WEBVTT - Pats from the Past: Episode 25, John Hannah 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.560 Well, Pats from the Past podcast, Brian hits the road, 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:15.000 Blank County, Alabama, and there could only be one reason 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.640 we come on the road for that, and that's because 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.840 we're joined by Patriots and Pro Football Hall of Famer 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:27.160 John Hannah at his palatial two hundred and thirty plus acre. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.880 Cattle farm here in Alabama. John, thank you for your hospitality, 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:32.040 and it's great to see us, so. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:32.960 Ran us for coming down. 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.800 And after I get fIF feed you tonight, you're gonna 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:37.720 find out another reason to couna blanca. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:43.040 Julie noted, love it, love it. So we're taking this 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.640 podcast Pats from the Past podcast, talking to great John Hannah, 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:51.160 Matt Smith, and Brian Morian. We're on this beautiful cattle farm. John, 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.680 why don't you try to tell Patriot fans if you 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.560 can a little bit about what it is that you're 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:56.120 doing today. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.040 Well, basically, that's a calcaff operation, that's what they call it. 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:06.840 And I've got actually two pieces of it. 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:08.840 On the one farm down here. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:14.800 I got about sixty two head of Brangus cows. Brangus 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:20.000 is a breed that is that are made up of 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:25.199 basically three eighths Brahma bull and. 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:31.240 Five eighths angus, and. 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:33.720 The brahma does it's the only cow that kind of sweats, 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.399 so it does real good in the South. So having 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.040 you know, a little brahma in that English is good. 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.160 And then what I do is I grow my replacement. 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:48.120 Heifers there uh, and then bring them to this farm. 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:53.520 And I got about ninety head of brangus cows, a 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.200 few half bridges and three quarter bridges, but and I 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:02.360 bring them to a horned herd bull and so you 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.280 wind up with a three six stanints brahma and the 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:10.800 rest is all Anglish between the herford and the angus. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.280 So the marveling's really good in the Mate and people 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.480 like it, and there's a demand. Plus I saw a 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.360 lot of replacement heifer's and that's been a very profitable 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:23.080 source for me. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.079 So I'm old enough to remember and have a copy 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.120 of the Sports Illustrated cover from nineteen eighty one with 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.040 your picture that I think it's Paul Zimmermann who wrote 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:34.480 the piece. It said the greatest offensive lineman of all 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:35.760 time in nineteen eighty one. 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:37.200 Which is on display at the pitch It's Hall of Fame, 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.799 presented by RAYTHEWN Technology correct If. 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.280 I told John Hannah back in nineteen eighty one, you'd 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.919 be presiding over a two hundred and thirty plus acre 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.440 farm with Brahma bulls and Cole's what would you have 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:51.400 said to me back in nineteen eighty. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.480 One, same thing I'm playing now because back then, when 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.799 Paul came down, I had a roughly about a two 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.440 I had about one hundred and seventy three acres, and 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:09.000 but I was raised in Santa Gratruda's cattle at the time, 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:14.600 and Santa Gratrudas was like a short horn and uh 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.000 Brahma mix, and you know, it was a good one, 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:23.000 but they got they were a little wild at times. 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.880 So I like the Brian Gus. It's a it's a 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.239 more recent development. And I like the Brincus a whole 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:29.440 lot better than I do the Girts. 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.120 But it's a. 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.760 I'm like I said, I'm glad I got I chased 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.240 the dollar because it enabled me to chase my dream. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:42.800 So I was gonna say in Patriots fans, you're gonna 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.160 see this later on in Patriots All Access and all 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.800 of our video platforms. But I'm telling you here we 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.320 have a smiling and a happy John hannay, this looks 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:52.400 like this kind of life suits you. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:53.720 Actually it does it? 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:54.000 Does? 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:54.760 You know? 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:00.600 I'm a redneck and I finally admitted it to myself 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.920 and everybody else. And I enjoyed being out here by myself, 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.920 you know, and just you know, I'm looking out over 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.200 there or people can't say where I'm looking, but I'm 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:13.960 looking back over the shoulder here and I say, my 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:16.880 cows out graves and stuff, and there's no more peaceful thing. 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.039 In the world. Basically, what I do. 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.720 I tell one of you guys, I said, you know, 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:25.760 all I am is I'm a grass grower. 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:27.400 That's all I do. 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.560 I let my cows harvest it, let them turn that 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.680 grass into protein, and that's all. And so I'm just 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:35.320 a grass grower, that's all I am. 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.680 Fair to say, John that you've lived you dream twice 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.680 by going through the University of Alabama, playing in the NFL, 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.760 being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.000 then adding this part of that as well. 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.080 Yeah, I mean that's I mean, let's face it, if 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.320 I hadn't played in the NFL, I would have never 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:54.120 been able to have this. 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.880 So yeah, I mean, football. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.760 Was no question a dream that I had from early on. 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:09.120 I told everybody how I got in the football was 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:15.080 when I was in the fourth grade. I was we 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:20.599 were living in Canton, Georgia, and there was a two. 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.480 Tiered playground outside the school. 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.159 School was on top of the hill, and I was 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.279 on the lower tier, and a few of my friends, 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:32.200 uh started star and aiding me with the fatty fatty 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.880 two by four can't get through the kitchen door. And 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:37.680 that was kind of embarrassing. I kind of hurt my 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.680 feelings and I went home and told Mom about it, 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.520 and so Mom called dad, or unlike most parents today 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.599 who would be blasting everybody, Dad called the guy that 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:52.080 was coaching the sixth, seventh and eighth grade team who 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.040 he had coached, and said, hey, I got my boys 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.360 pretty good sized. I know he's just a fourth grader, 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.119 but would you mind him coming out for the sixth 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:04.279 seventh Dad got home, said John, He says, I know 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.760 it's a way that you'll never be called fatty fatty 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.280 two by four ever again. He said, but it's going 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.920 to be hard and you have to do it, but 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.840 you earned a respect to your class race. I said, well, 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.400 what's that? He says, go out for football on the sixth, 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.200 seventh and eighth grade team, and I'm want to play 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:21.880 football anyway. