First, I know it’s been a while since you played, but let me know what has been going on lately with you?
Well, when I retired from the NFL I moved to North Carolina. But recently my body has broken down. My back and leg have gone out. I moved now to Ohio and live with my daughter in her condo. I have trouble walking and have been here the past three-to-four years.
The issues mostly due to your NFL playing days?
I think so. Yes. I’ve had three back operations. My legs definitely gave out because of that – from playing football.
Tell us a bit about how you found your way to Pittsburgh. You were traded to Pittsburgh from Washington. Why?
I still question that. I have no idea why. I was drafted round two and still question why I was traded. But I didn’t mind at the time. I was from Pittsburgh so didn’t mind going to my hometown. But we had a miserable, horrible year. We had a horrible team because Walt Kiesling was a horrible coach. I was glad to get the hell out of there.
What made him so horrible?
I remember we flew home the next morning after a game in San Francisco. We took the bus to the practice field and practiced that afternoon. And my wife was having out first child that year. I got a phone call that she was in labor and asked Kiesling if I could go to her and he said no. So I told him to go to hell. All he cared about was hitting, hitting, hitting. I was glad to be traded.
All he did in practice was one-on-one hitting each other. It took years off of my career. I was traded to New York and there I was put on a line with guys like Sam Huff and Rosie Grier. We won a championship that year. Tom Landry was the defensive coordinator then. He taught us things like angling your shoulder as a lineman. It wasn’t just about hitting each other.
Ernie Stautner was another guy that just got pounded in Pittsburgh. He would have been an All-Pro every year on another ball club. I remember watching film in New York on the Steelers after we played them and we were watching a guy that no one could bring down. The head coach was yelling at us why we couldn’t tackle him. We said “Coach, that’s Ernie Stautner.” he just said “Oh, ok.” That’s how much respect we had for him.
Tell me about some of the other Steelers players you played with?
Lou Ferry was a good, straight-on ball player. He could take any position on the line and hold it. He ended up coaching at Villanova. The tight end – Elbie Nickel – he was very good at that time but he got worn down too. He had good hands.
We had a lot of strong competitors and talent on that ’55 team. If they played in New York many of them could have played for 14 years.
Did any of the players discuss how hard Kiesling was to play for?
At that time nobody talked about it. We all thought that was the way it was supposed to be. Kiesling told us that was the way it was and we didn’t know better.
To be honest, I etched a lot of that ’55 Steelers team out of my memory completely. When the Rooneys took over it changed completely. But before that it was just one on one, bang bang bang all the time.
Was retirement from the NFL hard for you – did you miss it?
I coached for years after I retired playing. After I retired from coaching I bought a pontoon boat the next day and went down the river with my wife and caught three-to-four fish!
So, you didn’t miss it much then?
No, I didn’t miss the game. I coached for 22 years and enjoyed that though.
And do you watch the NFL today?
I do. The game today is a joke. It’s not the NFL anymore – not like it is now. I watch Steelers players do hopscotch with each other on the field. It’s ridiculous. Asinine. These guys can’t tackle anymore. They should change the game all over again. The players don’t focus on the plays and the game enough. They just joke around too much. And the National Anthem. They should stand with their hands over their hearts. The kneeling down is a shame.
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