	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

PRO FOOTBALL HALL-OF-FAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 3, 2007

ADAM SCHEFTER: Welcome, everybody, to the press conference in which we induct seven new players into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the new class of 2007. First we're going to have some returning Hall of Fame players, some all-time greats who have played with these men, who know a lot about this weekend, who have been through these events and know what these players are in for and know what the players meant to this game.
The first person that I'd like to call to the podium is Dan Dierdorf, the class of 1996. 12 of his 13 seasons he played with Roger Wehrli. He knows what Roger is about to go through. Dan, come up to the podium, please.
DAN DIERDORF: Howdy. Anybody have any questions? If not, I'll just leave.
ADAM SCHEFTER: Can you talk about what Roger is going through leading up to the events of tomorrow night?
DAN DIERDORF: The weekend is a whirlwind. I can tell you when it's happening to you, it's just like someone always has a hold of your arm and they're saying, Okay, it's time to move on, let's go here, let's go there.
In your mind, you've tried to go through the whole process of what it's going to be like, but it's never -- it's much more overwhelming than you've tried to prepare yourself to experience.
You're in a city here in Canton, Ohio -- and I can tell you this because I grew up here -- every person in this town, the Hall of Fame is just part of their being. The lengths that they go to to make these guys feel welcome, to make their families feel welcome, to make the entire experience more memorable, I'll guarantee you one of the things that these guys talk about when they leave here is that they just can't believe the way the entire town throws their arms around them and welcomes them.
This is truly a community effort here in Canton, Ohio. When you go in the Hall of Fame, you're doing a whole lot more. There's a whole lot more to it than just standing on those steps and giving a speech.

Q. What was it like playing with Roger?
DAN DIERDORF: Roger Wehrli, I played nearly my entire -- all except one year with Roger. He retired one year before I.
Roger Wehrli, in my mind, was the epitome of a professional football player. In an era of look-at-me football, Roger wouldn't have done very well. I'm not sure Roger ever said a word to anyone on a football field. Roger didn't say a whole lot in the locker room, for that matter. He's a very quiet, very unassuming, very modest, very humble man.
Roger, though -- I think sometimes Roger suffered from being too good to the point where no one challenged him. It was too easy to find other places in our defense where you could go with a football. Roger would go entire games, and I know he must have felt like, I wish there was a way I could be involved.
You can remove a cornerback from a football game if you just flat choose to play on his side of the field. That's the way it was for Roger Wehrli I think the bulk of his career.

Q. Why did he have to wait as long as he did to go into the Hall of Fame?
DAN DIERDORF: I have an easy answer for why Roger had to wait so long. In my mind, it's because he played for a bad football team. It's a fact. I don't think anyone -- if Roger Wehrli had been drafted and played for Miami or Dallas or the Raiders or one of the NFL's elite franchises that spend a lot of time playing in the post-season, Roger would have been in the Hall of Fame 12, 13, 14 years ago. I don't think there's any question about it.
There's a bias sometimes that if you happen to play for one of the high-profile franchises you must have been a better football player. I've got news for people. I'll tell you when it's hard to be a good football player: the first week of December when you go to practice, it's 35 degrees outside, you've been out of the playoffs since Thanksgiving, and you've got to go and work and get ready for a big game and you have absolutely nothing to play for. That's when it's hard to play the game at an all-pro level.
It's not hard to play the game at an all-pro level when your team is 10-2, you're in the last two, three, four weeks of a season as you're gearing to get ready for the playoffs. I can't imagine how much fun that must be to bounce out of bed, go down to the stadium and live and work every day in that environment.
When the Roger Wehrlis of the world play the game at a Hall of Fame level, when they're getting lit up for 30, 35 points every weekend, you're not going anywhere, those are the guys that I have a lot of respect for.
Was that the answer to your question?
ADAM SCHEFTER: Are you telling me that Thurman Thomas and Michael Irvin had it easy?
DAN DIERDORF: I'm telling you that they had it easier. I guarantee you they had it easier. I think that some people think - not everybody - I give the Hall of Fame board of selectors credit. They have really come a long way. But there once was a time, if you go back and look at some of the classes, there was a whole string of classes, if you didn't play in a Super Bowl you weren't going to get elected to the Hall of Fame.