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.839 I want to be like my dad. So I went 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.760 out and made the team and actually got to start. 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:33.520 And ever since then football meant a whole lot to me. 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.640 And so playing in the NFL was a dream coming 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.000 true because you know, it was. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.240 A way that I earned that. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.440 I felt that what I needed to earn respect from 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.120 other people was something that I was that I would 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.720 have blessed with with some ability and some talent, and 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:54.839 I just hope I took advantage of it. 0:06:57.680 --> 0:06:57.920 Well. 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.120 So we were talking earlier and Matt mentioned it to 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:06.599 you about Tom Brady being the greatest Patriot of all time. Yep, 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.960 and I was part of an NFL Network top ten 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.920 Patriots where number two is John Hannah unquestioned. 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:15.800 He won't say it, but Brian and I will say it. 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:16.840 Oh, there's no doubt. 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.800 And I mean, arguably the greatest offensive all aligneman of 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:22.120 all time in nineteen eighty one. 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.880 It's still possible, still still hold. 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.800 You today, Yes, So you know, I mean. 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:31.400 Do you ever look back at that and reflect on 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.520 the fact that that's where you that's your standing in 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:35.360 professional football? 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.800 No figure. 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.200 I remember was a kid, I used to watch the 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.600 Miss America contest and the gal that I thought was 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:49.640 the prettiest and never won, So I kind of fail 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:51.200 being named that. 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.280 It's kind of like being in the beauty contest beauties 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:56.400 and I the beholder. 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:01.200 So you know, I'm I appreciate people thinking enough of 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:02.880 me to say that now. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.080 I really do appreciate it. But do I think about it? No, 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:08.280 not really. 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.600 But but if that's the contest, it's not that company 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.320 to be If if the only guy ahead of is 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:15.239 Brady is it. 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.360 It's not bad at all, my boy, I tell you 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:19.160 he uh. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.800 He said a standard, no question about it. 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.200 John. When did you was there time? I don't know 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.040 if it was an AHA moment or something. You know 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.160 at Alabama again, great school, perfect feeding ground for the 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.400 National Football League? When did when did that come into 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:34.760 focus to you that, hey, you know what, I think 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:36.240 I might be able to play at the next level. 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:46.360 When I was about uh ten or eleven, always in 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:48.160 my mind wanted to be in the NFL. 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.640 I wanted to be following my dad's steps. I want 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:51.120 to play in. 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.160 The NFL, and that was my goal all growing up. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.840 I wanted to be in the NFL, and you know, 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.440 that was a target that I shot for, and so 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.560 I didn't know if I could make it physically or 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.079 talent wise, but in my heart I figured I. 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:11.800 Could, and then you call it. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.920 Coach Bryant taught me some lessons when I was at Alabama, and. 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:18.160 The biggest lesson he taught. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.120 Me at Alabama was that it's not always the guy 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.679 with the talent that wins. It's the guy that with 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.760 the most guts who'll stick it out and played hard 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.280 all the way through the game. A lot of guys 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.560 with talent that'll play tough a quarter or two, but 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:33.720 he'll take some breaks. 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.360 When he takes those breaks, that's the time to take 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:36.960 care of him. 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.240 And that was that was a huge lesson. That's what 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.560 really kind of got me over the hunt. I always 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.600 figured there's a lot of guys more talent in me 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.680 than me in the NFL, but I could outwork most 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:48.240 of them. 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.480 Coach Bryant, I think I was reading some literature you 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.720 know about this and you and he weren't very close. 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:57.120 Is that a fair statement to make? 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:58.840 In real that's real? Fair? 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.480 Were you and him joined a little bit of war? 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.280 Was it was it more fear both. 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:07.320 I was in awe. I'm not thinking I was so 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:07.959 in awe of. 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.200 Him that I didn't want to be you know, I 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.240 didn't want to be his buddy, and I don't think 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.840 he wanted to be buddying for me either. But we 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.640 there's two incidents that I remember that really. I mean, 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.040 I respect Coach Bryant and think. 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.280 A lot of it. I love his wife. 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.200 His wife's the kind of one of the kindest ladies 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.600 ever met in my life. But Coach Bryant, you know, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:35.040 we had a Saturday. Matter of fact, I think it 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:39.400 was a week before the Southern col game that that 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.080 we're talking about. That when they beat us a bed 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.960 he sent ten guys to the hospital a heathtroke and dehydration. 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.720 And the guys were leaving out of my freshman class, 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.680 only four out of forty guys that signed scholarships, only 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:53.840 fourteen of us made it. 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.040 The guys are packing the bag and everything. He come 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:58.120 and I had to quit. 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.640 Luckily, I fell asleep before I can pack my car, 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:05.920 and he came in next day wind out what he said, Well, 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.400 boys shall learn a big lesson yesterday he said, you'll 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.680 push yourself and push yourself. You think you're gonna die, 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.120 but human body is an amazing machine. It'll always pass 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.520 out for it does. And I remember that one. And 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.880 then my senior year, we're about to go out and 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.480 play Texas and the Cotton Bowl, and i'd been and 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.440 we just got back from having a day off for 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.400 Christmas with the family, and. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.160 Dad said, well, you on you getting the law of there. 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:39.760 Why don't you ask coach Brian after the game if 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.000 you'd arrange a meeting with you can find out who 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.480 an attorney might represent. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.360 You said, So I'm walking to the meeting. