I was a little kid in the 1970s, which meant I barely knew NFL football was a thing, and I certainly didn’t watch Roman Gabriel play quarterback.

But I’ve been a pretty rabid NFL fan for the past 44 years, and anytime anyone has ever used the words “prototypical NFL quarterback” in a sentence, Gabriel’s image is the first thing that comes to my mind.

Gabriel, who passed away on Saturday at 83, was the second pick in the 1962 NFL Draft. The Oakland Raiders made Gabriel the top pick in the rival AFL draft that same year. With the AFL still in its infancy, Gabriel decided to play professional football with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League.

Gabriel played his college ball at N.C. State, and his resume was quite impressive; he was voted First-team All-ACC,  ACC Player of the Year, and a First-team All-American in 1960 and again in 1961.

Sure, Gabriel was a decorated player in college, but what made him such a valuable prospect that the two rival professional football leagues in America decided to fight each other for his services? It certainly wasn’t his college stats; Gabriel passed for a combined 2,951 yards in three seasons with the Wolfpack while throwing 19 touchdowns to 20 interceptions. Those weren’t exactly numbers that would indicate a successful professional football career, not even in the early-’60s.

Instead, what stood out for Gabriel were his physical attributes, the kind of traits that few quarterbacks had possessed before him. Gabriel stood 6’5″ tall and weighed 220 pounds. He could stand tall in the pocket and survey the field when he had to, but if he had to scramble, not only was he a load to bring down, but if you didn’t, he would find an open receiver downfield. And if he decided to tuck and run, it could be lights out for the defender who got in his way. Gabriel’s college stats may have suggested that he wasn’t the greatest passer, but not only did he have a canon for an arm–“He could throw a football through a brick wall,” said one coach at the time–but he was accurate, both in the pocket and while on the move. Gabriel completed 52.6 percent of his passes during his 16-year career, which was pretty good for the 1960s and 1970s, but his touchdowns to interceptions ratio–201 to 149–really stood out in the days before the West Coast offense.

Gabriel, the first NFL quarterback of Filipino-American descent, isn’t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but maybe that’s because he never won a championship. Gabriel certainly had a great individual career. He passed for 29,444 yards over 16 seasons and made four Pro Bowls. He was a First-team All-Pro once and a Second-team All-Pro twice. In 1969, Gabriel passed for 2,549 yards while throwing 24 touchdowns to seven interceptions, numbers that were good enough for him to be voted NFL MVP.

After 11 seasons with Los Angeles, Gabriel was traded to the Eagles in 1972. He was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year one season later when he passed for 3,219 yards (his career high) while throwing 23 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.

Gabriel retired after the 1977 season and went into coaching and acting.

What was Gabriel’s lasting legacy? As the title suggests, I believe he became the blueprint for what NFL coaches and scouts began looking for when evaluating quarterback prospects.

When you watched guys like Terry Bradshaw, Dan Marino and Peyton Manning stand tall in the pocket and deliver darts downfield, they were emulating some of the physical traits that Gabriel brought to the quarterback spot.

When you cheered on John Elway and Randell Cunningham as they scrambled out of the pocket before throwing accurate lasers to open or even covered receivers, they were just a chip off the original block that Gabriel created.

Would Ben Roethlisberger or Cam Newton have been who he was without Gabriel being who he was decades prior?

You see Gabriel’s physical attributes still influencing the quarterback position in 2024. Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert (just to name a few) possess some or all of the traits coaches and scouts are looking for in an NFL quarterback. While many have had some of Gabriel’s physical traits over the years, few have had all of them in one package.

Roman Gabriel became the NFL quarterback root in 1962, and every other passer grew from there.