Q. What was Roger's greatest strength?
DAN DIERDORF: I think what Roger Wehrli had, he was remarkably fast. Roger Wehrli had great speed. Every year at the beginning of the training camp - I'll tell you one quick story- we had to run the 40-yard dash. We would always run them in pairs.
Of course, the slow linemen would always pair up with one another, away we'd go. We always saved the very end, the last twosome was always Roger Wehrli running with the fastest player in the NFL at the time, Mel Gray. Roger and Mel would be the featured pairing in our 40-yard dash. Mel would always beat Roger Wehrli, but it would be by a sprinter's lean. He would beat him in the 40 by maybe two feet.
When you were talking about the '70s, you couldn't talk about the fastest players in the league, two or three fastest, without talking about Mel Gray. I'm telling you, Roger Wehrli could run stride for stride with any of those guys. Cliff Branch, Mel Gray, you name it, Roger was right in their league speed-wise.
Thank you.
ADAM SCHEFTER: Thank you, Dan.
Our next speaker played eleven seasons in the NFL, nine of which were with this year's Hall of Fame selection Thurman Thomas. From the class of 2002, quarterback Jim Kelly.
JIM KELLY: Questions.

Q. Jim, what was it like playing with Thurman Thomas for nine seasons?
JIM KELLY: At the beginning, probably as a lot of people know, it was a little shaky because not just from Thurman's standpoint, but a lot of the Buffalo Bills' players. We all had our own egos. We all wanted to win just as bad as the other.
I think on that team where you had guys like Bruce Smith, myself, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Cornelius Bennett, we had a lot of guys that wanted to be the best. We all were pushing to be the main man, the guy that was the reason why you won.
I can honestly say the guy that really pulled us all together and pulled Thurman and myself together was our head coach, Marv Levy. He was probably one of the main reasons we were as successful as we were.
For Thurman Thomas, it was awesome, because from the first day he went in I saw from footage the style of runningback he was, but I never realized how great of a pass catcher he would turn out to be.
I look back and I look at a lot of these great runningbacks in the history of the NFL, I can honestly put him up there with guys like Walter Payton, guys that could come out of the backfield and catch the ball. You look at some runningbacks, like Barry Sanders, probably one of the greatest pure runners I've ever seen. But as far as having everything, Thurman could come out of the backfield. Not many linebackers that could cover him on one-on-one.
More than anything, the reason I look at Thurman Thomas is something not many people could see unless you played with him, and that was the way he went about the game, his mental approach. He never made any mental mistakes, if he ever made any. For a quarterback that's not a running quarterback, you rely a lot on your offensive line. You rely a lot on your blitz pickup.
One thing I can honestly say, is when No. 34 was in my backfield I never had to worry about missed assignments, because Thurman not only picked his own assignments up, but he picked up a few guys that probably could have put their helmet right in the back of my numbers. He was always there each and every week. His mental approach was unmatched.

Q. I think you've been back every year since you've been enshrined with the exception of one. Does this ever get old to you? What do you enjoy most about coming here for the weekend and maybe sharing some stories that aren't quite true with all the guys?
JIM KELLY: There's one I missed because of my son Hunter who, God bless him, as a matter of fact, two years ago tomorrow my son passed away. I even told Joe, a few of the other guys, Dave, that they're going to have to tell me to stay away in order for me not to attend this weekend.
This was something, as a young kid, I grew up in the Pittsburgh area. I was one of those guys that used to drop back and throw passes to John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, hand the football off to Franco Harris when I was a little boy. I dreamt about the National Football League. I dreamt about playing in the NFL.
I never dreamt about the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was something that was way beyond my belief, way beyond my thoughts of ever attaining a goal like that. I never really thought about it.
All of a sudden your career goes on, you start putting up the numbers, you start winning on a consistent basis. Then the story, you hear other people talk about it, but never really knowing where you'll be.
When it really hit me was the night, and Coach Madden said it today at the luncheon, and I've stressed with to Thurman Thomas probably within the last couple months, when you really know you're in the Hall of Fame is when you get up on the stage on the enshrinee's dinner tonight and you receive your Hall of Fame jacket. That's when you realize you've finally made it. The chills that just went through my body right now, reminiscent of that time, my life back in 2002. Really knowing you made it is when you have that jacket on.
But more for me is list when I went into the Ray Nitschke luncheon. You walk in, look around the room, you see Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese, Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones, just to name a few, the Bullet Dudley. There's so many names, so many people you look around the room and you're in awe. You're humbled by that because, yeah, you might have been the star on your football team, had a pretty good career when you played, but these were the guys that were way before your time, the guys you looked up to, the guys you thought about as stars, real stars, almost like a movie star, almost like a John Wayne. These are the guys you look at. You're sitting there and you say, Wow, I'm one of them now. It's a very humbling experience.