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.360 Coach Bryant comes out of his office and I said, 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.720 Coach Bryant, I do not want to talk to you 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.880 about this now, but I would like to set up 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.840 a meeting with you after this game if it would 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:00.880 be all right to see if he might recommend somebody 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:02.839 to represent me, because I think I might be in 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:09.360 the NFL. Coach Bryant looked at man, excuse the language, shit, John, 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:13.560 you ain't good enough. No damn lawyer, that was miss 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.120 That was the last words Coach Bryant spoke to me 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.839 at Alabama. 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:25.760 So yeah, there's there's a little there's a little Well 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:26.360 he was wrong. 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.040 I don't know if he was or not, but it 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.160 did it didn't didn't help my feelings though. 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.760 Yeah, can you imagine that there's somebody that intimidated John Hannah. 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:38.920 I mean, I don't think Joe Green would be on 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:39.520 that list. 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:41.360 Yeah, he might be. 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.320 I think you gotta know Coach Bryant, and you gotta 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:46.560 remember I was a nineteen twenty kid. 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:48.680 That's a that's a big statement though to here, you know, 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:50.920 that shows the respect I think that you probably. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.360 Oh I had, I had. I will say he had 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:58.800 comed out. My uncle Bill was playing at Alabama. He 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:03.360 coached my uncle Bill. Coach Bryant came and my uncle 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:08.760 Bill went through that junction boy type camp at Alabama 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.160 when he first came, when actually he actually built a 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.679 fence around the practice field so that. 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.199 The boys couldn't quit. So he said no. 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:21.240 That was in Alabama, in Tuscalusia, And so I knew 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.480 who he was. And he was tough man. He was 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.959 a tough armbran and he wasn't no small guy. You know, 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.480 he wasn't like Saving or Belichick. He's six four, you know, 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.280 waited about two forty two fifty as strong, as a 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.240 canyon ape. I mean, he'd grab you up by that faceman. 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.319 That day when we went to the thing Goose Tree, 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.679 our trainer came over and told us all to get 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:49.959 our shoulder pads and helmets off, and so we took 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.319 them off with sitting there and Coach Bryant looked over, 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:55.160 saw us and his t shirts. 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:00.400 Get those damn pads back on and get your back. 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.040 And when I'm running out, as I run by him, 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.680 he kicks me, and he knocks me about twenty yards 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:06.719 in the. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:11.040 Front of him. And yeah, I was scared the death 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:15.040 of the old man. I really was. I wasn't in all, 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.120 I was scared period. 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.560 Well, you needed representation. You go into the draft in 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.960 nineteen seventy three. He's had three first round picks that year. 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.840 The draft is certainly not then what it has become today. No, 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.960 what do you remember about that whole process? 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.720 I remember going to the Hula Bowl because I wanted 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.600 to participate in track and I could go to that 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:50.160 game without losing eligibility, and wanted to time me and 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.520 do all this stuff. And I'm being a smart electy 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.880 like I wasn't. I'd never been anywhere except you know, 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.120 Alabama and Georgia. Now I wanted to say Hawaii, I 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.240 got her. They wanted me to run sprints for them 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.960 all the time. I said, you know what I got film. 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.160 You go look at them film. If you like what 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:10.600 I do, draft me. If you don't, I can't help you. 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.560 I said, that's the best for indicator good, whether I'm 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.040 good or not. And then Dick Steinberg give me a 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:22.480 mental exam to see if I was could remember my plays, and. 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:23.800 That I remember. 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.240 And then the second thing I remember is the day 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.320 of the draft, which was like in January. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:29.760 The end of January. 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.320 Back then, I get a call from Fairbanks and he 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.960 says John. And I knew who coach Fairbanks was because 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.840 we'd played them my Oklahoma my sophomore year and then 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.040 asked Blue White Bowl game. 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.920 So I says, hey, coach, how you doing? 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:48.720 He says good. He says, you know, I'm coaching with 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.720 the Patriots now, and I just want to let you 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.480 know you've been packed picked, you know, number four in 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.920 the draft by the New England Patriots, and we'd like 0:15:57.960 --> 0:15:59.600 to get it you get you up here just soon 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.120 as pot hospel, he says, But I need to get 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:03.920 back to work now, and I said, well, coach, I 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:05.640 appreciate it and I look forward to talking to you 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:09.120 again on the phone. Look and says, where's the new 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:10.440 England Patriots? 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.960 Please? Still do that? Where are they? Where do they? 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:15.720 Where is that? 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:17.400 Do you have a globe or did you have an atlas? 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:18.800 Did you have a map? What'd you do? 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.280 I went and called some people up mastered until I 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.160 finally found somebody new. But you got I mean at 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.760 that time, Alabama, you know, we were is all college 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:34.480 football still is primarily, but back then totally was the 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:36.600 only pro teams we watched was where in. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.680 Alabama or an Auburn player played? 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.520 So I knew the Giants because my dadd had played there, 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.920 and Tucker Frederickson was there when I was growing up 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.520 from Aulbourne, and I even though he was from Auburn, 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:48.040 I enjoyed watching him play. 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.240 Joe Willie Joe Willie. 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:54.800 At the Jets, Leroy Jordan with Cowboys, Bart Starverard Green Bay, 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.320 Ray Perkins at Baltimore and a few others. But that's 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.360 about it, and you know the rest of it we 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:03.240 didn't really care about. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.080 He said, your dream is to play in the NFL 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:08.159 and gets drafted by we, I mean again for Patriot 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.439 fans today that don't understand what the Patriots are like. 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.639 Back in nineteen seventy three, I wanted to play in 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:14.480 the NFL and he gets drafted by the Patriots. That 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.560 weren't exactly the NFL at that point in time. 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.160 No, it was when I remember the first exhibition game 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.240 that we played in a home exhibition game. We're playing 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.400 the Giants, and I was all fired up a little 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.600 bit because I knew that the noseguard was all played 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.240 at in Nebraska Rich Glover, and he for good ball 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:40.240 player and real good ball player, quick as a cat. 