WEBVTT - Pats from the Past, Episode 41: Russ Francis 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:09.559 It's time for another episode of TATS from the Past podcast. 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:13.119 Matt Smith pleased to be joined by one of. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:16.360 The all time great Patriots, former tight end, Rus Francis, 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:18.720 all the way up from Connecticut. Thank you for coming 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:20.720 up here and really appreciate your time. 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:21.640 Great to see you. 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:22.680 It's great to see you, Matt. 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.000 Thank you for having me so for the new a 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.120 fight Patriot fans who might only think of tight ends 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:31.960 and Rob Gronkowski. I don't know how accurate this is, 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:36.879 but Russ Francis was Rob Gronkowski before Gronk averaging you know, 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:41.199 sometimes seventeen yards a catch famously known or coined the 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.960 phrase by all world announcer Howard Cosel, Russ was the 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.000 all worlds tight end. If you're watching Monday Night Football 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.800 and listen to the halftime highlights, that's how Cosel called 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:55.040 Russ Francis on two of the great pre craft Patriot 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.400 teams of all time, nineteen seventy six and nineteen seventy eight. 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.840 Unfortunately they never got a cheat to win it all. Rush. 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:04.720 Before we start talking about your football career and everything, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.040 I know you're living in Connecticut. Why don't you tell 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.520 what Patriot fans know what's you're up to these days. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:13.759 Well, first of all, you mentioned Brook Gronkowski. Rob what 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.160 a monster he is. I mean, there's a guy that 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.400 can do everything. So I just wanted another Patriot tight end, 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.040 which I'm very, very proud to tell people about. From 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:26.200 time to time, I'm in Hawaii. Part of the time, 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:30.000 I'm in Oregon. Family got a place in Cody, Wyoming, 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.280 and as you mentioned, in Connecticut. So I'm still traveling. 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.320 I still love to do that, visit family, visit friends, 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.520 and I run into fans all over the place. Not 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:42.120 just Patriots fans or forty nine er fans because of 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:46.160 the time I spent there, but NFL fans, sports fans, 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:48.720 Red Sox fans, which is one of my favorite things 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.760 to do, go to Fenway. So it's a pleasure. I 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.240 mean to be here at Jillette Stadium. I feel like 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.960 I just walked in on my first day after being drafted. 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.840 Do you think rush when you look back at you know, 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:05.040 your kind of unassuming origin into the game of football. 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.399 Did you become a football player by accident? 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:10.399 Almost? 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:11.799 You know, it wasn't like you grew up as a 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:13.840 kid and we're looking at you know, old black and 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:15.360 white tape or anything. And you know, one day I'm 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.120 going to be a football player. It just sort of happened. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.000 Why don't you, you know, help educate fans as to 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.400 how the origins of Russ Francis football player came to be. 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:27.639 Well, my mother was a nurse number one. She had 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.120 five boys and a girl, and the boys were not 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.480 going to play youth football or any of that stuff. 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:34.760 She was way ahead of her time with brain injury 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.320 and that type of thing, orthopedic injuries. So it wasn't 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.600 until high school when she said, when your bones stopped 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.600 growing or they're close to stop growing. And my oldest brother, Bill, 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.240 who's almost three years older, he loved football, so he 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.919 kind of dragged me into it. I really didn't want 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.480 to play, you know, I'd rather be at the beach surfing, 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.919 I mean, just or sailing or something anything but football. 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:00.360 Because you're growing up in I should we should remind 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:01.440 people what state are you from? 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.600 From the Hawaiian Islands? Yes, so I came from a 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.000 real different background and come to New England where they're 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.240 very very very serious about their sports, and they were 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.320 very very serious about their patriots. And I didn't know anything. 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.720 My teammates wanted nothing to do with me because I 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.160 only played one year my junior year in football, didn't 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.520 play my senior year, and all of a sudden, I'm 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.960 here on the practice field. Luckily my teammate that Ray 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.079 Perkins put me in with a training camp. And then 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.920 on the road is Darryl Stingley, God rest his soul, 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.320 and Daryl taught me how to read coverages, run routes, 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.000 and Perk made sure that he did. We did it 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.240 before practice, we did it after practice. So I was very, 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.280 very fortunate. I think the number one thing when you 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:50.040 ask of how do you develop becoming a football player, 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.240 starting as a rookie with Steve Grogan also starting as 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.720 a rookie, you have to have people all around you 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.080 like my coach, Ray Perkins and Red Miller on the line, 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:02.560 Ray's receivers and Raymond Barry's receivers, Chuck Fairbanks, Ron Earhart 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.680 offensive coordinator. Such a great group of guys you can't 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:09.480 help but learn. I'm a self taught incompetent, so I 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:11.760 looked to the highest level I can find if somebody 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:13.920 knows something, and then I started drilling them, how do 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:15.000 you do this? How do you do that? 