1961 San Diego Chargers Statistics
American Football League (AFL)
Team Record: 12-2
Finishing 1st in the AFL's West Division
Postseason: 0-1 Lost Championship
Coach: Sid Gillman (12-2)
Location: San Diego, California
1961 San Diego Chargers RosterTeam Record: 12-2
Finishing 1st in the AFL's West Division
Postseason: 0-1 Lost Championship
Coach: Sid Gillman (12-2)
Location: San Diego, California
1961 San Diego Chargers Results
The San Diego Chargers of the American Football League ended the 1961 season with a record of 12 wins and 2 losses, finishing first in the AFL's West Division. The team compiled a postseason mark of 0-1.
The defense proved to be a force, as the Chargers gave up 219 points, the lowest total in the circuit. San Diego racked up 396 points. Jack Kemp threw for 2,686 yards. Dave Kocourek grabbed 55 passes for 1,055 yards. Don Norton was targeted regularly, too.
Paul Lowe carried the ball for a team-best 767 yards.
The sticky-fingered defense pounced on 66 turnovers. Charlie McNeil intercepted 9 opponent throws.
Sid Gillman coached the team. The 1961 San Diego Chargers lost in the Championship.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Kemp | 364 | 165 | 45.3 | 2686 | 7.4 | 15 | 4.1 | 22 | 6.0 | 91 | 59.2 |
| Hunter Enis | 55 | 23 | 41.8 | 365 | 6.6 | 2 | 3.6 | 3 | 5.5 | 45 | 54.0 |
| Paul Lowe | 4 | 2 | 50.0 | 70 | 17.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 36 | 95.8 |
| Totals | 423 | 190 | 44.9 | 3121 | 7.4 | 17 | 4.0 | 25 | 5.9 | 91 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Lowe | 175 | 767 | 4.4 | 87 | 9 |
| Bo Roberson | 58 | 275 | 4.7 | 59 | 3 |
| Charlie Flowers | 51 | 177 | 3.5 | 11 | 3 |
| Keith Lincoln | 41 | 150 | 3.7 | 17 | 0 |
| Jack Kemp | 43 | 105 | 2.4 | 23 | 6 |
| Hunter Enis | 16 | 13 | 0.8 | 9 | 2 |
| Bob Laraba | 5 | 5 | 1.0 | 9 | 1 |
| Paul Maguire | 1 | -11 | -11.0 | -11 | 0 |
| Totals | 390 | 1481 | 3.8 | 87 | 24 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Kocourek | 55 | 1055 | 19.2 | 76 | 4 |
| Don Norton | 47 | 816 | 17.4 | 52 | 6 |
| Paul Lowe | 17 | 103 | 6.1 | 17 | 0 |
| Charlie Flowers | 16 | 175 | 10.9 | 31 | 0 |
| Luther Hayes | 14 | 280 | 20.0 | 39 | 3 |
| Keith Lincoln | 12 | 208 | 17.3 | 91 | 2 |
| Howard Clark | 11 | 182 | 16.5 | 33 | 0 |
| Bob Scarpitto | 9 | 163 | 18.1 | 69 | 2 |
| Bo Roberson | 6 | 81 | 13.5 | 24 | 0 |
| Jacque MacKinnon | 3 | 58 | 19.3 | 45 | 0 |
| Totals | 190 | 3121 | 16.4 | 91 | 17 |
Kicking:
| Player | X/CA | X/CM | X/CP % | FGA | FGM | FG % | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Blair | 47 | 42 | 89.4 | 27 | 13 | 48.1 | 81 |
| Bob Laraba | 2 | 1 | 50.0 | 1 | |||
| Totals | 49 | 43 | 87.8 | 27 | 13 | 48.1 | 82 |
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Maguire | 63 | 2615 | 41.5 | 82 |
| Totals | 63 | 2615 | 41.5 | 82 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Gibson | 14 | 209 | 14.9 | 39 | 0 |
| Keith Lincoln | 7 | 150 | 21.4 | 57 | 1 |
| Bob Scarpitto | 4 | 47 | 11.8 | 28 | 0 |
| Bob Zeman | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 12 | 0 |
| Paul Lowe | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 27 | 418 | 15.5 | 57 | 1 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Lowe | 10 | 240 | 24.0 | 35 | 0 |
| Bo Roberson | 13 | 207 | 15.9 | 32 | 0 |
| Keith Lincoln | 4 | 98 | 24.5 | 31 | 0 |
| Bob Scarpitto | 3 | 50 | 16.7 | 22 | 0 |
| Henry Schmidt | 1 | 22 | 22.0 | 22 | 0 |
| Claude Gibson | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 9 | 0 |
| Emil Karas | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 |
| George Blair | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Gene Selawski | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ron Mix | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Orlando Ferrante | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 39 | 642 | 16.5 | 35 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie McNeil | 9 | 349 | 38.8 | 76 | 2 |
| Bob Zeman | 8 | 89 | 11.1 | 21 | 0 |
| Dick Harris | 7 | 140 | 20.0 | 56 | 3 |
| Bob Laraba | 5 | 151 | 30.2 | 60 | 2 |
| Chuck Allen | 5 | 111 | 22.2 | 59 | 1 |
| Claude Gibson | 5 | 43 | 8.6 | 23 | 0 |
| Emil Karas | 3 | 21 | 7.0 | 11 | 0 |
| Earl Faison | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 8 | 0 |
| George Blair | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 4 | 0 |
| Bill Hudson | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 1 |
| Paul Maguire | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Bud Whitehead | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 49 | 929 | 19.0 | 76 | 9 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luther Hayes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Jack Kemp | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Hunter Enis | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Paul Lowe | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Charlie McNeil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bo Roberson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Charlie Flowers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Claude Gibson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Henry Schmidt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dave Kocourek | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Orlando Ferrante | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| George Blair | 0 | 0 | 13 | 42 | 0 | 81 | ||||||||
| Paul Lowe | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | ||||||
| Jack Kemp | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | |||||||||
| Don Norton | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | |||||||||
| Dave Kocourek | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |||||||||
| Bob Laraba | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | ||||||||
| Charlie Flowers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | ||||||||
| Luther Hayes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||||
| Dick Harris | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||||
| Bo Roberson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||
| Keith Lincoln | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | ||||||
| Hunter Enis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Bob Scarpitto | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||
| Charlie McNeil | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Bob Zeman | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Chuck Allen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Bill Hudson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Claude Gibson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Totals | 24 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 43 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 396 |
