Kansas City Profiles Presented by Easton Roofing-Talent and Toughness, Small Town to Big Time-Steve Grogan Revisited

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Welcome to the Danny Clinkscale Reasonably irreverent podcast, insightful and
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witty commentary, probing interviews and detours from the beaten path.
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Welcome to Kansas City Profiles presented by Eastern Roofing. Obviously,
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the Super Bowl is this Sunday, and we get today
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to tell the story of somebody who played in the
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Super Bowl about thirty five years ago. As a matter
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of fact, it wasn't the most fantastic experience from a
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win and lost standpoint, but Steve Grogan did indeed play
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in a Super Bowl throw a touchdown pass throw for
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one hundred and seventy yards. Now, granted it came in
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a forty six to ten loss to the iconic Chicago
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Bears in their defense, but still he got to do that,
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and it was a big part, not necessarily the culmination,
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but a big part of the path that took him
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from Ottawa, Kansas to Kansas State, where he played and
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played well as a college quarterback, well enough to be
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drafted in the fifth round. Of course, Kansas State at
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that time didn't win all that many games, but they
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won a few of the experience, and onto a sixteen
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year career, maybe one that he even considers a bit
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unlikely with the New England Patriots starting a whole lot
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of games regular starter for five years and then started
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at least a handful of games in every single season
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that he played in the National Football League. A tough
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guy who overcame injury after injury after injury, although he
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kind of shrugs them off to play his career and
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actually didn't even want to give up after those sixteen years.
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He's a humble guy, sort of befits his small town
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Kansas roots. And it's a fascinating story to tell, and
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he tells it well and it comes your way. Next
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on Kansas City Profiles presented by Easton Roofing, as we
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talked to Steve Grogan.
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More of Danny's Reasonably Irreverend podcast after this.
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We're here with doctor Brad Woodell from Advanced Sports and
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Family Chiropractic and Acupuncture. Staying active and being active is
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part of a healthy lifestyle and something to make you happy,
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but also maintaining the level of fitness so that you
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can do it is important.
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We all want to perform better, whether we're ten moving
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on to our next level of sports or whether we're
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fifty wanting to maintain those sports. Staying in motion is
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the key, but that motion isn't just the only part.
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If our motion isn't balanced with our muscles, with our
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joints and communicating through the nervous system, we are not
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staying well. And that's where chiropractic can change your life.
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And you have all kinds of things here at the
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clinics to do that.
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Lots of different touches and techniques, So if you're used
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to traditional chiropractic, you are going to be amazed at
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all the many different touches, techniques, therapies and state of
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the art equipment that helps you perform.
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Better, advanced sports and family Chiropractic and acupuncture. Eight locations
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all around the Kansas City area, so there's one near
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and do all that at the eight locations of ASFCA.
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This is Danny for my friends at Active Life Physical
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Therapy where you can reclaim your active life or like me,
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enhance it. I have been seeing doctors Troy and Jaden
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for a couple of months now as I was looking
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to improve my posture and the flexibility in my surgically
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repaired knee, and it has worked. They are friendly and professional,
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but will also really challenge you at their brand new
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away from your scheduled sessions. If you are rehabbing after surgery,
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feeling pain and joints or muscles, or want to fine
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tune like me, Troy and Jaden are the ones to
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That's ALPTC dot com for Active Life Physical Therapy and
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get the same quality service that I enjoy active life
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physical therapy. If you'd like to join these and other
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fine sponsors and market your business to Kansas City's number
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one variety podcast, contact us at Danny at Danny clinkscale
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dot com. Look forward to working with you. Steve. You
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grew up in Ottawa, Kansas and I know from doing
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some research you considered that's kind of a nice place
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for a boy to grow up.
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Yeah, I was looking back on it. It was a great,
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great place to grow up. We we had a lot
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of good times. I had a lot of good friends there.
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We had some great athletes along the way that I
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got to play with, and you know, we could walk
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about a mile outside of town and shoot our b beguns.
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I lived about two blocks from Ottawa University, and so
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I could go up there and run on the track
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or throw balls on the field, or going to the
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gym and shoot baskets. It was just a great place
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to be.
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What was family home life like. Did you have siblings
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and what were your parents like and your relationship with them.
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I had one brother. I have one brother, Scott, who
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now lives in Omaha, Nebraska. Dad came back to Autowa
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University after he got out of the service finished his degree,
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punted for the football team, and then bought a service
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station in Ottawa, and I initially started working there dusting
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shelves and cleaning the toilets. So it was kind of
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a life learning lesson doing that. And then as I
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got a little older, probably when I was about ten
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or twelve, he went back to school and got his
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teaching degree and kind of a job teaching and coaching
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in the junior high school there in Ottawa. And then
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they moved himTo the high school and a friend of
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his that he had played college ball with got the
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Auto University head coaching job and asked Dad to coach
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with him, and he coached with him and a number
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of other coaches for probably I'm guessing thirty years at
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Ottawa University, just football. And so I was always around
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sports growing up, and mom was athletic. Stayed at home
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until my brother and I got in high school, and
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then she went to work at a town country store
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run in the clothing department. You know, we never had
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a lot, but we never had too little. It was
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just a great family life.
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What was your relationship like with your dad? Did he
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coach you ever? And how did that aspect of it go.
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He coached me in football and basketball. What would that
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have been my freshman year? So middle it was junior
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high school seven to nine, and he coached me in
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the ninth grade basketball. He was a head basketball coach,
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and it was nice playing for him. I mean, he
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didn't play favorites. He knew I had some ability, but
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he kept my ego in check whenever it looked like
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I might be getting out of check. So, you know,
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he also ran a couple of years he ran the
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baseball program for the auto recreation departments. So I got
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the umpire and keep scoring and be at the ballpark
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every night for long hours. And it was just to me.
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I loved so many sports that there's anything I could
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do from being a bat boy and a youngster for
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the Church League softball team to help him bab out
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get the fields ready to play during the baseball season.
