First, can you talk a bit about what you’ve been doing since your playing days and how you got started?

Well, I’m a head coach now for high school football in Newport News, Virginia. I’m in my 32nd year of coaching and have coached guys like Michael Vick, Aaron Brooks, and B.W. Webb. I’m still teaching and coaching – I haven’t retired yet! I’m still trying to make a difference in the lives of the kids I coach while enjoying what I’m doing.

What has been the biggest influence for you as a coach?

Coming up through high school in the 70’s, it was crazy for me. Those coaches were big figures for me. They were important in my life – I grew up with no father. So those coaches were important and influenced my personal life. They talked to me and helped me – that helped show me what I wanted to do with my life as a coach.

Were you surprised to be drafted by the Steelers in ’74?

I wasn’t surprised – I had a good college career. But it taught me a lot about the business of football. I was in college one day, by myself just watching film in the auditorium. A guy came up to me and started talking to me about what I was looking at. I didn’t know much at the time – I was just doing it because I enjoyed it and was interested. Well, it turned out that was a Steelers coach – Woody Widenhofer. At the time I didn’t even know there were NFL people there.

So that meeting showed me that things happen for a reason. The Steelers drafted me later on – that meeting was special.

You were drafted by the WFL too?

I was drafted by the Washington Ambassadors which later became the Florida team.  I decided to sign with the WFL then instead of the Steelers. At the time the Steelers had Franco, Bleier, Frenchy Fuqua and Harrison. That was their era. So I decided to play for the WFL and was MVP of the league that year. But the league folded, so I went to the Steelers after that in ’75.

I was there for a short while but was traded to Kansas City. I was close to the Rooneys up until I was traded.

How did you get so close to the team so quickly?

It’s a credit to the administration of the team. They opened doors to have those bonds with you. It wasn’t about just what they would do with me as a football player. They wanted to help you as a person. All the Rooneys were like that and they had a likeness for me.

Woody was a terrific guy too. I got close to him.

And you’re still close to the team and Mike Tomlin – how so?

Mike called me when they wanted to sign Michael Vick and BW Webb. Just to get some information on them. It’s a small world, the football world.

I knew Mike since his high school days. I coached against him when he played us. He was a great player – a guy who would do everything for the team.  He wasn’t a superstar at any one thing but he could do everything great.  You can say he’s still a lot like that today. Watching him as a player then as a coach – I knew he’d have a great career.

You played so well in that crazy torrential downpour College All-Star game when the best college players played the Super Bowl winners. Tell me about that game?

I made it rain! I say that all the time. That was the last College All-Star Game I think. It was thundering and lightening – I scored two touchdowns in that game. I joked that when I scored I spiked the ball so hard it made thunder and lightening!

At the time Franco was the guy. After him Frenchy was the guy. Then Bleier was becoming the guy. I knew I had to do something to make a difference to make the team. I had so much at stake.

Guys were sliding all over the field. I’ve never been around anything like that – it was the hardest rain I’ve ever stood in. I’ve lived in Missouri and Kansas but I never saw anything like it.

Despite a good game you were traded – what happened?

The coaches said I played a great game. But they had Deloplaine there as well and because of my success in the WFL I think they felt I was the one guy that they could trade. They just had too many guys.

This was the cold part of the business. I was sitting in the office with Art Rooney and he pointed his fingers up in the air and told me I was “this close” to getting traded to Chicago, to my former WFL coach Jack Pardee. He and I were close.

The Bears tried to trade for me but the Steelers wanted too much, so they traded me to Kansas City instead. Dig this. If the Bears did trade for me, they probably don’t take the guy they drafted in the first round that year – Walter Payton!

I wanted to circle back on your relationship with Mike Tomlin. How did you two become close and what can you tell us about him that some may not think as much about?

His charisma – he has a heart of gold.

I had been an actor for a while before coaching – North Dallas Forty, Charlie’s Angels… I was a former NFL player and community leader so people knew who I was. He knew who I was and I got to know him over time – coaching against him and afterwards just talking with him over the years.

I have a camp I hold here in Virginia every year for kids here and Mike comes back every year. He’s loyal to the talent of Eastern Virginia. He always gives us – this area – respect in the way they recruit and evaluate players.

I’ve seen him grow over the years as he’s come back here. What makes him a great coach is that he’s willing to give others an opportunity – he doesn’t have an ego. He let’s people do their thing. That’s why he’s lasted so long in the NFL.

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