Q. Deacon Jones doesn't say anything motivational in that luncheon?
JIM KELLY: As a matter of fact, Deacon -- I can just see this Ray Nitschke luncheon being the Nitschke Jones luncheon a few years from now because he adds excitement to it. Deacon is Deacon. He said to me right before this luncheon, he said, When is Bruce up, Bruce Smith? He said, '08 or '09? I said, I don't know, either '08 or '09. Why do you ask? He just smiled.
That's right, when he comes here, you're going to be the second greatest defensive lineman in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I can't really tell you exactly what his response was 'cause there's a lot of kids out there watching right now (smiling).
But we had fun. One of the things that made me feel pretty good, because everyone admires Deacon Jones. I think everybody realizes Deacon Jones doesn't like very many quarterbacks. He said to me, Jim, I don't like quarterbacks. You're the first one I really like. Made me feel pretty good.
Again, this is an exciting weekend for all of us.

Q. Could you describe the leadership that Thurman Thomas had in the locker room.
JIM KELLY: Thurman's leadership was more on the field, on the sidelines. We had our vocal leaders, when things weren't going quite the way you'd want them to or you need that little spark, we had really four leaders on our team: It was myself, Ken Hull, Steve Tasker and Darryl Talley.
Our vocal leaders on the field, and really they showed is once they played, was Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith. When it was game time, those two knew what to say and when to say it. At times they did speak up in the locker room and air out what their problem was or what they needed to say.
But Thurman led by example on the football field. No matter when you're in the football game, you give a hundred percent. There's guys that do take a few plays off here and there. Thurman Thomas wasn't one of them guys. When he needed a break, he'd let you know. He'd come off the field, give Kenny Davis a chance to come in.
I can honestly say that No. 34 is one of the main reasons we went to four consecutive Super Bowls, win or lose. I think the more we're removed from those games, I think really the people appreciate what we were able to accomplish. We would have loved to have won one of those games, but you win together as a team, you lose together as a team. I know that's an old cliché.
The thing is, we realize that more than anybody. In order to get back, you have to stay focused, play together as a team. We were one big happy team. We are still a very close family.
Thank you.
ADAM SCHEFTER: Our next speaker here today was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year. Upon being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he found out that there were economically disadvantaged youth that, due to the transportation costs, could not come to the Pro Football Hall of Fame the way they would like.
What our next guest did was, he set up the John Madden Hall of Fame Education Foundation to get more people to the Hall of Fame to provide the transportation costs that they needed. Since he introduced that program, more than 60 schools and youth programs have sent more than 5,000 youth to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the past year. You can only imagine how many might come in the years to come. With that we call to the podium our next speaker, John Madden.
JOHN MADDEN: I think the Hall of Fame is such a great thing. You walk in there and it just has to grab you, just has to catch you, and it did me.
I saw a friend of mine brought his son last year. I saw the effect it had on him. Went back, changed his life, became a football player. I said, you know, there's something to that. I was asking about kids, how many kids come. They say, Well, they can let them in, but the problem is getting them here. So I said, you know, I'll take care of that.
I funded it this year. I'm going to fund it next year again. It will be a continuing program. I'll commit to fund it the rest of my life because, you know, we just had the Nitschke luncheon the guys were talking about. You see all the old players there. That's our history, our tradition. That's life. That's what football is.
If it weren't for those guys, those people that are in the Hall of Fame, none of us would be here today, our game wouldn't be what it is today. We have the greatest game in the world.
Kids know video games. They know Peyton Manning throwing to Marvin. They know that. But they don't know, you know, how it started, where it started, how these guys played for no money, you know. Just the passion and love they had of the game.
I was just thinking as many kids as can see this and be here and go through it ought to. Just because they can't afford transportation to get to the Hall of Fame, there's no reason ever for them not to come to the Hall of Fame. I just want young people, everyone, to know history and appreciate history and the passion for the game. That's just one little way to help out.

