sign in sign up
<<
Home , Brian Piccolo, Buddy Ryan, Conrad Dobler, Deacon Jones, Jim McMahon, Lamar Lundy

CHARACTER great players can build their legacies with excellence on the field… and antics off of it. by Lisa Altobelli

ome possessed fun-loving nicknames like Broadway Joe, The Fridge, and . SOthers were a bit more hard-nosed—like the men themselves—such as Concrete Charlie, Mean , and . On occasion, entire lines became notorious with labels like the Fearsome Foursome, the Hogs, and the . And then there are those select few so renown they can be readily identified by just one word: Butkus. Riggins. Favre.

“MAD DUCK”

218 XLV KARRAS NFL.COM “DEACON” JONES

Their impact on the playing field is indisputable. So, too, is the behind- the- scenes aura they created and cultivated. It may have been their showmanship in full view of a crowd, or their unflinching toughness that pushed them through injuries no one knew about, or even their innate sense of humor that gave them license to pull off tension-easing pranks on team- mates. Whatever the reasons, they are revered as pro football’s ultimate “character men,” those players blessed with exceptional talent and larger-than-life personalities that transcended the game. Yet while the Bears took things to unprecedented levels, the game has always had characters. In the 1930s and 1940s, Redskins QB Most teams are likely to have one or two such characters, but the Slingin’ rifled the game into the forward pass era, while Super Bowl XX-winning Bears accumulated a locker room full beasts like Bears fullback Bronislau “Bronko” Nagurski tore through the of them, starting with their head coach: the cigar-chomping, locker- opposition, and according to Giants tackle Steve Owens, was “the only punching, headset-kicking, Sergeant Slaughter of a leader, . man I ever saw who ran his own interference.” The former tight end nicknamed his players “The Grabowskis” In the 1950s, the most comical player in was Colts tackle to exemplify the -collar work ethos of the city, but this team Art “Fatso” Donovan. The Bronx native was as well known for his was made up of anything but. offbeat one-liners as he was for his All-Pro defensive play, and once His 15-1 Bears had superstars/characters like claimed that if he ever wanted to get pumped up for a game, he would (Sweetness), Jim McMahon (the Punky QB), and William Perry just drink a case of beer. Decades after his playing days were over, (Fridge), who excited a nation and were showered with endorsement Donovan became a favorite on the late-night talk circuit, introducing opportunities, hawking everything from paintball guns to NutraSweet himself to a whole new generation of fans. and gaining a recurring “Da Bears” skit on Saturday Night Live. During that same era, the Lions locker room was entertained by the was a character all to himself antics of and his frequent off-field companion, and oversaw a unit that featured the fearless “Samurai” tackle Alex “Mad Duck” Karras. “When I was a rookie, I went with and Steve “Mongo” McMichael among others. They were confident, Layne to get a tube of toothpaste and didn’t get back for three days,” too. What other team would have the chutzpah to record a song, “The said guard Harley Sewell. Super Bowl Shuffle,” in the middle of the regular season? While Layne may have needed the occasional headfirst dunk into a Yet onto the Super Bowl they shuffled, where they took over the barrel of water to get ready for battle, he routinely delivered and became host city of . The ringleader was McMahon, with his known as the “toughest QB who ever lived.” Tex Maule wrote in the trademark Revo shades, headband, and Jack Nicholson smirk, and Dec. 2, 1957, issue of , “The cocky, tough Texan is gen- whom Payton dubbed as “Your Outrageousness.” The QB lived up to erally regarded as the finest clutch player ever in professional football. His his moniker with late-night reveling on Bourbon Street and even ebullient behavior off the field has never affected his play; he works as dropped his drawers to display his black-and-blue posterior to a news hard after a long night of living it up as he does after a full night’s sleep.” helicopter to “show ’em where it hurt.” His counter was Perry, the gap- Two of football’s most feared players of the 1960s were toothed, gargantuan defensive lineman who joked on his signing day, of the Bears and of the Packers. Butkus played “I’ve been big ever since I was little.” with intensity on every down, saying, “I wouldn’t ever set out to hurt s i v a Their 46-10 domination of the overmatched Patriots only added anyone deliberately unless it was important—like a league game or D k c a J