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So it was a perfect life for me.
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When did you realize that you had some ability?
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I guess maybe as a senior in high school, I
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kind of started getting some calls and letters from different
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schools interested in having me come there to play football.
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Basically in you know, I never really thought I was
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that good. But I had an uncle that had played
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a year at Case State and then transferred back to
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Odd University. And I had always planned on going out
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of university and playing three sports and being close to home.
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And he said to me one day, he said, you know, Steve,
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you can always be the big fish in the little pond,
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but sometimes you can be the big fish in a
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big pond. You might want to try it for a while.
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So I thought, well, I'll go to Kansas State, see
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what goes on in the first semester, and I can
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always transfer back and do what I had always planned
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on doing. And the first semester went well, and then
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the second semester went well, and then the next year
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it went pretty good. So I wound up to staying
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at k State for four years.
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Let's go back to the end of your high school days,
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you guys and your group of friends, and you said
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there was some talent there, and there certainly was. You
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won state titles in a couple of sports, and it
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came close in football. So it was a nice core
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group of some pretty talented individuals.
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Then, well, it really was. Most of us had started
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playing together in the seventh grade and and there were
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five or six of us that just loved sports and
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loved to be around each other and loved playing games.
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And as we grew and got older and started competing together,
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we just had a lot of fun and a lot
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of success. And again, it was just I was in
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the perfect place at the perfect time for all that
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to happen.
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Did you I talked to so many people who end
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up as professionals in one sport, and they oftentimes say
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that their favorite sport wasn't the one that they were
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the best at. It was football first choice. Or did
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you like basketball?
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No?
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I really loved football, but basketball was my favorite sport
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basically because I could play it by myself anytime I
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had a goal.
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But I.
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Was too small to play inside at a bigger college
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and probably not quick enough to play outside, and football
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just seemed to be the way I trended for the
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abilities that I had. That's where I wound up.
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You mentioned the transition to college, and obviously it went
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well and you didn't decide to go back to Ottawa.
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What was it about the initial stages of getting involved
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in freshman football and things like that that made you
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know that you belonged?
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Well, we had a scrimmage against the varsity my freshman year.
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Her mom and dad came up and I started the
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freshman teams as the quarterback and I got the heck
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knocked out of me all night. It was a brutal beating,
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and I remember being in the car afterwards telling Mom
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and Dad, I'm ready to go home. I don't think
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I can play at this level, and Dad said, no,
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You're going to stick it out, see how it goes.
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And so I you know, I won the starting job
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on the freshman team. We played four games, and then
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in the spring I had a good spring coach, Vince
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Gibson was He told me at one point that he
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was about to switch me to free safety. If that
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had happened, I would have gone back to Ottawa, but
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it didn't. I started improving as in the spring of
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my freshman year and then won the backup job to
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a kid named Dennis Morrison who started as a junior
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and a senior. So everything kind of fell into place
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and I got my two years as a starter, and
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the rest is I'm still trying to figure out how
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I got to the next level.
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You're the program obviously didn't have much success in those days.
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But you guys weren't horrendous, and I mean you won
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a few games. What was the college experience like for you?
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It was really a great experience. You know, as you said,
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we didn't win a lot of games. I tell people
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that whenever we played Oklahoma or Nebraska, if we held
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them under sixty points that could score fourteen, that was
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a win for us. And you know, we weren't competitive
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with some other schools. We just couldn't seem to get
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over the hump. But I loved every minute to be
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in a state. The people that are wonderful were wonderful,
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and I had a great experience going to school there
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and playing football there, and I wouldn't change that either
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for anything.
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Describe what it was like on campus in or the
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early seventies at a place like Kansas State.
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Well, you know, there wasn't a lot to do in Manhattan,
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Kansas besides hanging out in Naggieville, which I did not do,
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but I had I had made some friends that I'd
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love to play basketball, and I was a physited major,
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so we could get in the gym there a lot,
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and we always had a basketball game going on, playing
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inner mural basketball. Running inner mural track during the off
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seasons from football, and I just met a lot of
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great people along the way. You know, looking back on it,
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I maybe I could have gone someplace that would have
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been more successful as a program, but I probably wouldn't
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have been able to make it there because I wouldn't
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have been nearly as comfortable as I was at Kansas State.
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You obviously you did run a sort of a pro
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style of offense, but obviously you were a very adept runner,
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and that certainly was a big part of your game.
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It was a big part of my game. We you know,
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they had Lynn Dickey there who threw the ball all
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over the field just before I got there as a freshman.
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He had graduated, and they threw the ball out with
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Dennis Morrison. And then when I came along, we kept
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the pro style passing game, but we went to a
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vere option type of offense. And we had a running
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back named Isaac Jackson and another name DoD Calfuny, who
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I wounded up playing with with the Patriots. But so
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we were running that option a lot against teams that
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have a lot better ability than we did, and that
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that leads to a quarterback getting pounded pretty good just
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before you pitch the ball or just after you pitch
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the ball.
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You had a neck injury during the course of your
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senior year, and that created some, you know, doubt as
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to what your professional future might hold. I guess in
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doing research you there was some thought that maybe you
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could be a very high draft choice or not get
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drafted at all. And it's kind of ended up in
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the middle.
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Exactly. You know. I developed a pension over in my
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neck my senior year from getting so many hits. I guess,
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I don't know, but it knocked me out of a
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couple of games. It would feel better during the week,
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and I'd play the next week. You know, I just
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kind of played through it, and then after the even
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was over. You know, I had never really thought about
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playing professional football. I mean, everybody dreams a little bit,
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but I never thought that that I was going to
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reach that level. And the scout started coming around and
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talking to me, interviewing me and doing things, and I thought, well,
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maybe maybe there is something to this. And then the
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Patriots called me and they took Fairbanks course, it coached
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at Oklahoma and knew Vince gets him pretty well, and
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they talked to Vince about me, and they brought me.