Q. How did being in the Hall of Fame change your life?
JOHN MADDEN: Well, you know, the thing is, like I said last year, when you get in the Hall of Fame you're in a very select group, and you're in there forever and ever. I mean, it's a club that you're on that they can't fire you, they can't cut you, they can't salary cap you, they can't -- too old, you can't play anymore. You're in it forever and ever and ever.
That's when I came up with the idea last year -- and I still believe this -- I was talking to some of the Hall of Famers that are believing it now, that when the lights go out, the last person leaves the Hall of Fame at night, the busts talk to each other. I am going to believe that forever and ever. Until someone can prove to me that they don't, I believe it.
I'll tell you, more and more Hall of Famers are believing it. Just to know you're in this group, the group that I've appreciated so much and am so grateful to and thankful to, some of them I was a fan of when I was a kid, I grew up, I watched them, some of them I coached, some of them I coached against, and to be part of that group, there's no experience like it.
I said today at the luncheon that last year when I was here, this weekend was the greatest weekend of my life. It's something that made my family, the people we brought, will never forget it. That's what I told the class today. If this is going to be the best time of your life, doggone it, act like it. Enjoy it.

Q. What stands out about that weekend to you?
JOHN MADDEN: You know, everything. I think sometimes, I think Jim Kelly was just saying, Dan Dierdorf, sometimes you think it's just standing up there and giving your speech at the induction. It's so much bigger than that. It's so much more than that.
Like Thursday night, last night, they have a dinner reception for everyone. You see all the people. You just get that feeling. You're all together. The dinner lasts for four hours. We have a meeting this morning. We go to the Nitschke luncheon where people get to talk, tell their story. That's great. That's just Hall of Famers and presenters.
I told them that one of the things that is really underrated was the dinner tonight, the ceremony, the jacket. I mean, I was emotional a lot of the time. I'm still emotional about it. But when I went up there and got that jacket, I threw my other jacket off, I'm putting the jacket on, I have my two sons there. It doesn't get any better than that, it really doesn't.
You know, you have the jacket, you're up there, and that was big, and then you go to the induction, of course. You have your presenter. Al Davis was my presenter, who has meant a lot to me in my life. My whole family was there, grandkids. That's the advantage when you go in a little older, you get not only your family, but you get some more family. That was fun.
The class I went in with, you know, Warren Moon, Troy Aikman, great guys, Reggie White, who I had all the respect in the world for, Rayfield Wright, Harry Carson. They were all good guys. I mean, they were part of what made it so special last year.

