First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your time in the NFL?
I have eight grandkids within a quarter mile of where I live so that’s nice.
My last two offseasons in the NFL I worked part-time, training to be a commercial real estate agent. I sold business insurance after football and got myself ready for that before I retired. Day one after football I got a job doing that and worked as an agent for 30 years!
Was the post-NFL transition difficult – it sounds like you had a good plan?
I eased into it fairly well. After 10 years I knew I couldn’t – or at least shouldn’t – do it anymore. After Colgate – well, let’s put it this way – when you go to Colgate you don’t go thinking you’re going to get drafted in the NFL, for obvious reasons. But four years later I got drafted, and I said “Ok. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I figured the worst that could happen was I didn’t make the team. It wouldn’t have been an embarrassment if I didn’t.
How did you first adjust to life in the NFL and Oakland?
Morris Bradshaw helped – Dave Casper. It was a real good draft class. Henry Lawrence too – he was the right tackle there for 10 years. I have to say, I looked around me sometimes that rookie season and thought “Holy shit. Look at these guys!”
When I was at Colgate I have to admit, we usually played at 1:00 and I would think to myself, “I hope I get home by 4:00 to watch the the big programs – the big guys play!” I got what I wanted from Colgate – a degree in Economics and some competitive football games. But the education came first there obviously. If you had to be late for something, it was practice, not classes!
Did anyone help you out as a rookie?
Marv Hubbard – he preceded me at Colgate. He was a Senior when I was a Freshman. Back then Freshman couldn’t play but they could scrimmage so I met him then. He was a unique character. He was in Oakland when I was drafted and played the same position I did. He introduced me to other guys when I got there as “My heir apparent.” He laughed when he said it but he knew his time was winding down there and that I was next in line. He was a tremendous help to me in lots of ways, but especially in pass blocking.
How so?
Well, I played the wishbone at Colgate. A lot of running the ball but little pass blocking. We didn’t pass the ball a lot. So that’s the offense I knew. In the pros I’d have to pick up blitzing backers – I had never done that before. Marv helped me with that. The coaches just figured I’d learn it. My first training camp that was the biggest thing I had to get good at or I wouldn’t haver made the team.
That was something I had to work on. There were great outside backers in the NFL – especially in Denver. I was ok with the guys that tried to run you over. But the speed guys or the ones that looped past you were hard to adjust to. You couldn’t fire into them as easily. I guess I did an ok enough job or I would have been gone!
Pete Banaszak was there my first season too and he was the third-down back then. He’d replace Marv on passing downs and showed me some things too. That helped with the transition.
I also had a God-given gift of being quick off the ball on the snap count. That played well in my favor.
Was there a time when you felt you had “made it” and got the acceptance from your teammates?
I knew what was expected of me and how to get ready for games. Stabler – I remember still looking into his eyes – when he looked at you you could see it in his eyes – he expected you to make the play.
Late in preseason I knew the linemen were happy with the way I helped pick up guys when they missed blocks. And if there was no one to block I was good at running my check-throughs to get open for short dump-off passes. Most of those were short six-yard passes!
But a good story was in my rookie year. Growing up you loved either the Packers or the Giants. I loved Green Bay and Lombardi was my idol. In the huddle during a game I was just staring over at the Green Bay sideline and at Bart Starr when Stabler broke the huddle. I was so fixated on the Green Bay guys I didn’t hear the play. I yelled out to Stabler “Kenny what’s the play?!” He gave me a look that would kill someone and finally gave me the audible. Which was a good thing since it was a handoff to me!
After that series was over Stabler came looking for me on the sideline like he was going to tell me off. I told him what happened and he just laughed hysterically for five minutes and told me not to do it again. I thought he was going to kill me. Kenny was the field general on the field – he commanded the huddle.
What made those Oakland-Steelers games so special, from your point of view?
Oakland dominated its division then and the Steelers certainly dominated theirs. They were tough games between us. They weren’t a tough team to figure out in terms of what they were doing. On offense it wasn’t difficult to figure out what the defense was doing. It wasn’t complicated. You just had to buckle-up and know it was going to be a tough game.
To their credit, the backers I went up against one-on-one, after the game they’d come up to you after the game and show you respect. Lambert once yelled out to me after a game “Mark – come over here!” I wanted to say “Yes Mr. Lambert!” But I asked him “Hey Jack – what do you want?” He told me I was “A pain in the ass to play against. The ball was 25 yards away, why are you still blocking me!” I told him “Madden would chew my ass off if I didn’t!”
How did Madden prepare you for those games – what was he like?
We didn’t need to be driven by him on the rivalry – it wasn’t hard to get up for those games. Madden was such a unique coach. Let me think of a way to say this. He didn’t accept mistakes – especially on game days. The next day watching film he would tone it down a bit. But on game days, he was a big yeller. He accepted no excuses. That was ok to me – I got yelled at plenty of times before. He was just an intense coach. He was the same way no matter who we played and no matter the game – he never had to stress how important those Steelers games were.
Any memories stand out most to you of those games?
The biggest one was us winning at home versus Pittsburgh to get us to the Super Bowl. Playing against Harris, Bradshaw, the Steel Curtain…come on! I think that was a big moment for us and me – it was like the Super Bowl before the Super Bowl.
A funny one I guess was playing Pittsburgh and – I don’t know the rules now – but back then you couldn’t play without a mouthguard. If you lost yours the refs sent you to the sidelines.
Well, it was a big drive and I lost my mouthguard. I knew if the refs saw me they’d send me off the field. So George Buehler, our offensive guard, he bites off half of his mouthguard and gives it to me to use. I put it on my front teeth so I could stay on the field. It’s little stuff like that that people don’t know about.
Any other memories over your career stand out to you?
After I was waived by the Raiders, I was picked up by New England. That’s how that happened. I played for eight years in Oakland and New England signed me because they had hired the Raiders former offensive coordinator. I debated if eight years was enough, figured playing for the same coordinator would make the transition easy – it was the same terminology. Well, I’m practicing with everyone and am in the huddle trying to earn the respect of my new teammates. They are all friendly and all that but they are still looking at you trying to learn about who you are.
Well, after practice, John Hannah yells out to me to go over to him. I run over and he says “That was a fumble Mark!” He was referring to the playoff game the year before and the fumble they should have called. You could tell he was still upset. I told him “I just got to tell you John – you were screwed!” It was a bit silly but I wanted to diffuse the situation. He had a temper, but to his credit he just laughed it off. But you could tell he never forgot that play!
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