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They called me and wondered if i'd come back and
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let him examine my neck to see what the problem
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was before the draft. And so I went back there
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had mess visit with coach Fairbanks. They sent me into
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Boston to a a neurologist or somebody a doctor, and
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after he ran all his tests and did all his
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interviews with me, he told me that he thought that
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this could be a problem that would continue if I
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continued playing football. And so I went back to meet
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with Coach Fairbanks. He asked me how it went. I
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told him it went great. The doctor sounded positive, you
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know I was. I figured the doctor give him the
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bad news, and he thanked me for coming put me
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back on a plane. And then the Dallas Cowboys called
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me and they wanted they heard the Patriots had done
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the Saint done that to me, and they wanted me
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to come down. And I didn't want the word spreading
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that my neck was as bad as this doctor had
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told me it was. So I told him I was
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trying to finish my degree and I had some big
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tests coming up and it just wasn't time before the draft.
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And then on draft day, about five point thirty in
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the afternoon in Manhattan. I got to call coach Fairbanks,
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but they had drafted me. So I don't know whether
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the doctor told me the wrong thing so that I
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wouldn't go looking at other teams, or whether whether Coach
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Fairbanks just thought enough of my ability that he decided
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to take a chance. And it worked out.
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Pretty good, certainly did. But when you got to go
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to the Patriots, it was a pretty daunting situation for
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a fifth round draft choice to make it. They had
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some guys there.
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Well. I had Jim Plucke, who was the Headmen Trophy
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winner in seventy one, the first round draft pick, and
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so I knew I wasn't going to take his job.
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They had a veteran quarterback named Dick Shiner who had
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been there for several years, and they had a young
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guy named Neil Graff out of Wisconsin, I think it
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was who was going to be a backup, possibly too,
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And we were told in training camp that with the
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rosters availabilities that year, they were only going to keep
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two quarterbacks, and so I figured I'm the first one out.
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I'm hoping somebody from the Canadian football League might have
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seen me practicing down there, or some other team may
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have seen me in Dick Scheiner suddenly retired during training camp,
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said he needed to be closer to his family. Jim
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Plunkett got hurt in the last preseason game, and suddenly
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I was the only guy left to be the backup
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and they had to keep me, so I stayed and
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Graft didn't play very well for first four weeks. I
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think it was Plunkett came back when he got healthy
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and played a couple of games, and then he got
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hurt again, and suddenly I was the starter for the
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Nengham Patriots of the National Football League, And I didn't
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have a clue what I was doing, but I was
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having from.
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You told the story that the first game that you played,
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you played the Jets at Chase Stadium and you looked
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across and there was Joe Namath and You're like, what
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the hell am I doing?
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Yah? Yeah, that was kind of the rude awakening that
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you know, I'm really here and I'm looking at Joe
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Namath and how the world did I get here? And
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what am I going to do to stay here? And
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I got to play clean up in the fourth quarter
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of that game and throw a touchdown pastor Russ Francis,
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and the next day to pet Neil Graff and activated
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plunt it and made me the back up. And two
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weeks later, I'm I'm the starter and trying to figure
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out what I'm doing. But fortunately I had that running instinct.
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I tell people that was a survival instinct I developed
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at k State, to run like crazy when you get
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in trouble, and that's that's what bought me some time
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to learn the passing game and to hang around for
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sixteen years.
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Well you did more than that, certainly. What were the
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circumstances in that offseason that led to Jim Plunkett to
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heading out of town? Obviously had been a few years
365
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and he was the number one pick in the draft
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and things hadn't gone well and right what was So
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what were the circumstances that eventually led to you being
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the man?
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Well, I guess the coaches felt like I could take
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over the job. Jim Plunkett had gotten beaten up pretty
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badly in New England. Their offensive line his first few
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years was not very good, and you know, he was
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banged up my rookie year, and I think he was
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he was just looking to make a move. He just
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felt like he needed to play someplace else, and the
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coaches probably agreed with him. And we had a chance
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to trade him to San Francisco, where he had played
378
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at Stanford. That would have been going back home. We
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had a chance to trade him for a couple first,
380
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first and second round picks, and and uh, those picks
381
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wound up being the nucleus of our football team through
382
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the early eighties. And we got some really good players
383
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with those picks. So I don't know the whole story,
384
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but but from what I understand, Pointet told him he
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was ready to take a hike and go someplace else.
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Well, things went pretty darn well right from the start
387
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with the Patriots, and that you had to really fine
388
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year in nineteen seventy six and the Patriots hadn't been
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to the playoffs in a decade and played you played well,
390
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The team played well.
391
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Yeah, we, like I said, we had we picked up
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some great young players through the draft, you know, starting
393
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in I think it was seventy three when Fairbanks took over.
394
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He drafted Johnny and and Steve Nelson and guys that
395
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played for twelve years or better. And we had some
396
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good young talent. We had some older veterans that he
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had brought in that really were able to show us
398
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how the professional game should be played, and we got
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out a role early in the season. I remember giving
400
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some talks before my second season back in Kansas, and
401
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I was telling people we were opening with four teams
402
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that were in the playoffs a year before, and we
403
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had been three and eleven, and if we survived those
404
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four weeks, we maybe had a chance to have a
405
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winning season. Well, we got beat the first week, I
406
00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:56.880
think it was by Baltimore, and then we beat somebody else,
407
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and then we went to Pittsburgh and beat them in
408
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pitts Berg at defending Super Bowl champions and then the
409
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Raiders came in and we beat them something like forty
410
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six to fourteen, or you know, just clobberedon. So we
411
00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:20.559
were three and one after four games, and you know,
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we started to realize that maybe this was going to
413
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be a special season. And it did turn out to
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be an eleven and three season and made the playoffs
415
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for the first time in ten years and went to
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Oakland and got beat out there on a call that
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was very debatable. So we had a great year.
