Editing Don Maynard (section)

==Professional career==
The [[New York Giants]] selected Maynard in the ninth round, with the 109th overall selection, of the [[1957 NFL draft]]. In 12 games as a [[rookie]], he had 12 rushes for 45 yards (3.8 yards per carry), caught five passes for 84 yards (a 16.8 yard average), and  played on special teams. After being released by the Giants during their 1959 training camp,<ref name="profootballresearchers1"/> he played one game in the [[Canadian Football League]] with the [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]], catching just one pass for 10 yards.<ref name="pro-football-reference.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MaynDo00.htm|title = Don Maynard Stats|website=pro-football-reference.com}}</ref> In the off-season, he worked as a plumber and a teacher.<ref name="nj.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2014/01/super_bowl_2014_jets_great_don_maynard_was_almost_a_green_bay_packer.html |title=Super Bowl 2014: Former Jets great Don Maynard was almost a Green Bay Packer|date=January 26, 2014}}</ref>

Maynard became the first player to sign with the New York Titans in 1960 (the team was renamed the Jets in 1963).<ref name="profootballhof.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.aspx?PLAYER_ID=144|title = Don Maynard |website= Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site}}</ref> This came about because the Titans' first head coach, [[Sammy Baugh]], had coached against Maynard in college and knew his talent.<ref name="nj.com"/> Although scorned by the New York press as an [[NFL Rejects|"NFL reject"]] in 1960, he teamed with [[Art Powell (wide receiver)|Art Powell]] to form the first professional wide receiver tandem to each gain over 1,000 yards on receptions in a season, with the pair achieving this milestone again in 1962. Over the next 13 years Maynard put up receiving numbers that would earn him a spot in the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] in 1987.<ref>{{cite news |title=Maynard to Be Honored |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/08/sports/sports-people-maynard-to-be-honored.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 8, 1987 |access-date=October 3, 2009}}</ref>

Collecting 72 pass receptions in his first year as a Titan, he went on to compile four more seasons with 50 or more catches and 1,000 yards receiving, and held the professional football record for total receptions and yards receiving.  A four-time [[American Football League All-Star games|AFL All-Star]], he is sixth in all-time pro football touchdown receptions, and is a member of the [[American Football League All-Time Team|AFL All-Time Team]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/sports/2020/05/04/who-el-paso-sports-athletic-mount-rushmore/2996000001/ |title=Who is on El Paso sports, athletic Mount Rushmore? |publisher=Elpasotimes.com |date= |accessdate=January 10, 2022}}</ref>

In 1965, Maynard was teamed with rookie quarterback [[Joe Namath]]. Maynard had 1,218 yards on 68 receptions and 14 touchdowns in Namath's first season (Namath had 22 touchdown passes that year). In 1967, Maynard caught 1,434 of Namath's historic 4,007 passing yards. The receiving yards were a career-high for Maynard and led the league; he also had 71 receptions, 10 touchdowns, and averaged 20.2 yards per catch. In the 1968 season opener against [[1968 Kansas City Chiefs season|Kansas City]], Maynard had 200+ receiving yards for the first time in his career and passed [[Tommy McDonald (American football)|Tommy McDonald]] as the active leader in receiving yards, where he remained for the next six seasons until his retirement.<ref name=glog>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MaynDo00.htm|title=Don Maynard Career Game Log|website=Pro-Football-Reference.com}}</ref> He added a career-best 228 yards in Game 10 against the [[1968 Oakland Raiders season|Oakland Raiders]].<ref name=glog /> Maynard had 57 receptions for 1,297 yards (22.8 yards per catch) and 10 of Namath's 15 touchdowns that year. In the 1968 AFL Championship Game, a 27–23 Jets victory over the [[Oakland Raiders]], Maynard caught six passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. His 14-yard catch in the first quarter gave the Jets the lead and his six-yard catch in the fourth quarter proved to be the game winner.<ref name="profootballhof.com"/> The Jets won [[Super Bowl III]], 16–7 over the NFL's [[Baltimore Colts]], which was hailed as the first "upset" in Super Bowl history. Maynard played, but had no catches while suffering the effects of a hamstring injury in the AFL title game.<ref name="nj.com"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/history/boxscore/sbiii|title=2021 Super Bowl Sunday: When, Where, & More|website=NFL.com}}</ref>