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:20.240 So University of Oregon recruited you in Hawaii to throw 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:21.919 the javelin, is that correct? 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:28.320 Well, actually, the University of Oregon canceled their baseball program 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.640 due to Title nine. So I was going to go 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.320 play baseball at the University of Oregon. Middle of my 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.680 senior year in Hawaii, my parents tell me my brother's 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.280 going away to college with his girlfriend. I've got to 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.520 go back to the ranch in Oregon. So I'm going 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.760 to finish high school there my second year. Javelins are 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.360 illegal in Hawaii, as they are in many states spears, 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.360 so I'd never seen one guy goes walking by after 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.800 the basketball season. I'd just gotten there. I threw it. 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.400 It shattered in the parking lot because I thought I 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.520 could reach the grass a little over confident, and the said, listen, 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:01.960 you can either pay me one hundred and fifty two 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.520 dollars or join the track team. Since the baseball team 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:09.680 was not my guys, I said, okay, fine. So because 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.680 of this coach, who's one of the top track and 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.279 field coaches in the United States, at a small school, 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.359 Pleasant Hill in Oregon of four hundred and eighty kids, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:21.880 I set the national record three times. He was a 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.360 job and thrower himself. So we started by just hitting paper. 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.479 I said, can I throw it down the field? Note? 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:29.760 Just through the point, through the point, through the point. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:32.800 Having people like that in your life, all across the 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:37.479 board of your life is how anybody succeeds. You don't 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.720 do it. A small part of it really is you 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.160 pep oh. You're a good athlete, You're this, you're that, 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.599 You're big, you're strong, and you're faster. None of that 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.920 counts if you don't start putting all the information. If 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.000 they're not willing to give it to you, it's game over. 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.520 Who was your roommate at the University of Oregon that 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:57.279 was also on the track team. 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.599 When I first got to the University of Oregon The 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.159 coach Bill Barman, who ended up becoming the nineteen seventy 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.160 two this is nineteen seventy one, nineteen seventy two Olympic 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.240 track and field coach for the United States in Munich, Germany. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.040 Many people remember the sort of disaster that that was. 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.279 The guy that he put me in as a roommate 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.520 on the road, came up to me the first day 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.400 of practice, ran around the little guy running around the track, 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:24.640 running around the track, running around the going up downstairs, 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.000 and I'm trying to learn how to throw the javelin 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:28.960 some more. He comes over. He goes, here, let me 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.320 show you how to throw that. He's about five eight 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.239 five seven, about one hundred and twenty pounds left handed, 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:36.600 and he grabbed it. He threw it, kind of threw 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:38.320 it sideways. He goes, oh, I used to throw it 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.440 better in high school. He says, you got to get 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:43.279 that left foot down better. And I said, who are you? 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.120 He goes, My name's pre I said, didn't your mother 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:50.280 like you? That old story? And he says Steve Prefontaine, 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.279 like I was supposed to know. Well, he was well 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.960 known around the world at that point. I said, nice 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.839 to meet you, pre So let me finish throwing the javelin. 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:00.880 So I didn't know it, but he had gone to 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.719 the coach. The coach had talked said this guy needs 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.479 a seasoned member of the team as his roommate to 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.280 help him out because he's he's got issues me. And 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.760 he was right. I was lost. I mean, I I 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.640 did you know I'm twenty miles twenty five miles from 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.800 the ranch and didn't know anybody in town and pre 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.520 introduced me to everybody. He became a dear, dear friend. 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.400 So you played one year of collegiate football at the 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:31.040 University of Oregon. Great, you know, good conference, top talent, 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.000 and you were drafted sixteenth overall in the first round 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.640 by the New England Patriots. Was that Steinberg who was 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.400 a GM back then? Yes, and tell the story like, well, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:43.520 he was not a personnellity right when you were found 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:45.800 when you found out you were drafted, did you think 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.040 they had reinstituted the Armed Services draft? 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:49.680 Like you didn't even know what the NFL draft was. 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.320 Right, My brother comes down from the ranch house. I'm 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:54.640 in the snow feeding cattle. We had a bunch of cattle. