May 7, 1963 - Alex Karras, defensive tackle of the Detroit Lions, said today he has given up wrestling and wants to return to football in 1964. Karras and Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers were suspended indefinitely by NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle last month after admitting they had bet on games. Both will miss the 1963 season, but what happens after that depends on Karras and Hornung. “They must avoid trouble or incidents that would reflect on pro football,” said Rozelle, visiting Detroit today for a meeting of NFL publicists. “It’s true a person may be innocently involved in incidents. But these things still reflect on the game,” Rozelle added. He apparently was hinting at two incidents involving Karras. One was a basketball fight and the other a brawl involving wrestler Dick the Bruiser and eight policemen in a Detroit bar partly owned by Karras. The Bruiser later defeated Karras in a match at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium. Karras’s part-ownership in the bar still troubles Rozelle. “I have no objection to the bar business as such,” Rozelle said, “and frankly, it’s not me who has to be pleased. It’s the public — the picture the public has of football and its people matters.” Karras, while declining to abandon the bar business, says Rozelle will not be able to find anything wrong with it or him in the months to come.
Comments