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And you'd had a pretty nice run. Over the next
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five years. You'd be the starting quarterback, play most of
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the games except missing an occasional one with injury, but
421
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not many. In fact, only a couple that final year
422
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one had a winning record. Every single year you led
423
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the league in touchdown passes and nineteen seventy nine, so
424
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clearly you came around as a passer, even though you
425
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didn't think maybe that was your thing.
426
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Yeah. Now, my running ability early to be able to
427
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spamble and you go out of trouble bought me that
428
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time to really learn how to throw the ball. And
429
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you know, it was a pretty good run. I can't remember.
430
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It was seventy some games in a row I played
431
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before I finally went down with an injury and missed
432
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the game. But then things started to change a little bit.
433
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They drafted Matt Cavanaugh on nineteen seventy eight the second round,
434
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and he was going to be the guy to replaced me,
435
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:45.920
and he never did do that. And then they drafted
436
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Tony Easton in nineteen eighty three in the first round,
437
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and he was supposed to be the guy to replace me,
438
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and we kind of split time off and on, and
439
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then they traded him in the late eighties, and I
440
00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:00.799
was still there.
441
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You were there for a long time. And what's funny
442
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is even after you stopped playing all the time as
443
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the starter, you always started games. I mean, there was
444
00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:13.519
one year you started too, but besides that, you basically
445
00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:18.079
started four or more games every year. So clearly they
446
00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:20.880
couldn't get rid of it. They couldn't unseat you, and
447
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:23.279
maybe they thought that something else that was the flavor
448
00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:26.839
of the month was kind of cool. But you were
449
00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:30.559
there and ready when they wanted you to play well.
450
00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:34.599
I was. I always tried to be prepared and got
451
00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:37.160
my chances and did what I could when I could.
452
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You know, I was up and down at times, back
453
00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:46.000
and forth. Whenever I was on the bench, I was
454
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trying to help the guy that was playing as much
455
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as I could. Never powdered about it, just did my job,
456
00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:54.400
and then when I got my chance, I went out
457
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:57.400
and tried to play well. And I think that earned
458
00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:00.119
me some respect with not only the coaching staff to
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00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:03.279
front office. And part of the reason they kept me
460
00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:06.279
around as long as they did was my leadership. Abilosy
461
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:06.960
more of.
462
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Danny's Reasonably Irreverend podcast After this.
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and market your business to a growing and engaged audience,
487
00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:18.960
contact us at Danny Clinkscale dot com. Look forward to
488
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:19.720
hearing from you.
489
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:23.000
Our guest to Steve Grogan, Kansas State great in the
490
00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:26.519
Ring of Honor there and a decade and a half
491
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:29.480
career with the New England Patriots from seventy five all
492
00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:33.200
the way through nineteen ninety as well. And we'll get
493
00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:35.279
into the Super Bowl in a minute, obviously as you
494
00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:38.680
played in that, but tell you you had a litany
495
00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:40.599
of injuries. I was reading an article just before we
496
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.920
came on where Nick Cafardo, the beat writer for the
497
00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:48.319
Patriots at the time, sort of made up an award
498
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:52.079
in your honor in the early two thousands about the toughness.
499
00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:54.920
And I was reading his paragraph and there must have
500
00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:58.400
been fifteen different injuries there. When did it start to
501
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:00.920
maybe take a toll more than just a little bit.
502
00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:10.640
You know, I would I didn't consider the injuries serious.
503
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:14.759
I mean, I had four or five knee operations, but
504
00:30:14.839 --> 00:30:20.559
there were never any ligament or tendon damages that needed
505
00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:28.680
to be repaired. It was mostly cartilage, and and I
506
00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:34.880
had some shoulder injuries separated shoulders. The worst injury happened
507
00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:41.759
nineteen eighty When was that nineteen eighty nine? I think
508
00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:47.839
it was when I got there was a fumble between
509
00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:52.720
myself and a center in a preseason game and the
510
00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:55.799
young sinner they were trying out, and I went to
511
00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:59.000
jump on the ball and a defensive player came over
512
00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:03.200
the pile and snapped my neck back. And that's when
513
00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:07.359
I started having neck problems again and had those off
514
00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:11.279
and on throughout that year. Had surgery on it the
515
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:15.079
following year. So the surgery on my neck was that
516
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:18.480
must have been eighty eight. The surgery on my neck
517
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:23.960
was the only serious surgery that I had, in my opinion,
518
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:27.519
and I got the surgery and played two more years
519
00:31:27.559 --> 00:31:30.799
after that, So it heeled up pretty good.
520
00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:34.920
Talk a little bit about life away from football as
521
00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:38.079
you're starting up, And first of all, how did you
522
00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:38.720
meet your wife?
523
00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:43.960
I met Robbie at Kansas State. She was a friend
524
00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:47.480
of mine, friend and I'm sorry, I had a dog
525
00:31:47.559 --> 00:31:51.400
that everybody's happy with having to stay home.
526
00:31:51.799 --> 00:31:54.480
Everybody's used to hearing dogs bark during COVID.
527
00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:02.599
Well, we met through this of ours and went out
528
00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:04.839
on a date. She was a year older and had
529
00:32:04.839 --> 00:32:07.799
already graduated and was working at Tatica and was back
530
00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:11.200
for the weekend, and we went out and had a
531
00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:18.640
great time and continued to date off and on till
532
00:32:18.680 --> 00:32:21.000
after my first season with the Patriots when I came
533
00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:22.799
back and asked her to marry me. And then we
534
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:27.200
got married after my second season, and now it was
535
00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:29.400
forty four years almost forty four years ago.
536
00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:34.720
Well, that certainly is a fantastic run, fantastic story. What
537
00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:38.319
was it like having a family, Obviously, I'm from that area,
538
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:40.279
I'm from Framingham. Where did you live when you were
539
00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:42.480
with the Patriots?