y to the mystique. “The number one factor in that game was the fact something.” In the 1976 classic Rocky, Sylvester Stallone’s running b s n o i t that we put an A-B-C offense out there against a Ph.D defense,” said companion, his bullmastiff dog, was named Butkus as a nod to the a r t s u l l I then-Patriots coach . legendary . Nitschke, rumored to have been able to take

NFL.COM SUPER BOWL XLV 219 “BROADWAY JOE”

lug nuts off a car with his teeth, also was celebrated in cinematic history, his mention coming in Brian’s Song when cancer victim said not to worry because “the only thing he was allergic to was Nitschke.” Some of the best characters in the league are the ones who can talk a good game as well as play it. It was an art form perfected by David “Deacon” Jones, a member of the Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” that was rounded out by , , and . While Jones was called the “Secretary a wild contraption that allowed of Defense” and became known for his fierce head slaps (that you to jump rope and lift a barbell at the same time. were made illegal in 1977), his other moniker was the “Secretary of Bradshaw also worked his way into movie roles in Cannonball Run and Smack.” Jones explained, “Some guys rattle with smack.” Smokey and the Bandit II, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Another quirky character was Conrad Dobler, an offensive guard for Fame in 2001, the first Pro Football Hall of Famer so honored. the 1970s Cardinals who made a living out of suspect moves, but unlike But while Bradshaw may have a star, he’s among numerous enigmatic Jones, downplayed the yapping. “You have to get just the right comment football players who transferred their talents to the screen. Back in the to make them mad,” said Dobler. “Verbal abuse could take all day— 1920s, starred in two silent films and then in a miniseries a faster and more efficient way to aggravate and intimidate people is to about his exploits called The Galloping Ghost. Other successful tough knock the stuffing out of them.” guys-turned-actors were Butkus in My Two Dads, Karras in Webster, And that he did—stomping, biting, and once punching “Mean” John Matuszak in The Goonies, and Bubba Smith in the Police Academy Joe Greene in the face and kicking Olsen. Dobler is also infamous for franchise. Even Jim jumping into a coffin “just to see how comfortable it was,” but it was Brown, considered Olsen who put him in the grave, albeit fictionally on TV, when he starred by many as the in the Father Murphy series and had the camera linger on a headstone in finest running “THE a cemetery scene that read, ‘Conrad Dobler. Gone, But Not Forgiven.’ back in league FRIDGE” While these tough guys had their glory, there’s nothing like the celebrity quarterback to up the ante, and no one embodied that more than the fur coat-wearing, pantyhose-endorsing, actress- dating New York Jet, Joe Willie Namath. It began when “Broadway Joe” was bold enough to make “The Guarantee” that he would lead his team to victory against the Colts in Super Bowl III, but the fact that he was able to back up that claim catapulted him into a cult hero. Another charismatic quarterback who parlayed his Super Bowl success into celebrity status was the Steelers’ , at one time derisively nicknamed the “Bayou Bumpkin” and who took his share of abuse for his southern twang and aw-shucks demeanor. But Bradshaw was smart enough to cash in on his four Super Bowl rings by endorsing everything from Qualar toupees to the ‘Jog & Lift’—

220 SUPER BOWL XLV NFL.COM history, announced his retirement from the “THE game on the set of The Dirty Dozen in 1966. Some players used their athletic prowess JOKESTER” to continue to entertain fans in the world of pro wrestling. Nagurski ruled as a three-time heavyweight champ in the 1940s, while the Bears’ McMichael became known in World Championship Wrestling for his pile driver finishing move called the “Mongo Spike.” Other prominent gridders who stepped into the wrestling ring and enjoyed a degree of success included Karras, “The Big Cat” Ernie Ladd, “Wahoo” McDaniel, Bill Goldberg, and Kevin Greene. managed to combine the two by playing a wrestler in the 1988 TV sitcom Learning the Ropes.

