Merlin Jay Olsen (/ˈoʊlsən/; September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010)[1] was an American professional football player, announcer, and actor.
Olsen attended Utah State University where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and was a three-year letterman in football as a defensive tackle.
The Aggies, not known as a national power football program, finished 10th in both the AP and UPI post-season polls, the only time that has occurred in school history.
[6] He was a member of the Utah State University chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity, which has an annual Merlin Olsen Day of Service named in his honor where brothers are encouraged to give back to their communities.
In 1969, he was voted to the Newspaper Enterprise Association All-Time All-America team with collegiate greats such as Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, and O. J. Simpson, among others.
[10] Utah State University announced the intention to name its football field after Olsen during a ceremony in Logan during halftime of the USU-St. Mary's basketball game on December 5, 2009.
[11] Olsen was also a three-time academic All-American at Utah State and graduated summa cum laude in 1962 with a degree in finance.
Deacon Jones, Rosey Grier, and Lamar Lundy joined Olsen on the defensive line in 1963 that was nicknamed "The Fearsome Foursome".
As Jones was the face of the Fearsome Foursome, offensive linemen often double- or triple-teamed him, leaving Olsen one on one with a clear path to the ball carrier.
[13] In 1975 and 1976, the Rams defense finished second in the NFL against the run while ranking in the top five in sacking opposing quarterbacks and compiling a 22-5-1 record over those two seasons.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982 in his first year of eligibility; he selected his college position coach Tony Knap as his presenter.
[16] Olsen served as a television color commentator, teaming mostly with Dick Enberg on NBC's coverage of the AFC during the late 1970s and almost all of the 1980s.
Olsen also worked Super Bowl XIII in 1979 with Curt Gowdy and John Brodie (Enberg was then serving as pre-game/halftime/post-game host).
He appeared as the character Little George in the John Wayne movie, The Undefeated, with Rams teammate Roman Gabriel, in 1969.
When Little House on the Prairie actor Victor French left to star in his own comedy Carter Country in 1977, Olsen was tapped to play Michael Landon's new sidekick Jonathan Garvey for several years.
In the Highway to Heaven episode 2.12 ("The Good Doctor"), the main character, Alex, tells Mark Gordon (Victor French) that "All I could see was the flowers and the beard.
This is an inside joke since Olsen, Landon, and French were in the TV series Little House on the Prairie earlier in their careers.
A part-time resident of the Coachella Valley, Olsen was the longtime radio and television spokesman for Palm Desert-based El Paseo Bank.
[citation needed] Olsen often co-hosted the Children's Miracle Network telethons, a humanitarian organization founded in 1983 by Marie Osmond and John Schneider.
Because of Olsen's illness, Utah State decided not to wait until the 2010 football season to hold the ceremony; he was able to attend the game, but did not speak.
[24] Olsen was voted to the California Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2010, along with Bill Walton, Dwight Stones, and Jim Otto, among others.
Olsen was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a resident of San Marino, California.
[28][29] Olsen died on March 11, 2010, at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, at age 69.