First I want to thank Ron Lippock for keeping up with us old guys and letting us share some memories. Next I want to thank the Rooney family for always treating me and my family as a part of the Steelers family. They were and still are the class of the league!!
I was truly blessed to have played for the Steelers and Coach Noll. I was only there for one great year but it was a life changer for me and my family. I was a member of the greatest rookie class of all time in any sport and won the Super Bowl in my first year as a pro. Those things stay with you your whole life. No matter where you go or who you meet, you are always introduced as a Super Bowl Champion. Your children and grandchildren are always known as the children and grandchildren of someone who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
1974 was a strike year so most of the preseason games were all rookies. As I said, we had the greatest rookie class of all time, so by the time the vets came in we were undefeated. I remember Rocky saying later that the rookies taught the team how to win!! It was a year of the highest highs and the lowest lows for me. I had made the Pittsburgh Steelers, my dad died, we won the Super Bowl and I got married to Miss Sharon Hahne of Savannah, GA two months after Super Bowl IX.
My dad had been sick for a while and as I got ready to go to camp I told him I needed to stay home and get a job to help him and my mom. He made me get in the car and go to camp. He died the day after we played Houston out in Texas. My brother had called Coach Noll on Thursday that week and told him I needed to come home. Coach told him that he really needed me because of some injuries but he would put me on a plane for Louisville right after the game. My brother, being a head football coach himself at Male HS in Louisville, KY, understood – so right after the game I flew home in time to be with my dad when he died. It is still hard to think about it.
The best thing of all is how close you get with your teammates! I still keep up with most of them and many are still very good friends. We have lost several also but I think of them often. I get to play in Donnie Shell’s Foundation and John Stallworth’s Foundation golf tournaments every year and see a lot of the guys. My roommate, David Reavis, was in my wedding and we have stayed best friends for all these years. Our families have grown but we still get together when we can. David and his wife Vicki, Moon Mullins and his wife Joan and Gordon Gravelle and his wife Molly take trips with Sharon and I all the time. We headed to Cabo in January. We have gone on Steelers’ cruises, to Steelers’ reunions, weddings and even name kids and grandkids after each other. When all of the players get together it is like we never left. What a great group of people and we truly love each other!
After my year with the Steelers I played five more with the Patriots and have great friends from there also. In 1981 I went to work with Jostens, Inc and moved to Spartanburg, SC where I still live today. Jostens made our Super Bowl rings and has been a great company to work for. We make more Pro, College and HS Champ rings than other company and will continue to do so! My oldest son Travis is slowly taking over the Jostens business but Sharon and I are still working every day. He is married to Christy and they have two boys, Colt-6 and Cade-2. My daughter Molly, named after Molly Gravelle, and her husband John live in Charleston and are expecting their first child in May. My son Matthew David, that name David shows up a lot, and his wife Elizabeth are in Birmingham, Al and have two sons David-3, there s that name again, and James-1. Andy, our fourth, lives in Savannah, GA and is getting married to Alex in April.
I had the whole family back for the 40th reunion of Super Bowl IX. We all had a blast and it was fun to see my family with my teammate’s families and how they all felt the same bond to the Steelers family. I owe a great deal to the Steelers and the town of Pittsburgh and I will never forget it!! Looking forward to our 50th!!!
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
