Name Earl McCullouch Position Wide receiver | College: Southern California Date joined 1968 Receptions: 124 | |
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Date of birth: (1946-01-10) January 10, 1946 (age 69) NFL draft: 1968 / Round: 1 / Pick: 24 Role American football wide receiver Education University of Southern California Number 25 (New Orleans Saints / Wide receiver) Awards NFL Honors - AP Offensive Rookie of the Year | ||
Place of birth: Clarksville, Texas High school: Long Beach (CA) Poly | ||
Earl R. McCullouch (born January 10, 1946) is a retired American football wide receiver. McCullouch was the world record holder for the 110 meter men's high hurdle sprint from July 1967 to July 1969. When attending the University of Southern California, McCullouch was a member of the USC Trojan Football teams (wide receiver) and the USC Track & Field teams (120 yard high hurdles and 4×110 sprint relay) in 1967 and 1968. The USC Track 4×110 yard relay team, for which McCullouch ran the start leg, set the world record in 1967 that remains today, as the metric 4 × 100 m relay is now the commonly contested event.
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High school career
McCullouch attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. He tied the national high school record (also held by Don Castronovo from Oceanside High School in Oceanside, New York, and Steve Caminiti from Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California) in the 180 yard low hurdles at 18.1. The record was never broken and the event was discontinued in regular high school competition in 1974. He swept both the 120 yard high hurdles and the 180 low hurdles at the CIF California State Meet in 1964 (defeating Caminiti).
In 1964 McCullouch was named Co-Athlete of the Year in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section by the Helms Athletic Foundation. He earned the award in conjunction with pole vaulter Paul Wilson.
College career
Next he attended community college and played football at Long Beach City College, before transferring to the University of Southern California.
McCullouch played college football at the University of Southern California, where he was part of the 1967 National Championship team. He was one of five USC Trojans players taken in the first round of the 1968 NFL Draft after his senior year. McCullouch was known for having elite sprinter speed and used it on both the track and the football field. Wearing No. 22 during the 1967 and 1968 seasons, McCulloch played wide receiver on an offensive USC Trojan Football squad that featured tailback O. J. Simpson. Defensive coverages had difficulty covering McCullouch in pass routes and chasing him after pass completions due to his sprinter's speed. McCullouch also provided down-field blocking on break-away plays, often for 1968 Heisman Trophy winner Simpson.
As a member of the USC Track & Field team, McCulloch was the NCAA 110 Yard High Hurdle champion in 1967 and 1968, the NCAA 55 yard indoor high hurdle champion in 1968, and was the lead leg sprinter of the USC NCAA 4 X 110 yard sprint relay team in 1967 and 1968 (the team also featured Simpson and future Olympian sprinter Lennox Miller). The USC Trojan sprint relay team (McCulloch, Fred Kuller, Simpson, and Lennox Miller – in order) set a 4 X 110 yard sprint relay world record (38.6 sec.) in the 1967 NCAA Track & Field Championships in Provo, Utah on June 17, 1967. In the era of metric-distance sprint world records, this world record still stands today and is likely not to be broken.
McCullough was on the cover of the April 1968 issue of Track and Field News.
Professional career
McCullouch played for the National Football League's Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints between 1968 and 1974. He was the NFL Rookie of the Year in 1968.