540
00:32:42.920 --> 00:32:47.759
We lived brighton Foxborough. After we got married. My first year,
541
00:32:47.880 --> 00:32:50.920
we lived in Braintree, which was just south of Boston
542
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:56.599
and probably a twenty five minute drive without traffic to
543
00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.200
the stadium. But the traffic was awful back there even
544
00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:02.799
at that time. So Mike Patrick, who was a rookie
545
00:33:02.839 --> 00:33:05.559
punter when I was a rookie quarterback, we wented the
546
00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:08.839
house together, and then the next year the two of
547
00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:15.039
us moved to Sherburn, which is just south of Framingham
548
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:19.400
and had nice country drives to the stadium. And then
549
00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:26.319
when I got married, we moved into Foxville and we
550
00:33:26.359 --> 00:33:28.359
stayed there until about two years ago.
551
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:33.519
We'll talk about your business after your football playing career,
552
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:35.680
but obviously the Super Bowl is this Sunday, and that
553
00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:39.480
must take you back. Obviously, the nineteen eighty five season
554
00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:42.440
for the Patriots was an unusual one, with Tony Easton
555
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:45.359
playing some games. You played some games, you got hurt,
556
00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:48.680
you broke your leg. You had the job take us
557
00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:50.400
through eighty five, a little bit that would end up
558
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:51.119
in the Super Bowl.
559
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:55.880
Well, it was a crazy year. Tony Easton had taken
560
00:33:55.880 --> 00:34:00.039
over in eighty four after several games and played the
561
00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:02.759
rest of the year. So by the time he got
562
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:06.000
hurt after the I guess it was in the fifth
563
00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:11.320
game of the season in eighty five. I hadn't played
564
00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:14.639
in a game outside of a little in the preseason
565
00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:21.199
for a whole year and he went down. I think
566
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:25.039
it was against Buffalo and coach Raymond Berry was our
567
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:29.800
head coach. Coach Barry had played with Johnny Unitas on
568
00:34:29.880 --> 00:34:34.400
those great Colts teams and knew that Johnny Uniteds called
569
00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:37.840
his own plays, and I had done that for a
570
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:40.920
couple of years under Ron Earhart back in the seventy
571
00:34:41.400 --> 00:34:45.159
eight and seventy nine and eighty. I had called my
572
00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:48.599
own plays, and as I started on the field, and
573
00:34:48.599 --> 00:34:50.320
he grabbed me by the arm and he said, I
574
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:54.039
think we will have better success if you call what
575
00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:58.039
you're comfortable with, since you haven't had much practice. So
576
00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:01.039
I went out and called of my own plays, and
577
00:35:01.079 --> 00:35:03.199
we came from behind and beat the Bills, And then
578
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:08.599
we won the next five games with me calling the plays.
579
00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:14.400
And then I broke my leg in New York, and
580
00:35:14.519 --> 00:35:16.960
Easton came back in and took over, and we got
581
00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:18.599
to the Super Bowl, and I was going to be
582
00:35:19.639 --> 00:35:22.000
one of the few players on the team. The two
583
00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:25.679
backup quarterbacks usually never see the field. Everybody else plays
584
00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:31.000
special teams or or has a roll of some kind
585
00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:33.119
of where they get on the field. And I just
586
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:37.000
couldn't stand the fact that I wasn't going to be
587
00:35:37.079 --> 00:35:38.920
able to get on the field for the Super Bowl.
588
00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:44.679
So I was lobbying with the special teams coach to
589
00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:48.559
let me cover a pond or a kickoff or block
590
00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:50.719
for a next to point or something, just so I
591
00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:54.199
could say I played in the game. And as it
592
00:35:54.199 --> 00:35:57.639
turns out, we played the Chicago Bears, who had the
593
00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:00.400
best defense I ever saw on maybe it's the best
594
00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:07.000
defense ever in the NFL. Tony Houston was zero for
595
00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:10.239
six and sack four times in the first quarter and
596
00:36:10.280 --> 00:36:13.880
a half. Coach Barry came over to me and said,
597
00:36:16.119 --> 00:36:19.400
we may need to make a quarterback change. And I
598
00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:22.000
looked at him and I said, Coach, I'm ready to go,
599
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:25.280
but I can't make that decision. You have to and
600
00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:28.800
he said, warm up. So I got to play the
601
00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:31.559
last half of the second quarter, in all the second half,
602
00:36:31.639 --> 00:36:36.639
and I had visions of bringing us from behind and
603
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:41.159
at least making it a close game. But that didn't happen.
604
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:45.239
We got beat forty six to ten. And I tell
605
00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:48.760
people all the time that I do two touchdown passes
606
00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:52.599
in the Super Bowl, one Irving Friar, my wide receiver,
607
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:55.440
and one of the one of their defensive backs who
608
00:36:55.480 --> 00:36:57.079
ran it all the way in for a score. So
609
00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:02.599
it was a long afternoon, but it was I was
610
00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:05.840
having fun playing on that field. It was really something special.
611
00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:08.960
You actually had a pretty nice day seventeen for thirty
612
00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:11.119
for one, seventy seven. Obviously your way behind, so you
613
00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:14.119
got to throw the football and that's that's that's a
614
00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:16.440
pretty good chunk of yardage. Against the Bears, they gave
615
00:37:16.519 --> 00:37:17.039
up anything.
616
00:37:18.599 --> 00:37:22.920
Yeah it was it was okay, but it certainly didn't
617
00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:24.079
bring the score any closer.
618
00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:28.760
You mentioned you could, you know, because it's such it's
619
00:37:28.760 --> 00:37:32.559
the pinnacle of football, you probably know at some point,
620
00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:35.559
you know early in your stint in the game that
621
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:38.840
you're not going to win the game. So you actually
622
00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:40.840
sound like you were able to kind of take it
623
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:41.639
in and enjoy it.
624
00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:48.079
I did as much as I could when he told
625
00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:53.000
me I was going in. I I just wanted to
626
00:37:53.079 --> 00:37:54.960
play one play at a time and try to get
627
00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:58.480
the score somewhat respectable. We did, We were unable to
628
00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:04.360
do that, But just knowing that you were getting to
629
00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:06.880
play in the super Bowl was just so special that
630
00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:10.199
it's hard to put in the words.