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.280 We worked two other ranches, so you had a busy 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.960 day feeding cattle every day, hauling hay in the summer. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.640 And this is January when the NFL used to hold 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.880 the draft. Then he comes zimbling down and he's the 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:10.720 responsible when became a policeman. My oldest brother Bill, and 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:12.720 he says, hey, you've been drafted. You got to get 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.160 up to the phone. They're waiting for you. I said, 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:16.840 they can't do that again. They get they had the 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.320 lottery back. Then he goes, no, you idiot, it's the NFL. 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.520 I go tell him, I'm I'm playing. I've been drafted 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.640 in the fall. This is January by the Kansas City 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.400 Royals to pitch way down. I think it was ninth 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.160 round or something like that, maybe even farther down. But 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.360 I wanted to play baseball so bad, so I said, no, 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:38.960 just tell him I'm I'm not going to play. He goes, 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.719 you tell him? So I said, well, tell him. It's 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.960 going to be two hours before I'm through feeding. I 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.280 got to go back to the bar and get Hay 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.560 and all that stuff go there, and then phone's hanging swinging. 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.240 I said, Bill, what's going on with the phone? He said, 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.040 they're still waiting, and I don't think the coach, his 0:08:55.160 --> 0:09:00.520 name is Chuck Fairbanks, is very happy. Oh, I'm just 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:02.920 come over from Hawaii. She just walked by to see 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.920 what's happening with her boys just keep on going. She 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:07.600 wasn't sure what was going on that it was a 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.800 football team, because she would have said, let me talk 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.080 to him. But I get there and it was Ernie Adams, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.120 who's been a fixed year here with the Newland Patriots 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.360 since then. He and Nancy Meyer, two of my best 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.360 friends and buddies, were all rookies together, and he said, yeah, 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:26.880 Coach Fairbanks is pretty hot. He said, you might want 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.720 to start out kind of slow, or you just tell 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.600 him pleasure meeting you, Ernie. My mother's working on her boys. 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:35.920 I said, please just tell him. We don't need to talk. 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.440 I'm not gonna I'm gonna play baseball because you're gonna 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.400 have tell him yourself. And he was kind of like 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.040 this anyway, So Chuck came on and he says, you're 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.840 on a plane tonight to Boston. I said, you know, 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.400 I really can't do that, Coach. I've got a feed cattle. 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.559 I've got class, summer classes and graduate early at the 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:58.240 University of Oregon pre med. And my mother goes walking by. 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.439 He said, is your mother home? Put mom on the phone. 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:04.240 She is, yes, Coach, yes, I understand them. Okay, fine, 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.560 I'll tell him, but it's up to him. It's his decision. 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.160 He'll call you back. Click. She said, listen, my recommendation 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.400 is that you get to go first class tonight, get 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.600 into Boston tomorrow morning, meet with the coach, let him 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:18.559 have his say, then tell him whatever you want. To 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.600 say that you're either going to play or you're not 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:21.920 going to play, but do it in person. 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:24.280 That's really good advice, by the way. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.480 And I said, and that's how mom was with the boys. 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:29.520 I said, Mom, I got a feed cattle, I got 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.600 classes and ever there. She goes, Bill, Billy, you're taking 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:35.440 Russell's cattle. I don't know what he could do for 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.000 your classes. Maybe he can sit in for you. But 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.280 you need to go, I said, Mom, I just I 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:43.560 don't have time. She goes. You know what's at Boston 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.960 because she knew her son all of her Since I 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:48.720 said no, she goes, and you'll get to see it. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:54.120 I said, no, what Fenway Park, the Green Monster. Oh, 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.800 that's right, the Red Sox. You think I'll really be 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:58.959 able to see the Red Sox? Ernie drove me over 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:00.959 to the Fenway Whenever when you picked me. 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:02.800 Up the next day, When you look back at that 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.599 Russ and you think about it, like it sounds like 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:06.160 a kid. 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.079 Who football wasn't a priority to you. You had other 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:10.360 things going on in your life. 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.320 Here comes this surprise phone call that you have no 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:17.000 idea really what it means or anything like that. How 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.680 when you look back at that and how that was 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.480 a defining moment in your life for taking a turn 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:26.679 that you really didn't know what you're getting into. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:27.920 By saying, you know what, I'm going to hop in 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:29.559 the planet and go to Boston and see what happens. 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.280 Do you ever look back at that and reminisce about, like, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:33.760 you know how. 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.040 Important that moment was in your life? 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:40.840 Well, my mother, my grandmother, my father, grandfather, our whole family. 