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:42.920 So anyway, I was a little nurse. But we were 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.160 pulled into the stadium and there's actually more giant fans 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.960 there than there was Patriots fans at our own stadium, 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.199 and I thought that was that was kind of odd, 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.800 and it was just it was very different back then. 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.360 It was totally different. I was Chuck Fairbanks compared to. 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.159 I've responded to Coach Fairbanks a lot better than I 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:12.119 responded to Coach Bryan's methodology. To me, Fairbanks was the 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:16.320 best head coach I ever played under. He had a 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:23.000 great eye for talent, both player talent and coaching talent. Well, 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.920 he ran in great assistant coaches. He was a great 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:34.639 organizational skills, just an unbelievable organizational skills. And he was 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.280 a man of integrity. And that's why you know he 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.240 left the Patriots because he couldn't. The owners of that 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.320 time didn't allow him to keep his promises to his players. 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.480 And he said, if I can't, if I can't, my words, 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.479 my bond. And I said, for example, when I went 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.280 up Mayorn rookie year, he would call every rookie is 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.520 what's your goals to be in here? I sat down 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:59.720 in the chair and I said, well, coach said, I 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:01.720 want want want a super Bowl. He said, everybody wants 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:03.359 to wear the super Bowl. He says, what do you 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:07.480 want personally? I said, well, I've always dreamed of trying 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.119 to be the best office flyman or I can be 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.640 in the league and you know, be the best. He said, well, 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.360 what's it going to take to get there? I said, well, 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:17.320 it's gonna be. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.400 Take a lot of work, hard work on my part. 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.359 But I said, I need a coach who can show 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.160 me the right techniques and can catch things when I'm 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:28.560 doing them wrong and get me a cricket. 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.960 He said, do you like your coach now? I said, yeah, 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:33.600 Coach Red Miller is a great coach. 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:36.760 He you know, he just sent four of his five 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.280 offense wine of the Pro Bowl with the Cardinals, and 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:42.040 Red was unbelievable. 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.000 And so but a few years went by and I'm 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:45.560 locked on his. 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:50.040 Door and Red had gone to Denver, and I said, Coach, 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.520 this guy that you've got now he's not doing a job. 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:57.360 He said, okay, and that's all he said. Next year 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.560 I come back. Jim Rango is sitting in his office 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:03.440 line best offense grone coach. I thank god ever created 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.240 unbelievable office coach. 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.399 You can talk about the coaches Red Miller, Jim Ringo, 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:16.040 Hank Bulla, Ray Perkins, you know guys, you. 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.480 Know Coselves how about how about Heart? 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.560 How about a guy by the name Ronnie Earhart. How 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.400 about a guy named Ernie Adams. 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:25.480 Ernie Adams. 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.000 What was your thoughts about Ernie Adams back in those days? 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:31.720 John Is, who just retired within the last couple of weeks. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:35.240 We're talking about one of the most unbelievable NFL careers 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.720 that anybody's had, and nobody knows what he does or 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.000 what he did. But he had his heat was not 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.879 only with the Patriots on those great teams that you 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.280 played with in the seventies, but his Belichick's right hand 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:48.840 man for this dynastic run that has led happened for 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:49.880 twenty years. 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:54.520 He probably he had the respect and you know, we 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.800 laughed with him and at him some, but I want 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:03.960 to tell you what he knew, knew that everybody respected him. 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:10.200 He probably was more knowledgeable about the. 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:14.200 Game than anybody I ever met. And he studied. 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:19.199 I mean, he worked his butt off and so he 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:20.439 earned the respectable lot. 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.240 And we knew on on on. 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:25.720 Two on Wednesday mornings when we came in and got 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:28.359 that scouting report, we knew we were going to know 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:30.760 what was going on because he had he had built 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:35.000 that scouting report and uh along with the assistant coaches, 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:36.680 but he was the he was the guy that got 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:37.040 it going. 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:38.560 And I think. 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:43.239 If anybody, if there's some sort of a hall of 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:47.560 fame for what he's done, he needs to be in 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:49.520 it because he's a silent hero. 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:55.040 He really is high praise, high praise, unbelievable. Yeah, I 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:59.720 think kach Palchi would agree. Yeah, I agree, I agree. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.959 You know, you talked a little bit John about the 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.800 ownership situation. I don't want to, you know, reveal all 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.720 that and everything like that. But in a way, when 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:12.920 you see where the franchise is today and you see 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:16.000 how it's run, what the Crafts have done, is there 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.920 a bit of jealousy in your head that goes, oh, yeah, 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.280 why couldn't he you have owned the team when we played, 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:25.679 and who knows what would have happened. Well, we know 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:27.359 things would have been different, don't we. 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:28.320 We do right? 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:33.879 Ye, Well, there's two ways of an owner making money 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:34.640 in the NFL. 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:38.760 He can go in and he starts building. 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:42.639 He'll spend a little money, he'll win a few games, 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.840 and he starts selling season tickets back when I played. 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:48.000 And all that stuff. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.840 And then as soon as the season tickets starts selling out, 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:52.919 he cuts payroll. 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:57.280 So that's one way of making money. 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:00.840 There's another way of making money that's figuring out how 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:06.120 do I make money by capitalizing on a championship team. 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.360 And that is what the Crafts have done. 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:14.119 And I would have given my left arm to play 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:18.720 when the owner, when Bob Craft will on the team, 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:21.520 it's my here. I think the world of Bob Craft 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:24.280 he's and he's done a lot for us old guys too. 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:29.200 And uh, you know, I truly he has my respect, 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:34.480 a lot of my I mean really respected. And I 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:40.800 just uh, and I always say in the NFL championships 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:42.480 always start with the owner. 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:44.280 Always. 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:48.679 Uh, you look at anybody, the owner always is the 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:51.480 building block. You got a bad owner, you'll never have 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:54.480 a championship. You have a good grade owner, You're gonna 0:23:54.480 --> 0:23:57.879 have lots of championships. And Bob Craft's great owner. 