Speaker 1: This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior, and I'm a little John and this
Speaker 1: is cut to it. Good do it, Good do it.
Speaker 1: Let's get down to do it. Good do it. We
Speaker 1: asked the questions you always want to know, but no
Speaker 1: one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
Speaker 1: about it, then we're about to let you. Now it's
Speaker 1: all We're gonna jump right into it. Well, hey, it's
Speaker 1: honor and privilege. Uh, welcome to the cut to a podcast.
Speaker 1: A guy that I ad my respect, m VP of
Speaker 1: super Bowl twenty two, co founder of the Black College
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, senior. I are not really sure what
Speaker 1: a senior advisor does compared to advisor for the Washington Commanders,
Speaker 1: A father to eight and most importantly, a proud Grambling
Speaker 1: State Tiger. Welcome to the cut to a podcast. My man,
Speaker 1: a man, honor and and it's a privilege to call
Speaker 1: friends and uh and worker co worker. Uh, Doug Williams
Speaker 1: take food three thread many Yeah. Uh, the senior party
Speaker 1: because of the age. Oh is that I didn't know?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a senior too, but it's not because
Speaker 1: my age, just because I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: junior doesn't take my good credit report as he gets older.
Speaker 1: It's taken years to get this credit report up. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean, pack pack bell bills I had
Speaker 1: to pay from back in the day. Yeah, but you
Speaker 1: know what, walking around his building, you know, most of
Speaker 1: the guys didn't look at me and they say, O
Speaker 1: g Yeah. You know, you know you at that age,
Speaker 1: you know ge walking around the building. So you just
Speaker 1: deal with it from that standpoint. All right, well, let's
Speaker 1: let's let's get right into it. Man. We have some fun.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk some truth. We're talking about manhood, We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about you know, job, just everything, every direction
Speaker 1: you want to go. Um okay, uh and just let
Speaker 1: you just let your story tell storytell about your life.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna start off with uh. So little ice
Speaker 1: breakers get you relaxed a little bit. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously you're you know what you said as senior advisor.
Speaker 1: So seniors, older men have routines. What is your daily routine?
Speaker 1: My my daily routine? You know, I come here, here's
Speaker 1: eight o'clock every morning. You come here? Where is here
Speaker 1: here to the building facility where where all the players are. Okay,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, go to breakfast, eat breakfast, and
Speaker 1: come into my office. Um, I do have office here,
Speaker 1: you know, down the hall on the rest of the folks.
Speaker 1: But I got all that's a good part about it.
Speaker 1: And I can look out the one I can see
Speaker 1: my car if I wanted to leave out the side
Speaker 1: door when I get in my car and I leave.
Speaker 1: Why you gotta go? Why you gotta Why do you
Speaker 1: have to hit all of the stereotypes. You gotta make
Speaker 1: sure you know our car is just in case. In case. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, if it wasn't the truth, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say no. But but no, you know, I come in
Speaker 1: and when the president is here, you know, I got
Speaker 1: a chance to go sit down with him to find
Speaker 1: out what's going on for that week. And UM do
Speaker 1: a lot of zoom with the other people who are
Speaker 1: part of the sales and tickets and things like that
Speaker 1: that are not housed here, A lot of them over
Speaker 1: at the stadium. And that way you got to zoom
Speaker 1: in and talk about what's happening daily. And hadn't been
Speaker 1: on this side. So I'm learning a whole lot because
Speaker 1: as being on the personnel side a little different than
Speaker 1: being on the side where people sell tickets and and
Speaker 1: advertisement and everything else, and you just learn what they do.
Speaker 1: So I'll be in the zoom listening to them. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know a whole lot that that they do,
Speaker 1: but I do listen and realize that that has to happen.
Speaker 1: And um, you know, being alumnied as organization, um, the
Speaker 1: president and and all other folks, they depend on myself
Speaker 1: and a couple of guys to try to lead them
Speaker 1: into what this franchise is being over the years, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to tell him what's what's out there
Speaker 1: from a fan base and what's good for for the
Speaker 1: team and things like that and what not to do
Speaker 1: because you know, remember we got everything has changed over
Speaker 1: here with with Jason Wright being the president. We got
Speaker 1: so many new people in here that they've never been
Speaker 1: a part of this except for the last year. So
Speaker 1: so like a waking and weapon at home lunch and
Speaker 1: that we have every year, Well, there's only two three
Speaker 1: people in this whole organization on this side of the
Speaker 1: evolve that had been to a weapon at home. Uh,
Speaker 1: so you got the blind leading the blind. Well, I
Speaker 1: can see, so I'm trying to help them. So you're
Speaker 1: trying to get my idea of what it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: because everybody got different opinion how we can do this
Speaker 1: and how we can do that. So what's the best
Speaker 1: part of your routine, your daily routine that you enjoyed
Speaker 1: the most. What's your favorite part, you know what going
Speaker 1: out and watching Like now we're in o T and
Speaker 1: going out watching the guys and and run around and
Speaker 1: doing things and see who might be the guy that
Speaker 1: we might have to depend on this year. And you know,
Speaker 1: being out there for anywhere from thirty five forty minutes
Speaker 1: an hour and just just watching those guys you know,
Speaker 1: walk around and you know, for me, football has always
Speaker 1: been part of my life. So therefore going to see
Speaker 1: these young guys do what they're gonna be asked to, dude,
Speaker 1: during the season, it's it's it's really the most important
Speaker 1: part of my job. There's a lot of alumni from
Speaker 1: Gramlins State, obviously including yourself. Let's just do a little test.
Speaker 1: Do you know any other alumni from Gramlin State that
Speaker 1: is air quotes notable besides your stuff? Ji Harris number one,
Speaker 1: James Harris, Jack Harris played quarterback for the Rams ye
Speaker 1: before me. He's one of nineteen sixty nine. Yeah, Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: You know, we got some guys. We just gotta make
Speaker 1: sure you know. You can't be proud if you don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, if they were with the Grammar I know. Okay,
Speaker 1: and you got guys who passed on like Buck Buchanan
Speaker 1: and Willard Davis and Learning Ladder. And then you got
Speaker 1: the Sammy White who was Rookie of the Year, you
Speaker 1: got the um, you got Andrew Glove who played tight end,
Speaker 1: and the Raiders. I'm saying, I'm trying to thank Jake,
Speaker 1: you gott you had. Jake played wide receive with the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikers, and of course you had Amazon Walls, who
Speaker 1: played the Dallas Cowboys. How about well, let's read where
Speaker 1: I'm going with football. But this is this is my podcast,
Speaker 1: so I get to snag any name I want to.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Steve, We're trying to We're trying to expound
Speaker 1: on football, right, who can forget the captain man? Yeah? Okay,
Speaker 1: how about let me go with the East Coast guy. Okay, yes,
Speaker 1: he's a rapper beyond me now, but but he's already
Speaker 1: been around for a long time. You can even throw
Speaker 1: Eric about doing that if you want. Look at you.
Speaker 1: I'm just you know, I got the strong and the
Speaker 1: stronger one time with the strongest man in the world.
Speaker 1: I like that. Okay, all right, last one, Charles Blow
Speaker 1: New York Times. You're writing for New York New York Times.
Speaker 1: Every time you look at more and he said he's
Speaker 1: talking about the association, ye blowing. Yeah, okay, cool, I'm good.
Speaker 1: I'm gone now. I just I wanted, I wanted to
Speaker 1: expound on the alumni outside of football, and you know,
Speaker 1: and and I agree with that, and I certainly appreciate
Speaker 1: that man because if they went to Grammling and then
Speaker 1: somebody I know him, and they got some some people
Speaker 1: that are not somebody that I know Grammling, and you
Speaker 1: probably wouldn't know. But that's Grammar is all about the
Speaker 1: manto at Grammar is where everybody is somebody, and that's
Speaker 1: the most important thing. There's so much about your story.
Speaker 1: So I'll start off with where are you from? Um
Speaker 1: in a place you call your hometown. Good. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: from a small town in Louisiana, zach or Louisiana. That's
Speaker 1: about twenty minutes, you know, kind of give you some proximity.
Speaker 1: About twenty minutes north the Batton Rouge I on the
Speaker 1: half from Natchez, Mississippi. Uh, listen, all town, and you
Speaker 1: know everybody in that town. Knew everybody in that town.
