First, congratulations on the appoint to Chief of Police in West Covina. How did you get involved in law enforcement?
Well it’s a long but good story. I met Darryl Strawberry when I was playing in Pittsburgh and he was in town for a game- it turned out his grandmother and my wife’s grandmother were sisters. Meeting him was kind of a big deal to me. When I was finished in Pittsburgh after the ’90 season I ended up going to church with Darryl’s brother, who was a police officer.
I was always interested in becoming a police officer so I asked him how he get started in the process, and he got me in contact with the folks in Los Angeles that he knew on the force. I got through everything in the process to becoming an officer there but I failed the medical – and that disqualified me from becoming an officer.
So, I said forget it and just started volunteering for the Monrovia department. After a while they sent me to the police reserve academy. I did well there, but I missed the officer test they were going to have me take through them – it was on short notice and with my wife and kids I just couldn’t make it. But the Pasadena police chief had a reserve there in the academy and knew me from my playing days and offered me an opportunity to test with them, and I passed. The rest is history.
But you rose up the ranks?
I was there for two and a half years, but then the chief there transferred to West Covina, and I followed him there a few years later. When he left I was appointed Interim Chief, and when the new chief got there and left shortly afterwards, they appointed me Acting Chief. Then on July 2nd, I was made the full-time chief.
What about your football experience helped you in this career in law enforcement?
It’s two-fold. First – I got my degree – and I’m proud of that. The teamwork, dedication, and performing at a high level is the other thing – it puts you in the right frame of mind.
Pro athletes, for better or for worse, have to be a certain caliber of person – to play with a certain mindset. They called it the “A personality”. You have to be a cut above others. If it can’t be done – that’s the guy you want to bring in to do it – that kind of guy. Now, I don’t consider myself to be the highest caliber of NFL guys that played – but I was good enough to play in the NFL. Those qualities helped me to get in the position I’m in today.
The maturity aspect is also huge. I didn’t feel like a rookie when I first started because of my experience in the NFL. For example, some people, if they see someone famous like Taylor Swift, they freak out. But I just don’t get that excited now. I mean. it’s exciting to meet them, but I know not to act like it. You need that maturity and patience. And all of that happens on the football field too.
Talking about your football experience – were you surprised to be drafted by Pittsburgh in 1990?
I wasn’t surprised – I was just disappointed. I’ll tell you why. Pittsburgh was one of my favorite teams growing up – I used to pretend to be Franco and Lynn Swann growing up. But I wanted to be drafted higher. I screwed that up for myself by doing poorly in the 40 at the combine. So to be clear I was thrilled to be drafted by Pittsburgh – it was a dream come true. How many get to play for the NFL team they dreamed of playing for? I was just disappointed I went lower than I had hoped.
Did anyone help you as a rookie to adjust to the NFL – take you under their wing and help?
I remember the draft party. There was Eric Green – their first round pick, and Kenny Davidson, their second round pick and other guys who people were all excited about- and me, their 12th round pick there. Well, as a 12th round guy no one was really paying much attention to me there – I was just kind of there. The special teams coach George Stewart came up to me though and told me none of this means anything. That I would get a look in camp and to not get caught up in all of this. He told me I’d get a look – an opportunity. And that’s what I needed to hear.
What do you think helped you to make the team despite a deep backfield?
I was light – 190 pounds. The next guy was around 220 pounds. We scrimmaged the Redskins a number of times and once I danced along the sidelines in the endzone and caught a finger-tip touchdown pass from I think Bubby – or maybe Neil O’Donnell. I think that caught the eyes of the coaches. It’s little things like that.
I remember the last preseason game versus the Eagles and we were in the locker room before it was about to start and Dick Hoak came up to me and told me I’d be starting. I said “What??” I had no idea before he told me. I took it to mean I was a bubble guy. He told me that if I had a good game I had a chance to make the club – that it was up to me.
I think I did have a pretty good game – I made the team. I didn’t have amazing stats but it’s one of those games where you know you played well. As a player, you know if you have a good game or not.
So what happens after that?
Well Chuck Noll told us to pack our bags after the game and that some of us would be getting calls tomorrow morning – to make sure to answer their phones. We knew what that meant.
