Remembering Alex Karras: Hawkeye Teammate Recalls Iowa, NFL Legend

Former Hawkeye quarterback Randy Duncan remembers well the 1950s, when Alex Karras was his teammate and on his way to becoming an NFL legend.

Karras, who was a two-time all-American for the Hawkeyes, died Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 77.

"He wanted to play defense all the time," Duncan told The Des Moines Register. "He didn't want to play on offense. I used to tease him. I'd say, 'You never block for the quarterback. You're always waiting to kill someone on defense.'"

Karras went on from his days in Iowa, where he was a Heisman Trophy runner-up as a senior in 1957, to play the role of Mongo in the classic "Blazing Saddles."

Later, he had toles in "Victor Victoria" and "Porky's" and also starred in the television sitcom "Webster."