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.159 And he was sitting in the seats in nineteen seventy 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:02.280 three on the metal benches. 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:07.080 He's probably frustrated stadium. He's probably as mad as we work, right, 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:09.400 you know. It's some of the stuff. I mean, can 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:13.320 you believe trading Leon Gray away? And I mean, how 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:18.119 stupid is that? You know, just because Leon and I 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:21.240 were coming up from negotiations a year away and we 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:23.960 were up at the same time, and so they traded 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:25.720 him away so I could break us up, so I 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:27.240 wouldn't have to negotiate with the two. 0:24:28.160 --> 0:24:34.600 So don't get me started. That's a that's a sore 0:24:34.720 --> 0:24:35.679 spot in my life. 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:37.480 Well, I'll change the subject a little bit then to 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:42.879 nineteen seventy six, and you guys have that outstanding regular season. 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:46.840 You go to Pittsburgh beat the defending Super Bowl champions Steelers. 0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:49.879 You hand the Oakland Raiders their only loss of the season, 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:53.840 and then get the rematch and they blew them out. 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:57.520 You get the rematch with the Raiders in the playoffs, 0:24:58.000 --> 0:25:02.119 which we all know about the controversy surrounding that with 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:05.359 the non holding call on Russ and the roughing. 0:25:05.440 --> 0:25:08.920 The Raiders wanted a new stadium. 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:11.639 They still they still need a new stadium. They had 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:13.200 to go to Vegas to get a stadium. 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:17.320 I know. But you know what I'm saying, Yes, well. 0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:19.800 I mean so so how bitter was that because that 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:22.560 was the year that everyone looks back on from that 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:25.240 era as the team Oakland goes on to win the 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:27.320 Super Bowl as the team that might have been the 0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:29.080 first world champion for. 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:33.000 In New England had they not been some bad calls. 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:34.359 Let's call it what it is. It was. 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:37.440 It was, you know, it was a very similar scenario. 0:25:37.680 --> 0:25:46.600 I mean, you know it's I know, we say, uh 0:25:47.560 --> 0:25:49.560 that official all the way and he locked the door 0:25:49.600 --> 0:25:51.600 of his dressing room so we could get doing we're 0:25:51.640 --> 0:25:52.440 trying to kill him. 0:25:53.000 --> 0:25:55.160 But anyway, Uh, it was better. 0:25:55.440 --> 0:25:55.560 Uh. 0:25:56.560 --> 0:25:59.679 We knew we had a great team. Uh, and we 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:02.120 and the people don't know this. 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:06.240 The bad call, I guess Ray Hamilton was bad, but 0:26:06.359 --> 0:26:07.680 that would have never happened. 0:26:10.040 --> 0:26:13.520 The guy on the sideline banned. 0:26:13.520 --> 0:26:16.720 We were in slant nineteen and Slam had a kind 0:26:16.760 --> 0:26:19.320 of a he could have made the first down, but 0:26:19.359 --> 0:26:22.159 he saw the yard marker and he stepped out in 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:24.800 front of the yard marker. But the guy that was 0:26:24.840 --> 0:26:29.960 holding the yard marker didn't have it stretched out. You 0:26:30.000 --> 0:26:30.760 see what I'm saying. 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:37.399 And so there's nobody knew that. But that was one 0:26:37.440 --> 0:26:41.200 of the things that hey, yeah, he was a yard 0:26:41.359 --> 0:26:43.160 not even a yard a foot shot. 0:26:43.359 --> 0:26:46.800 And if the guy had stretched out the change like 0:26:46.880 --> 0:26:49.359 he was supposed to have him, Sam would have seen it. 0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:52.040 He'd have gone ahead and got that extra foot. We'd 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:52.920 eat the clock up. 0:26:53.000 --> 0:26:56.919 And that had never been that overtime that passed it 0:26:57.880 --> 0:27:01.400 interference call or anyway because or rough and faster call. 0:27:01.880 --> 0:27:05.160 Because on thirty nineteen, by the way, on a third 0:27:05.200 --> 0:27:09.120 and nineteen play, roughing the passage, Yeah, I know. 0:27:09.359 --> 0:27:11.480 Put you on the spot here. What was the better team, John, 0:27:11.560 --> 0:27:13.320 the seventy sixteen or the seventy eighteen. 0:27:17.040 --> 0:27:19.720 It's hard to say on that one either one of 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:25.399 them would be basically the same team, only with a 0:27:25.440 --> 0:27:29.720 little more age, because you you know, seventy six you 0:27:29.840 --> 0:27:36.639 got Tim Fox, Mike Canes and we were a little younger. 0:27:36.680 --> 0:27:40.119 In seventy eight, uh, you know, Weaver gone then we 0:27:40.160 --> 0:27:42.320 had replaced him and some things like that. 0:27:42.680 --> 0:27:45.680 So I would it would it would be a tough call, 0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:53.080 and I it wouldn't to me. 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:57.480 That whole group of guys that I played with from 0:27:57.680 --> 0:28:02.480 like seventy five, even in say seventy five, in seventy three, four, 0:28:02.680 --> 0:28:05.960 even in seventy four, we started getting good people. You know, 0:28:06.000 --> 0:28:09.080 we got Grogs and Nelly and all those guys coming 0:28:09.119 --> 0:28:12.440 in and there you got you know, we had Bam already, 0:28:13.600 --> 0:28:19.240 we had Geezer, Tony McGee, you know, Julius was there. 0:28:19.640 --> 0:28:24.320 I mean, just a good group of guys that enjoyed 0:28:24.400 --> 0:28:25.240 being together. 0:28:25.920 --> 0:28:29.720 And I loved that. That was the team I really loved. 0:28:30.840 --> 0:28:36.320 From that, you know, up until Myers came, I really 0:28:36.720 --> 0:28:39.560 enjoyed playing football with the Patriots. 0:28:39.840 --> 0:28:42.880 You know you referenced earlier White Chucks Fairbanks last. 0:28:42.920 --> 0:28:45.680 Well, it was at the end of that season when 0:28:45.760 --> 0:28:48.000 the Solvents suspended him for the final game of the season, 0:28:48.120 --> 0:28:52.280 learning and he had taken a college job, and reinstated 0:28:52.320 --> 0:28:55.000 him for the playoff game, first home playoff game in 0:28:55.040 --> 0:28:59.600 Patriot's history, in fact, at Solvent Stadium against the Houston Oilis. 0:29:00.320 --> 0:29:02.600 How did that whole thing work itself out? 0:29:02.680 --> 0:29:02.920 Was that? 0:29:03.120 --> 0:29:05.040 Was that the loss of your coach that week and 0:29:05.080 --> 0:29:07.840 the reinstatement was that a major distraction. 0:29:07.520 --> 0:29:11.280 Had big time. It was a big time distraction. 0:29:11.680 --> 0:29:16.600 And you know, and the funny thing is, the players 0:29:16.680 --> 0:29:21.640 knew that Fairbanks was leaving, you know, flying would the 0:29:21.680 --> 0:29:26.240 guy from Continental Airline be at the meetings at the 0:29:26.280 --> 0:29:30.480 players meetings ever Monday, you know, after they did the 0:29:30.560 --> 0:29:34.400 Daryl what they did, so we knew he was leaving. 0:29:34.960 --> 0:29:38.240 We'd already we already figured that out. So it didn't 0:29:38.280 --> 0:29:40.560 bother us. You know, we were just gonna go ahead it. 0:29:40.880 --> 0:29:44.600 But you know, they overreacted as usual, you know, they 0:29:46.040 --> 0:29:50.160 had that chip on her shoulder show. But they they 0:29:50.200 --> 0:29:51.720 assured you had to run a good thing. 0:29:52.080 --> 0:29:54.360 I tell you what. Total kind had a more positive note. 0:29:54.400 --> 0:29:57.000 All records are made to be broken, yep, But that 0:29:57.120 --> 0:30:01.440 seventy eighteen had a record that last very very long time. 0:30:01.440 --> 0:30:03.440 It wasn't until just two years ago when the Ravens 0:30:03.440 --> 0:30:06.960 beat it. Most rushing yards by a team that stood 0:30:07.000 --> 0:30:09.160 for a long time was there. It's got to be 0:30:09.160 --> 0:30:09.960 a sense of pride for me. 0:30:10.080 --> 0:30:15.080 I'll tell you one record they didn't break. You want 0:30:15.080 --> 0:30:15.440 to tell you. 0:30:15.760 --> 0:30:18.480 Yeah, they didn't have a We did not have a 0:30:18.560 --> 0:30:21.400 back with over one thousand yards. 0:30:22.680 --> 0:30:22.920 You can. 0:30:22.920 --> 0:30:23.840 Grogan had five. 0:30:23.680 --> 0:30:26.720 Hundred, that's right. So they did it. They did it 0:30:26.760 --> 0:30:27.640 with a running back. 0:30:28.520 --> 0:30:30.640 Well, we had good running backs, don't get me wrong, 0:30:30.960 --> 0:30:33.840 but we had an offensive line and I don't think 0:30:33.880 --> 0:30:38.720 they've ever been a run a running game offensive line 0:30:39.160 --> 0:30:39.760 like we had. 0:30:40.400 --> 0:30:42.640 We could come off the ball. Now, let me tell 0:30:42.680 --> 0:30:44.240 you what we could come off the ball. 0:30:44.840 --> 0:30:49.520 And there's only really there's only that starting team, the 0:30:49.560 --> 0:30:52.920 starting guys. You know, there's only two of us left. 0:30:53.200 --> 0:30:58.400 So it was Pete in the middle, No, you and 0:30:58.480 --> 0:31:00.800 Leon on the left side, Lean. 0:31:00.720 --> 0:31:02.760 Died, Sam Adams. 0:31:03.920 --> 0:31:07.240 And Shelby Jordan on the right. And so Shelby and 0:31:07.280 --> 0:31:10.479 I have only two a lot of that five guys. 0:31:11.840 --> 0:31:15.080 Now, he came in and played a lot, but Lank 0:31:15.240 --> 0:31:15.720 was the starter. 0:31:18.320 --> 0:31:23.280 And then you know you had Grogan run that offense obviously, and. 0:31:23.440 --> 0:31:27.120 The toughest guy and the most mistreated quarterback in NFL history. 0:31:27.160 --> 0:31:29.080 So I was just gonna ask you that. So I 0:31:29.160 --> 0:31:31.560 always felt growing up. 0:31:32.080 --> 0:31:34.120 Now this is more in the eighties than the seventies, 0:31:34.800 --> 0:31:37.520 but that he was They were always trying to replace 0:31:37.600 --> 0:31:40.720 Steve Grogan. But I know you have such an affinity 0:31:40.760 --> 0:31:44.360 for him. So tell me your impressions of Steve Grogan 0:31:44.800 --> 0:31:46.520 as a quarterback and as a teammate. 