Well, I was rooming with Barry Foster – I told him if we get a call in our room we know it’s not for him! So at six in the morning I start hearing phones ring in other rooms. I got no sleep that night. I was waiting – seven, then eight am passed and no call, but you can hear the phones ringing in other rooms. It was agonizing.
So a few of us met in the hallway at 8:30 – we were getting hungry and just said at that point if they needed to find us they’d just have to look for us. We walked out and saw a newspaper stand down the street. We saw they had already announced who made the team in the newspaper! We looked and I saw I made it! It was the most awesome yet agonizing day of my life!
How did the year go for you after that?
When the year ended it just wasn’t the year I wanted. I thought I could have done more. I had some catches and scored a touchdown, but wanted to do more.
I thought the next year, with a year under my belt, I could do more. I flew back to California and was watching ESPN when I learned about the supplemental draft and teams having to leave 10 players unprotected. When they showed the list of players I was on it for Pittsburgh, I didn’t know what that meant, so I called Coach Hoak and asked him if I should be looking at other teams. He said I didn’t have to do anything, that if I didn’t sign elsewhere I would just come back and compete again next year. I asked him though what he thought I should do and he just told me I should do what I felt I had to do.
Not a feel good comment?
Not really. So I called my agent and we went and talked to some teams, and Cleveland and Kansas City gave me offers. I’m not sure why I chose Kansas City – I kicked myself for it. They had Okoye, Word, and just drafted Harvey Williams. I think their third-down back was in a contract dispute and we didn’t think he’d return, so that gave me a chance there, I felt. But then he got the contract worked out and came back after all.
Kansas City ended up with way too many running backs in camp -they even had Stump Michell there who told me he had no idea there’d be that many in camp. I wasn’t getting many reps – I could tell I wasn’t going to make the team – that choosing Kansas City was a mistake. After the second preseason game Marty called me in to his office and let me go, and that was kind of it.
What happened afterwards?
I tried out for San Diego and the Raiders but neither signed me. I went to the CFL tryout and got no calls after that either. Then I went to Florida for the Barcelona World Football League team tryout, and on a sweep the entire group fell on me and my ankle was severely damaged – I needed the whole season to rehab in Dallas.
The next year I tried out for the new CFL Vegas team – the one that was there for one year. I went to Vegas to try out – the had 200 guys in camp. Their practice field was behind the Riviera Hotel then – they ripped out the concrete and put in turf. Their equipment was awful – it looked like old beat up high school equipment. I was standing in line for my one-to-two reps looking at this and it was just not what I could see myself doing. I just walked away and told the coaches I was done. That’s when I retired from football. I called my wife and told her, and that was it.
Any fun memories of your time there?
I remember taking kids in need shopping – my wife and I really enjoyed that – giving back to the community was really important to us. It’s an awesome feeling and we still give back today – in fact we have two foster care children today.
I didn’t go out much so don’t have many of those kinds of stories. When I found out you could get cut during the season I said no way am I going out!
I remember traveling and the way you were taken care of. And things like going to the Bengals stadium and seeing they had a real life tiger there. I mean, when do you get to see that! Then going to Cleveland and being put in this awful tiny locker room with concrete floors. That made us really want to kick their butts – who treats guys like that! Then we’d go to Denver and they had the nicest locker rooms you’d ever seen.
Greg Lloyd -I loved and hated him. He was the meanest guy I ever met but you loved having him on the field. I’m not sure he even had a soul!
I never got my jersey from Pittsburgh so I went out and bought a number 21 Steelers jersey and put my name on it – and did the same with my college jersey and framed them for my son. He later found the clip of me catching my touchdown pass over Charles Haley versus San Francisco – it was one-handed grab. I couldn’t believe they put a Hall of Fame lineman on me! I do still have that football.
A couple of years ago I finally went back to Pittsburgh for a Thursday game versus Cleveland then went to see Nebraska play Penn State. It was a great time.
All of those times meant a lot to me. It was a great organization – it’s amazing having been a part of such a great organization and tradition like Pittsburgh.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