Speaker 1: And I stayed outside the city limits exactly, so it
Speaker 1: wasn't exactly. I was always outside. There's only two people
Speaker 1: and Zachary that you probably would would know, and one
Speaker 1: of them has passed away. That was lay On the
Speaker 1: Clampets and and Doug Williams. So so we're two people
Speaker 1: that's from Zachary, Louisiana. And you know it's small town.
Speaker 1: And I try to get back as much as I
Speaker 1: possibly can. I still have two sisters down there and
Speaker 1: three brothers and UM daughters and cousin Auntie and everybody.
Speaker 1: So you know, zach we gonna always be my home.
Speaker 1: So that's that's how I look at it. So growing
Speaker 1: up in Zachary, Louisiana, what did you experience as as
Speaker 1: as a young young Douglas growing up? Man? You know,
Speaker 1: when the old the more I realized what it was like,
Speaker 1: because during that time, um, it didn't seem like it.
Speaker 1: It was like that because I didn't know no better.
Speaker 1: I just knew what the rest of the community did
Speaker 1: and what we had to do. And when your mom
Speaker 1: tell you you can't walk those streets at night, you
Speaker 1: got to get out, you know, up to we just
Speaker 1: call it up the road, down the road where you're
Speaker 1: going busy guys and people like that. But we couldn't
Speaker 1: do that once dark came, we had to get off
Speaker 1: the street. And not knowing why until I got older,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, you know, every weekend,
Speaker 1: you you had these guys. I lived in on Plank Road,
Speaker 1: which was like it was a cross road half a
Speaker 1: mile to my right, a half mile to my left,
Speaker 1: and in between that was all. It was all black,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody living there was was minorgas and black.
Speaker 1: And they used to brun across every Friday on the corner.
Speaker 1: And not understanding, being being a young boy, didn't you
Speaker 1: understand why they told you couldn't go out there. It
Speaker 1: was a scare, a tactor, you know, it was. It
Speaker 1: was more or less keeping them in. They played, let
Speaker 1: them know where they staying. You know, when I look
Speaker 1: back at that's why they did it. And a lot
Speaker 1: of the older men in the neighborhood would take off
Speaker 1: in their trucks and cars or whatever with their guns,
Speaker 1: trying to catch whoever set the set the fire the
Speaker 1: cross burner, because nobody knew when it was gonna happen,
Speaker 1: if it was gonna happen. So it wasn't like they
Speaker 1: went down and said at the cross road. I'm sure
Speaker 1: if they did, it wouldn't have happened. But they always
Speaker 1: did it when nobody was around. But but if you know,
Speaker 1: it's a reason why your mom your dad used to
Speaker 1: tell you, hey, when you go to certain places, just
Speaker 1: be careful and not really knowing that when you're young,
Speaker 1: but when you got older, you realize that people tried
Speaker 1: to scare you put the scare tactic because so many
Speaker 1: things happening you're talking about. I was born in nineteen
Speaker 1: fIF five Civil rights movement and all that peace movement,
Speaker 1: so you understood what was happening to young black men
Speaker 1: and women during their time where we kind of stayed
Speaker 1: off the road during that time, and they like, come,
Speaker 1: you know, we were back out there. But at the time,
Speaker 1: you know, you knew what to do growing up, and
Speaker 1: nobody had to tell you how to handle yourself. Because
Speaker 1: your mom, your dad, your grandmother whoever had already hit
Speaker 1: you to on them and they didn't stand around and
Speaker 1: and and go over what it what it was like
Speaker 1: being black a mom this time a year when Blue
Speaker 1: Clug claimed everybody else was burning crows. They didn't sat
Speaker 1: down and tell you that. They just told you to
Speaker 1: be careful and what you couldn't do at the dark. Hmm.
Speaker 1: So how did that shapehim? Mold you moving forward as
Speaker 1: a young man when you know what, Like, like I said,
Speaker 1: now that I've gotten older and over the years, I
Speaker 1: kind of understood what was like, but but during that
Speaker 1: time I didn't. And the only thing we had to
Speaker 1: do in that community was to hold on to sports
Speaker 1: one night with baseball, basketball and football. And we had
Speaker 1: so many young men, young guys in that neighborhood during
Speaker 1: that time, you know, we did and that all day
Speaker 1: when we wasn't at school, if it was out of school,
Speaker 1: that's what we did all day. You know. We was
Speaker 1: even chasing a baseball. We was over there playing touch
Speaker 1: of whatever, football, tackle football, you name it. We was
Speaker 1: doing that, and we was playing basketball. We didn't have
Speaker 1: like they have today, a a you we didn't have
Speaker 1: no no Y M c A and anything we played on.
Speaker 1: We played on dirt court and we didn't have a goal.
Speaker 1: We took one of them twenty each rim and nailed
Speaker 1: it on the board. And I mean we we found
Speaker 1: a way to get it done growing up. So you know,
Speaker 1: when I look back down and I see all the
Speaker 1: things that these guys got men, and like, I got
Speaker 1: two girls right now, younger girls. Don't know why I
Speaker 1: did it, but I got two younger girls four teen
Speaker 1: and sixteen. I don't know if you know. I know
Speaker 1: you old, but I don't know if you know there's
Speaker 1: something activities you do to get that now I'm learning.
Speaker 1: But the thing about that they both played AU basketball
Speaker 1: and every weekend I'm going on and I'm sitting there, man,
Speaker 1: I'm saying to myself, I got too. I'm saying if
Speaker 1: we would have had this growing up, I don't know
Speaker 1: what I would have been. But but I'm enjoying watching them,
Speaker 1: you know, and my my tenth grader, you know, she
Speaker 1: was lucky enough the last few weeks to get offers
Speaker 1: from Florida State, Maryland State and a bunch of playss.
Speaker 1: So to me, that's that's what it's all about. But
Speaker 1: we couldn't do that back then because we didn't have
Speaker 1: no swimming pool now the neighborhood, we didn't have nowhere
Speaker 1: to play basketball into that. So I grew up in
Speaker 1: a tough era. But you made me and my brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters. I think it made us and other people
Speaker 1: around us better individuals. So you're you're one of eight children,
Speaker 1: one of eight. You look at it, I'm the I'm
Speaker 1: the third youngest, or the sixth oldest, third youngest, the sixth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: depending on what you did, it was either the sixth
Speaker 1: oldest or the the he was just young. I was
Speaker 1: just the third younger. It all appears how you look
Speaker 1: at and um, you know, I look at it now.
Speaker 1: The whole clans were all old. My oldest brother just
Speaker 1: turned eighty one, and um, you know, my youngest brother
Speaker 1: just turned sixty what sixty three years old? Sixty four?
Speaker 1: And and I got one that's two years younger than me.
Speaker 1: So we were all old. We but we we got
Speaker 1: a bunch of kids. We got a bunch of nieces
Speaker 1: and nephew that somebody has to take the rein like myself.
Speaker 1: I got I got seven grandkids. I just had one
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. I got six boys and
Speaker 1: one girl, grand grandkids, you know, so I'm looking for
Speaker 1: over there. Man. That's that's that's exciting, It really is.
Speaker 1: So at what point as a young man did you
Speaker 1: really start to see sports? Was it was the way out?
Speaker 1: When when did it click for you? You know, I
Speaker 1: used to be football wasn't in my life. I want
Speaker 1: to know part of football, Steve. I wasn't as tough
Speaker 1: as you was. When I was a little boy. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to get hit. You know. I used
Speaker 1: to say, hey, if I'm playing football with the boys
Speaker 1: on the other and something, they always chose me for
Speaker 1: some reading. The bigger balls always chose me. And I
Speaker 1: told him I'm playing wide receiver. And during that time,
Speaker 1: they're playing tackle football with no path and I would play,
Speaker 1: why wide receiver. I couldn't run a lick, but I
Speaker 1: played because I was gonna get in that contact. But
Speaker 1: but now if it was baseball or basketball, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't mind. And and when I was like six
Speaker 1: or seven grade basketball, it was a player in the
Speaker 1: l s U during that time by the name of
Speaker 1: Pisto Pee Merrick. And you know, I was playing middle
Speaker 1: school basketball. I thought, I really thought I was Pisto Peak.