631
00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:14.000
And then you would play five more seasons, you would
632
00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:16.840
start some more games, You would be a true professional
633
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:19.599
and always noted for your toughness. I know you've said
634
00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:22.360
often that that's the thing that people always bring up,
635
00:38:22.360 --> 00:38:24.280
and you wish they'd bring up the fact that you're
636
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:27.679
a pretty good player, not that you were some kind
637
00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:28.320
of tough guy.
638
00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:32.880
Right. Yeah, I played with a lot of tough guys,
639
00:38:32.880 --> 00:38:36.320
and I was just trying to emulate them, but I
640
00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:38.480
wish somebody once in a while would just say you
641
00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:42.320
were a pretty good quarterback for sixteen years, but everybody
642
00:38:42.360 --> 00:38:46.119
remembers my toughness, which I can't change it now.
643
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:49.280
That's right. And I know even though you were thirty
644
00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:52.559
seven years old and had been playing sporadically for the
645
00:38:52.599 --> 00:38:55.119
last few years, I know a new coaching staff came
646
00:38:55.159 --> 00:38:58.559
in and I think they decided that maybe it was
647
00:38:58.599 --> 00:38:59.960
time for you to hang it up. And you didn't
648
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:03.039
want to, did you.
649
00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:05.800
No. I thought I could play for several more years,
650
00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:08.320
and I actually had a try out with the Los
651
00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:12.039
Angeles Rams. After the Patriots asked me to retire. I
652
00:39:12.039 --> 00:39:15.199
told them I didn't want to retire, so they they
653
00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:18.639
weighed me and I had try out with the Rams.
654
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:22.360
Our offensive coordinator my last year was going out there
655
00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:25.639
to coach. Had a nice try out. I figured I
656
00:39:25.639 --> 00:39:28.440
could stand on the grass field holding the clipboard in
657
00:39:28.559 --> 00:39:32.559
seventy five to eighty degree weather every day and make
658
00:39:32.599 --> 00:39:37.679
a couple bucks. That would have been great, But they
659
00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:42.840
went another direction, and I went home and tried to
660
00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:44.440
decide what I was going to do with the rest
661
00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:45.880
of my life.
662
00:39:46.599 --> 00:39:50.960
You played, obviously, you know you know, a decade and
663
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:53.840
a half, as I mentioned, for the sixteen seasons. So
664
00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:57.800
what you know, people may not have a sense of
665
00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:02.719
what if a player had your resume today, you'd be rich.
666
00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:08.079
Where were you sort of financially when your football career.
667
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:14.039
Ended, Not where they are today, that's for sure. I was,
668
00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:18.119
you know, I had put some money aside that knowing
669
00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:20.199
that it would take me a couple of years probably
670
00:40:20.239 --> 00:40:23.760
to find what I needed to do or what wanted
671
00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:29.840
to do. So I wasn't in a rush, but I
672
00:40:29.960 --> 00:40:33.039
found out quickly that when you retire at age thirty
673
00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:37.840
seven or thirty eight, you're competing with a lot of
674
00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:42.519
young people for jobs. And you know, I had always
675
00:40:42.519 --> 00:40:47.119
planned on coaching. So I interviewed for a couple of
676
00:40:47.320 --> 00:40:54.320
college coaching jobs, and both of them said they liked
677
00:40:54.360 --> 00:40:57.960
what I said, but I didn't have any coaching experience,
678
00:40:58.119 --> 00:41:00.639
and I needed to go to the high school level
679
00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:03.880
and coached for a few years before I went back
680
00:41:03.920 --> 00:41:08.159
to college coaching. Well, at thirty eight or you know,
681
00:41:08.280 --> 00:41:13.039
thirty seven, I wasn't ready to go back down and
682
00:41:13.079 --> 00:41:15.639
work my way up. I needed to put food on
683
00:41:15.719 --> 00:41:21.679
the table from my family, and so the coaching just
684
00:41:21.719 --> 00:41:25.519
never worked out. Every time the Patriots coaching staff changed,
685
00:41:26.440 --> 00:41:28.239
I would go over and meet with a new coach
686
00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:31.760
to see if they had any interest in me helping
687
00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:36.400
with their coaching, and that never worked out either. So
688
00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:43.079
I wound up purchasing a sporting good business. It was
689
00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:46.800
about ten minutes from our house, though, I'd give it
690
00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:49.519
about five years to see if we could make it work,
691
00:41:50.159 --> 00:41:54.360
And that was about twenty eight years ago.
692
00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:58.559
And I know you you kept it for a we did, okay, Yeah?
693
00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:01.840
And do you feel like it seemed like, obviously you
694
00:42:01.880 --> 00:42:04.079
would be servicing a lot of high school sports teams
695
00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:08.199
and things like that. Your name and your reputation had
696
00:42:08.199 --> 00:42:09.800
to be a real advantage in that, wasn't it.
697
00:42:11.280 --> 00:42:15.800
Oh? It definitely was. The business had been a retail
698
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:18.480
sporting good store, and with all the malls opening up
699
00:42:18.519 --> 00:42:21.960
around it, it had some financial trouble and I was
700
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:24.039
able to buy it at a pretty cheap price. And
701
00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:27.599
then we changed the focus of what we were doing
702
00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:32.039
to what we call team sports. They had three guys
703
00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:34.119
on the road that were calling on high schools and
704
00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:38.639
colleges and youth leagues selling all kinds of equipment for
705
00:42:38.800 --> 00:42:43.199
team sports. And the fact that people knew who I was,
706
00:42:43.719 --> 00:42:47.840
helped them get in the door to make some sales,
707
00:42:47.920 --> 00:42:53.119
and I was actually I was at the store every day.