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.760 It was all about making your own decisions. So she's 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:45.679 gonna give you some advice, and she's going to give 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.880 you some backup reasons or ideas or thoughts. Then you 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:50.880 get to think about it mulled over, and then you 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.120 make the decision. I came really close to just say no, 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.640 I'm just gonna stick with baseball, you know. Plus I'd 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.880 been accepted by a couple of colleges to VET school 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:07.640 here in the Northeast, So I came really really close 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.240 to saying no, I'm not going to I'm going to 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.760 go spring practice for baseball. And I never would have 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.760 done much. I don't think in baseball as a pitcher, 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.920 and I could throw really fast, especially after throwing the javelin. 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.480 I had no idea where he's gone football and baseball too, 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.800 is more of a team. They're going to deal with 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.240 the top players they have. They'll develop you as they can. 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.199 Either you can or you can't. In football with Ray Perkins, 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.280 it was every day working with me catching the ball. 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.760 Raymond Barry saying, those threads that come to the point 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.720 of the ball, what do you see with those threads? 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.120 I said, I see threads, Coach, when he throw me 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:48.280 the ball. He was very, very cerebral kind of coach, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.439 and he said, keep looking, throw me the tight spiral. 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.840 So finally, one moment it hit me and these are 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.520 the people I get to work with. And I'd already 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.720 played three years in the league, and I was doing 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.160 pretty well, Pro Bowl and everything else. I drop a 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.680 pass every now and then I went to almost zero 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:11.200 drops when he saw said, look at the threads coming 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.080 together at the point of the ball. It forms a 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.360 black dot when you turn your head around. And Steve 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.640 Grogan has just throwing that ball, or Joe Montana in 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.400 this case, and it's already on its way and you 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.280 have to pick it up. If you pick up that football, 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:27.719 you'll go right to your hands. You just can't get 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:29.719 to it. If you pick up that dot, you can 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.640 stop it. And I went son of a Gun coach 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.920 Jam Fingers later, but finally, that's the kind of coaching. 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:41.200 I had. Teammates like Daryl Stingley, you know, John Hannah, 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:47.600 Leon Gray Shelby, Jordan I God rest his soul, Steve Nelson, 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.760 the guy, Steve King, Steve's able, the three, Steve A. 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.880 Darrow's I call him the linebackers for the Patriots. They 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.680 were so good at detail stuff and getting better every 0:13:57.720 --> 0:13:59.320 single day. Then you go with the kuy like Bill 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:01.959 Walsh where they wrote the book they called me genius. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.280 Well that was for a reason. The West Coast offense 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.200 and Joe Montana and all those guys that were on 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:12.760 that team, Roger Craigan. It was an honor and a privilege. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.880 The chance to do broadcasting. We were talking earlier with 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.080 al Michaels and how great he is. I got a 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.200 chance to do college football games with al Michaels. 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:21.920 We'll get to that. 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.120 One of my heroes, right, And I just say that 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.040 based on these are people that walked into my life. 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.600 I had no idea they were coming. I'm a self 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.320 taught incompetence, so I'm here to learn I learned that 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:35.600 from my flat instructors, and I learned that from my parents. 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:37.800 So here you come as a first round draft pick, 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:39.840 sixteenth overall the draft. You're coming to an area you 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:41.440 don't know, you don't know any of your teammates or 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.280 anything like that. I think you've said to me off 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.960 camera that you know, there's a little bit of a 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:49.200 bullseye on your back. 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:49.960 What was it? 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:50.200 Was it? 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.440 You know, not that it wasn't a welcoming environment or 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:57.840 a nurturing environment. Certainly the coaches, it was important for 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:00.520 them to see you develop and develop well. But as 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.200 this hot shot first round pick with a bunch of veterans, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.000 was it a difficult transition to transition into pro football? 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.840 Oh? Absolutely. I mean Tommy Nevill who was the starting 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.080 right tackle at the time before Shelby Jordan the next 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.120 year or to Tommy's towards the end of his career, 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.720 A really honorable guy, you know, from Alabama. I think 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.000 Alabama Arkansas. I can never hogle get upset if I 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.520 said Arkansas. So I started doing it on purpose. John 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:30.120 Hannah from Alabama. John, he came up to me the 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.000 first day of practice. He goes, listen, my name is 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.040 Tommy Neville. I'm the right tackle. You would be playing 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.120 tight end next to me from time to time. I 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.720 just want you to know I'm rooting for the veteran 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.400 Bob Windsor. Don't come to me with any questions about 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.040 how to run your plays, or how to block or 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.760 anything else. You either figure it out or you're out 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:49.480 of here. That was my welcome. 