First, can you let readers know what you are doing with yourself since you’ve retired from the NFL, and how you got started doing so?

Well, I started my own company – representing a number of companies that manufacture roofing materials. We’ve come a long way – it’s been twenty-seven years now.

How did you decide on this?

I tried to decide what I wanted to do after football – I looked into companies that hire reps – spent a month researching it in the library. I came up with a Fortune 500 company that was making $145 million then. It’s making $5.8 billion now. We helped transform it – now they do aerial  infrareds, build and design, sell materials… Another company just joined our little band that has the IRS permission to offer tax credits. It’s all a big, blossoming thing.

How did the NFL help you prepare for postL life, and how hard of an adjustment was that for you?

It’s always hard. The NFL stands for Not for Long – all have to understand that. I had to do something with that free college education I got! Everyone struggles – no one thinks their career is over. I also played for the USFL for five years until it folded and meant some interesting people…like Donald Trump. How do you spell moron?

You were an undrafted free agent who signed with the Steelers in 1979. Why did you decide to sign on with Pittsburgh – especially as they had guys like Webster, Courson, Petersen, Mullins and others already on the squad?

They were the only ones that would take me! I had a tryout in Cleveland in May of ’78. I ran, worked out, lifted weights…There were a hundred guys there. They didn’t sign anybody. The next week I had a workout in Pittsburgh. It lasted three days – it was like a mini-camp, with drafted and undrafted players there. Coach Noll asked me afterwards to meet him in his office and offered me a contract. I signed it and that was that.

Were you surprised?

Well, that’s why we are there. But I was a little guy from Kentucky – we ran a run and gun offense there – not like what they do in the NFL. Then I learned Webster came in shorter and weighing less than me. I didn’t feel so bad then.

I really enjoyed being there at St. Vincent. I broke my thumb at the end of the first preseason and was put on injured reserve – Chuck kept me on. It was a break for me. The next year Ray Pinney got sick and I filled his shoes. It worked out well.

Did the veterans help you as a rookie? If so, how?

They all helped. Webby was great – Sam Davis was…. There were 486 plays and 22 different defenses. You have to know it all.  If a guy moves a half-man down it changes your blocking assignments all over again. You also have to know how to call plays out to the backs. And that all has t happen between ready, set and hut. We didn’t have any of that in Kentucky. It’s a big learning process. That’s why they say it takes five years to break in an offensive lineman. Webster taught me how to read a defense. He taught me to read defensive backs. If you know what they are doing you know what the defensive linemen are doing. And those are the guys you block.

It was also very technical. Of course you need talent, speed and power – it helps to have all of that too! I practiced against Joe Green every day. Every day it was three plays at right guard, three plays at center, three plays at left guard, then all over again. Every day was like that. I always thought our backups were as good as our starters.

You won the Super Bowl your rookie season with Pittsburgh. Were you able to appreciate the rarity of it then, looking back on it now? 

When you win the Super Bowl, that’s your baseline. Everything else is downhill. Now you have the pressure of doing it every year. You’re only as good as the last block of your last play. It’s never about what you have done, it’s about what you will do.

How much of a factor did humor play on those Steelers teams and what were some of the funniest moments you can remember – both on and off the field?

It was a good group. It started with me when I was a rookie. The rookies had camp for a week before the vets came in. We were all on our toes when they did. I remember I blocked s linebacker in practice that was cutting in to make a tackle.  A draft pick -Becker, out of Notre Dame. I knocked him down, and Noll yelled “What to go DornBecker!” He merged the names by accident! That was my name from then on for the next two years!

On the first day, when the vets came in, I remember all of the people on the hill – the press watching. We ran the Oklahoma drills and got to see Lambert on top of me, swinging at me. I knocked him on his ass during the drill, and Franco ran around him and taunted him with the football.  Lambert hit me and I hit him. It became a big fight – Rollie Dotsch, George Perles and other coaches jumped in to stop us and it became a big pile.

Did Lambert apologize later?

Lambert – say sorry? Come on! I was pissed off. Webby took my hand later, put me in a car and drove me to the 19th Hole for a beer. Lambert came in, so I ordered him a Shirley Temple. He laughed, and we had a beer together then.

Later, when we played Buffalo in a preseason game, I ran downfield on special teams and knocked one of their player into the goalpost. I was on the ground – and you known when you get that feeling that everyone is looking at you. Well, I looked up and there were Buffalo players all around me. I thought I’d have to fight my way out of there…they were pushing on me when, all of the sudden, they all just went away. Disappeared. Behind them was Jack, with Joe Greene and Dwight White. They grabbed me and walked me back to the bench….

After your time in the NFL, you played for Miami, then signed on with the USFL’s Michigan team. Why Miami, and why did you choose to go to the USFL and how was that experience for you?

I didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh. I was practicing at left guard to play Miami – it was over Thanksgiving weekend. I was put on IR before, and the only way to get back to play was through waivers. Chuck put me on waivers the night before Thanksgiving. The next day while I was practicing they came down and told me I had a call I needed to take. I walked in my gear all the way to the office to take the call…and that’s a long walk. When I picked up the phone, Don Shula was on the line and said “Welcome to Miami!” They picked me off of the waiver wire. I took my stuff to the visitors locker room and played for them the rest of the year.

Were you upset?

I felt like a piece of meat in a locker. I grew up in Pittsburgh and wanted to stay with them.

So…you go to the USFL afterwards. Why?

I didn’t have an agent, and I didn’t have a job in the NFL. I was out of work for a couple of years when the USFL came along. Rollie Dotsch called me – he was the coach of the Birmingham team. He asked me if I would play for them and I said sure. But, I was the property of the closer team, the Philadelphia Stars. George Perles was the coach there and he called and wanted me to play there. But a week later he called and said he wasn’t going to coach them now. So, I asked him if I could send a fax releasing me from the team, so he did. By then, Rollie didn’t want me in Birmingham any more. I contacted Michael Lombardi who worked for the Michigan Panthers and they said they wanted me.  I went down there, negotiated a contract for six hours with him over some beers. It was hilarious. When I walked out on the couch were Tyrone McGriff and John Banaszak. They told me they had a limo and we were all going out for a beer. Well, a case later for each of us, and we were calling ourselves the Michigan Stanthers… it was the beer, I’m pretty sure!

Do you still follow the Steelers and the NFL today? What do you think about the way the game has changed today – and is it for better or worse?

It’s all changed. In Dallas then, they went with big, tall guys – the opposite of the short, strong fast guys most teams used then. In the 2000’s, defensive linemen go smaller and faster again and they spread them out more. It was a lot harder for the big offensive linemen with no feet! Then guys like LeBeau came in and the defensive backs did more – had multiple assignments. Back then we didn’t have computer models. The coaches sat around and diagramed every play.

It’s the evolution of the game. It’s always changing. Now they are doing a better job of using the talent and speed in conjunction with what they are trying to accomplish. They are trying to improve that. It all makes a difference. You had to run a 4.65 40 to play on the offensive line then.  That’s unheard of today. You’d be lucky to have a guy run a 5.5. That’s the physics of football. It’s constantly changing. And I was taught by the best.

Any last thoughts for readers?

I had the best time in Pittsburgh. I enjoyed the fans. Being there. God bless it was a great experience for me. I think now, about what goes on in the game. Like social media. It’s not helpful to anything in the locker room. Players use it, and it takes things and turns them into tornados. Back then, if we had a problem, we’d just go to the person and talk to them. Like men.

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