Speaker 1: You know. I used to have big up his socks
Speaker 1: hanging down my ankle. And when it came to playing,
Speaker 1: I played no defense. So everybody get a rebound, I
Speaker 1: waved down, Hey, throw it to me, you know. So
Speaker 1: that's what I did, and and and you know, and
Speaker 1: and grew up and eventually, you know, going to my
Speaker 1: ninth grade year probably taught me the biggest lesson in
Speaker 1: my life, which and that was coach Lucas, who was
Speaker 1: also the head football coach, was my junior voss to
Speaker 1: the basketball coach, and we were playing the JB game
Speaker 1: and we was beating somebody to death. You know. He
Speaker 1: was about to score to a hundred, and he had
Speaker 1: the second team and at which I was on the
Speaker 1: second team at that time, and and and everybody to
Speaker 1: crowd to my weed want a hundred, We want a hundred,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. We got to give him
Speaker 1: a hundred. And the next thing I know, I heard,
Speaker 1: I heard the home blowing. He substitute us, you know,
Speaker 1: with about three minutes left in the game, and game
Speaker 1: not even close, and he put the starters back in,
Speaker 1: and you know, I walked by and I said, say,
Speaker 1: how the war a, you're gonna put a pull us
Speaker 1: out during this time? And he didn't say anything. So
Speaker 1: when the horn blew his time, he took me in
Speaker 1: a dressing whom he said, young man, I'm the coach.
Speaker 1: I make the decision. So I pulled my uniform off
Speaker 1: of my shoe and not throw it in his face.
Speaker 1: But what did I do that for? Because my oldest
Speaker 1: brother just so having to be the vossitive basketball coach.
Speaker 1: And so he came back there, and you know, back then,
Speaker 1: we didn't have when he took ping pong table, they
Speaker 1: had what they call a horse that you set the
Speaker 1: table on top of where he pulled one of the
Speaker 1: boards off off that table and came back there with
Speaker 1: that board. And I ain't gonna say it, but he did,
Speaker 1: but he did behind and made me go in and
Speaker 1: beg coach lucas partner, and I did. And eventually, you
Speaker 1: know that towards the end of year, I ended up
Speaker 1: being a start. And in that time that was the
Speaker 1: biggest lesson that I learned. No matter how good you
Speaker 1: thank you are, you're not as good as you are.
Speaker 1: And I learned and that at that particular time. And
Speaker 1: after that I became a mother citizen, a mate student
Speaker 1: athlete and did what I had to do. Yeah you
Speaker 1: know what they say, Yeah, a hard head make a
Speaker 1: soft off behind period that a lot of time, Me too,
Speaker 1: I didn't really hear a lot my my behind felt it.
Speaker 1: Well we did too, But you know, my mom was
Speaker 1: was the enforcement. My dad was a little nicer. So
Speaker 1: when he did get you, he reminds you of everything
Speaker 1: you didn't do when he told you to do it.
Speaker 1: He'd be whipping you and bringing out all that. You know,
Speaker 1: you know what they call that now? What they call
Speaker 1: it child that childer being what I tell my girls
Speaker 1: that all times. And y'all talking about child abuse, let
Speaker 1: me tell you something. Blessing my mama soul, bless my
Speaker 1: dad is. So if they we had a call and
Speaker 1: they would still be locked up, Yeah, yeah, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: get out because underneath anything, my mom hand, her hand
Speaker 1: would not extend your card. But not even when the
Speaker 1: lamp caves a baller, it don't matter. He was gonna
Speaker 1: get the iron cord before she plugged it in, Like
Speaker 1: I got a whoop, and before the iron she ironed
Speaker 1: her close and then with me again or fresh out
Speaker 1: of the shower, shout if you got one when you
Speaker 1: was in the bed. Sleep Yeah, I got one of
Speaker 1: the best sleep listen. Almost cussed out of two because
Speaker 1: that's how scared I got. I know. And see, my
Speaker 1: dad used to have a bunch of dogs because he
Speaker 1: wasn't one of the guys that went hunting all the time.
Speaker 1: And he used to tell her, don't you run. He
Speaker 1: didn't even have to hold and we didn't don't know better.
Speaker 1: He said, don't you run. I tell my dogs loots
Speaker 1: on you. And we just stood there and took it.
Speaker 1: And then when that weapon was over, what you did
Speaker 1: when got a bun that cover? Because don't wemp man hurt?
Speaker 1: There wasn't no joke. It would hurt to sit down
Speaker 1: to school the next day. Were you I ain't go home.
Speaker 1: I ain't going to school and tell him I got
Speaker 1: a whip it because I could have took my shirt
Speaker 1: off his shoulder man whipped. But but I wouldn't know
Speaker 1: tell nobody I got a whipping. I thought, let warning
Speaker 1: them that look good. Good individual. I love cut to
Speaker 1: it and I love it even more when you download
Speaker 1: us and subscribe and you can follow us on social
Speaker 1: media too, Smithie where where at that's at? Cut to
Speaker 1: it on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to it Facebook?
Speaker 1: Cut to it featuring Steve Smith singr. What about online?
Speaker 1: And you can follow us at cut to It podcast
Speaker 1: dot com where you can buy merch and you can
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got
Speaker 1: all my answers questions, Um, yeah, I got all my
Speaker 1: questions answered. That's what I'm here for. A brother, cut
Speaker 1: to a podcast dot com. How would you describe your dad? Wow?
Speaker 1: My dad was was a strong, worlding looking man of
Speaker 1: big hands, you know, big neck. He wasn't as tall
Speaker 1: as I was by six feet, but he was. He
Speaker 1: was built. You know. He told me, he told me
Speaker 1: this one time at that time you say, he said,
Speaker 1: look a white man told me one time, said, boy,
Speaker 1: your hand is big enough to go for that hunted
Speaker 1: with your with your fists. And my dad said he
Speaker 1: told him, and say they got some little bails out there,
Speaker 1: you know, but that's what it was. And and my man,
Speaker 1: my dad was a strong straight in the bid, uh
Speaker 1: you know, on Friday nights. And and I'm gonna say this,
Speaker 1: my dad, he'll be all right with this. My dad
Speaker 1: ran the gambling game and and he he had some
Speaker 1: thud mentality. He wasn't a thug, but he had thud mentality.
Speaker 1: And you used to run the Grammar gambling game. I
Speaker 1: used to come home from from school from Gramming on
Speaker 1: Fridays and I said, I gotta go see my dad
Speaker 1: because I ain't gonna see him the Sunday. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be gone because he'd be there all night, the night
Speaker 1: and Friday night and sad night, run again in the game.
Speaker 1: So I used to go in there, go in the
Speaker 1: little room where they'd be packed back there and uh,
Speaker 1: he made his money by making the cup again he
Speaker 1: cut and I used to walk in there and look
Speaker 1: at me. He said you need anything. I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm just holding that and he just say okay, see later.
Speaker 1: He didn't want me to be around anything like that.
Speaker 1: So even though I knew he did it, and and
Speaker 1: you know, but I can respect him for that. But
Speaker 1: he did what he had to do for the family,
Speaker 1: and that was the most important thing. You know, back then,
Speaker 1: Gallant was big at them a little joke. Jakes understood
Speaker 1: what because because that's where he was. And we had
Speaker 1: a few of those around the around the neighborhood. How
Speaker 1: would you describe your mother, man, madel it was probably
Speaker 1: the greatest. When we all, I'm sure we all feel
Speaker 1: the same way. But you're talking about a lady who
Speaker 1: take anybody in, feed anybody, didn't, Matta. The way my
Speaker 1: mom cooked was, um, she had an open pot, you know,
Speaker 1: she cooked with big pot, big bread pains and everything.
Speaker 1: And if you came to the house, she said, baby,
Speaker 1: you better get you some neat and she wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: fix it. It's up to you to go and get
Speaker 1: your own plate. And and that's what she did. But
Speaker 1: she But what I saw my mom do two was
Speaker 1: she raised so many grandkids, and all my niece and nephew,
Speaker 1: they were rather to be at my mom housing, at
Speaker 1: their own house because the way my mom was. And
Speaker 1: you know, if you came to get get your kids,
Speaker 1: my mom said leave that, leave that baby along. And
Speaker 1: she wanted to stay here. You know, that's kind of
Speaker 1: what she was. She She loved to be around around us,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, she loved those grandkids. Man.