0:31:50.200 --> 0:31:53.640 When you go into a huddle, everybody has his eye 0:31:53.680 --> 0:31:55.960 on the court and your feed off of it. You 0:31:56.040 --> 0:31:58.120 look in his eyes and you see what he's thinking, 0:31:58.800 --> 0:32:02.200 and he's faling is going and when you you when 0:32:02.240 --> 0:32:04.800 you looked into Goge's eyes, you could just suck the 0:32:04.920 --> 0:32:06.800 energy and the confidence out of him, you know what 0:32:06.840 --> 0:32:10.200 I mean? And if that was what was going and 0:32:11.080 --> 0:32:15.960 tougher in a pine knot, Uh, he'd hold that ball 0:32:17.040 --> 0:32:19.160 and I got mad at him a few times for holding, 0:32:19.360 --> 0:32:21.760 but he had hold of that extra half or a 0:32:21.800 --> 0:32:25.600 second or so to get that receiver make that extra 0:32:25.680 --> 0:32:28.200 move that he needed to get open. And he didn't 0:32:28.200 --> 0:32:30.880 mind taking the hit, you know. And I don't I 0:32:30.960 --> 0:32:33.320 feel that you were talking about that Pittsburgh game when 0:32:33.320 --> 0:32:35.800 we came from behind and beat him down in Pittsburgh, 0:32:36.640 --> 0:32:40.479 and uh we were down there and uh Dwight White, 0:32:41.200 --> 0:32:44.280 uh you know, we went for the first down and 0:32:44.360 --> 0:32:46.760 Dwight White got up and spit on him. 0:32:48.160 --> 0:32:51.640 And Leah and I were uh there. 0:32:52.640 --> 0:32:57.560 And and uh, grogoes he's he makes them trying to 0:32:57.560 --> 0:32:59.760 get spit in his mouth, but he's got cotton mouth, 0:32:59.800 --> 0:33:03.080 get it, so he just makes the sound pooh, and 0:33:03.240 --> 0:33:06.240 Dwight you know, comes after him, and before he can 0:33:06.320 --> 0:33:08.719 get to him, Manley I stepped in the middle and 0:33:09.200 --> 0:33:13.840 make sure he couldn't touch it. But I think Krogs, 0:33:13.840 --> 0:33:17.840 who's uh, he was one tough on bro. Let me 0:33:17.880 --> 0:33:22.080 tell you their other quarterbacks probably they had were more 0:33:22.120 --> 0:33:25.240 gifted talent wise, but there was nobody that was more 0:33:25.280 --> 0:33:26.440 of a winner than he was. 0:33:26.720 --> 0:33:30.280 I want to ask you about two other teammates. Steeley Morgan. 0:33:31.640 --> 0:33:33.800 Why he's not in the Hall of Fame beats the 0:33:33.920 --> 0:33:36.080 smart out of me. That guy. 0:33:37.160 --> 0:33:39.880 They got all these TV commentators in there, they can't. 0:33:39.920 --> 0:33:43.480 Their numbers are half of what Sanley's are, and why 0:33:43.560 --> 0:33:47.080 he's not. Sandy was probably the greatest receiver of his era, 0:33:47.760 --> 0:33:50.280 and he just did not get the credit he deserved. 0:33:50.400 --> 0:33:54.280 I don't know why. I can't understand it. Russ francis 0:33:55.400 --> 0:33:57.360 more talent than any human I ever saw. 0:34:00.080 --> 0:34:02.600 You know, he's different, different cat, right, different. 0:34:02.400 --> 0:34:06.720 Cat he You know, we were talking about people a 0:34:06.760 --> 0:34:10.719 little while ago who played off of talent. He was 0:34:10.760 --> 0:34:15.600 one of those guys. He never understood that you got 0:34:15.640 --> 0:34:18.640 to pay a price for true greatness, you know, and 0:34:19.320 --> 0:34:23.640 kind of he they would have never known who Gronsky was. 0:34:24.080 --> 0:34:27.320 I if if Russ had really played the way he could, 0:34:27.640 --> 0:34:31.040 he I've never seen a more gifted athlete than him. 0:34:31.520 --> 0:34:33.319 Did you know during training camp he used to fly 0:34:33.440 --> 0:34:37.000 to Martha's Vinia's lunch. Oh yeah, story, Oh yeah, I 0:34:37.000 --> 0:34:37.840 mean he was crazy. 0:34:38.560 --> 0:34:40.480 I got mad at him. We're out in California for 0:34:40.520 --> 0:34:42.759 a week. We played the Raiders, then we would go 0:34:42.800 --> 0:34:46.680 down place, either La or San Diego, one of them. 0:34:46.760 --> 0:34:50.080 We were at Stanford and he's walking around coming to practice. 0:34:50.080 --> 0:34:53.480 He's injured and he's got on flip flops. I was 0:34:53.560 --> 0:34:57.279 so I yelled at him, but you know, he just 0:34:57.560 --> 0:34:59.839 he didn't care. That was just Russ, you know, And 0:34:59.840 --> 0:35:01.879 I I finally figured it out. You know, I ain't 0:35:01.880 --> 0:35:05.279 going to change him, but boy was when he wanted 0:35:05.280 --> 0:35:07.720 to suit it up. There was nobody that was better 0:35:07.800 --> 0:35:08.920 than him. 0:35:09.480 --> 0:35:11.799 Eighty five comes along and you talked about, you know, 0:35:11.840 --> 0:35:14.800 different coaches, everything, and Raymond Berry comes along in eighty 0:35:14.840 --> 0:35:17.480 four and maybe sort of writes that ship with the 0:35:17.520 --> 0:35:19.480 talent that was on. You know, now you've got guys 0:35:19.520 --> 0:35:21.400 like tipp who's on that. 0:35:21.280 --> 0:35:24.879 Team, Donnie Blackman, Yeah, and you go on that run at. 0:35:24.760 --> 0:35:29.120 Eighty five, John, the first time the Patriots get to 0:35:29.160 --> 0:35:32.279 a super Bowl? Can you remember what the region was 0:35:32.440 --> 0:35:35.440 like with all those road playoff wins and going to 0:35:35.480 --> 0:35:37.680 the Super Bowl and the T shirts with Burry the 0:35:37.719 --> 0:35:40.239 Bears and everything. How magical was that run for you 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:41.560 at that point in time in your career. 0:35:41.760 --> 0:35:44.640 It was great. It was It was really good. 0:35:44.960 --> 0:35:49.720 And you know, I don't there was the difference though, 0:35:49.760 --> 0:35:54.399 between that team and the teams of the seventies was 0:35:54.600 --> 0:35:58.120 we had a great Now I'm not saying we didn't 0:35:58.120 --> 0:36:00.480 have a good defense when in the seventies, Please don't 0:36:00.520 --> 0:36:04.359 get this wrong, but there was not a better set 0:36:04.360 --> 0:36:07.600 of bookends in the whole NFL than black Men and 0:36:07.600 --> 0:36:11.920 Andre Tippett. I mean, they were unbelievable pass rushes and 0:36:11.960 --> 0:36:13.279 if you ever get shot them both. 0:36:13.560 --> 0:36:16.960 That quarterback was going down, so we had that. 0:36:18.000 --> 0:36:21.440 He still had an La, We still had the you know, Jerius, 0:36:21.440 --> 0:36:24.000 we had the great We had all the great ones, 0:36:24.360 --> 0:36:29.080 and we had even better talent on defense. Our offense 0:36:29.280 --> 0:36:34.480 was not quite as good. You know, we had some 0:36:34.560 --> 0:36:38.160 good players, but they weren't they weren't the same caliber 0:36:38.280 --> 0:36:44.600 Sam Cunningham, Andy Johnson, and unfortunately they decided not to 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:47.719 start Steve that game, which I think was a very 0:36:47.760 --> 0:36:52.279 big disappointment to a lot of the offensive players. I 0:36:52.320 --> 0:36:54.960 think when we heard he had been cleared to play, 0:36:55.360 --> 0:36:59.600 there was an excitement about Grogue starting amongst the team, 0:37:00.200 --> 0:37:02.040 and when we found out he wasn't going to start, 0:37:02.160 --> 0:37:04.640 I think there was a real letdown. But that was 0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:06.960 it was really fun. I mean, let's face it, we 0:37:07.000 --> 0:37:10.759 got a little revenge on the Raiders, were able to 0:37:10.760 --> 0:37:16.040 beat them out in the Colissem and uh beat the Jets, 0:37:17.040 --> 0:37:20.680 So it was you know, we were the first Wall 0:37:20.800 --> 0:37:23.880 Card team to do that. So you know, there's things 0:37:23.880 --> 0:37:27.800 that we did when I was there that uh were 0:37:28.000 --> 0:37:28.960 we take pride in. 0:37:30.000 --> 0:37:31.480 You know, you know, I. 0:37:31.320 --> 0:37:35.440 Enjoyed being around with Bam and Shelby, and when we 0:37:35.480 --> 0:37:37.440 come back to the Hall of Fame and stuff, and 0:37:38.800 --> 0:37:42.400 we talked old school, and you know, we take a 0:37:42.400 --> 0:37:45.040 lot of pride in the fact that, you know, we 0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:48.560 weren't able to cap it off, but we got the 0:37:48.560 --> 0:37:54.680 ball rolling. We got the ball rolling, and finally the 0:37:54.680 --> 0:38:00.239 the ownership changed the right way, and uh, you know, 0:38:00.520 --> 0:38:02.839 we're very proud of the team. 0:38:03.080 --> 0:38:06.400 The final win of that three road wind playoff streak 0:38:06.480 --> 0:38:09.760 was in Miami, where you had lost eighteen consecutive games 0:38:09.800 --> 0:38:10.480 dating back to. 0:38:10.440 --> 0:38:11.920 Before you were a Patriot. 0:38:12.600 --> 0:38:15.000 Was there ever some sort of mental block with that 0:38:15.600 --> 0:38:17.359 or did you just feel like we can win there? 0:38:17.360 --> 0:38:20.200 It's just circumstances. Losses. 0:38:20.560 --> 0:38:25.000 Well, you've got to remember to when did we play them? 0:38:25.080 --> 0:38:31.080 Most time December, you know, because the ownership wanted to 0:38:31.080 --> 0:38:35.279 have a Christmas vacation in Miami. Well, we've been practicing 0:38:35.320 --> 0:38:39.080 in twenty degree weather for three or four weeks, and 0:38:39.160 --> 0:38:39.480 we go. 0:38:39.520 --> 0:38:41.680 Down there and play in ninety. 0:38:41.360 --> 0:38:44.960 Degree weather and by the time the game's over, I mean, 0:38:45.200 --> 0:38:47.400 you can't. I mean you should have seen what the 0:38:47.440 --> 0:38:51.280 airplane was like on the way out. Oh, everybody's laying out. 0:38:51.120 --> 0:38:55.560 On them four cramping and hurting and everything else. Well, 0:38:55.960 --> 0:38:57.759 you know, so we knew we could beat them down 0:38:57.800 --> 0:39:00.960 there and when. 0:39:02.239 --> 0:39:06.399 And what was really fun about that game? In reality, Yeah, 0:39:06.440 --> 0:39:09.120 we threw some passes, but we've primarily beat them with 0:39:09.160 --> 0:39:17.440 the run. And that was That was sweet, antiquities, that 0:39:17.600 --> 0:39:19.720 was a sweet That was really sweet. 0:39:20.040 --> 0:39:23.080 Did you think realistically you guys had a chance against 0:39:23.080 --> 0:39:24.600 the Beers. 0:39:24.760 --> 0:39:26.040 If we kept it on the ground. 0:39:28.320 --> 0:39:32.480 I didn't think we could with an air attack, especially 0:39:32.520 --> 0:39:38.719 with the quarterback we had. And I knew we might 0:39:38.760 --> 0:39:40.759 fool them at the beginning, but it wouldn't be a 0:39:40.840 --> 0:39:44.560 consistent So I had hoped we would go back to 0:39:44.600 --> 0:39:48.440 a more of a rock'm soccam type game, which is 0:39:48.480 --> 0:39:49.399 what got us there. 0:39:50.800 --> 0:39:58.919 So I knew. I didn't say we couldn't. I knew 0:39:58.920 --> 0:40:02.919 it would be we'd have to play our best game. 0:40:03.160 --> 0:40:06.200 And there are people John who believed that that that team, 0:40:06.320 --> 0:40:08.520 that eighty five Beers team is in the conversation for 0:40:08.600 --> 0:40:11.200 the greatest single season team. 0:40:12.400 --> 0:40:13.279 Yes, you know. 0:40:13.600 --> 0:40:16.279 That team was stacked. So there's no shame in that. 0:40:16.680 --> 0:40:18.560 You know, you guys certainly didn't play well and that 0:40:18.640 --> 0:40:19.400 had to sting. 0:40:19.880 --> 0:40:20.880 Oh we played awful. 0:40:20.960 --> 0:40:22.960 Yeah, And there's a lot of stuff going on, you know, 0:40:23.239 --> 0:40:25.320 with the newspapers. 