708
00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:55.400
People didn't believe that, but I was at the store
709
00:42:55.480 --> 00:43:00.159
every day, behind the scenes, doing things that need to
710
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:07.159
be doing and needed to be done. And I started,
711
00:43:08.079 --> 00:43:10.119
you know, it was my business, but I figured if
712
00:43:10.159 --> 00:43:13.159
I start with shipping and receiving, I will I can
713
00:43:13.199 --> 00:43:15.679
tell what we're bringing in and what we're sending out.
714
00:43:16.519 --> 00:43:19.400
And that's where I started shipping and receiving. And it
715
00:43:19.639 --> 00:43:22.719
did all that for a while and until I had
716
00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:25.239
a good idea what we were doing. And then I
717
00:43:25.320 --> 00:43:27.480
worked out on the retail floor for a while. I
718
00:43:27.519 --> 00:43:31.880
had several people come in and ask me if Steve
719
00:43:31.920 --> 00:43:37.119
Grogan really worked there, and I would try not to
720
00:43:37.199 --> 00:43:40.119
embarrass him to that and told him that he really did.
721
00:43:41.719 --> 00:43:44.400
At him tell me stories that they might have about me,
722
00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:46.679
and then I would have to tell them that that
723
00:43:46.679 --> 00:43:50.960
that was me, and they get embarrassed, and it was funny.
724
00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:54.000
That is funny. How much enjoyment did I mean? It
725
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:56.280
kept you around sports kind of, But was it a
726
00:43:56.280 --> 00:43:57.519
tough transition out of FUS.
727
00:43:57.480 --> 00:44:05.800
Yeah, you know, the store. The business helped me stay
728
00:44:05.840 --> 00:44:08.800
around sports, and it also gave me the time to
729
00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:14.159
I did some appearance kind of stuff, speaking engagements and
730
00:44:14.239 --> 00:44:18.599
autograph signings and things like that, and I could do
731
00:44:18.760 --> 00:44:25.679
that and not have to worry about being gone tell
732
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:28.320
the boss where I was going, because I was the boss,
733
00:44:28.480 --> 00:44:33.159
right and so that helped a little bit. And then
734
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:35.679
we had a there was a group back there that
735
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:40.599
had a business where they would play flag football and
736
00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:46.559
basketball games against police departments and fire departments to raise money.
737
00:44:46.599 --> 00:44:50.679
And so I would be out at night occasionally playing
738
00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:56.079
basketball or playing flag football, and that was fun.
739
00:44:57.440 --> 00:44:59.920
It sounds seems pretty remarkable that after all those in
740
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.039
injuries in your early forties or whatever, you still could
741
00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:06.480
get out there and get around. That's cool.
742
00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:12.079
Yeah. Well, I played in the fairly comparative basketball league
743
00:45:12.079 --> 00:45:16.199
at the wymcater or my house, until I was forty five,
744
00:45:16.519 --> 00:45:19.760
and there was some good young players. And one night
745
00:45:19.800 --> 00:45:22.320
I was chasing one of those good young players down
746
00:45:22.360 --> 00:45:25.039
the court and I was right behind him the whole
747
00:45:25.039 --> 00:45:28.000
way down and he stopped and I ran over him
748
00:45:28.320 --> 00:45:30.280
and he got up ready to fight me, and I
749
00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:32.960
looked at him and I said, hey, kid, look I'm
750
00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:35.360
forty five years old. I can still run, but I
751
00:45:35.400 --> 00:45:40.000
can't stop. I'm sorry, and I went over to the
752
00:45:40.039 --> 00:45:41.960
bench and that was the last game I played.
753
00:45:43.800 --> 00:45:48.400
That's funny story. When it came time to wind things
754
00:45:48.440 --> 00:45:50.719
down with the business and what was that like was
755
00:45:51.199 --> 00:45:52.239
the process of doing that.
756
00:45:54.280 --> 00:46:03.679
Well? Two years ago. Two years ago I turned sixty five,
757
00:46:03.920 --> 00:46:07.960
so that was one I could start taking my pension
758
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:12.400
with the NFL, which was decent tension. I thought we
759
00:46:12.440 --> 00:46:16.760
could survive on it. We weren't gonna get rich with it.
760
00:46:16.880 --> 00:46:24.519
But my wife had been living in Kansas City for
761
00:46:24.760 --> 00:46:27.159
about ten years. She had moved back to here when
762
00:46:27.159 --> 00:46:31.239
her folks started having a lot of health issues, and
763
00:46:31.280 --> 00:46:35.760
then once they were both gone, she decided she'd rather
764
00:46:35.800 --> 00:46:40.800
stay there and shovel snow in New England. So I
765
00:46:40.920 --> 00:46:45.719
was traveling back and forth to Kansas City about every
766
00:46:45.760 --> 00:46:48.480
six weeks. It's been a week or two with her,
767
00:46:48.559 --> 00:46:53.159
and then go back to the business. And at sixty five,
768
00:46:53.239 --> 00:46:56.920
I just decided I'm moving back to Kansas City with her.
769
00:46:57.039 --> 00:46:59.719
I turned the business over to my oldest boy, Tyler,
770
00:46:59.760 --> 00:47:05.159
who was just turned forty last year or so. He
771
00:47:05.199 --> 00:47:07.079
had been in the business with me since he got
772
00:47:07.079 --> 00:47:11.079
out of college, and really with all the new computer
773
00:47:11.159 --> 00:47:13.360
stuff that was happening. He knew more about it than
774
00:47:13.480 --> 00:47:17.480
I did. So I moved back to Kansas City two
775
00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:20.719
years ago and started reconnecting with some old high school
776
00:47:20.760 --> 00:47:25.039
friends and college friends, and mom and dad are still
777
00:47:25.039 --> 00:47:27.519
in Outawa. That was part of the reason I moved
778
00:47:27.559 --> 00:47:30.599
back was to be closer to them, be able to
779
00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:35.079
help them out when they needed help. And it's been
780
00:47:35.079 --> 00:47:35.920
a great decision.