Speaker 1: And you know when when when she passed away, you
Speaker 1: can tell my mom had ated some grandkids and great
Speaker 1: great grandkids. Man, it was it was amazing when she
Speaker 1: passed away, to see so many um kids and grandkids
Speaker 1: and great grandkids and the funeral that day. What was
Speaker 1: the one food that she particularly cooked just for you?
Speaker 1: Does you know it's one thing gonna always stick with me?
Speaker 1: And and she told me, he is. And I think
Speaker 1: that's the reason why I am like I am to
Speaker 1: day as far as being humbled. But one thing she
Speaker 1: told me, she said, just remember the same people you
Speaker 1: see on your way up, you can see him on
Speaker 1: your way down. And and I've never forgotten that. And
Speaker 1: you know, my mom was one of the mom that
Speaker 1: I wouldn't fly. When I was in Tampa playing my mom.
Speaker 1: My dad didn'tn't rid It wasn't rid of football fan.
Speaker 1: He was a baseball fan the heart. He watched it
Speaker 1: on the game and they're on TV and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But my mom would get on that Greyhound bus and
Speaker 1: we begged to catch the airplane. She wouldn't get on it.
Speaker 1: She'll ride two days the Temple to come to a game.
Speaker 1: And the only time my mom flew. And that's when
Speaker 1: you know you you know you got a mom. Is
Speaker 1: when I was in Washington and I got I had
Speaker 1: back surgey. My mom got on the airplay for the
Speaker 1: first time and she flew up here. And the other
Speaker 1: time was when I played the Super Bowl. She went
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. And that's because my sister flew
Speaker 1: with her. Other than that, she wouldn't have flew down
Speaker 1: and she was watching the TV too. But because when
Speaker 1: I was hurt, you know, I'm like, I'm I'm just
Speaker 1: like her baby compared to the rest of them. That
Speaker 1: that's her baby baby on on his back and she
Speaker 1: wants to come and see about him. So you know,
Speaker 1: when you think about my mom and like we all
Speaker 1: called it, um m deal, you know that was nobody
Speaker 1: like my my mom. Well, all the people on your
Speaker 1: way up impacted your coach, uh Eddie Robinson, head coach
Speaker 1: for a number of years at Gramdmlin's State to take
Speaker 1: us through your experience and what you were able to
Speaker 1: accomplish and do at Grandmar's State that has such a
Speaker 1: huge impact on you and made you who you are today.
Speaker 1: But when number one, I was fortunate to have an
Speaker 1: older brother who probably and high school probably shaped me
Speaker 1: more than anything to give me that opportunity to go
Speaker 1: to grand My older brother Robert. He was the guy
Speaker 1: that made sure. He was kind of like if I
Speaker 1: didn't have a dad, you know, he would have been
Speaker 1: my dad. Him and his wife, you know, because he
Speaker 1: was he was coaching at at a at a high school.
Speaker 1: His wife was coaching the high school at Monroe, Louisiana.
Speaker 1: And every Friday night at the game, I would get
Speaker 1: in the car with them, were driving Monro because he
Speaker 1: was going to see his wife. So I was like,
Speaker 1: I was a kid that they didn't have, and he
Speaker 1: made sure that I did what I had to do
Speaker 1: in in in high school. He made me play baseball,
Speaker 1: he made me play football. He didn't want who started
Speaker 1: me in football, because he was the first my first coach.
Speaker 1: He was a junior high coach. And he gave me
Speaker 1: an ultimatum and and he told me, he said, you
Speaker 1: got two charges. And I actually w worth it. And
Speaker 1: he said either you played football or you with me,
Speaker 1: and I en't up playing football. Everything everything else is
Speaker 1: And his name is Robert Robb and he's named after
Speaker 1: your your father, my dad. So yeah, so that was
Speaker 1: that was it was your daddy and then it was
Speaker 1: your daddy's son. He was both and there's all there's
Speaker 1: always one right, I got four, so there's always one
Speaker 1: that is that was that's always like their dad right
Speaker 1: to every degree, good, bad or in different and and
Speaker 1: he's the same to day. He calls me now to
Speaker 1: two times a week checking on me. I should be
Speaker 1: calling him checking on him, but he called me, want
Speaker 1: to know what I'm doing, And you know, him and
Speaker 1: I talked for a while. But you know when I
Speaker 1: went to Graham and he was the guy that was
Speaker 1: always there for him. And then you know my mom,
Speaker 1: my mom absolutely loved Eddie Robinson because see Coach rob
Speaker 1: to be honest with never never ever thought me play
Speaker 1: a high school football game. We had a guy in
Speaker 1: our areabody named Adolph Bird who recruits uh Zachary Baton Rouge,
Speaker 1: New Orlean, that whole area. And Adolph Bird is the
Speaker 1: one that called Coach Roberson and let him know that
Speaker 1: we got this boy upon Zachary that we we should
Speaker 1: sign and one night late one night, and then we
Speaker 1: had a party line on our phone. You know, you
Speaker 1: you're on the phone, you couldn't really be on the
Speaker 1: phone because we had eleven parties on our telephone back then.
Speaker 1: That was an old you know, you got that rotary thing.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm saying that packed bill bill I had
Speaker 1: when I when I was to come and Coach Rock
Speaker 1: called the house and I don't know, I was sleeping
Speaker 1: and and my mom came in and woke me up,
Speaker 1: and she said, hey, you go on to Gramlar and
Speaker 1: Southern Universital, like twenty minutes down the street. I wanted
Speaker 1: to go to Southern because I wanted to be able
Speaker 1: for my mom dare to come to the gate. And
Speaker 1: she just came in and said, you go on to Grammar.
Speaker 1: And look, I said, why, why why do you say
Speaker 1: I'm going on to Ground And she said, cause Coach
Speaker 1: Robbers on the phone on I said, okay. She said, well,
Speaker 1: he said that you was gonna go to school, he
Speaker 1: was gonna graduate, and you was gonna go to church.
Speaker 1: And she said that's enough for me. I said, okay,
Speaker 1: So you know, that's one of the best decisions my
Speaker 1: mom made to Ground. She made that decision. You said, okay,
Speaker 1: but inside your head he was rolling your eyes, so huh.
Speaker 1: And at first I was, I was, And then you know,
Speaker 1: I went to Gramling and be honest with you, Steve,
Speaker 1: when I went to Ground in the first year was
Speaker 1: a tough year because it was two guys. When I
Speaker 1: got there, that was seven quarterbacks on seven and now
Speaker 1: all that and and that's where two guys coming in
Speaker 1: me and got an Terry Brown, you know, blessing soul.
Speaker 1: He just passed away probably about two months ago. And
Speaker 1: Terry Brown, let me, let me say that, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give him this problems. I would have given it
Speaker 1: to him a living like give me to enough. Terry
Speaker 1: Brown could flat out throw the football. And he was
Speaker 1: the guy that coach Rob really wanted because you know,
Speaker 1: he had his receiver. They had two receivers, three receivers,
Speaker 1: because both of them came with with him. One went
Speaker 1: to Louisiana, tag one came to Grammar and then he
Speaker 1: had a junior that was left that that came in
Speaker 1: the next year, Carlos Pennywell drafted by the New England
Speaker 1: Patron in third round and and and Carlos came in.
Speaker 1: But he really wanted Terry, so he read for me
Speaker 1: the first time. But what he did though, he said,
Speaker 1: but I want you to travel with the team to
Speaker 1: keep the stats. So I traveled the whole year and
Speaker 1: kept the stats. But the next year in the spring
Speaker 1: is when you really go out and see who's gonna
Speaker 1: be who. Now, we had Terry Brown coming back, We
Speaker 1: had Joe Como book on the other the other guy
Speaker 1: who was coming back eight to read your name, everybody
Speaker 1: using the thick of it. I know you, I know,
Speaker 1: I said, you had to think of all this stuff
Speaker 1: going on, and and I bet you going well. He
Speaker 1: never told my mom it was it was about ten
Speaker 1: of him though no nobody knew that. Nobody told us that.
Speaker 1: But you know, I guess in the sop at that time,
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys couldn't go I couldn't go
Speaker 1: to these schools because they didn't want no black quarterback.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of them got caught up in that situation.