0:40:24.640 --> 0:40:27.200 And after the game and all that. 0:40:27.640 --> 0:40:31.040 And well for us before the game because the players 0:40:31.120 --> 0:40:32.399 knew what was fixing to come. 0:40:32.560 --> 0:40:35.040 Ye, And what we're talking about is and we won't 0:40:35.080 --> 0:40:36.640 spend a lot of time on it, but you know, 0:40:36.680 --> 0:40:38.680 there was some drug issues with that team that came 0:40:38.880 --> 0:40:41.279 to light after the super Bowl and really kind of 0:40:41.280 --> 0:40:43.440 put a damper on what we talked about was a 0:40:43.480 --> 0:40:46.480 magical time. So you just were did you have it 0:40:46.520 --> 0:40:48.799 in your mind? John, at that point in time, I was, 0:40:48.840 --> 0:40:52.719 I knew I was going to retire. What was did 0:40:52.760 --> 0:40:53.719 you know that that was going to. 0:40:53.719 --> 0:40:56.600 Be there for you there? 0:40:58.480 --> 0:41:02.480 I knew I'd played the whole last part of the season. 0:41:02.480 --> 0:41:06.279 I'd torn both rotator cuffs and my shoulders and my 0:41:06.360 --> 0:41:08.680 knee was giving me a lot of problems, you know, 0:41:08.719 --> 0:41:08.920 I had. 0:41:09.200 --> 0:41:13.640 I had a lot of injuries that year. And when. 0:41:14.960 --> 0:41:19.239 Bert Z Aarians came as the orthopedic surgeon uh first year, 0:41:20.680 --> 0:41:22.160 I said, bert. 0:41:21.960 --> 0:41:23.720 I want you to make me one promise. 0:41:24.880 --> 0:41:28.840 He says, if you ever see anything on me that 0:41:28.960 --> 0:41:31.319 will ever that will cripple me and keep me from 0:41:31.320 --> 0:41:34.479 playing from my with my kids from then on, he says, 0:41:34.600 --> 0:41:38.319 I want you to let me know. So Anyway, I 0:41:38.320 --> 0:41:41.560 had both shoulders done and I was recovering from them. 0:41:41.600 --> 0:41:43.400 And then two weeks later I went in and they 0:41:43.400 --> 0:41:50.520 cut on my knee and uh Bert called me into 0:41:50.520 --> 0:41:53.000 his office and they talked to you. I said, okay, 0:41:53.560 --> 0:42:01.240 he said, John, you're your femurs went off. He said, Uh, 0:42:01.280 --> 0:42:03.759 you've got basically you've got a groove. 0:42:05.480 --> 0:42:08.160 And it's it's basically hanging in that groove and you 0:42:08.239 --> 0:42:08.560 have no. 0:42:08.600 --> 0:42:11.800 Cart lets left whatsoever. He says, So it's your bone 0:42:11.800 --> 0:42:15.600 on bone. And I said, well, are you referring to 0:42:15.640 --> 0:42:18.560 our conversation er. He says, yeah, yeah. He says, if 0:42:18.600 --> 0:42:22.359 you keep going, you'll be just let baby or I said, 0:42:22.360 --> 0:42:29.640 well that's what I made up my mind. And you 0:42:29.680 --> 0:42:33.239 know what's funny is when I originally heard it. 0:42:33.560 --> 0:42:37.719 It was against Chicago, uh. 0:42:37.120 --> 0:42:38.880 The regular season game that you when you played them 0:42:38.880 --> 0:42:39.400 in the in the. 0:42:39.400 --> 0:42:40.560 Ring, no back. 0:42:40.760 --> 0:42:43.239 This was my second or third year of the leg 0:42:43.680 --> 0:42:47.480 and they hit me below with me I forgot to 0:42:47.480 --> 0:42:50.520 be lower than the lowest and hey high perched it 0:42:50.600 --> 0:42:54.160 on my knee and tore the posse recruision and uh 0:42:54.320 --> 0:42:57.560 the doctor at that time said, oh, it's just a strain, okay. 0:42:57.719 --> 0:43:00.279 So I kept playing, it wasn't getting better. Kept it 0:43:00.360 --> 0:43:05.120 wasn't getting better. So finally about February I called my 0:43:05.160 --> 0:43:08.239 brother Charlie, who was playing with Tampa. So I had 0:43:08.239 --> 0:43:11.799 to be seventy six. So anyway, I said, turn if 0:43:11.840 --> 0:43:13.759 y'all got to get orthopedic guy and I said, yeah, 0:43:13.760 --> 0:43:16.080 he's really good. I said, can you say up a 0:43:16.160 --> 0:43:16.600 meeting with me? 0:43:16.719 --> 0:43:19.680 So I went there. So I went down too, and 0:43:19.719 --> 0:43:21.880 he said, well, John, if. 0:43:23.280 --> 0:43:25.719 Right now, the only way we can repair that is 0:43:25.760 --> 0:43:29.520 to rewrap the hamstring to the front of the lower leg. 0:43:30.000 --> 0:43:35.160 And he says it's only successful fifcent time. He says, 0:43:35.160 --> 0:43:37.680 if we'd have caught it when it first happened, we 0:43:37.760 --> 0:43:41.400 could have tied the posture or crushe back together. 0:43:41.520 --> 0:43:42.560 And it had been fine. 0:43:43.320 --> 0:43:44.759 But the way it is, you're just going to have 0:43:44.760 --> 0:43:49.200 to keep your legs strong and just play as long 0:43:49.239 --> 0:43:49.759 as you can. 0:43:50.480 --> 0:43:54.680 So basically, the. 0:43:55.320 --> 0:43:59.600 Orthopedic surgeon prior to Bert's ears shortened my career. 0:44:00.040 --> 0:44:02.600 And yet you still played nine years on a bad knee. 0:44:02.480 --> 0:44:04.799 Played nine years on a bad knick. See how when 0:44:04.840 --> 0:44:09.480 you did you retire? What did you miss? The locker room? 0:44:09.520 --> 0:44:13.200 Not feeling a part of the team. It was. It 0:44:13.239 --> 0:44:14.719 was it. 0:44:15.560 --> 0:44:17.440 I don't know what it's like for current players, but 0:44:17.520 --> 0:44:21.520 it was devastating. I mean I didn't know what I 0:44:21.719 --> 0:44:27.000 was worth, didn't know who I was because I'd always 0:44:27.000 --> 0:44:30.280 been caught up as you know, that's the only identity 0:44:30.280 --> 0:44:33.840 I could really hang my hat on it. And I 0:44:33.880 --> 0:44:35.959 went through a hard time for about two or three years, 0:44:35.960 --> 0:44:40.960 I mean real did some things I wasn't very proud of, uh, 0:44:43.360 --> 0:44:46.040 just and embarrassed my family. And it. 0:44:47.680 --> 0:44:50.319 Was a hard time. It was. And I don't know 0:44:50.320 --> 0:44:52.080 if they could get that drawn into. 0:44:51.880 --> 0:44:54.359 It nowadays or not, but you know, when you get 0:44:54.400 --> 0:44:56.719 sucked into it like I got sucked into it, I 0:44:56.719 --> 0:44:59.600 mean it was. It was everything to me. And when 0:44:59.640 --> 0:45:03.759 it when I didn't have it anymore, it was it was. 0:45:04.000 --> 0:45:07.080 It was awful, the worst, the worst time in my life. 0:45:07.440 --> 0:45:10.880 What do you remember what helped turn that around or 0:45:10.920 --> 0:45:13.799 get you on the road to where you were going 0:45:13.840 --> 0:45:15.840 back and that you did feel proud about yourself? 0:45:18.239 --> 0:45:18.560 Uh? 0:45:18.880 --> 0:45:26.920 Two things, Uh, First is you know my faith getting 0:45:26.960 --> 0:45:29.120 back to that That was probably you know, my faith 0:45:29.200 --> 0:45:36.400 in and Jesus and in God. The second thing was 0:45:36.440 --> 0:45:42.919 a Vietnam vet And he finally telling me, said, John, 0:45:42.960 --> 0:45:45.040 you know, one of the biggest issues you're facing is 0:45:47.120 --> 0:45:50.640 ye're a year like a war veteran, you're addicted to 0:45:50.680 --> 0:45:52.560 the most powerful drug known to man. 0:45:54.040 --> 0:45:57.440 I said, what, I don't take drugs. He says, adrenaline. 0:45:59.440 --> 0:45:59.960 And he's right. 0:46:00.320 --> 0:46:02.759 I mean, that was a heck of a fix man. 0:46:03.520 --> 0:46:06.160 You know, Adrenaline is the best drug in the world. 0:46:06.360 --> 0:46:10.480 I'd love to take a shot of adrenaline. Uh, and 0:46:10.960 --> 0:46:13.080 you know it's not bad for you, and it's not 0:46:13.320 --> 0:46:16.879 you know, And he was right. And I realized that, 0:46:17.000 --> 0:46:19.320 you know that I was I had, I had an addiction. 0:46:19.920 --> 0:46:23.040 I was used to going out every Sunday and boy, 0:46:23.120 --> 0:46:26.760 you just get that feeling, you know, that that surge 0:46:26.960 --> 0:46:30.680 you know, coming through the tunnel and that you know, 0:46:30.840 --> 0:46:36.239 the war, you're one on one combat and stuff and shop. Man, 0:46:36.320 --> 0:46:39.640 it was I can and I can go back to it. 0:46:40.080 --> 0:46:43.360 I mean, I just sitting here now, I can still 0:46:43.400 --> 0:46:46.759 feel the the sinds. It's kind of like I see 0:46:47.120 --> 0:46:49.279 it's both over. 0:46:49.600 --> 0:46:52.200 You know. What's funny. 0:46:52.880 --> 0:46:55.320 What's funny is my dad was when my dad was 0:46:55.360 --> 0:47:00.759 about my age, when he was seventy i'd retired me 0:47:00.880 --> 0:47:04.320 might have been seventy five, and we're watching and i'd retire. 0:47:04.360 --> 0:47:06.319 And we're in front of a TV set watching an 0:47:06.400 --> 0:47:10.000 NFL game. I'm watching this guy play and I'm watching 0:47:10.080 --> 0:47:12.960 I said, God, I can do better, I. 0:47:12.920 --> 0:47:13.359 Said, Dad. 0:47:16.080 --> 0:47:18.799 When you watch these games today, he said, you never 0:47:18.840 --> 0:47:21.280 feel like you can go out there and be better 0:47:21.360 --> 0:47:24.520 than those guys that are playing out He says, well, 0:47:24.680 --> 0:47:27.680 I'm pretty old now, John, but probably two or three 0:47:27.760 --> 0:47:29.280 plays I could be as good as. 0:47:29.120 --> 0:47:30.120 They was not better. 0:47:31.080 --> 0:47:33.360 And I guess I'm the same boy. You know what 0:47:33.400 --> 0:47:40.000 I'm saying. You still got that inside you where you 0:47:40.000 --> 0:47:42.200 know I'm not as big as them, and I'm not 0:47:43.120 --> 0:47:46.600 probably as talented as them. But they never been hit 0:47:46.640 --> 0:47:51.160 as hard as I could hit them, and they hadn't 0:47:51.400 --> 0:47:53.799 they had a defensive line in the NFL days, been 0:47:53.880 --> 0:47:58.400 hit like like we could hit them. And I'd like 0:47:58.440 --> 0:48:00.520 to see how they'd react when somebody with their helmet 0:48:00.520 --> 0:48:00.960 in their mouth. 0:48:01.000 --> 0:48:03.440 But I want to ask you, is who's the defensive 0:48:03.480 --> 0:48:08.640 lineman when they did hit back that you realized, Oh okay, 0:48:09.080 --> 0:48:11.319 now I gotta I gotta ratchet up here a little bit. 0:48:11.400 --> 0:48:12.799 Who's the toughest guy that you were called? 0:48:12.800 --> 0:48:19.320 You know, you don't do you don't The two guys 0:48:19.440 --> 0:48:22.160 I always said this there. I mean, there's guys that 0:48:22.280 --> 0:48:24.919 were great pass rushers, and there's guys that were great 0:48:25.000 --> 0:48:26.719 run guys. 0:48:27.320 --> 0:48:28.760 The best all the two best. 0:48:28.560 --> 0:48:31.200 All around guys I ever played against was Howie Long 0:48:31.560 --> 0:48:36.440 and Jim Cleco. Jim Clecko, he you got guy or 0:48:36.480 --> 0:48:40.080 how he the one they never ever quit. I mean, 0:48:40.200 --> 0:48:42.760 you knew you were in for an all day sucker 0:48:42.840 --> 0:48:45.640 the minute you walked out on that field, and. 0:48:45.920 --> 0:48:47.600 They just you know, there are a lot of guys 0:48:47.600 --> 0:48:49.520 that were great, but you knew they. 0:48:49.400 --> 0:48:51.359 Were going to take a vacation every now and then, 0:48:52.040 --> 0:48:55.240 and uh but they would never they never took a vacation. 0:48:55.560 --> 0:48:58.360 Don't blame it. So you had to play ever play 0:48:58.800 --> 0:49:02.960 I had to. They were, they were. They have my respect. 0:49:03.239 --> 0:49:05.759 How long I would I could see him being in 0:49:05.800 --> 0:49:08.759 the conversation Joe Clecko, I would. I wouldn't have guessed him. 0:49:08.760 --> 0:49:09.879 So that's an interesting one. 0:49:10.080 --> 0:49:16.520 Joe Clicko, to me, was as good a defensive lineman. 0:49:16.880 --> 0:49:20.000 You've got to remember, he played defensive end, he played 0:49:20.000 --> 0:49:24.200 nose tackle, and he played tackle three different total, different positions, 0:49:24.239 --> 0:49:27.319 played all three, went to the Pro Bowl in all three. 0:49:28.120 --> 0:49:32.200 Never got the credit that guy was as strong as 0:49:32.200 --> 0:49:36.600 a canyon. Nape had great leverage, never quit. He was 0:49:36.680 --> 0:49:39.640 He was a great ballplayer, great ball player. 