 Lary on a 1952 Bowman football card | |||||||||||
| No. 28 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Safety, punter, return specialist | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | November 24, 1930 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Died: | May 11, 2017 (aged 86) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | North Side (Fort Worth, Texas) | ||||||||||
| College: | Texas A&M | ||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1952 / round: 3 / pick: 34 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Robert Yale Lary Sr. (November 24, 1930 – May 11, 2017) was an American professional football player, businessman, and politician. He played for 11 seasons as a safety, punter and return specialist for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979 and was also selected for the NFL 1950s All-Decade Team.
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Lary played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies from 1949 to 1951 and was selected as a first-team defensive back on the 1951 All-Southwest Conference football team. He also played baseball at Texas A&M, led his team to the 1951 College World Series, and set a Southwest Conference record for doubles. He was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
Lary played in the NFL with the Lions from 1952 to 1953 and from 1956 to 1964, missing the 1954 and 1955 seasons due to military service as an Army second lieutenant in Korea. He appeared in nine Pro Bowl games, and was a first-team All-NFL player five times. He led the NFL in punting three times, and at the time of his retirement in 1964, his 44.3-yard punting average ranked second in NFL history, trailing only Sammy Baugh. He also totaled 50 NFL interceptions for 787 return yards, both of which ranked fifth in NFL history at the time of his retirement.