Speaker 1: And so we always there and every last one of
Speaker 1: them brought something to the table. They can chuck it,
Speaker 1: they can run, they can't do everything. And then that spring,
Speaker 1: you know, we we went through all the spring and
Speaker 1: coach Rob coach the quarterback, and let me say that,
Speaker 1: he coached the quarterback. And we went through every drill
Speaker 1: that the offensive line, we went through, the defensive line deep.
Speaker 1: You know, we went through that monkey roll up and
Speaker 1: down and we're doing all that quarterback wasn't exemp from
Speaker 1: from from hitting the ground and doing all that stuff.
Speaker 1: You had to do the same thing. And you know
Speaker 1: we're talking about five thirty in the morning, you getting up,
Speaker 1: going to practice, do on the ground. You know, quarterbacks
Speaker 1: don't like to get dirty, so we had to do
Speaker 1: it anyway. But as as the spring went on, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I ended up being the
Speaker 1: third quarterback in the whole group, per se. But one
Speaker 1: of them was a hole over. He was a senior,
Speaker 1: seeing Joe Komo was a senior, and Terry Brown now
Speaker 1: is gonna be a sophomore or you can you can
Speaker 1: see a red story freshman because he didn't play that much.
Speaker 1: So Terry and I was you know, we weren't Nick
Speaker 1: and Nick by coach Robbins and standard. So I didn't
Speaker 1: like Coach Robins a lot. Let me say that my
Speaker 1: right earlier. I didn't. I wasn't a coach Robins and
Speaker 1: fan early on, because coming out of spring I thought
Speaker 1: I thought I had the best frame, you know, because
Speaker 1: the spring games said you had the best frame. But
Speaker 1: when the season started I was third team and we
Speaker 1: played all coring up and up and know we played
Speaker 1: in Northwestern State up in Sreport and I did not play. Uh,
Speaker 1: Joe Coomo played Blessed. It so Terry played Blessed and
Speaker 1: I'm wondering why I didn't play. We ended up winning
Speaker 1: the game, like fourteen thirteen, and and I went back
Speaker 1: to the school the next day. I said, I quit.
Speaker 1: I ain't telling nobody quit. I just didn't go to practice.
Speaker 1: So you didn't you didn't throw no jerseys and and
Speaker 1: and ninth grade. I didn't do that great. So I said,
Speaker 1: I'm transformed. I'm going to Southern. And I didn't go
Speaker 1: to practice that Monday. We had a guy. You would
Speaker 1: have to know this guy. He was He was the
Speaker 1: basketball coach at Graham, but he also was assistant football
Speaker 1: coach at Graham. And he was also coach rob left
Speaker 1: hand man. They called each other lefty. I'm up in
Speaker 1: I'm up in the room watching the big balot. He
Speaker 1: all them boys, I ain't going to practice you all
Speaker 1: you you are all out. So when you all out,
Speaker 1: you watching television, you eat, You're over there eating snack.
Speaker 1: You go. I'm done. I'm done. I'm doing you. Look
Speaker 1: you look like you're eating a pecan pie. As you said.
Speaker 1: If I'm done, I'm done. If I had I was,
Speaker 1: let me say that. And and I heard a knock
Speaker 1: on the door. I said, come on in. And when
Speaker 1: I say that, for because he was done, Coach Hobby
Speaker 1: walked in the room. And you know he's one of
Speaker 1: the guys that can sware up up and down the tree.
Speaker 1: He looked at me, he said, hell, hell cat, what
Speaker 1: the hell you think? And I said, I quit, coach.
Speaker 1: He said quit somehow, He said, you get He said,
Speaker 1: if you don't get out here and go down at
Speaker 1: the practice, boy, I put my foot up your ash
Speaker 1: so so so I went on the practice. Drug yourself.
Speaker 1: You got got on the up, drug yourself. I got
Speaker 1: myself out that room, put on my stuff, and with
Speaker 1: the practice down the hill, and I went in where
Speaker 1: everybody was practicing. He was running plays, and I said,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna fix them. I ain't gonna
Speaker 1: say nothing to nobody. I'm I'm Dwayne Thomas. You know,
Speaker 1: you know Dwayne was one of them guys did say
Speaker 1: nothing to nobody. So I say, I'm gonna do like
Speaker 1: Dwayne Thomas. I ain't speaking to nobody. And what I
Speaker 1: soon realized was the fact that I didn't speak to anybody.
Speaker 1: Nobody spoke to me. Yeah, yeah, I was a long
Speaker 1: range there. I got them and they said we got you.
Speaker 1: We got to nobody saying anything to me. So after practice,
Speaker 1: you know, I went on and took my stuff off
Speaker 1: and went off to the cafeteria to eat to eat
Speaker 1: that at the training table, and then one of the
Speaker 1: coaches came to me and say, Coach Roy want to
Speaker 1: see you. I said, for what he said, he wants
Speaker 1: to see you? I said, okay. So I went down
Speaker 1: there and Coach Rob down there playing George Benson on
Speaker 1: the on the on the box. That's the only music
Speaker 1: he would let us listen to with George Benson all
Speaker 1: day long. So I went down there and as he said, Hell,
Speaker 1: what's wrong, cap, I said, Coach, I said, I'm I
Speaker 1: want to transfer. I want to transfer Southern verses. He said, oh,
Speaker 1: hell no, Cat, He said, I'm not gonna let you
Speaker 1: tranfer and come back and beat the hell out of me.
Speaker 1: He said, he said, he said, the only reason why
Speaker 1: you ain't playing. Hell, I know, damn well, if I
Speaker 1: give you that job, them boys ain't gonna get it back.
Speaker 1: If I looked at him. I say, if you give
Speaker 1: me the job, they're gonna get it back up. I said,
Speaker 1: what we're trying to do here? He said, hell that
Speaker 1: that cat is a scene. Were trying to let him
Speaker 1: play and and tear it And I said, we're coached.
Speaker 1: How am I going to supposed to play? He said, hell,
Speaker 1: that's alright, cat, You're gonna play. So the next game,
Speaker 1: two games late, we played Pair of You and and
Speaker 1: you know that was a whipping. We will beat Pair
Speaker 1: of You, beat the breaks out of him. And I
Speaker 1: played my first game. I drove the team down through
Speaker 1: my first TV pass to who Sammy White? I got
Speaker 1: that ball to this day at my house and Zachly
Speaker 1: I got that ball. Wow. And then I remember that
Speaker 1: Joe Coomo and tear it All played most of the game.
Speaker 1: This is four quarter. What did coach Rob do? He
Speaker 1: pulled me out and put Terry back in there because
Speaker 1: he didn't want me to look better than Tarry, so
Speaker 1: he put Tarry back in there. And the next week
Speaker 1: we played Tennessee State and Joe Como broke his wrist
Speaker 1: in the first quarter and I hate that, but I
Speaker 1: mean that's where it happened. And then he put Tared
Speaker 1: Brown in there, so Terry was in there. Nobody was
Speaker 1: going anywhere, no offense, not our defensive playing really well.
Speaker 1: And then he said, hey, whent that William boy, he
Speaker 1: forgot you. You can't find your helmet, No, because I
Speaker 1: wan't expect to the place. Boy, you can't do running
Speaker 1: around trying to find my helmet. I put my helmet
Speaker 1: and I went in, and you know what, we end
Speaker 1: up beating Tennessee State twenty one to six. And then
Speaker 1: next week, you know, he right into my Hell, I
Speaker 1: don't know who's gonna start. Hell, I got to confirm
Speaker 1: with my coaches who's gonna start. And that's sad that
Speaker 1: he was up in. It's a SIMPI balance the delta devil.
Speaker 1: And in the dress room we said, yeah, let me
Speaker 1: go back here and talk to these coaches and find out,
Speaker 1: hell who we should start. Well, I knew I should
Speaker 1: have been starting, but coach Rob didn't want to hurt
Speaker 1: Terry Fillings, so he came back out and seeing him,
Speaker 1: he said, damn, will Am, you're gonna start today. But yeah,
Speaker 1: if you don't play, I'm gonna put Brown trying to
Speaker 1: make us. I said, okay, so I went in and uh,
Speaker 1: that's the game. Then that's the sixth game in my
Speaker 1: room my freshman year. And after the sixth game, the
Speaker 1: rest was history. Ground didn't play at all the rest
Speaker 1: of his career. Hell cat, I like it. Let's get
Speaker 1: down to it, Hey, Gerard, why did you get that
Speaker 1: T shirt? You mean, oh, yes, I got it from
Speaker 1: cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise.
