First, can you let me know why you get signed with the Steelers in ’98?
I was with Carolina and we played the Steelers in our last preseason game. I was cut as part of their last cuts and was on the waiver wire maybe for one hour when the Steelers picked me up. One day the Steelers were the enemy and the next day I was a Steeler!
How hard was the adjustment to the Steelers for you?
Coming in to camp late, you don’t know anyone’s names. Thank God everyone has numbers. I was a problem fix for them. I had a 12-year career and played for seven teams, so I was used to changes of venue. I had to hit the ground running with a new team.
My first game was versus Baltimore in Baltimore. Harper LeBel was a long-snapper for the Ravens and you always hate to see a fellow specialist screw up. He had a bad snap that game that helped the Steelers win the game.
But the comradery on a team is based on shared experiences and misery of camp, and missing camp makes it tough to form bonds with anyone. I knew Mike Tomczak from Chicago, but the stress of a new team and regimen and transplanting my wife and kids was a lot. It was high stress. We stayed at the Allegheny Center so I could walk to practice, which was unusual. I didn’t have a chance to get to know guys a lot because I got there so late, so I just kept my mouth shut and proved I belonged there.
I understood why guys wanted to play there when I got there though. It was a good experience and a blessing to be there.
Do you know what created the need for the Steelers to sign you so close to the start of the season?
I’m not sure what created the void they needed to fill. I had my own issues and things to deal with moving my family, transitioning there and starting camp with a new team. Heck it wasn’t even the start of camp – camp was over. It was the start of the season by then.
Did anyone take you under their wing when you got there – not as a rookie needing mentoring – but as a guy new to the team and city?
Obviously, I wasn’t a new guy to the NFL. The special teams group were all experienced and I had been around a while – I wasn’t a mystery. We were all vets.
After that game versus Baltimore it gave us some confidence too. But again, coming in late and being a specialist, I didn’t get to know guys. It may sound pathetic but I wasn’t invited out with the guys -I just didn’t get a chance to know them. It was all business by the time the season started.
Was the post-NFL transition hard for you?
I was a 26 year-old rookie when I got to the NFL. I played semi-pro ball and in the USFL. The strike gave me my chance to play in the NFL, but because it took me a while to get into the league I had done other things first.
My transition was straightforward. I had my own marketing and graphic design business after football and did that for six years. Then I went into the ministry for seven years, then became a police sergeant and am doing that today. You could say I had career ADD. It was a world where I could choose what to do next and it was easy for me. I know a lot of guys struggle. I’d get asked who I was when I played. I mean, I’m still here. I ain’t dead yet!
As a specialist, how did you approach practices – what were your various roles?
I took more special teams reps than anyone I think. I worked on the scout team too – I wanted to do anything to make the team better. On other teams I also did my own publication – an inside-the-team publication for the players with some fun satire. I couldn’t do that in Pittsburgh though.
And of course I was always working on my craft. My job meant I was one bad snap away from unemployment. That helps you maintain focus. You have zero room for error. A quarterback can throw an interception and a corner can get beat, but you can’t make any errors as a long snapper. You may get 16 plays a game as a long snapper if the offense is playing poorly. You get few opportunities so you have to do well on all of them. I had one bad snap in my career and that is still on my mind.
The team had struggles in ’98 – how did the team handle those?
’98 was challenging for the team. Kordell didn’t perform like he had in the past. It’s always tough when the season doesn’t go as well as you’d like. People don’t realize how challenging that is for a team.
It’s a blessing and a curse to have another chance every week. They were all professionals but you are only as good as your last performance. It’s the intangibles that are usually the difference between good and bad teams.
In Pittsburgh I didn’t see a lot of animosity between guys. It was disappointing but sometimes it is just the way the ball bounces.
I was really impressed by Bill Cowher though. I played just one season there but came back four years later via the NFL to help teams talk about post-NFL career opportunities with players. When I got to Pittsburgh Cowher remembered me. That was at the time when he was in the midst of retiring, but he knew who I was and talked with me. We weren’t just pieces on a board to him. He had an association with us and it showed in how well he led people. Was he intense? Yes. But he elevated everyone the way he motivated players.
Any reason why the Steelers didn’t bring you back after the ’98 season?
No idea. I was long in the tooth – 37 years old then. That’s long in the tooth for the NFL. I guess they were looking for someone more long-term. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in personnel meetings. You have to be mindful of the present as you plan for the team down the road.
I had a postseason meeting with them and they didn’t mention anything negative then. I was at a charity golf tournament when they called me though and said “Thanks, but no thanks.” That ruined my golf game!
There’s no two ways about it, it sucks. But they have to have to make their own decisions but I think they probably wanted a long-term solution.
What do you think of the changes to the NFL since you played?
The skill level is much greater- today’s players have fantastic attributes you see on Sundays. It elevates the game so every edge you can get matters more.
Special teams is the longest exchange of yardage in a game usually. I used to have to block guys one-on-one with my head between my legs. Look at how many games are defined by special teams play.
Now, you can’t touch guys. I feel like even at my age I could snap in the NFL now. I remember when I played Pepper Johnson once took a 10-yard run at me and drilled me as I was snapping the ball. Of course it was a game John Madden was commenting on, and he pointed it out and said he had no idea why Johnson did it since snappers don’t make tackles anyway. Of course the next punt I actually made the tackle, but I got no props for that! Really?
I do understand why they made some of the changes – they needed to protect players. But it’s changed the complexion of the game. It’s not the game I played.
It’s a paradigm shift too in the NFL. Older guys used to be the highest paid guys on the team. Back then rookie quarterbacks didn’t play unless all hell broke loose. Now there’s a massive increase in salaries for rookies and teams feel they need to play guys right now to get their money’s worth out of them. And it’s shifted the mindset of some teams as it’s harder for veterans to be as influential now when they are the ones teams look to sacrifice now when they have to make personnel decisions.
When I was in Detroit I took the five highest paid players and took the rest of the guys and figured out how many of the highest paid guys left would equal the salaries of those top five. Know how many? 28. It creates a disparity – it’s unbalanced. I don’t begrudge guys who make the money – if you get it you earn it. But the disparity has to create issues on teams when guys wonder why some make so much more than others. I know you have to have have-nots to have haves. But it changes the complexion of the game.
I know I sound like that old guy talking about the way it used to be. It makes sense I know – it’s just different. I respect them but it’s different – it’s not the game I played.
Any last thoughts on your time there?
I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. It’s what I always wanted to do and I got to do it for 12 years. I got to play with some great men too – Barry Sanders and Walter Payton. Those were some great men.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