Q. Could you speak to your thoughts on Michael Irvin, from the receivers you coached, games you called, how does he compare?
JOHN MADDEN: I love Michael Irvin as a player because he played offense or wide receiver like a linebacker. He was tough. I mean, Michael Irvin was card-carrying tough. There aren't a lot of 'em, you know. There's not a lot of wide receivers, you can say, Geez, they have good moves, make nice catches, get out of bounds, get both feet in, they do all those things. But Michael Irvin would downright go after you. He was a leader.
Some of the things you hear about Michael, play-maker, the way he dresses, so on, but he was a hard worker, he was a leader, and he was a dedicated guy. I'd watch him practice. He would practice harder than anyone. He would get on players like he was a coach. I mean, Michael Irvin was the real deal.
Thank you.
ADAM SCHEFTER: Our next speaker played 10 seasons in Houston behind Mike Munchak, a Hall of Fame guard, and another Hall of Famer, Bruce Matthews, who will go into the Hall of Fame tomorrow night. From the class of 2006, former Houston Oilers quarterback, Warren Moon.
WARREN MOON: Basically I'm here at this press conference today, not here in Canton, but at the press conference today, because of my teammate, Bruce Matthews. I had a chance to play with him and Mike Munchak, as Adam talked about, for 10 years. Having those two guys in front of me for that long, in the type of offense that I was involved in for most of my career there, really gave me a good comfort zone to have two guys like that, of that caliber, guys that were very smart, guys that were very talented physically and also mentally, they were just very smart guys.
They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew how to get you in the right blocking protections if something was to break down or if the defense was going to show a different look. You always knew those guys were going to take care of their responsibilities, and make sure everyone else took care of their responsibilities on the line.
For me as a quarterback, that was a comfort zone I had. I didn't have to worry about the offensive line. I knew they were taken care of. All I had to worry about was the defensive secondary, my receivers. They made my job a lot easier for the 10 years I was in Houston. That's the reason I had so much production during that time and also probably one of the reasons why I'm standing up here today with this yellow jacket on, because I had guys of that caliber blocking for me when I was in Houston, Texas.
You know, Bruce Matthews I think, I might be a little prejudiced, is probably the most versatile offensive lineman, most talented offensive lineman, that played the game. There are guys that can their position very well. Anthony Munoz might be one of the greatest left tackles that ever played the game. But Bruce could play every position on that line, whether it was right tackle, left tackle, whether the footwork was totally different, he could snap the football as a center, he could play either guard, he did all of that at an all-pro level, and made the Pro Bowl at two of those positions. Could have made it in any one of those positions they put him at. To do it at that level for 19 years the way he did it, a physical position like he played it, it's tremendous to me.
I played the games for 23 years, but I played quarterback where I wasn't getting hit every day in practice. I got hit in games when things broke down. But think about 19 years of colliding with helmets day in and day out is what Bruce Matthews did. But for some reason, he was able to stay healthy. He played the game at as high a level as I've ever seen for that long a period of time.
He is one guy that definitely deserves to be in this yellow jacket, and he definitely deserves to be in it in his first year of eligibility.

Q. Did you know right away that Bruce Matthews was a Hall of Fame-type talent?
WARREN MOON: I came in his second year. I came in in '84. He was there in '83. I had watched him play at USC when he was a young offensive lineman in college. You could tell by his footwork. He had great feet. For a man his size, well over 300 pounds, stocky build, but he had great feet and great foot quickness, great balance, great agility. I hardly ever saw him get knocked off of his feet when he played the game.
When you have a guy with that type of athleticism to go along with his smarts, the way he worked, you just knew there was a chance for him to be one of the great ones.

Q. His brother played 19 years; he played 19 years. Why do you think they were able to last as long as they were?
WARREN MOON: You know, some guys just come I think from great gene pools. I think these two guys did. They definitely had a lot to do with it themselves as far as their work ethic, the way they took care of their bodies.
But I really think because they had just this great natural ability with the God gifts of their foot quickness, the balance, the things I talked about, enabled them to stay away from a lot of different situations where some guys might have a leg planted, all of a sudden that knee gets blown out, whatever, an ankle, they always seemed to be on their toes, they always had active feet.
I think one of the reasons why you see a lot of guys go throughout their careers without major injuries is because of foot quickness. These guys definitely had it. They were just very fortunate to last as long as they did. They had a big passion for the game, as well. They really loved the game. They were fans of the game. They worked hard at it.
I think all those things combined enabled them both to play that long.