Maynard played four more seasons with the Jets after Super Bowl III including being named first-team all-Pro in 1969. But long-simmering tensions between him and Jets’ Coach Weeb Ewbank boiled over in 1973. He reported late to Jets' camp that summer and, six weeks later on September 10, Ewbank unceremoniously traded him to the [[Arizona Cardinals|St. Louis Cardinals]] for a future draft pick.<ref>Doug Grow, “Maynard Brings ‘Trade Secrets,” St. Louis Post Dispatch; Sept. 12, 1973</ref> He appeared in the Redbirds’ first two games for rookie head coach Don Coryell and caught one pass for 18 yards but didn't play in the club's next two contests and was released October 10. Two months later, on December 12, Maynard signed as a free agent with the playoff-bound Los Angeles Rams.<ref>“Maynard Joins Rams To Help In Playoffs;” Pomona, California Progress Bulletin; Dec. 13, 1973</ref> The Rams were coached by Chuck Knox, who'd mentored the New York Jets' offensive line during four of Maynard's prime seasons in Gotham – 1963-'66. The Rams, however, didn't activate Maynard for their final game of that regular season nor their 27-16 divisional playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Texas Stadium two days before Christmas.

His NFL playing career at an apparent end, the 39-year-old Maynard caught on with the [[Shreveport Steamer|Houston Texans / Shreveport Steamer]] of the embryonic [[World Football League]]<ref name="pro-football-reference.com"/> the next summer. But he had just five receptions for the club,<ref>“Maynard Says Joe Wasn’t Like Image;” The Shreveport Journal; July 31, 1975</ref> which was forced to abruptly move from Houston in September 1974 when Texans' owner R. Steven Arnold unloaded the financially floundering franchise on a group of investors from Shreveport, Louisiana. Maynard retired as an active player after that tumultuous season<ref>Bob Ingram; “As I Was Saying;” El Paso Herald Post; June 7, 1975</ref> but was hired by the newly christened Steamer as their receivers' coach. Maynard remained in that role until the organization – and league – folded for good in October 1975.

As a player, Maynard did not wear a chin strap on his helmet, instead using special cheek inserts that held the helmet tightly in place.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1973/07/23/oh-how-gently-flows-this-don |title=OH, HOW GENTLY FLOWS THIS DON - Sports Illustrated Vault |publisher= SI.com |date=July 23, 1973 |accessdate=January 10, 2022}}</ref>

One of only 20 players who were in the AFL for its entire 10-year existence, Maynard was also one of only seven players who played their entire AFL careers with one team. Maynard finished his career with 633 receptions for 11,834 yards and 88 touchdowns. His 18.7 yards per catch is the highest for anyone with at least 600 receptions. Maynard was the first receiver to reach 10,000 yards and retired as pro football's all-time leader in receptions and yards receiving.<ref name="profootballhof.com"/> [[Charley Taylor]] passed him in career receptions in 1975,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fvZNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GYsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=928%2C1190991 |newspaper=Free Lance-Star |location=Fredericksburg, Virginia |agency=Associated Press |last=Seppy |first=Tom |title=Turnovers topple Redskins |date=December 22, 1975 |page=10|access-date=January 13, 2022}}</ref> while Maynard's yardage mark stood until 1986, when [[Charlie Joiner]] surpassed him.<ref>{{cite news|title=Largent, Joiner Set Reception Records|date=October 7, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times|page=D28|agency=AP|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/07/sports/largent-joiner-set-reception-records.html|access-date=January 13, 2022}}</ref>