Former NFL quarterback Jim Hardy dies at 96

[Roary]

Jim Hardy, a member of the 1952 Detroit Lions NFL Championship team, died Friday of natural causes at the age of 96.

According to the Associated Press, Hardy, the MVP of the 1945 Rose Bowl for USC, passed away at home in La Quinta, Calif. He was the oldest living football player for both USC and the Los Angeles Rams.

Hardy, a quarterback, was the eighth overall pick of the 1945 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. He did not ever play for the team that drafted him, instead logging seven seasons with the Rams, Chicago Cardinals and Lions. He passed for 5,690 yards and 54 touchdowns in his career.

Hardy remains the only quarterback in league history to have eight passes intercepted in a single game as the Philadelphia Eagles picked him off eight times with the Cardinals on Sept. 24, 1950. Eight others have been picked seven times in a game, most recently done by Ty Detmer with the Lions in a game against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 23, 2001.

Hardy would throw six touchdowns the following week against the Baltimore Colts.