Q. Tonight when you see Bruce receive his jacket, what will be going through your mind?
WARREN MOON: I think what went through my mind last year. I told Bruce today, I said, You know, you think the induction ceremony on Saturday is going to be emotional for you, wait till Friday night. That's where, like John talked about up here, that's where it really hit me that I was a Hall of Famer because when you receive this jacket, there's only 241 of these jackets, and I'm somewhere in number 234, 33, something like that. That's when you know you're special because there's not a lot of guys walking around with these on. Maybe a lot of guys don't want to walk around with one of these on (laughter).
For the meaning behind these jackets, there would be guys that would kill for one of these. That's just how special they are. When he gets it tonight, I think he'll feel those same emotions that I felt, that everything that he went through in his career from the time he started playing the game as a young kid up through his whole professional football career will all come to the front.
And, as Munchak puts that jacket on his back, I think those emotions will come to the front. Bruce isn't a very emotional guy, so I'll be interested to see how he reacts.

Q. You just said Munchak. Did you ever confuse them?
WARREN MOON: No, I didn't do that. Those guys were -- they were carbon -- if there was such a thing as bookends as guards, those guys were bookends. They great players. You always knew on one side or the other side you were taken care of in the middle of the line with those guys playing the game.
Thank you.
ADAM SCHEFTER: Our next speaker played wide receiver and halfback for the Washington Redskins from 1962 to 1968. But before that, he played four seasons with this year's Hall of Fame inductee Gene Hickerson. From the class of 1983, a man who makes it back to Canton virtually every summer, all but once since he was inducted in 1983, Bobby Mitchell.
BOBBY MITCHELL: Thank you very much.
This is a pleasure for me to be here, and I have been here most years since my induction in 1983. And I've had, during those years some great moments, some great players going in, personal friends going into the Hall.
But this is an especially proud year for me, too, because I started in this league with Gene Hickerson. Gene was my guard at the Cleveland Browns. For those people who were old enough to be around when I was playing at that time, you knew I was a scared player, so I needed all the big guys I could get (smiling).
But Gene was an exceptional lineman because, for his size he had exceptional speed. I don't know of any running back that don't want speed out in front of him. It's refreshing to know that you can pretty well run wherever you want to, and the guy who is there to protect you can get to the point of attack and give you some help.
I was very fortunate, Jim Brown and I, to have Gene as one of our linemen.
It's very interesting, I thought Gene was from Mississippi, listening to him talk. I didn't know he was born in Tennessee, until many years later, of course. So most of the time I couldn't understand him (laughter). Sometimes I wondered if he knew what I was telling him on certain plays. I said, Gene, if you just go a little further over on Trick 49, we could do boom, boom, boom. He'd come back with that drawl. I'd say, I wonder if he knew what I was talking about (laughter).
But when I got there, he was there. So we learned to communicate. He did just a fantastic job for all those years.
I, along with many other Brownies, certainly has been upset through the years that he did not get in sooner. But, as you know, everybody who comes out to the Hall has someone that they think should be in the Hall, and why aren't they already there? I got three or four names in my head.

Q. Like?
BOBBY MITCHELL: Well, my buddy Art Monk, doesn't seem to be get in. Just a fantastic receiver, just a great Redskin. I have an old runner with the Redskins, can't seem to get him into the Hall or discussion. His name ways Larry Brown, who during his years, he was the Washington Redskins as a running back and just been fantastic. I always wanted to see him come into the Hall.
Then another good buddy who started out with the Cardinals and was with us when Roger Wehrli, who is going in this year, came to the Cardinals, and I thought he was the greatest small man to ever play in the secondary. His name is Pat Fisher. We have not been able to get any movement on those individuals from the Redskins' side. That's been kind of disturbing to me.
But there are so many other guys who are personal friends who want to be in, and I see them. I feel for them. As soon as you call out a name, right away two other names pop up that you feel should be in it.

