“My steak wasn’t broken,” Abramowicz recalled. “It was retired.”

He started the streak catching passes from Billy Kilmer, and kept it going catching passes from Gary Cuozzo, Archie Manning, John Brodie and Steve Spurrier. “There were a few more backups sprinkled along the way,” he recalled. “Playing quarterback for the Saints wasn’t the safest way to make a living.”
Although the 1967 Saints lost their first seven games, three were by lass than a touchdown—including road games with the Giants and Cowboys. Abramowicz came off the bench for his first touchdown catch against the Giants, and had five receptions for 65 yards against the Cowboys. Both were decided by end zone interceptions in the final seconds of play.

Abramowicz broke into the staring lineup in the seventh game of the Saints’ first season—and started the streak with 12 catches for 156 yards in a 14-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fears called it “probably the finest performance by a rookie receiver that I’ve ever seen.”

Hew went on to lead the team with 50 receptions for 721 yards and six touchdowns—getting 41 of them in the eight games that he started. It was the first of ifve seasons in which Abramowicz led the Saints in receptions. His personal highs were 73 catches for 1,015 yards in 1969. Those numbers earned him a berth on the All-Pro team. His career totals were 369 receptions for 5,686 yards.

The rest of the story is that Abramowicz never played on a team that had a winning record. The best was 6-8.

He wasn’t aware of the long streak until he was approaching the previous record of 96, held by Lance Alworth, and a sports writer asked him about the streak.

“The key to a record like that is staying healthy,” Abramowicz recalled. “A receiver should have several opportunities to catch the ball in every game. But if you play three minutes and get hurt before you make a catch, the streak is over.”

For Abramowicz, playing in the NFL wasn’t as difficult as playing the role of being a former pro star. He had done some drinking while he was playing, but it got much worse as the years went by—until Dec. 15, 1981.

“That’s when I went to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting,” he recalled. “The problem had reached a point that I couldn’t handle it without some help. I got in some bad investments, and it was threatening to ruin my family life.”

He discussed the problem with a Jesuit priest, Fr. Tom Cronan, and Fr. Cronan suggest that he contact Richard “Buzzy” Gainnie, assistant director of the F. Edward Hebert Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center in Algiers.

“He enthusiastically jumped into the program the same way he jumped into pro football,” said Gainnie. “It wasn’t easy. He went through some hard times, and it was not smooth sailing. He was really tested, but he came through with flying colors.”

At the age of 36, seven years after his playing career ended, Abramowicz started getting his life in order. “I asked myself where did I fit in this world, and found out The Lord had to be No. 1 in my life”, he said.
Seven years later, Abramowicz decided to return to football as head coach at Jesuit High of New Orleans. “I’ve been around football sine I was nine years old,” he said.

For several years, he conducted chapel services for the Saints. In 1991, he was invited to conduct a service for the Chicago Bears. Mike Ditka attended it, and had a long visit with Abramowicz after the service. Later, Danny called Ditka and told him he was considering coaching in the NFL. Two weeks later, Ditka offered him a job—and Abramowicz became the Bears’ special teams coach.

In January of 1992, Abramowicz was voted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

“It caught me by surprise,” he said. “I’m pretty lucky that I was able to play pro football. It’s a great honor.”