Former TCU two-way star Tommy Crutcher was a First-Team All-American during the 1963 season.
The TCU Horned Frogs are less than 40 days from kicking off the 2025 football season with a nonconference road matchup against the North Carolina Tar Heels and new head coach Bill Belichick. As we count down the days until kickoff, we’ll highlight a former (or current) Horned Frog whose jersey number represents the number of days left until the opener.
TCU Magazine
38 – Tommy Joe Crutcher (Fullback & Linebacker – 1961-63)
A high school football star in the late 1950s, Crutcher played fullback and linebacker during his collegiate career with the Horned Frogs, earning First-Team All-Southwest Conference and First-Team All-American honors during the 1963 season. An All-State and All-American at McKinney who was inducted into the Texas High School Hall of Fame in 2017, Crutcher became a three-year starter for the Horned Frogs, ranking in the top-5 in the Southwest Conference for yards from scrimmage in each season while leading the conference in rush yards per attempt in 1962. Crutcher made the TCU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980.
Crutcher was picked by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 1964 NFL Draft and helped the Packers win each of the first two Super Bowl (I and II) titles. Crutcher’s NFL career lasted eight seasons, six of which were with the Packers (1964-67 and 1971-72). Over 108 NFL games and 37 career starts, Crutcher recorded three interceptions and one sack at the linebacker position. The majority of Crutcher’s starts came during his two-year stint with the New York Giants from 1968-69, as the TCU product made 28 starts over that span.