Q. For those of us who are a little bit younger, can you tell us what kind of person Gene Hickerson was in the time you got to play with him? We won't get a chance to see his personality this weekend. Tell us about what kind of person Gene was.
BOBBY MITCHELL: Well, you know, when you meet a young guy, we both were rookies, I think that he was probably wondering if I -- wondering if Bobby Mitchell can make this football team, because Paul Brown had about 15 running backs out there trying out for the Browns.
He only going to keep about four of us. I shouldn't say four because Jim Brown is in. The rest of us are fighting for three spots (laughter). You wonder what's going to happen.
Gene was walking around like no big deal, and yet he didn't know if he was going to be on the team either. But he had this air about him that if I play, I'm going to play. You like that in a guy. I wish I could have been like that, because I was nervous every day.
I would outrun everybody on the team and I was still nervous. I'd score a 70-yard touchdown and I was still nervous. If I took a punt for 60 yards and I was still nervous. I never got relaxed like Gene was.
I think that's a background in the whole thing that he probably picked up as a player at the University of Mississippi. He came along with some great players down there. He picked up that air. I came from the University of Illinois, and we were lucky to win four games, so I hadn't build up that type of feeling.
But Gene was like that on and off the field, of course. Off the field he took life very relaxed. No matter what went down, it was no big deal. I know a lot of us would like to be like that. We spend a lot of time trying to relax, say, No big deal, we can do this, do that.
Paul had a tendency, proud to a game, he'd come to me and tell me to take the kickoff and take it all the way and get us going. If it was a punt return, take it all the way and get us going. I learned how to go all the way with punts and kickoffs. It's a crazy thing.
You get down the field, you might be heading for a touchdown, and you look over and you see 66 running almost beside you, and that's Gene Hickerson. You don't expect to see a lineman that far down field doing those things. Usually you leave them behind 20 yards back, but Gene had that kind of speed and quickness.
If you were out walking around, walking the streets and you saw Gene, he was loping along like he knew everything about Cleveland, Ohio, yet he didn't know anything. The only thing he knew was Tennessee (laughter).
But that was the kind of personality he had. He was so relaxed. And that, too, I think is why you can put in a lot of years. He played a lot of years. Normally when you see ball players who play a long time, just watch the personality of that guy. I'll guarantee you, it's the most relaxed personality you ever want to see on a person. I think it has a lot to do with helping a guy to go longer, play longer, take all the pressures that this game bring up to you.
I play 11 years, and I wonder how I did that because I was always tensed up. Usually when you're tensed up like that you get hurt, you can't hold up. I was very fortunate I never got hurt my 11 years, but I often say that's because I stayed out of the way of everybody.
I remember one play, we were playing the Eagles. I had been riding Gene because no one seemed to be blocking Bednarik. Well, Bednarik, nobody could block him. But I just felt that some of you guys need to be blocking this guy. I kept running and trying to find a way to get a way.
I ran a play, a delayed play up the middle, and when I got up into the hole real good, Bednarik was waiting on me. I backed back out of the hole and went another way. Paul Brown met me coming off the field and asked me, What the heck are you doing? I said, Bednarik was in there. That's been a joke for years that I didn't complete that.
But it spoke to what I really was saying, Where is my guards? Where is my guards, coach? And I know Gene took that personally, because he went up in those holes and cleaned out people. I just pranced through the hole and said, See, I'm good at that.
But those are some of the things. You live with the kind of ball players you have on the team and they all have certain personalities that makes a difference in how well they play. You learn those personalities. If you want to be a great football player, you better know your linemans. I always knew that Gene was going to be where he supposed to be so you don't hesitate and you can make the yardage and possibly a touchdown, but it's the personality of the guy that you got playing in front of you.
Gene had the type of personality that made me proud to be playing with him, and I'm so proud today knowing that he'll be enshrined tomorrow. I know his family is.
We can't wait for it to end because we've been concerned about it for some time. Hopefully everybody after tomorrow will be proud of the fact that a good guy, a great player, got the opportunity to be where he's supposed to be, one of us, in this funny-looking jacket that we're so proud of.

Q. He's known for his sense of humor. People said they couldn't tell when he was joking, when he was serious. What do you think he would have to say on an occasion like this?
BOBBY MITCHELL: I've said one thing. If Gene was up here speaking to you, what he would say to you first, you wouldn't be expecting it, that's for sure. He always had a line that was so different from what you expected.
I don't know where it all came from, but he always seemed to want to keep you offset. If you expected him to say, Good morning, how you doing? More than likely he would say, Where you been the last three or four weeks? I've been here with you. It would be just something you didn't expect. That's the way he would start out each time.
Thank you all very much.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297