BATON ROUGE — Sammy Grezaffi, a darting runner who thrilled Tiger fans with his kick returns and earned All-SEC honors as a defensive back in 1967, has died in his hometown of New Roads at the age of 65.
Grezaffi is survived by his wife, son, daughter-in-law, son-in-law and a granddaughter.
As a senior in 1967, Grezaffi set or tied three school records, including the first 100-yard kickoff return in school history in a game against Tennessee on Oct. 28.
Since then, Eric Martin had the only other 100-yard kickoff return for LSU, in a game against Kentucky in 1981.
Grezaffi also tied a school record for most punt returns in a single game with seven in a contest against Ole Miss in 1967, a season in which he set a school record with 41 punt returns for 369 yards. That mark total still ranks ninth in LSU history and his career total of 905 career punt return yards still ranks fourth in Tiger annals.
Grezaffi also lettered for LSU in 1965 and 1966. He was picked in the seventh round of the 1968 NFL draft with the 184th overall pick by the Kansas City Chiefs, but failed to make the team.
Grezaffi returned to his hometown of New Roads, where he owned several businesses.