First, can you let me know what you’ve been doing since your time playing pro football?
Growing up, I used to do contracting jobs before I went to college to make some money – roofing, siding, remodeling….a family member had the business and it gave me an opportunity to learn some things.
I went to high school in Pittsburgh – at Blackhawk, near Beaver Falls. Then I went to Kansas State – they had an engineering curriculum – a construction sciences degree and that interested me.
After trying to make it as a football player for a few years, I moved back into the workforce and took a job in Northern Virginia with a company that bought land and developed hundreds of houses. That was my avenue of work at the time.
In 1991 I moved back home to Pittsburgh – I always wanted to go back. That’s where my friends were and where the things I loved to do were. I worked for a commercial roofer for a few years but it was tough – not a lot of money.
After that I decided to go into business for myself. It was tough – I’d change a doorknob to make a dollar – I’d paint it too!
Then, my friend gave me an opportunity to work on spec houses. I did that and things moved up from there. From there I worked on new homes and got government and commercial work. I went from building $180,000 homes to two-million dollar homes.
So, I guess to make a long story short, I made a short story long!
Was the post-football transition tough for you?
I wasn’t there that long. I played on and off for two seasons with Cleveland after Pittsburgh, then went to the CFL to play for Kevin Gilbride in Montreal. He was the secondary coach there then. Before the first game we went to the stadium and we were about to get on the bus to go to the airport to play Hamilton when the owner called us all in for a meeting and told us they didn’t sell enough tickets. They folded the team for the season. I just thought “You have to be kidding me!”
With the Steelers I made $40,000 – with incentives and the $5,000 signing bonus it came out to about $50,000. That felt like a million bucks to me. They paid you per game – 16 payments over the season. So you had to budget for the entire year on those 16 payments and that was tough – I didn’t do a good job of that.
I played in the Arena League as well – for the Gladiators and Knights. Oh – and after the CFL I went to play for the USFL – but it folded that year too! Luck was not on my side.
So, when I moved to Virginia to work, the NFL went on strike. I thought about playing for the strike season – I needed three more games to get my pension. I was afraid the league would only be on strike for two games and I’d still miss out. I also didn’t want to cross the picket line. Of course they went on to strike for six games.
So, it was hard after football – especially going into business for myself. But I was too ignorant to know how tough it was so I just plowed through. And now the CBA rolled back pensions for pre-93 players so you only had to play for three seasons – so that worked out well.
So as an undrafted free agent, why did you sign with the Steelers?
Three teams were interested in me – Chicago, Pittsburgh, and the Saints. Pittsburgh was the team I rooted for in the 70’s. Plus. I just thought the opportunity was better for me there to make it as a backup.
I played well in the preseason but was cut that last week. Eric Williams got hurt though so they brought me back – that afforded me the opportunity to play.
Anyone help mentor you as a rookie?
They were all seasoned vets – pros. Ronnie Johnson – I liked him. He was a tough guy and we had fun with him. He would communicate a lot with the rookies.
Lambert – the first time I met him I was walking out of the dining hall and it was pouring rain. A car pulled up and the door swung open and he yelled at me to get in. I got in holding those straps on the side of the seat and ripped the strap off the seat! I was nervous but he just said “Come on, let’s go.”
It was a good group of guys – a lot of those guys from the 70’s were still there. Tony Dungy was my secondary coach and he was very positive. As a rookie I didn’t understand Chuck – I responded well to positive guys that motivated you. Not that I wasn’t self-motivated. But I wasn’t used to guys like Chuck – he was just very business-like.
You of course had that big fumble 93-yard recovery for a touchdown…
The background on that is that we were in our short-yardage defense. I was Donnie’s backup – I played strong safety. In short yardage they’d bring in two strong safeties and we’d line up close to the line of scrimmage near the defensive ends. Donnie was on the left side and me on the right.
What happened though was that early on in the game I hurt my left shoulder on a special teams play. It was bruised and that made it hard to take on blockers playing on the right side, so I asked Donnie to switch. The first play they ran to my side and we held them. The next play Robin Cole hit Bryce Green and he fumbled and the ball popped over to me. That should have been Donnie!
Well, I caught some flack from the guys because about 30 yards from the endzone no one was near me and Merriweather was running backwards with me – as fast as I was running. So they made fun of me. Of course Donnie never said anything – but I knew!
Any other fun memories of your time there?
Harvey Clayton and I roomed together as rookies. I remember we’d hear knocks on the dorm room doors, worrying if it’d be us next that would be asked to bring our playbooks in…
The first two players I met – I’m not sure if you remember the narrow corridors at Three Rivers Stadium. But Harvey and I were walking through them when two guys were walking our way. It was Steve Courson and Mark Malone. Courson was in camos holding a hunting rifle, and Malone was huge – 6’4″, 230 pounds, I thought – am I in the wrong league? That was a quarterback and he was 6’4′! And you know how big Courson was…
Bradshaw – that was his last season and he didn’t play due to his injury. But he’d run with the scout team just to get out there. He’d play wide receiver and talked smack to me and Harvey. He called us midgets and said he’d love to go up against us in a game!
Any others?
Lambert used to throw his cookouts for the defensive guys. He told us all to bring something, so I picked up hot dogs and buns on the way. But when I get there, they were serving shrimp, wine, and hors d’oeuvre…. I was embarrassed – I felt like such an idiot! So I hid the hot dogs and buns underneath a pillow on his couch! Halfway through the cookout someone sat down and found them and asked who brought them!
Any last thoughts on your time there?
Joe Gordon – he kept us in touch – he was the glue factor there for former players.
I folded a team and a league over my playing days! But when you’re 23 to 25 years old, you aren’t worried about life. At least, I wasn’t. Once you get married – have kids -your perspective changes. But it was all good. I am just so happy to have been a part of Steelers Nation!
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