781
00:47:37.559 --> 00:47:40.880
What do you First of all, what was it like
782
00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:46.840
to be inducted into a ring of honor for your university?
783
00:47:47.880 --> 00:47:50.239
The Ring of Honor case State was a great honor,
784
00:47:51.079 --> 00:48:02.199
particularly because of how poorly we were back in those days.
785
00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:06.360
You know, I got my jersey retired, but I think
786
00:48:06.400 --> 00:48:08.440
that was for what I did and the you know,
787
00:48:08.760 --> 00:48:11.679
we're in number eleven at k State after Lynn Dicky
788
00:48:11.679 --> 00:48:15.599
had worn number eleven. They didn't retire my jersey for
789
00:48:15.679 --> 00:48:18.000
what I did at KSE State. They retired I think
790
00:48:18.079 --> 00:48:21.920
for what I did with the Patriots. And then the
791
00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:25.719
Ring of Honor deal. I honestly when they told me
792
00:48:25.800 --> 00:48:28.960
that I was being inducted into that and it was
793
00:48:29.039 --> 00:48:35.320
going to be my oldest boys first start as a
794
00:48:35.360 --> 00:48:40.960
college football player, and I couldn't I just couldn't be
795
00:48:41.039 --> 00:48:44.440
away from it. I needed to be there with him,
796
00:48:45.719 --> 00:48:47.719
and so I was not able to go, and my
797
00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:50.840
dad represented me and he said it was a great
798
00:48:50.880 --> 00:48:54.119
ceremony and I'm sorry that I couldn't be there, but
799
00:48:55.960 --> 00:48:57.960
to have my name up in that ring of honor
800
00:48:58.079 --> 00:48:59.519
is very special.
801
00:49:00.719 --> 00:49:03.599
And you're so highly respected around the New England area.
802
00:49:03.679 --> 00:49:05.880
You were there so long, and that must be very
803
00:49:05.880 --> 00:49:07.360
gratifying too.
804
00:49:08.800 --> 00:49:13.639
It is, you know. I think, like I said, I
805
00:49:13.679 --> 00:49:18.079
had my ups and downs in my career, but I
806
00:49:18.119 --> 00:49:20.480
always did what was right and I always played as
807
00:49:20.480 --> 00:49:24.760
hard as I could. And I really appreciate the fact
808
00:49:24.800 --> 00:49:30.360
that people back there understand that I understand that I
809
00:49:30.400 --> 00:49:35.199
wasn't Tom Brady, but that I was a leader on
810
00:49:35.280 --> 00:49:37.440
the team. Every year I did what was best for
811
00:49:37.519 --> 00:49:44.400
the team and never complained and we had some good,
812
00:49:44.559 --> 00:49:49.000
good seasons. Tom Brady's made them forget me very quickly, though,
813
00:49:49.239 --> 00:49:52.760
I will say that rightfully.
814
00:49:52.800 --> 00:49:52.880
So.
815
00:49:54.679 --> 00:49:57.119
And what what are Super Bowl Sundays like for you
816
00:49:57.159 --> 00:49:59.440
these days? I mean when does it just are you
817
00:49:59.519 --> 00:50:02.559
sitting there sort of reminiscing to yourself when you watch
818
00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:05.840
the football games? Or what's your relationship like with football
819
00:50:05.880 --> 00:50:07.199
and watching football these days.
820
00:50:08.480 --> 00:50:13.039
I still watch football a lot. I'm a football fan now,
821
00:50:14.679 --> 00:50:17.239
Super Bowl Sundays, a lot of people like the party.
822
00:50:17.360 --> 00:50:20.280
I like to sit by myself and watch the game,
823
00:50:21.840 --> 00:50:24.480
think of some of the things we did before and
824
00:50:24.559 --> 00:50:28.000
after the game. We don't think much about during the
825
00:50:28.039 --> 00:50:34.079
game because of the outcome, but it does bring back
826
00:50:34.119 --> 00:50:41.800
memories and I just like watching it alone and seeing
827
00:50:41.840 --> 00:50:45.320
who's the best team and what makes them the best team.
828
00:50:46.119 --> 00:50:48.920
It's been a great run for you. Now you are
829
00:50:48.960 --> 00:50:51.079
retired and you get to spend some time in Florida
830
00:50:51.079 --> 00:50:53.519
and things like that. As you look back, there's a
831
00:50:53.559 --> 00:50:57.280
lot of things to be gratified about it, aren't there, No.
832
00:50:57.320 --> 00:51:02.920
Question, no question I have. I have been a very
833
00:51:03.239 --> 00:51:11.119
very lucky individual, between meeting my wife and having her
834
00:51:11.199 --> 00:51:15.360
still around and having three boys, and they all grew
835
00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:20.280
up to be productive. And as I think I said
836
00:51:20.280 --> 00:51:26.320
earlier in the interview, I really have no idea why
837
00:51:26.559 --> 00:51:31.199
this worked out for me to play in the National
838
00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:34.440
Football League for sixteen years, get a college scholarship at
839
00:51:34.440 --> 00:51:41.639
a place I enjoyed it. Just a lot of breaks
840
00:51:41.679 --> 00:51:43.840
along the way. A lot of things happened along the
841
00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:50.039
way that I'm very grateful for, and if my life
842
00:51:50.119 --> 00:51:54.119
ends tomorrow, I've enjoyed almost every minute of it.
843
00:51:56.920 --> 00:52:00.360
This podcast was made possible by our great sponsors like
844
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:05.079
Eastern Roofing, the presenting sponsor of Kansas City Profiles at
845
00:52:05.079 --> 00:52:10.440
the Danny klink Scale, Reasonably Irreverent podcast Eastern Roofing, where
846
00:52:10.480 --> 00:52:14.519
integrity matters. We hope you enjoyed the latest Danny Clinkscale
847
00:52:14.679 --> 00:52:19.480
Reasonably Irreverent Podcast. Come back soon for something fresh and new.