Speaker 1: Shout out to our guys at seven or fourth shot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you can go on by with T shirts
Speaker 1: subscribed to us wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's let's
Speaker 1: talk a little ball though a little bit. Because you've
Speaker 1: been around football for fifty sixty plus years, you've seen
Speaker 1: You've seen football at its high as peak as a
Speaker 1: super bow m v P. You've also been a part
Speaker 1: You've been part of teams who have struggled, right, you know,
Speaker 1: you've been part of the you know, the other football leagues,
Speaker 1: the CFL, the USFL. You've had to like I said,
Speaker 1: I like to you all, you've taken the scenic group, right.
Speaker 1: How has your heart not gotten hard over the way
Speaker 1: you were treated to get to the National Football League
Speaker 1: When you look at it from the standpoint if if
Speaker 1: my heart had gotten hard, what was gonna do because
Speaker 1: they still the same thing. I got treated that way.
Speaker 1: The most important thing is to keep going forward, you know,
Speaker 1: not getting knocked back. I wasn't gonna let things that
Speaker 1: happened stop me from going forward if I had the
Speaker 1: ability to go forward, and fortunate enough, I was able
Speaker 1: to do that. Like in three when you know when
Speaker 1: I left Temple, I missed the whole season. I didn't play.
Speaker 1: I didn't play one down in eighty three. So that
Speaker 1: was that was the whole season in my whole life.
Speaker 1: And I was content. Remember I had I had a
Speaker 1: daughter that was born in the eighty three and my
Speaker 1: wife had passed away. So the most important thing you
Speaker 1: need was find a way to raise this this baby girl.
Speaker 1: And and if it was gonna be a high school coach,
Speaker 1: which you know when I went to Graham and that's
Speaker 1: what I wanted to be, that was all right with me.
Speaker 1: And then the USF the are calls, the tatams, you know,
Speaker 1: they called me and asked me that I want to
Speaker 1: come and play with them, and they treated me like
Speaker 1: an individual, not like a stocky. All the Canada. You know,
Speaker 1: they wanted me to be a staple of the franchise,
Speaker 1: and they acted that way. You know. I talked to
Speaker 1: Bill Tatum about three months ago and the first thing
Speaker 1: he told me was, you know, my dad got your
Speaker 1: pictures in the living room to this day, you know,
Speaker 1: because that's how they treated me. And you know, went
Speaker 1: to the USFL met a lot of good people. Frank
Speaker 1: Coush was one of my coaches, played with some good people.
Speaker 1: Play wasn't some guys that wasn't. But I think as
Speaker 1: a whole, it was a lot of talent in there.
Speaker 1: But Joe Gibbs, Joe Gibbs is the one guy who
Speaker 1: went to who was in Tampa at the time when
Speaker 1: I was a rookie, told coach McKay that, um, you know,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna draft the quarterback, you need to draft
Speaker 1: the kid from Grahamar And you know, John McKay was
Speaker 1: coming up at the high school. It was on the
Speaker 1: two coaches I wanted to play for, either Edar Robins
Speaker 1: and the John McKay. Why John McKay because in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty five he played a guy by the name of
Speaker 1: Jimmy Jones. He was a black quarterback, so color wasn't
Speaker 1: his issue, you know, It didn't matter to him because
Speaker 1: he was in the championship with a bunch of black
Speaker 1: players on his team, so it wasn't about colors. I
Speaker 1: got a chance to play for him. But Joe Gibbs
Speaker 1: was a guy that told him to do that. So
Speaker 1: he Joe left the next year and we got his
Speaker 1: own team. Per se and when you have to fail
Speaker 1: folded out of all the teams in the league at
Speaker 1: that time, it was thirty team, it's only one guy
Speaker 1: called me, and that was Joe GiB Wow And he
Speaker 1: said he called me Douglas. He said, Douglas, that'd be
Speaker 1: five people now they have called you. I called I'm
Speaker 1: I'm counting you that five. Yeah, you're right, okay, I
Speaker 1: let you get away with that be the last time though.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling him that's all right, you did. But
Speaker 1: but anyway, he said, Douglas, and he got coach, got
Speaker 1: that little funny laugh he does. Yeah, he said, how
Speaker 1: you got say good coach, how you doing all right?
Speaker 1: He said, I'm just calling to find out, um, you know,
Speaker 1: you know we heard we lost Joe Tiesman last year.
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, I saw that, coach. He said, I'm
Speaker 1: just calling the one that could you come to Washington
Speaker 1: to play back up. And I told him that out,
Speaker 1: I said, Coach, I said, I can play any up
Speaker 1: you one because I don't have a job. That was
Speaker 1: in August eighty six, and I got on there playing.
Speaker 1: Two days later flew up to Calisle, Pennsylvania, and that's
Speaker 1: when I signed and in six got through the one
Speaker 1: past all of eighty six one pass and I was
Speaker 1: the backup quarterback. And in seven come around and they
Speaker 1: traded me. They traded me to the Raiders, and and
Speaker 1: and you know I got always played played the preseason
Speaker 1: game in l A at that time against the Rams,
Speaker 1: and we flew back home. You know, I played the
Speaker 1: whole second half, played pretty decently. Flew back home. He said, look,
Speaker 1: we traded you to the to the Raiders because that
Speaker 1: Davids tried to trade for me when when my countract
Speaker 1: was up in Temple, but the owner didn't like Davis,
Speaker 1: so he didn't trade him. He didn't trade me. So
Speaker 1: when I got off the plane, coach round, Coach Gibs say, say, look,
Speaker 1: come to my office, and you know we're talking about
Speaker 1: this trade. And I said, okay. He said, come by
Speaker 1: level thirt twelve o'clock. I said, okay. So I went home,
Speaker 1: packed my bag and let me in apartment, packed my bag,
Speaker 1: called everybody in Zachary, little Zach or Louise, and told
Speaker 1: him that I'm going to the Raiders, that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a raider, you know, let him I all know
Speaker 1: that I was gonna be a raider. And then when
Speaker 1: I went to the facilities and to Coach Gibs, he
Speaker 1: wasn't in the office at first, but the secretaries there.
Speaker 1: So I said, there and weight on him. And he
Speaker 1: came in and said, haven't seen And he looked at me.
Speaker 1: He said, hai hai, He said, I changed my mind,
Speaker 1: and I immediately smile. Immediately, I said, Coach, I said,
Speaker 1: you can't change your mind. And he looked at me
Speaker 1: and he said, hey, I don't work for the Raiders.
Speaker 1: I worked for the Red Kids. And I just sat
Speaker 1: back in my chair. And then he said, look, I
Speaker 1: gotta feel him. It's the understood true. Coach Gibbs is
Speaker 1: one of the most spiritual in the visits that I
Speaker 1: ever men. He said, look, he said, I got a
Speaker 1: feeling that somewhere along this line, you're gonna come in
Speaker 1: this game and we're gonna win this thing. He told
Speaker 1: me that that day, setting in his office. To be
Speaker 1: honest with you, I didn't give a damn what he said.
Speaker 1: I was still thinking about being traded and getting the
Speaker 1: chance to be a starter. So I just left out
Speaker 1: this offer and went downstairs the ball with the straight coach,
Speaker 1: and when worked out with the string coach, and and
Speaker 1: the rest of his history. I guess. I guess that
Speaker 1: old man knew what he was talking about. Hey, he
Speaker 1: said it was gonna happen. And you know, that day,
Speaker 1: walking off the field, Coach Robb was was in the tunnel,
Speaker 1: and I adn't know Coach rob was even at the game.
Speaker 1: And and as the game we saw each other. We
Speaker 1: both hugged, we both were throwing snip everywhere. We both
Speaker 1: was crying, and and he told me, he said, cat,
Speaker 1: he said, wasn't about them fol tds. You through. He said,
Speaker 1: the fact that you got off the turn, He said,
Speaker 1: you out off the turf and you finished, you know,
Speaker 1: And that's something you always told us, how you can't
Speaker 1: stay down. You got to get off the turf. And
Speaker 1: I got off the turf. And then I left him
Speaker 1: and went into the dressing room and coach gill was
Speaker 1: there and he looked at me and he hugged me.
