Exclusive Interview: Steelers Tight End Henry Clement, 1960-1961

First, what have you been doing since your retirement from playing football?

I hung around the ‘Burgh after I was done. I worked for what was then Pittsburgh National Bank for a couple of years. One of my accounts I had then was a startup, and I ended up working with them. I knew the owner.

After that I started my own business with a couple of other guys – we repped industrial equipment. I started another business after that too but had to have all the assets sold – I got killed on that.

So, that covers my work life. I lived in Sewickley for a while and had four kids. My big passion now is fly fishing – I travel once or twice a year with friends all over the world to fly fish. I ended up moving to Florida and played a lot of golf and tennis before I got bored and started my own fly fishing magazine. I still do that – been doing that for over 16 years!

Was the post-NFL adjustment tough for you?

For most of the guys that played skill positions, they were heroes since they were 15 years old. Going from that life, from that escape from reality to being a regular citizen – that is hard. The accolades stop. You’re no longer “Mr. Touchdown”. That psychological affect can be difficult – it’s difficult to adjust too. It’s like a couple of slaps to the face and then you have to move on.

For me, I stayed in Pittsburgh, and back then, they recognized you even after you played. Then, business was done over cocktails at lunch and golf. So that recognition helped me.

What do you remember most about those Steelers teams?

It was a cast of characters. A  bunch of tough guys that were always in trouble. It was a cantankerous bunch.

I remember when we played New York. We scored the first touchdown then the game was over – we lost 42-7.  We were on the bus back to LaGuardia when we had to stop. There was a big commotion in the intersection – police were there. It turned out they were arresting Bobby Layne, who was already drunk and causing a commotion in the intersection. It was one of the saddest things I had seen.

Bobby, me, Stautner – we’d hang out at this bar in Brentwood – Nosinger too. We’d get in trouble there every night – the women, getting plastered… Layne would always get in trouble playing cards especially.  He started playing with some of the wise guys then – I stopped playing when he did that. Those guys didn’t care who you were. If you owed them money, they’d take you out!

Who were some of the other tough characters on the team then?

Red Mack was a tough guy.  The Steelers used to have a basketball team in the offseason and we went and played a seminary college in West Virginia. The entire game one of the priests in the stands was heckling Red – he went to a rival school of Red’s. Well, Red was dribbling when he had enough and ran into the stands and started beating the shit out of the priest

The thing about Pottios – he was so tough. I remember when we played Detroit in Detroit. He had already won the starting linebacker job, but he reached out in the game to make a tackle on someone and a guy on their team ran into him from the other direction and snapped his arm. He walked off the field with his arm bent the other way – it was one of the ugliest things I had ever seen. But he ended up playing two weeks later with a cast. He was one of the toughest guys I had ever seen. The quintessential tough guy.

What about you?

I had my moments. After Pittsburgh I went to Minnesota. But I got into a fight with the head coach there – Norm Van Brocklin – and found myself on a plane that afternoon. I was breaking my routes in order to get open and Tarkenton didn’t see me at first – finally he found me. I think Van Brocklin didn’t like I was doing that.

He always had a cigarette in his mouth and cussed at you all the time. Well we got into an argument and it went from the practice field to the locker room to his office. It just became a big “FU” kind of thing Well, I finally hit him and he fell back on his desk – I don’t think he saw it coming. My ex-college teammate played for Minnesota – Rip Hawkins – and he came running in and held me back from probably murdering Van Brocklin. I was on the two pm flight out of there after that.

You played quarterback in college but were moved to tight end in Pittsburgh- why was that?

The Steelers first had me at safety – I thought I was good to go as a safety – I played there all preseason. Bot both tight ends got hurt the same week so they moved me to tight end. I couldn’t block my grandmother, but I was a good athlete. I was faster than most people – I just wasn’t big. I was a defensive back – not a tight end. I was a peanut.

Were you surprised you were drafted by the Steelers?

I knew I was going to be drafted. My college coach Jim Hickey had a good relationship with Don Shula who was with Baltimore at the time. I thought the Colts would draft me.

But the Steelers let me know before a college postseason game in Arizona that hey drafted me. They sat me down in the bar at the casino and offered me a contract with a $1,500 signing bonus and $12,000 a year. I said fine – I didn’t really know enough to negotiate. I had better offers for more money outside of football, but I wanted to play football.

Any good memories starting off with the team? Any mentors?

We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel. The day before training camp began me, Pottios, Danny Ane, Nosinger – we all met in the lobby. There was a theater down the street on the way to the 6th Street Bridge that went to the Northside. We went to a movie and Myron ended up getting into a fight with some guys there – it ended up being a big brawl and cops had to come and break it up and had everyone disperse.

Well, later on we walk over the 6th Street Bridge to the Northside and Danny was telling us how he used to jump off higher heights when he lived in Hawaii. So we ended up convincing him to dive off of the bridge in the river. The funny thing was, the same cops that broke up the fight at the theater were the ones who got mad at us on the bridge!

So what happened after that season ended?

I actually went and played for the Duquesne Ironmen. I played offense and defense but I didn’t have to play on special teams and didn’t have to practice – I just had to show up for games. That was our deal – I got $500 per game. That was good money then.

It’s funny. When the Super Bowl was in Atlanta they invited any past players that were close to the Atlanta area to come in. The NFL had an arrangement with Tulane to give all of us free physicals. About 70 of us were there. What struck me was how crippled some of those guys were – especially the former offensive and defensive linemen. It was beyond belief.

Any thoughts now looking back on those days?

We were just always in trouble then. We loved to go to the bar and get plastered and meet women. There were many “get out of the hotel now” kinds of things – crazy things I can’t talk about for some of them – but that if they happened today they would have had to fire the whole team!

But now, I still write every day for my magazine.  I wrote a book on fly fishing . And I’m about to launch a new company that makes fly fishing rods for people with prosthetics. Not bad for an 81 year old!

Also, I help former athletes too who have addictions to alcohol or drugs. I’ve been doing that unofficially. I overcame that problem myself. It’s been frustrating – you have to convince them they can still enjoy life without those things. But many don’t want to be helped. I finally realized you can’t help someone if they don’t want to be helped. I’ve had few winners. Maybe 10 people who have been able to pull themselves up from the dirt. It hasn’t been easy.

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