First, can you tell me what you’ve been doing since your time playing ball?
Well, now I’m semi-retired. I’m self-employed – I do some part time courier work for an auto parts company. I drive to the distribution center in Turtle Creek, then make two stops in Cleveland and come back home. It’s the easiest money I ever made!
Was the post-football transition difficult?
I was a national sales manager for years after football – I worked my way up. Then I got tired of corporate America. After my brother’s death – he was slain as a police office – that set me back a while. I took time off and decided I couldn’t go back to that corporate America bullshit.
But the transition right after football wasn’t hard. The first couple of years, I’d get that fresh smell of cut grass in the Fall and miss it some then. but I never lived and breathed football. I didn’t sleep with a football in my bed.
Honestly, I liked baseball better. My dad played baseball in the Phillies organization. I only played one year of football in high school and was a walk-on at Youngstown State. My path to the Steelers was not a driven thing in my head. It was very fluky.
How did you land in Pittsburgh?
Well, in high school I wasn’t really recruited by anyone. But our quarterback was a junior and he was highly recruited – Mark Vlasic. He ended up playing in San Diego and Kansas City.
Well, his dad had sent out tapes of Mark to a number of schools, including Vanderbilt. At the time I was expecting to go to West Virginia and play baseball. But the Vanderbilt saw me make some catches on Mark’s tape – I had a nine-catch, three-touchdown game too. Well, that coach knew someone at Youngstown State and told him to take a look at me. The coach called me out of the blue and told me he wanted me to come in and try out. It was late in the recruiting process so they had no scholarships left, but he told me they’d treat me like a preferred walk-on, which is a lot like a scholarship. I had a buddy that lived near the school who talked about Youngstown State football all the time. So I figured I’d give it a shot.
I made All-American in the conference and started two years there. The Steelers sent me a letter before the draft saying they likely won’t draft me but they wanted me to come in for a tryout after the draft.
How did that go – who worked you out?
Tom Modrak and Dick Haley were there. It was funny – I didn’t have an agent or anything. I went up with my dad. After the tryout, the next thing you know Haley tells me to go take a shower and come up – they wanted to offer me a contract. So I go to the conference room and it’s me and my dad sitting with Dick Haley and Tom Modrak.
They offered me a rookie contract. But me being a smartass, I tell them I have offers from other teams too. Out of the corner of my eye my dad made this face, like “What the hell are you talking about?” He asked Dick and Tom for a minute and when they left he turned and whispered to me “Frank. Sign the fucking contract!” My dad – he even made me get a haircut before the tryout – it was too long he said and made me look like a hippie!
You made the team – who helped you and how?
I had a really good camp. I showed toughness on special teams – I dominated some of the guys – and I made some spectacular catches. I think that caught the eyes of guys like Stallworth and Sweeney – Lipps too. They helped tutor me. Ron Blackledge too – his daughter went to Youngstown State and we chatted a lot. So he’d pull me aside and showed me some things.
What are some of the things those guys helped out most with?
My dad always taught me to keep my mouth shut and work hard – that is a lot of what I did. But with things like getting off the line of scrimmage – I had some trouble with that – I wasn’t used to guys pressing me. Louis taught me to be aggressive and come off the line hard.
Any good stories from your playing time there?
A lot was the language they used – even the officials. I remember we were playing Minnesota and it was near the end of the game. They were going for an onsides kick and I was one of the front line guys on the return team and they tried to kick it to me and blow me out before I could get the ball. They got a 10-yard start and run right at me. Well, they had three tries in a row because of penalties. After the second try I turned to the side judge and told him they can’t hit me before the ball went 10 yards and got to me. He said “The fuck they can’t!” I’ll never forget that!
I was a quiet guy – and I hated lifting too. Once Louis and I were lifting and the big offensive linemen came in. They were urging each other on – grunting and groaning and squatting 500 pounds. It was Tunch, Wolfley, Webster – those guys. Well, Louis comes over – he’s not a big guy – but he dead lifts the 500 pounds – he got under it and hoisted it in his shoulders like you’re supposed to do. Then he turns to those guys and says “You guys are pussies.”
Well, we quickly walked out of the room after that!
Any other good ones?
There was always the rookie dinners – we had to take out the vets for dinner. I think we went to 10 different places – I got stuck with a $1,500 bill – that was a lot of money for a guy making what I made then!
Maybe the best one was when played the Giants at Giants Stadium. That was the last regular season game and the first season they won the division in years. Phil Simms played at Moorhead State in college – we played them in our conference. Well, he evidently liked to flip through the game book to see who he knew on the other teams and recognized my school.
Well, in the game I tackled Phil McConkey late on a punt return and there was a lot of pushing and shoving out of bounds. I was on the ground ready to get up when someone puts a shoe on my chest and holds me down. It was Simms. He says “Don’t get up Frank – you’re just going to get hurt.”
Well, at the end of the game, we’re all walking off the field and he calls me over and we chat. Then he starts pirouetting with his arms over his head, middle-fingers out to the fans. I asked what he was doing. He says “Fuck these guys. They hated me as a rookie. Now that we won the division, now they love me! Fuck them all!”
Any thoughts looking back at it all?
I’m proud now looking back. It’s exciting – I have two grandkids who wear Steelers clothes – a daughter who loves the Steelers. It’s a nice legacy. I’m in the Beaver County Hall of Fame with guys like Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett and Joe Namath. That’s a who’s-who of NFL players there.
And I just learned that I’ll be inducted into the Youngstown Hall of Fame. So, I’m really excited about that now too.
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