One reason so many of these characters became popular enough to receive offers after football was the fact that they were given much longer leashes in an era without bed checks, fines, or cell phone cameras to record their every transgression. Coaches were also in on the levity. It was who said, “Winning is only half of it. Having fun is the other half.” opined, “The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules with classics like T.O.’s popcorn dump and there are for players to break.” And it was Bucs coach John McKay who Ochocinco’s Riverdance. And even while the NFL has taken steps to addressed bed checks, or in his case, lack thereof, saying, “You usually rein in the more outrageous displays, players continued to find enter- wind up staying up all night, or until your best players come in.” taining ways to express themselves within the rules. Sometimes a player would attempt to take (or fake) control himself, like before Super Bowl XV when the Raiders’ Matuszak mandated that Showmanship aside, the one thing all true characters possess is a pure his teammates stay in to prepare for the game against the Eagles, but he love for the game of football, and no one loves it more than — himself stayed out in New Orleans all night. When asked later about so much so that he’s had a heck of a time retiring from it. Favre has the contradiction, he justified his actions by saying, “That’s why I was always been a fan favorite for his laid-back attitude and incredible ability. out in the streets. To make sure no one else was.” “I couldn’t believe how loose—and I mean l-o-o-s-e—he was for As coaching legends go, there’s no one more revered than Packers a young guy who had just been traded for a first-round pick,” recalls patriarch Vince , but even he had his own “five o’clock club” then-Packers assistant coach Jon Gruden, after he picked Favre up from where he relaxed with a few beers after practice and went so far as to the airport to meet with the team in 1992. “I think the first question he invite the media to kick back with him daily. This “club” tradition was asked was, ‘Do they have any fried okra around here?’ I think the second carried on by one of the greatest characters of all time—Redskins run- thing he wanted to know was where he could get a beer.” ning back John “The Diesel” Riggins. Riggins actually lived in a shed by Favre is also known as a guy who thoroughly enjoys a practical joke, the practice fields for a stint and kept it fully stocked for his comrades. which only further endeared him to his teammates—whether in The arrival of the celebration came in the 1970s when Green Bay, New York, or Minnesota. the Oilers’ Billy “White Shoes” Johnson debuted his “Funky Chicken” “His jokes are actually really childish, which made him so fun,” says dance, and was then taken up a notch in the when the former Packers teammate . “He would put a whoopee Bengals’ Ickey Woods showcased his “Ickey Shuffle.” Defensive dances cushion down or get an air horn and blow it in a guy’s ear. Those were became part of the landscape when the Jets’ —part of the stupid things he did that made him such a great leader. It wasn’t like the “New York Sack Exchange” with , , and he was ever above anybody. He was one of the guys and I think that was Abdul Salaam—regularly engaged in a “sack dance” after a takedown. something that he thoroughly enjoyed.” Deion “Prime Time” Sanders intensified the hype in the 1990s. A But Favre also had a good teacher. When he arrived at Super Bowl force on the field as a shutdown corner who split time as a Major League XXXI in 1997, which also happened to be in New Orleans and against player, he also dabbled in music by recording his own hip-hop the Patriots, his back-up was none other than McMahon, who prepped album and was regularly joined by his close friend, MC Hammer, on the him thoroughly on antics—something he had so handily mastered with Falcons sideline. the Bears more than a decade earlier. q Sanders was the prototype for today’s characters such as and Chad Ochocinco, who bring a heightened level of show- Lisa Altobelli currently writes for ESPN.com and previously covered the NFL manship to the game with their premeditated touchdown celebrations for six years at Sports Illustrated.

222 SUPER BOWL XLV NFL.COM