‘Vets’ trying to grow old gracefully

Charlie Conerley had a heck of a life.

A corporal in the US Marines during World War II, he had his rifle shot right out of his hands during the invasion of Guam, picked it up and just kept on going. When hostilities ended he returned to his native Mississippi to quarterback for ‘Ole Miss’ and from there he spent 13 years with the New York Giants.

Conerly was touching 40 by the time he called it quits in 1961 — only to re-emerge every now and then to lend his rugged good looks to some of those iconic cowboy ‘Marlboro Man’ adverts — but his NFL career could have ended eight years earlier when the Giants were struggling and fans took to calling for his head.