Speaker 1: So I told you it was gonna happen. And that's
Speaker 1: what it was. How do you deal with knowing that
Speaker 1: you're a pioneer, Well, you know what it's. First of all,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of respect and and and and I
Speaker 1: understand you know what what I compassed. But you know,
Speaker 1: I got to look back at Marlin Briscoe, James Harris, Um.
Speaker 1: You know, you got guys that came to Joe Gilliam.
Speaker 1: You got guys who came came before me that got
Speaker 1: a chance John Walton in the NFL. But you got
Speaker 1: guys that didn't get a chance in the NFL that
Speaker 1: should have. So you know, you talk about taking the credit,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think all the credit goes to me.
Speaker 1: You got so many other people that I was standing
Speaker 1: on their shoulders just like you. You know you said
Speaker 1: you was and on our shoulder. You know, I had
Speaker 1: to stand on some shoulders too, because to this day,
Speaker 1: James Harris and that just like for me, it's like
Speaker 1: an older brother, big brother. You know, we talked almost
Speaker 1: every day, uh daily, you know. And and Jimmy Ray,
Speaker 1: who played at Michigan stay back in the day. You know,
Speaker 1: those guys to me meant so much to what they've
Speaker 1: done and what I was accompany. And then I look
Speaker 1: at a more in Moon, you know, the things that
Speaker 1: he did and had to go to Canada before he
Speaker 1: came into the league. Donald McNair, Steve McNair, and work
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson and and and mcmchone is doing Barron Left.
Speaker 1: There's so many other guys that for me. You know,
Speaker 1: if if I pay made the path, it wasn't because
Speaker 1: of me, because the guys behind me. So we were
Speaker 1: all trampled down in that area that made the pass
Speaker 1: a lot wader for the guy that's coming behind us.
Speaker 1: Why Why is the quarterback position such a demanding pession
Speaker 1: but yet such a position also it's extremely hard to
Speaker 1: find the right guy. And you're right about that, Steve.
Speaker 1: You know, you really don't know when you got one
Speaker 1: until you got one, or you don't or you or
Speaker 1: you don't know, or you find out you got one
Speaker 1: and he can't play. Yeah, you don't have one. No,
Speaker 1: And you're right, you know, And I look at all
Speaker 1: these guys man that play today and how much high
Speaker 1: hope that a lot of people have on certain guys
Speaker 1: and and for me and and me and James Has
Speaker 1: we talked all the time, a boy, certain players. Man,
Speaker 1: you know, you think about today, Tom Brady was a
Speaker 1: six round player. They didn't think he could play correct.
Speaker 1: That's so if nobody wants to admit that, no, but
Speaker 1: now there's well he's no Tom Brady. Well you didn't
Speaker 1: think Tom Brady was down Brady exactly. So it all depends. Uh.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers was what twenty Southern picked. Damn Marino was
Speaker 1: a late pick. They didn't think none of those guys
Speaker 1: was picked. When I came out, I was I was
Speaker 1: the only quarterback picked in the first round. But they
Speaker 1: had two guys on everybody board that was guy Benjamin
Speaker 1: and and Kavanaugh. They've Suppo been better than me. You know,
Speaker 1: they made the All American team and all that. But
Speaker 1: but at the same time, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you know, you got to make the right to see it.
Speaker 1: And I think today is a little different than it
Speaker 1: was back then because you had to many people that
Speaker 1: just didn't want that black quarterback to be the face
Speaker 1: of my team. And that's the way it was. But today,
Speaker 1: if you had quarterback, you got to be facing the team.
Speaker 1: And I think the whole mentality has changed a little bit,
Speaker 1: and hopefully it's still changes, because you know, we got
Speaker 1: some young guys that's gonna be still coming out in
Speaker 1: the next couple of years. And and this is my prediction.
Speaker 1: I might be wrong. I ain't been there right on
Speaker 1: a lot of things, but I'm looking for half of
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks in this league will probably be a color.
Speaker 1: And that ain't all bad. That's because they could play
Speaker 1: and the and the team wants to win. I think
Speaker 1: that's the most important thing. The thing I struggle with
Speaker 1: quarterbacks just as an analyst is just overall as a
Speaker 1: receiver is um. It seems like every year the intangibles
Speaker 1: of the requirements to play quarterback seems to alter a
Speaker 1: very But yet there's you know, I've seen quarterbacks who
Speaker 1: maybe are inaccurate, still get a job. A guy who
Speaker 1: possibly can't recoverage this still get a job. Guys who
Speaker 1: processing system is a little bit slow and dated still
Speaker 1: maintains jobs. Um. Guys who are enable to just do
Speaker 1: the required, just the basic requirements, still get jobs. However,
Speaker 1: a running back who can't read the whole he doesn't
Speaker 1: get a job. A wide receiver who can't catch, he
Speaker 1: doesn't maintain a job. Offensive lineman who cannot block, which
Speaker 1: is essential to being offensive lineman, he doesn't get jobs.
Speaker 1: How and why is the quarterback position covered it so
Speaker 1: much that they discount disabilities of why guys can't do
Speaker 1: their job and still get jobs and actually get signed
Speaker 1: pretty healthy. Well, let me say, you know, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: I'm gonna refer that mostly to the backup quarterback in
Speaker 1: this league. Okay, yeah, I out talking about starters, but yeah,
Speaker 1: let's talk about backup still has a job. I agree,
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of a lot of guys
Speaker 1: who started league can't play, but I'm looking at it
Speaker 1: from the backup standpoint. They can't play, But what they
Speaker 1: do better than anybody else, better than we do. They
Speaker 1: become budded with the starters. So when that happened, the
Speaker 1: coaches are not gonna get rid of why they're close
Speaker 1: to the starters, and they could be there for ninety years.
Speaker 1: I can't play dead, but because every time the starter
Speaker 1: come out the field, who's in his phase? And so
Speaker 1: we don't do that. You know, uh, you know, if
Speaker 1: you're a black quarterback and you got a chance to
Speaker 1: be a backup. No, you're not in his face. You're
Speaker 1: watching to find out what's going on because you're trying
Speaker 1: to learn where it takes. But that other guys in
Speaker 1: his face. And then when it's time your day off,
Speaker 1: you're going to play golf with him. And now you
Speaker 1: get a chance to play with the coaches, so that
Speaker 1: far we keep you around because you're that guy. And
Speaker 1: then what's gonna happen now and you're gonna be coming
Speaker 1: the head coach and somebody team somewhere. I just like,
Speaker 1: I ain't got nothing against Josh mccow. Yeah like Josh,
Speaker 1: but but but how are you gonna get George McCown
Speaker 1: a head coaching job fresh off a team, and you
Speaker 1: got Jim car Well lest the Fraser bar and left
Speaker 1: with pud bowls, every being enemy all these guys I
Speaker 1: who have put in the work, you know, because he's
Speaker 1: a quarterback, because he's smart. That's how they stick around.
Speaker 1: But then, like you said, you've got guys, a lot
Speaker 1: of guys ever go to the playoffs if you don't
Speaker 1: have that guy behind the center, and only very few
Speaker 1: of them, you know, if you get to when you
Speaker 1: get past twelve or thirteen, you know, it ain't a
Speaker 1: whole lot of guys that can play quarterback in this league.
Speaker 1: Well not, and because of what they can't do, and
Speaker 1: the fact that they can't play at all, They can't throw,
Speaker 1: they can't do a lot of things Like Chase This,
Speaker 1: Chase McDaniels. Chase, Chase McDaniels has been around extremely long time.
Speaker 1: I know Chase um in passing. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: know him uh personally, but I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people speak highly of him. Um. However, I've never really
Speaker 1: seen anything out of Chase that I would go down
Speaker 1: down to the local mall and go by, like when
Speaker 1: they say, oh, Chase is releasing a new shoe, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I'm not driving down there to get Chase's shoe because
Speaker 1: I really haven't seen Chase doing anything. And there's nothing
Speaker 1: against Chase. No, I know, I understand what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: You know, I remember when when he back up somewhere
Speaker 1: he's making seven million dollars and I'm trying to find out,
Speaker 1: h hell did you play? Says Dagon seven million dollars?
