SANTA MONICA, Calif.-Monday evening, former University of Utah quarterback Lee Grosscup passed away at the age of 83.

Grosscup, who starred for the Utes in 1957 and 1958, was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif. and commenced his college football career at the University of Washington in 1955.

However, Grosscup and three former high school teammates left the Huskies’ program because of the “tyrannical” head coach at Washington, John Cherberg.

Grosscup then played at Santa Monica College, transferring to the University of Utah in 1957.

For the Utes, Grosscup completed 62.1 percent of his passes for 2,226 yards, 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

In this era, under head coach “Cactus Jack” Curtice, the Utes enjoyed a passing game that was considered innovative for its time.

In 1957, after completing 68.6 percent of his passes for 1,398 yards, 10 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, Grosscup was named a first-team All-American by Look, the Newspaper Enterprise Association, the Williamson National Football Rating and Today, while finishing 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting. The Heisman Trophy winner that year was Texas A&M halfback/fullback/tight end John David Crow.

Grosscup was then selected in the 10th round of the 1959 NFL Draft by the New York Giants and played for the squad from 1960-1961.

In 1962, the expansion Minnesota Vikings purchased his contract but cut him before the season. He then concluded his professional football career by playing for the New York Titans (today’s New York Jets) in the American Football League (the precursor of today’s American Football Conference in the present-day NFL).

He then caught on with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League in 1963, rejoined the AFL by signing with the Oakland Raiders in 1964 and played with the Hartford Charter Oaks of the now-defunct Continental Football League in 1965 and 1966.

Grosscup then became a color commentator for the AFL on NBC and college football broadcasts on ABC. He also provided color commentary on United States Football broadcasts on ABC from 1984-1985.

As a radio analyst, Grosscup provided color commentary for the Oakland Invaders of the USFL, the Sacramento Gold Miners of the CFL in 1993 and 1994 and was a member of the California-Berkeley Golden Bears Radio Network for 32 years (17 years as a color analyst and 15 more years on the Golden Bears’ post-game coverage).