First of all POST NFL VENTURES—When I decided to retire from the Steelers I had my own business selling deals all over the world—i.e. Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and many other interesting cities/countries. That company had increased my income by four or five times what the Steelers were paying me. Ray Mansfield, our center, came with me, making our speeches in all those cities—it was surprising how much laughter we got from people all over the world—not just here in Pittsburgh.
Those valuable trips were very exciting but I still loved the Steelers games. But my injuries from my 12 years in the NFL (i.e. broken fingers, thumbs, knee and hip, back problems, etc) – none of those injuries had kept me from playing, as I had never missed a game in high school, college, Army & NFL—lucky me. My decision to stop all those years of football had been announced in our Pittsburgh newspaper in 1977.
However, I got a call from our coach Chuck Noll, asking me to come over to his office as he wanted to have a chat. Driving over to his office I wondered what he wanted to talk about. Arriving he quickly got to what he wanted. “Andy, I want you to play two more seasons, as our captain, making you our captain for 12 years.” Somewhat shocked by his offer I replied, “No Coach, I’m going to seek my “Life’s Work,” a statement that he always used when he cut players from the team. He laughed and then supported my decision, wishing me success in business, but I left wondering if I had really made the right decision.
My father was a very successful business man working for a major business, Monsanto. My dad had told me when I was seven years old, having been born in Detroit, “Son, we will be moving very often and you’ll be called a Corporate Brat.”
He knew what he was talking about because a year later, we moved to Chicago (Evanston) where we lived 2.5 years and then we moved to New York (Pelham Manor) where we lived four years and then we moved to St. Louis where I lived through high school before going to the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.
However, still a Corporate Brat, my mother called me to tell me more about traveling—“Son, your father was just made President of Monsanto Europe and we’ll be living over in Europe for ten or twelve years.” They had already moved to Beirut and then they moved to Lake Geneva Switzerland—all of which was very interesting to me, because Monsanto paid my way over to Europe, during my four years of college.
My NFL career, starting 1963, was interrupted as I had to go (ROTC in College) to Germany to become a Lieutenant in the Army in 1964 and 1965. I had made the NFL’s All Pro Rookie Team, so the Steelers weren’t very happy that I had to go to the military. But, in those days (at least in Europe) the Army had played Division Level Football (most Divisions were around 20,000 soldiers, so you could build a pretty decent football team. They made me the Defensive Coach and middle linebacker (my favorite position). I used many Steelers blitzes against those opponents and we went undefeated and I, luckily, received the MOP (Most Outstanding Player) from the Stars and Stripes, (a military newspaper), in Europe, the U.S.A., Japan and Korea.
Of course, I sent that article to the Steelers, hoping that I could continue my NFL career but the Steelers responded that military football isn’t any good, not much better than small college football. I laughed but realized that being the Defensive Coach had made me a better player, knowing what every man on the defense needed necessary to coach properly.
Well, I did return to the Steelers and loved how great the team became in the early 70s. Now in those days the game was far more violent than it is today. Today a player can’t hit anyone in the head, cut people at their knees, etc., as the NFL is trying to keep players from serious injuries which, of course, is a good thing.
My rookie year, 1963, we had almost won the final game of the year against the N.Y. Giants, a team we had beaten in Pittsburgh—if we had won that game we would have been in the Super Bowl (not what it was called back then). When I returned from Europe the Steelers were an awful team and that didn’t change until Chuck Noll was made the coach.
After coming to Pittsburgh, Coach Noll called a meeting with the whole team and he told us that “I’ve been watching all your terrible games, and I can tell you why you are so bad.” “The reason you can’t win any games is because you aren’t any good and I’m going to have to get rid of most of you.” Of course, despite 1 victory and 13 losses that year, we could see lots of very good players coming—Players like Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Mel Blount, Mike Wagner, Moon Mullins, J.T. Thomas and a lot other very good players. All of a sudden we started winning a lot of games and got into Super Bowl IX (versus the Vikings) and X (versus the Cowboys)—we won both of them. Therefore, I am the lucky recipient of two rings.
Of course, as a gung ho player, I remember mistakes I made more accurately than those I made well. I think one of my favorite thing is that I was the Captain for 10 years. Other honors are the being on the Hall of Steeler Honor, being one of the three linebackers that have an NFL record of 24 Pro Bowls—Lambert 9, Ham 8, and me 7 Pro Bowls. Actually what I love the most is just being a part of such a wonderful team, full of great players, giving it their best all the time.