First, can you let me know what you’ve been doing since your time in the NFL?
Well, after the Super Bowl in ’94, I decided to walk away from the game. I decided to raise my kids while my wife did her residency in pediatric oncology. My kids are now in college and I’m back to working part-time as an NFL uniform inspector on gamedays. I’m also doing some auctioneering and fundraising in Florida. And I’m still working out and staying fit.
That’s the big picture in the sky right now.
Was the post-NFL adjustment difficult for you?
I think it was easier only because of my wife’s path to becoming a physician – we had a clear picture of her path – so my taking care of the kids was the right thing to do. If we didn’t have that path it would have been more difficult. I didn’t have a clear vision of my plan either after football so it worked out well for us.
How did you get involved as an NFL uniform inspector?
I got into it from my former teammate Merton Hanks who worked with the NFL. After Deflategate the NFL bumped up their staff. They hired 32 guys to be their fashion police! They used to have one guy working each game and now they have two per stadium.
You guys get a bad rap?
We do get a bad rap! All we’re asking players to do is to look a certain way. Nothing we ask of them makes them less of a player. It doesn’t make them slower. If anything, it enhances their games. When we ask them to tuck in their shirts for example. It looks clean, but it also helps make sure other players can’t grab their jerseys. We used to tape our shirts down when we played!
We also do it for health and safety reasons too. Making sure they have all their pads on and correctly, etc.
We also work on the endorsement side. You can’t just wear anything you want. There is big money in licensing and if they haven’t signed a contract with the NFL you can’t wear their logo and give them free advertising from the NFL.
And we don’t assess fines! We just report them. We also give the players second chances during the game to fix the infractions.
Stepping back on your Pittsburgh days – were you surprised to be drafted by the Steelers?
I sensed it could happen. There were two teams that came to see me twice and Pittsburgh was one of them. So I thought either Pittsburgh, or maybe New England since I was from the New England area. I had no idea I’d go that high though. I was the highest draft pick that year not to go to the combine.
Did anyone help take you under their wing as a rookie in Pittsburgh?
Greg Lloyd and Hardy Nickerson both helped me a lot. They were my linebacker buddies. Bryan Hinkle too – he was an old veteran and took good care of me. Keith Willis went to Northeastern like me so he took care of me too as a fellow Northeasterner, And Tim Johnson was there for me too. They were my defensive linemen buddies.
You were there for one season – what happened that it was just one season?
I twisted my ankle during a preseason game my second season and never got back on the field. I was cut and picked up later on in the season by the Raiders.
Any good memories you can share of your time there?
Man, I loved Pittsburgh. It’s a great city. No matter where we would go the fans would show us mad love. I still have a house there on the North Side. It was a great time for me. It wasn’t a great season but even though we weren’t winning they treated us great.
My fondest memory was in my last game of the year when I picked off Dan Marino for a pick-six. It was my first and only one.
And here’s a stat that needs to be looked up. I think I am one of the only people to recover two onside kicks back-to-back. Who else can say that? It happened in Buffalo when I was playing for Pittsburgh.
Do you like the way the NFL is going now?
I like the way it’s going – it’s offensively oriented. I don’t feel though that the wide receivers are defenseless like the NFL says – I’m not sure about those rules. You can’t hit receivers right away as a defensive back without getting a defenseless receiver call. I don’t understand the rule – receivers are always looking at the ball to catch it so aren’t they always defenseless then?
Maybe they should just have receivers sit in zones and catch the ball. It seems like most of the calls happen when the receiver is going one way and the defensive back is coming at them from the other direction. So maybe the receivers should just sit in the zone! Otherwise I’m not sure what you expect the defense to do.
I do love the technology being used now to protect players and I agree with the kickoff changes that protect players. There are just certain things they need to analyze more. Like if a quarterback ducks and is hit in the head, how can a defensive lineman help that?
Any last thoughts on the team and your time there?
I love Primanti Brothers – the owners were so great to us. And the Steelers organization – to this day I can still call and speak to people there. I was there for just one year but they still give me great respect and love. Once a Steeler always a Steeler they say!
They weren’t the glory years when I was there. It was a tough year. But it was still a great place to be and organization to work for. I still go back and get treated with respect. I’m not a superstar, but they still treat me that way.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
