Ward: “I decided that the best way for me to help my team and protect myself was to hit rather than be hit. So I decided I was gonna hit you before you hit me.”
Ward: “I didn’t play this game to try to make it into the Hall of Fame. It has been a great honor to just be mentioned in the same sentence with the greats Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. “
WR Edwards: “Hines wanted to help me but I just wanted to freestyle. I just felt like I knew it all. The team gave me great information. I just didn’t want to listen. I had the greatest receiver in Hines. I just wouldn’t listen. I was too stubborn.”
Kevin Gilbride: “Green finally pulled Ward aside at the end of the first half and said “Hey, let’s put this all aside and be professionals. Let’s be pros.”
Well, the third quarter came around and it continued anyway. And by the end of the game Green was running away from Hines on every play. I never saw anything like it!
I walked with Hines to the locker room after the game and Hines asked me why I kept running plays lining him up against Green. Now, I don’t remember it that way, but maybe I did, I don’t know. But then I hear someone call my name and I look around. A woman charges at me and screams at me: “Why were you trying to ruin my husband’s career!” Well, I walked away from her – it was Green’s’ wife and I wanted nothing to do with any of that. But you know Hines, with that grin of his, just looked at her and said “Ma’am – we’re just playing football.”
WR Grisham: “Hines taught me how to practice like a professional; unlike the college game where you’re still pushed physically throughout the course of the season, the NFL game requires you to practice smarter to make it to game-day feeling your best.”
CB Cromartie-Smith: “Oh yeah – Ward got me. We were out stretching in camp one day and Ward, he’s that guy out there messing around. He’s not even stretching. I’m laying on the grass doing quad stretches and Ward came over. He said he had this bad feeling in his mouth – like a bad filling or cavity. He was standing over me opening his mouth so I could see. I lean back so I can see better, and he throws a handful of grass in my mouth and runs away laughing – and everyone around is laughing too. Now, I’m almost pissed! I can’t believe he did that. But a few days later he did it to some other guys – he did it to everyone. It’s just one of a million good memories of my four years there.”
Mike Mularkey: “Hines Ward – he was a self-made player and should be in the Hall of Fame. I’m not trying to take credit for him here, but this is a story about him. When I first took over as offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, I explained to him that we were going to run the ball more than he was used too. He just looked at me – that’s not something a receiver likes to hear. But I said to him, if we’re balanced and run the ball more, we’ll get more first downs. If we get more first downs, we’ll throw the ball more, and if we throw the ball more, you’ll catch more passes. But if we don’t do the first thing, we couldn’t accomplish the last thing.”
S Brent Alexander: “I think about Hines Ward. Most people remember him when he became a successful wide receiver and all of the success he had then. But those first few years when he came into the NFL, he did what he had to do on special teams – as a gunner, rushing and blocking on punts returns – whatever it took.”
WR Baker: “I remember when me, Hines and Limas Sweed, we would all roll up paper balls and shoot them in the trash for $50 a shot. Hines had endless money and it was just a way to help us relax. “
TE Kranchik: “Ward, Jerome, they all did what was best for the team at that time, no egos. And that’s why we were so successful.”
RB Vincent: “I was a priority free agent and could have went just about anywhere, but Pittsburgh just seemed right to me. Plus I was a Huge Hines Ward fan and almost signed with UGA because of him.”
WR/KR Logan: “I learned a lot from Hines Ward – he was a great, hard-nosed football player. And great mentor.”
OL Ross: “Jerome Bettis, Joey Porter and Hines Ward were the big personalities of the group.”
CB Ratliff: “There was no secret in the locker room that Hines Ward and myself had a few run-ins during my time in Cincy, but the NFL is a place of business.”
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
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