0:49:40.320 --> 0:49:41.319 John help me. 0:49:41.960 --> 0:49:43.880 Of course, you have your gold jacket that the NFL 0:49:43.920 --> 0:49:46.600 does there one of the greatest players of all time 0:49:47.160 --> 0:49:48.120 and you're on that list. 0:49:49.239 --> 0:49:53.240 How meaningful was that for you? On that hundred players? 0:49:55.680 --> 0:49:57.080 A lot? It was? 0:49:57.200 --> 0:50:03.720 It was really good. I enjoyed it. You know, whether 0:50:03.760 --> 0:50:06.440 it was deserved or not, I don't know. Again, but 0:50:07.680 --> 0:50:11.080 to be counted in the group with the men that 0:50:11.120 --> 0:50:16.920 were there, like you know, wife Stevenson or. 0:50:18.920 --> 0:50:21.160 Artshell or all those guys. 0:50:20.880 --> 0:50:24.359 There's just there was an honor. I mean, those those were, 0:50:25.440 --> 0:50:28.680 you know, not only my adversaries, but they were my heroes. 0:50:29.480 --> 0:50:34.000 And you know, I don't know how they'd studied films now, 0:50:34.080 --> 0:50:37.320 but I always tried to watch films of offensive linemen 0:50:37.400 --> 0:50:41.239 that I respected and what they did against, you know, 0:50:41.280 --> 0:50:44.160 the guys I was playing with. And to be with 0:50:44.280 --> 0:50:50.759 those guys who I thought were so great, meant a 0:50:50.800 --> 0:50:52.920 lot to me. To be able to be with them. 0:50:53.280 --> 0:50:55.600 You mentioned not being on a team and the lots 0:50:55.600 --> 0:50:58.319 of camaraderie and not being in the locker room. You're 0:50:58.360 --> 0:51:00.600 on a team where you can't get cut from it. 0:51:01.320 --> 0:51:04.600 You're in the Pro Football Hall of Fame six years ago. 0:51:04.760 --> 0:51:07.279 I remember being with you in the Holy Land when 0:51:07.400 --> 0:51:10.640 Robert Kraft took you eighteen or so other members of 0:51:10.680 --> 0:51:13.759 the Hall of Fame. That experience of being able to 0:51:13.760 --> 0:51:17.279 see guys like Joe Green and people like that, that 0:51:17.400 --> 0:51:20.120 must have you know, again, it's a club you can't 0:51:20.160 --> 0:51:22.480 get cut from, you know, being around those people in 0:51:22.560 --> 0:51:26.279 that in that special place. John, What what was that 0:51:26.480 --> 0:51:27.080 like for you? 0:51:29.440 --> 0:51:34.920 It's better now that it was then. And a funny 0:51:34.960 --> 0:51:40.360 story about that. When I got inducted. You know, my 0:51:40.480 --> 0:51:42.719 dad had played in the NFL, so he could. At 0:51:42.719 --> 0:51:46.080 that time, your dad couldn't induct you. It was somebody 0:51:46.120 --> 0:51:48.000 had to be in the NFL affiliate. Well, my dad 0:51:48.000 --> 0:51:51.319 had played, so he could induct me. So he was 0:51:51.360 --> 0:51:54.200 giving this introduction for me, and I'm listening, and I 0:51:54.200 --> 0:51:57.680 think it's Buck Gus and Buck Buchanan behind me and 0:51:58.480 --> 0:52:00.840 my rookie year. I played against Bud and he ate 0:52:00.920 --> 0:52:05.920 my lunch. I mean ate my lunch. He was a 0:52:06.000 --> 0:52:09.880 total shipwreck. He embarrassed me so bad. So but anyway 0:52:10.440 --> 0:52:15.560 I hear him talking, he says, you're playing from that boy, 0:52:16.880 --> 0:52:20.960 Buckersa's yeah, but he was young when I played it. 0:52:22.360 --> 0:52:26.560 But buck says, yeah, me too. He sure must have 0:52:26.600 --> 0:52:35.200 got better since I played him. Anyway, that's my memory, 0:52:35.560 --> 0:52:37.360 and that's kind of the way it is, you know 0:52:37.360 --> 0:52:40.879 what I'm saying. So it's a it's a good good 0:52:41.200 --> 0:52:45.680 and the guys there, ninety percent. 0:52:45.400 --> 0:52:48.200 Of them don't have that huge ego. 0:52:48.360 --> 0:52:50.880 They're just part of a club and just brothers, and 0:52:50.960 --> 0:52:53.560 it's I always try to go back every year if 0:52:53.600 --> 0:52:58.000 I can, and I look forward to saying all those 0:52:58.040 --> 0:52:59.600 guys been with him. 0:52:59.480 --> 0:53:01.920 Well matter year I called John tell him in our 0:53:01.960 --> 0:53:04.680 induction ceremonies in Foxborough, and depending on the time of 0:53:04.719 --> 0:53:08.640 the year, he can't come because he's delivering calves. I 0:53:08.680 --> 0:53:11.440 hope you get the same adrenaline rust from delivering calves 0:53:11.719 --> 0:53:12.320 you got from. 0:53:12.160 --> 0:53:16.640 Plain and the NFL. You know when I when when 0:53:16.680 --> 0:53:18.719 you you know, if what's fun, you don't get the 0:53:18.719 --> 0:53:20.759 same rush, but. 0:53:21.080 --> 0:53:27.440 You know there's a there's a sense of accomplishment, you know, 0:53:27.480 --> 0:53:31.879 I've always being an athlete. I think there's two things 0:53:31.880 --> 0:53:35.080 a point farmer and trade. First of all, both my 0:53:35.200 --> 0:53:36.839 grandparents were people. 0:53:36.520 --> 0:53:39.719 Of the land. You know, my mom's family were dairy farmers. 0:53:40.440 --> 0:53:46.040 Uh. My dad grew up as a farmer and his 0:53:46.239 --> 0:53:49.440 business basically we built and equipped chicken houses and stuff 0:53:49.480 --> 0:53:51.880 like that. So I was ram farms all my life, 0:53:53.000 --> 0:53:55.879 and so I enjoyed. I enjoyed being out and being 0:53:55.960 --> 0:53:59.359 an athlete. I was always outside. I enjoy outside. I 0:53:59.440 --> 0:54:03.160 enjoy work, getting with my hands. I enjoy physical labor. 0:54:03.719 --> 0:54:06.000 You know, I get a headache when I use my 0:54:06.120 --> 0:54:09.439 brain see too much because it's too little to work out. 0:54:10.200 --> 0:54:13.800 So it's I enjoy working with my hands. 0:54:13.920 --> 0:54:16.560 And I and as you you know, it takes a 0:54:16.600 --> 0:54:19.560 long time, but you know, slowly and surely. I mean, 0:54:19.600 --> 0:54:21.640 like I said, you know, I got a few red 0:54:21.680 --> 0:54:24.680 cows out there, but there's only six or seven now, 0:54:24.920 --> 0:54:28.319 and there's eighty three blackings. And I raised every one 0:54:28.360 --> 0:54:32.640 of them blackings. And then I've got down here, I've 0:54:32.680 --> 0:54:37.080 got all of about seven or eight now, I registered rangus. 0:54:37.960 --> 0:54:40.759 It takes time, but it's building and I'm growing. And 0:54:41.239 --> 0:54:44.439 you know, good Lord Willing before, I mean, Moses didn't 0:54:44.440 --> 0:54:46.879 get started. Let's face it, till he is eighty, right, 0:54:47.560 --> 0:54:49.600 So the way I look at it, I got ten 0:54:49.640 --> 0:54:52.640 more years just to get started. And I'm hoping that 0:54:52.880 --> 0:54:56.120 then I'll have the farm set up and doing right. 0:54:56.200 --> 0:55:01.040 And today I missed the interview. I'm I'm hoping that 0:55:01.080 --> 0:55:06.400 they're having a hearing today on the meat packers any 0:55:06.440 --> 0:55:10.279 trust violations and fair trade and stuff, because there's four 0:55:10.320 --> 0:55:12.560 companies that basically control eighty five per cent in the 0:55:12.640 --> 0:55:17.000 market and the beef producer is making the lowest percentage 0:55:17.000 --> 0:55:19.719 of the total beef dollar. Ever, people don't understand that 0:55:20.080 --> 0:55:24.240 the beef, the guy that raises the feeder cattles getting 0:55:24.280 --> 0:55:28.040 a dollar twenty two dollars twenty three and they're getting 0:55:28.320 --> 0:55:32.200 one hundred and twenty two hundredweight, whereas the packers are 0:55:32.239 --> 0:55:36.040 getting like around three hundred one hundred weight, and they're 0:55:36.040 --> 0:55:38.200 making all the money and they control the prices, and 0:55:38.200 --> 0:55:40.839 if they don't can't get the cows, they'll just import it, 0:55:41.400 --> 0:55:43.440 you know, and people can't tell whether it's made in 0:55:43.480 --> 0:55:45.920 the USA or not because they all they've got to 0:55:45.960 --> 0:55:48.760 do is bring it in from Nambibia or from Brazil 0:55:48.880 --> 0:55:52.799 and stamp it, you know, packaged in the USA, but 0:55:52.880 --> 0:55:54.680 it's not raised in the United States. 0:55:55.120 --> 0:55:55.920 It's packaged. 0:55:56.600 --> 0:55:59.759 And we're trying to get a mandatory a country of 0:56:00.040 --> 0:56:04.279 original labeling where it's born, raised, and processed in the 0:56:04.360 --> 0:56:11.200 United States, and you know, having much more transparency because 0:56:11.200 --> 0:56:13.960 they do a lot of sweetheart formula deals with their 0:56:14.080 --> 0:56:16.799 other corporate partners, and we want to see what they're 0:56:16.800 --> 0:56:20.800 getting paid and seeing how bad they're screwings. So hopefully 0:56:21.080 --> 0:56:24.640 the Congress will do something. And it's kind of it's 0:56:24.719 --> 0:56:28.200 kind of like playing in the NFL. When I played, 0:56:28.200 --> 0:56:31.239 there ain't no free agency anymore, and we need to 0:56:31.360 --> 0:56:33.440 We need to get some free agency in the in 0:56:33.520 --> 0:56:36.400 the beef industry. And that's what I was telling you earlier. 0:56:36.680 --> 0:56:38.480 I met before y' all came down there. I met 0:56:38.480 --> 0:56:43.919 with a boy who built a processing plant and he's 0:56:43.960 --> 0:56:48.200 competing with them, and he's selling to restaurants and individuals 0:56:48.440 --> 0:56:51.759 and things like that, and he's looking for beef. And 0:56:52.160 --> 0:56:54.120 I'd love to be able to market and sell to 0:56:54.200 --> 0:56:57.080 him and direct. And you know, the more people we 0:56:57.120 --> 0:56:59.719 get out that, the more market less these people be. 0:57:01.200 --> 0:57:03.200 Tomorrow night, when you all eat that beef at I 0:57:03.400 --> 0:57:06.080 Raise versus what you've been eating in that store, chef, 0:57:07.040 --> 0:57:08.480 you're gonna slap yourself. 0:57:08.160 --> 0:57:11.200 Say, this is beef. I didn't know beef could taste 0:57:11.280 --> 0:57:14.719 like this. What's that other stuff I've been eating. It's 0:57:14.920 --> 0:57:17.920 foreign slime, that's all it is. 0:57:18.200 --> 0:57:20.040 I tell you what, if I were the meatpackers, I 0:57:20.040 --> 0:57:22.200 think I'd feel like a defensive lineman as I see 0:57:22.240 --> 0:57:25.240 a little I see some determination in John's face, and 0:57:25.240 --> 0:57:27.160 it looks like he's getting into a three point stance 0:57:27.200 --> 0:57:29.480 and he's gonna fire off the ball and knock the 0:57:29.520 --> 0:57:30.680 meat packers off the ball. 0:57:30.880 --> 0:57:33.840 I'm not I can't pay the politicians like they like 0:57:33.920 --> 0:57:37.320 the packers can, but I am upset about it. 0:57:37.360 --> 0:57:38.000 I really am. 0:57:39.640 --> 0:57:42.160 I don't mind anybody making money, but when they do 0:57:42.200 --> 0:57:43.560 it illegally, that's wrong. 0:57:44.320 --> 0:57:46.800 Our guest on Pats from the Past is John Hannah, 0:57:47.000 --> 0:57:49.200 Hall of Fame guard soon to be Hall of Fame 0:57:49.280 --> 0:57:53.680 cattle rancher. Greatly appreciate your hospitality, your time. Thanks live 0:57:53.760 --> 0:57:54.440 in Blunt County. 0:57:54.560 --> 0:57:59.760 Yeah, love Blunt Canning. Thank you for downloading this podcast. 0:58:00.040 --> 0:58:03.240 Subscribe on Apple, Google Play, and everywhere else you listen. 0:58:03.640 --> 0:58:05.760 Like the show, please rate and review us. 0:58:06.000 --> 0:58:08.560 Listener comments and ratings help keep us high on the 0:58:08.560 --> 0:58:10.200 podcast rankings so new. 0:58:10.080 --> 0:58:11.360 Listeners can find us. 0:58:11.480 --> 0:58:14.560 Be sure to check Patriots dot com for more news 0:58:14.600 --> 0:58:15.920 and more podcasts.