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:50.640 Now. 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:54.680 I've always admired Tommy Nevill because he told me exactly 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.440 how it was. First day, straight shooter. He straight shooter, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.360 and you have to make the adjustment. I think, knowing 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.960 Tommy later and talking to him after he retired, he said, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:04.640 I wanted to see what you were made at him. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:06.920 He said, so you kept coming back. He said that 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.480 was all right. And Bob Windsor got hurt so before 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.640 the season, and Bob Allens got hurt the second string guy. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.920 So I'm starting as a rookie. The guys are going, 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.320 oh my goodness, you know so and two games later, 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.680 Jim Plunker goes down. So Steve Grogan comes in and said, 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:25.960 what do we do? He goes, if I do this 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:27.640 because I don't know the plays. When he calls him 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.280 in the huddle, just run straight, just run down. Then 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:32.560 that's where I got the yard is my first year, 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.080 and they kept throwing to me, deep, was it lonely? 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:37.760 Rush a little bit. 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:42.440 It wasn't lonely from the standpoint of I've learned to 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.640 be comfortable in my own skin, with my own company, 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.720 kept myself busy, and then in the off season, I 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.400 went home. I flew the airplane back to Oregon, hopped 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:54.040 another commercial plane to Hawaii, and started a charter service, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.600 the state's first civilian or ambulance service in a helicopter 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.000 service in Hawaii. No, I wasn't lonely. 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.719 I had my airplanes, so and those airplanes came into play. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.760 As an NFL player, you know back in the day 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.359 when you started training camp in July and you had 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.120 training camp for nine weeks, and it was real training camp, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.640 not like what the players are accustomed to today. Two 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.159 days and you were telling me that there were sometimes 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.760 were three days early on, but let's focus on the 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.800 two days practice. In the morning, you'd hop in the 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:26.840 plane and go to the vineyard for lunch. 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.920 Yeah, yeah, I did. I went to the vineyard for 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.520 lunch because it was a college environment Brian College. The 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.680 food wasn't that great. And my mother and grandmother were 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.359 great cooks, so I was told that there were great 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.040 restaurants on the islands. I grew up on an island, 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.960 so I gravitated towards the island. So I kept my 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.040 little airplanes that I bought with my bone at signing 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.880 bones the beach grafts Sierra, and flew to the vineyard, 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.560 flew to Nantucket, and with every one in a while 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:00.600 player would say, hey, can I come with you? Well, 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:04.000 we're supposed to be eating lunch with the team, socializing, 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.000 but I didn't get along with that. I didn't get along. 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.879 I didn't know anybody. And then you're supposed to go 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.080 take a nap and rest up and get ready for 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:16.680 the three o'clock practice. Well, I'll go to the vineyard, 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.760 just have a nibble of this or some really good 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:21.680 or some lobster or whatever, go walk on the beach 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:28.600 and then fly back, fly back to and get no nap, 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.359 don't need a nap, and go in to get dressed 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.960 and go to practice. 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:39.919 That would be unusual today, had to have been unusual yesterday. 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.199 Did you get the sense that you were maybe developing this? 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.399 You know, I don't know you're a nonconformist. You know, 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:49.200 I'm going to follow you rules. I'm not going to 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.160 break any rules or anything. But you know what, there's 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.520 certain things that I want to do, you know, and 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:55.520 as long as I'm not hurting anybody or breaking any 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:56.160 team rules. 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.480 Or anything like that, I'm going to do it. Did 0:18:58.480 --> 0:18:59.600 you get a quizzical look? 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:01.879 And then maybe some other players saying, hey, that's pretty 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:02.840 cool to your point? 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:04.480 Can I come with you for lunch? 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:13.240 There was their team, their game, their rules, and I 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:15.680 followed them for the most part. They want me to 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:17.159 tape ankles, I wouldn't do that. They want me to 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.040 lift weights. I didn't do that. I was a little 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:23.800 precocious because my mother had totter boys. I developed. If 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.280 you tape an ankle too tight, you restrict a blood flow, 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.600 range of motion. It becomes like a cast a new atrophy. 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.600 You actually weaken the ankle. Go run on the sand, 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:35.240 Go run knee deep in the water, which I did 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.719 in the off season. Lifting weights, muscle becomes greater than 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:40.240 the ten and it takes the ten and right off 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.200 the bone. They must supposed to tear first, So I said, guys, 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.040