Eddie LeBaron
Eddie LeBaron (1930-2015) was a quarterback for the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys. These photos are from a set taken by LIFE photographer Hank Walker in 1958 called "Eddie La Barron [sic] of the Washington Redskins Football Team." None of these photos were published in the magazine.
Here, LeBaron is casually naked in the locker room, talking to a couple of guys, possibly reporters, after a game. Note how short LeBaron is: 5 feet, 7 inches tall.
In the remaining photos, LeBaron is getting dressed, but someone (a manager? an owner?) is talking to another naked player while LeBaron looks on
The unidentified other player turns a bit and we get to see what he's got. Nobody is concerned that a photographer is snapping away. They knew that magazines like LIFE never published frontal nudity. Of course, they couldn't know that one day, the LIFE photo archive would become publicly available on the Internet.
No doubt, photographer Hank Walker was concentrating on getting shots of Eddie LeBaron in the locker room and may not even have noticed the other player's exposure at the time.
We wrap up with LeBaron tying his tie. Despite his small size, in 1958 he was the top-rated quarterback in the NFL. In 1959 he retired from the Redskins, but in 1961 the new Dallas Cowboys team lured him out of retirement to become their first starting quarterback. He retired again in 1963 and became a sports announcer for CBS. Then he got an LL.B. degree and practiced law. So he was not just a dumb jock.
2 comments:
I seem to recall a guy by the name of Kelly who played for the Browns way back in the day who was also short - but fast!
I'm pretty sure they knew about the camera and couldn't care less, naked in that environment was normal.The dressed guys were the ones to feel embarrassed.
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