Speaker 1: What have you done? And you hope he doesn't play
Speaker 1: like he open. He didn't want You don't want to
Speaker 1: get it. He makes more money not doing anything, not
Speaker 1: doing anything, than you were doing something. Yeah, but why receiver.
Speaker 1: That's why I, as an analyst, I struggle when I'm
Speaker 1: on television. I struggle because here's what I really love
Speaker 1: to hear. This is what I would really love to hear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's just not playing well. You always here Like I
Speaker 1: I was hearing someone say about a quarterback and I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say who and all that stuff. I heard
Speaker 1: somebody say, Man, he's the hardest working quarterback I've ever
Speaker 1: been around. Stop lying, No, he's not. He's not. And
Speaker 1: I get caught up in why are you saying that?
Speaker 1: But I know why they're saying it. But my struggle
Speaker 1: with it is you're saying it because it sounds good.
Speaker 1: It's the just the right thing to say, but you're
Speaker 1: doing the audience who's believing you because they have to
Speaker 1: believe you, because they have to take you for your
Speaker 1: word that what you're saying is succeed is sincere. But
Speaker 1: you're not sincere. You're instance. You are sincere in keeping
Speaker 1: that check coming in and not I don't want to
Speaker 1: say telling, but be honest. He's not the hardest working.
Speaker 1: He can't be. Your team is not very good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I when I hear that, what I think is
Speaker 1: this the guy who who pumping him up somehow, some way.
Speaker 1: They know that guy and they don't want to bring
Speaker 1: him down because they don't want to be the one
Speaker 1: to tell the truth about it, because they're trying to
Speaker 1: make everybody else believe that he could. But they know
Speaker 1: somebody connected to him. Because when you say something you
Speaker 1: don't know nobody, you're gonna tell the true. But but
Speaker 1: if you know him, you're gonna try to make sure
Speaker 1: that he knows that it is not true. But he
Speaker 1: ain't gonna he ain't gonna say it. He's gonna say
Speaker 1: something that's gonna probably Like you said, he works behind
Speaker 1: m I'm telling, which is probably, which is possibly. I
Speaker 1: believe that's correct. If they're practicing, they're working. They're working
Speaker 1: right there are you? If you out especially here in
Speaker 1: the South, if you d C. Baltimore, Charlotte, UM South Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, Florida,
Speaker 1: you out here working a ninety one degree weather, even
Speaker 1: if you're standing around, you are going to sweat. So
Speaker 1: you are working, But to say that he's the hardest
Speaker 1: working quarterback I've ever seen. I really want to say,
Speaker 1: where where you last year? Yeah, where's the product? Like, no,
Speaker 1: he's not and and I'm not trying to say the
Speaker 1: guy can't play, but I don't say he's the hardest word.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anyone work harder I have. I've seen
Speaker 1: several people work harder. I've actually seen several people work smarter.
Speaker 1: That's the key. Even given bet, I've seen several people
Speaker 1: have more quality of work. But yet a wide receiver
Speaker 1: that can't catch, Oh he can't play. Oh he's not
Speaker 1: fair man. You got quarterbacks out here that can't hit
Speaker 1: the bron s eye of a barn. They can't hit
Speaker 1: a dead cow not moving, and they get a hall pass.
Speaker 1: The sun was in his eye. I want to told
Speaker 1: a quarterback one time, the sun is in the same
Speaker 1: geographical location it was last week. Bro, tighten up. What
Speaker 1: are you doing looking at this? I five not that's all.
Speaker 1: What are some of the things you've experienced are just
Speaker 1: what you've seen being a player, you know, obviously going
Speaker 1: to college. Uh, the journey you've had uh usfl cfl uh,
Speaker 1: not getting drafted, getting injured, Super Bowl MVP back up
Speaker 1: earning your way. You've experienced the highs and lows, the
Speaker 1: peaks and valleys of football as a player. What has
Speaker 1: been the difference now seeing it on the administrative side
Speaker 1: or the executive side? That really has uh shown you
Speaker 1: the complexity of evaluating football? Well, you know Number one, um,
Speaker 1: not getting a chance to to to to be a
Speaker 1: genermanic with something that probably my low, but my high
Speaker 1: was still getting the opportunity to be involved, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean if you don't get that chair, don't mean
Speaker 1: you just quit and just walk away. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: be involved, and you get a chance to see a
Speaker 1: lot of young athletes. And then when I try to
Speaker 1: do Steve, when I when even to this day, when
Speaker 1: I see one they come down in my office. You know,
Speaker 1: the one thing I tell them all the time is
Speaker 1: don't give the money back, you know, And that's the
Speaker 1: most important thing. You got a chance to make this money.
Speaker 1: Some of your great great great grandfather didn't have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to do. Don't go out and blow it, don't
Speaker 1: do crazy stuff things like there. And that's the biggest
Speaker 1: thing for me today that I get a chance to
Speaker 1: sit down and talk to these guys and just just
Speaker 1: talk straight to him. Man, you got a chance to
Speaker 1: make enough money in the next five or six to
Speaker 1: seven years that you don't have to work them all
Speaker 1: and you can take care of your family and everybody
Speaker 1: else if you do it the right way. And and
Speaker 1: everybody's not gonna make a lot of money. We understand that.
Speaker 1: But some of these high profile guys, you know, I
Speaker 1: try to sit down and tell him, man, don't don't
Speaker 1: give it back to him. Don't you know when you
Speaker 1: see a guy go out and do some stuff and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, they bonus slips away from him
Speaker 1: and you took eleven million to a million dollar phone
Speaker 1: because of something stupid stuff that they did, like my
Speaker 1: man down Atlanta. Not to me. Man, that's that's one
Speaker 1: of the biggest loss that that he ever having his
Speaker 1: whole life, because you're not gonna make it up. You
Speaker 1: can't make it up. And he's never gonna be that
Speaker 1: guy that people gonna value highly because of what transpired
Speaker 1: with it. Correct. You know, he might be on the
Speaker 1: team from team to team, but he's not gonna be
Speaker 1: what he was when he got there, what he should
Speaker 1: have been, or what he was potentially gonna become. Life
Speaker 1: is hard. It gets life is hard. It gets even
Speaker 1: harder when you're stupid. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, because
Speaker 1: people don't remember that. And you know, the people at
Speaker 1: the top got really remember to Their job is on
Speaker 1: the line. Everybody's jogging on the line, and they're not giving.
Speaker 1: They ain't giving your money. For the hell of They're
Speaker 1: paying for a product. And if you producing their paid well, man,
Speaker 1: this has been this has been awesome. I appreciate the Doug.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time, man, and I always respect you.
Speaker 1: I always love watching you and and seeing you on
Speaker 1: the sidelines. Of all the years I was in Carolina,
Speaker 1: he was in Tampa Bay. Um, I always used to
Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you on the sideline and hearing
Speaker 1: the word of wisdom. But also too, I never told
Speaker 1: you always you were. You were like the uncle um
Speaker 1: that I never had, the uncle that you would see
Speaker 1: every so often. But you always knew when when when
Speaker 1: Uncle Doug was out there, he was gonna be sharp,
Speaker 1: he's gonna smell good. You gotta show up. And so
Speaker 1: I always look at if Doug's out here, I'm at
Speaker 1: the whoop, I'm about to put it on these boys today.
Speaker 1: You showed up and you showed up man, well it
Speaker 1: was it was your smell good. It was because of you.
Speaker 1: That's your fault. Appreciate it, man, man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: He respect to you, Sir. I appreciate it. God blessed,
Speaker 1: and I look forward to seeing you. I'll be working
Speaker 1: with the with the Pathers for preseason, so I'll be
Speaker 1: seeing you in the in uh down to training camp
Speaker 1: when we go down there. I can't guarantee you anything
Speaker 1: but uh if shure will be entertaining. I appreciate that
Speaker 1: you are a unique person. You are well worth it,
Speaker 1: you are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Singior, I'm Gerard Little John and this is
Speaker 1: cut to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith singor
Speaker 1: That Is Me is a production of Cut to It, LLC,
Speaker 1: Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, Singer,
Speaker 1: co host Gerard Little John, talent in booking manager Joe Fusci,
Speaker 1: Social media teamer Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto
Speaker 1: Creative Media, Cut Too. It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch
Speaker 1: and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production
Speaker 1: Coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and
Speaker 1: vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it, then
Speaker 1: we're about to let you know. It's all