Michael Lockett Garrett (born April 12, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. He played college football for the USC Trojans, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1965.

From 1993 until 2010 he served as the athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC). Then, he became the athletic director at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) in 2015.

Early life

Garrett was born on April 12, 1944, in Los Angeles, California, the fourth of six children. He was a resident of the Maravilla housing projects. Garrett graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, where he played defensive back and running back on the school's football team. As a senior, he rushed for 1,467 yards and scored 153 points. In 1961, he was named Los Angeles City Player of the Year. He was the first USC player to run for over 1,000 yards since 1927. In 1985, he was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame.

His nickname was "Iron Mike". He set the benchmark for all the USC tailbacks who followed him.

Garrett was a brother of the Alpha Kappa chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity while a student at USC. He is a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.

Professional career

In 1966, the AFL and NFL still had separate drafts and competed for players. Garrett had also been drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play baseball, and there were rumors that he had an interest in playing for the Los Angeles Rams if they would make him their first pick, or that he had already signed with the Oakland Raiders. So even though he had won the Heisman Trophy, he was not taken until the 20th round of the 1966 AFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs (178th out of 181 players chosen). The Rams took him with the second pick of the second round in the 1966 NFL draft, but he chose the Chiefs.

Garrett went on to play in the American Football League (AFL) with Kansas City Chiefs from 1966 to 1969, and in 1970 for the Chiefs in the National Football League after the leagues merged. During the 1970 season, he was traded to the San Diego Chargers and remained with them until 1973. Garrett won a World Championship ring with the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV, the last AFL–NFL World Championship Game before the AFL–NFL merger, when the AFL's Chiefs beat the NFL's Vikings, 23–7. Garrett was the top rusher of Super Bowl IV with 11 carries for 39 yards and a touchdown, also catching two passes for 25 yards and returning a kickoff for 18 yards. His touchdown came on head coach Hank Stram's iconic 65 Toss Power Trap play call. In 2018, he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He said the Dodgers never made him a reasonable offer, Before the start of the 1971 football season, he decided it was better for him to remain in football, and signed a two-year contract with the Chargers, and retired with the Chargers at the end of those two years. These sanctions have been criticized by some NCAA football writers, including ESPN's Ted Miller, who wrote, "It's become an accepted fact among informed college football observers that the NCAA sanctions against USC were a travesty of justice, and the NCAA's refusal to revisit that travesty are a massive act of cowardice on the part of the organization." On July 20, 2010, USC's incoming president, Max Nikias, announced major changes in the athletic department, including Garrett's replacement (effective August 3, 2010) by businessman and former USC quarterback Pat Haden.

In June 2013, Garrett became athletic director at the historically black college, Langston University, an NAIA school in Langston, Oklahoma. He resigned that position less than two years later. He is a board member for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is named after Ronnie Lott and is awarded annually to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year.

In 2015, he was named executive director of athletics for California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA). Garrett retired from the position of Executive Director of the Athletics Department at Cal State LA in 2016, in light of claims made against the school for his using language in a sexist manner (such as babe or sweetheart) with women in his department.

See also

  • List of American Football League players
  • List of college football yearly rushing leaders

References

  • Langston profile