Countdown to kickoff: No. 42 George Bevan was 'an inspiration to the squad' at LSU

Editor's note: We're counting down to LSU's Sept. 3 season opener against Florida State with a look back at the greatest Tiger players at each number from The Advocate book "LSU By The Numbers." Sunday marks 42 days until kickoff, so we remember No. 42, All-American linebacker George Bevan:
42 George Bevan
LB, 1966-67, 1969
All-American 1969
All-SEC 1966, 1969
Charles McClendon was a defensive coach by training, so he knew defensive talent when he saw it.
What he saw in George Bevan, he liked immediately.
“George Bevan is as fine an athlete as we’ve ever had at LSU,” McClendon said. “He was a fullback at Baton Rouge High, but I honestly believe he could make all-conference at any position he chose to play.”
Bevan was an All-SEC star immediately as a sophomore in 1966, but his LSU career was almost cut short halfway through. In the Tigers’ 1967 season opener against Rice, Bevan suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon and was lost for the rest of the season. It took three operations over several months to get Bevan game-worthy again, but the series of medical procedures and recoveries cost him the 1968 season as well.
His return for his senior year in 1969 was almost he stuff of legend.
“When he put on an LSU uniform,” then-LSU trainer Marty Broussard said, “it was an inspiration to the squad.” Together with All-Americans Mike Anderson at linebacker and Tommy Casanova at safety, Bevan helped lead a suffocating defense that held seven of the Tigers’ 10 opponents to 10 points or less.
LSU went 9-1, with only a 26-23 loss to Archie Manning-led Ole Miss. Still, the Tigers thought they were going to get a spot in the Cotton Bowl opposite No. 1-ranked Texas until Notre Dame ended a self-imposed 45-year bowl ban.
The Cotton scrambled to invite the Fighting Irish, leaving the Fighting Tigers in limbo. By the time the Dallas-based bowl invited Notre Dame all the other major bowl slots were filled. In a move unheard of now, LSU players voted not to play in a lesser bowl against a team that didn’t have a comparable ranking (the Tigers finished No. 10 in the AP poll).
"Right now, our boys are so mad and despondent, I don't think they would even accept a bid to the Rose Bowl," McClendon said then. "We voted not to go to any bowl unless we could play a team comparable in record and rankings to ours."
After nearly having his career come to a sudden end two years earlier, Bevan, who passed on a possible NFL career after being drafted by the Buffalo Bills, was done with football for good.
These LSU greats also wore No. 42 ...
Kenny Konz, RB, 1948-50
A star on LSU’s Cinderella Sugar Bowl team in 1949, Konz earned All-SEC honors in 1950. Was a first-round draft pick by the Cleveland Browns in 1951.
Jimmy Taylor, RB, 1956-57
Led the SEC in scoring in 1957, sharing the backfield with Billy Cannon while earning All-American and All-SEC honors. Went on to a brilliant NFL career with the Green Bay Packers and finished by playing on the inaugural Saints team in 1967. Was elected in 1976 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.