Max Culp Runager (March 24, 1956 – June 30, 2017) was a professional American football punter in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Cleveland Browns. A graduate of Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School,[1] Runager played college football at the University of South Carolina. He punted for two Super Bowl teams, the Philadelphia Eagles in 1980 and the San Francisco 49ers in 1984.[2]
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| Position: | Punter | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | March 24, 1956 Greenwood, South Carolina, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | June 30, 2017 (aged 61) Orangeburg, South Carolina, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 189 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Orangeburg-Wilkinson (Orangeburg, South Carolina) | ||||||||
| College: | South Carolina | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1979 / round: 8 / pick: 211 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Runager is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head.[3][4]
NFL career statistics
edit| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Won the Super Bowl | |
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
edit| Year | Team | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Punts | Yds | Net Yds | Lng | Avg | Net Avg | Blk | Ins20 | TB | ||
| 1979 | PHI | 16 | 74 | 2,927 | 2,607 | 57 | 39.6 | 34.8 | 1 | 13 | 6 |
| 1980 | PHI | 16 | 75 | 2,947 | 2,563 | 58 | 39.3 | 33.7 | 1 | 16 | 8 |
| 1981 | PHI | 15 | 63 | 2,567 | 2,201 | 64 | 40.7 | 34.9 | 0 | 18 | 6 |
| 1982 | PHI | 9 | 44 | 1,784 | 1,448 | 53 | 40.5 | 32.9 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 1983 | PHI | 12 | 59 | 2,459 | 2,020 | 55 | 41.7 | 34.2 | 0 | 12 | 5 |
| 1984 | SFO | 14 | 56 | 2,341 | 1,925 | 59 | 41.8 | 33.8 | 1 | 18 | 12 |
| 1985 | SFO | 16 | 86 | 3,422 | 2,948 | 57 | 39.8 | 33.9 | 1 | 30 | 9 |
| 1986 | SFO | 16 | 83 | 3,450 | 2,917 | 62 | 41.6 | 34.3 | 2 | 23 | 8 |
| 1987 | SFO | 12 | 55 | 2,157 | 1,850 | 56 | 39.2 | 33.0 | 1 | 14 | 7 |
| 1988 | SFO | 1 | 1 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| CLE | 13 | 48 | 1,935 | 1,694 | 52 | 40.3 | 33.9 | 2 | 13 | 2 | |
| 1989 | PHI | 4 | 17 | 568 | 518 | 52 | 33.4 | 30.5 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| Career | 144 | 661 | 26,581 | 22,715 | 64 | 40.2 | 33.9 | 9 | 170 | 65 | |
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Punts | Yds | Net Yds | Lng | Avg | Net Avg | Blk | Ins20 | TB | ||
| 1979 | PHI | 2 | 9 | 383 | 330 | 52 | 42.6 | 36.7 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1980 | PHI | 3 | 11 | 382 | 339 | 46 | 34.7 | 30.8 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1981 | PHI | 1 | 7 | 297 | 256 | 47 | 42.4 | 36.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1984 | SFO | 3 | 11 | 425 | 376 | 48 | 38.6 | 34.2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 1985 | SFO | 1 | 6 | 228 | 179 | 46 | 38.0 | 29.8 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1986 | SFO | 1 | 10 | 400 | 343 | 49 | 40.0 | 34.3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 1987 | SFO | 1 | 6 | 245 | 216 | 49 | 40.8 | 36.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1988 | CLE | 1 | 3 | 106 | 106 | 43 | 35.3 | 35.3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Career | 13 | 63 | 2,466 | 2,145 | 52 | 39.1 | 34.0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | |
References
edit- ^ Sielski, Mike (November 18, 2017). "Hero's life, lonely death: Max Runager suffered because he no longer had football". The Times and Democrat. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
- ^ Sielski, Mike (November 8, 2017). "Former Eagles punter Max Runager: Local hero's life, lonely death". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ^ "The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)". Concussion Legacy Foundation. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ Belson, Ken; Mueller, Benjamin (June 20, 2023). "Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E. The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
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