A Football Life

[sport historian]

I just watched most of the "A Football Life" about Steve Largent, which was first aired in 2015. Very much worth watching for anyone too young to remember just how good Largent was, namely the NFL's all-time leading receiver when he retired.

Although it's a flattering show, Largent is mentioned as "slow" many times during the hour. (He's also referred to as "short" several times even though he's 5' 11".) Largent ran a 4.6 40 and the narrator intones that this disqualified him from playing in the NFL despite a great college career, though the Houston Oilers eventually drafted him in the fourth round. And this was back in 1976, while black receivers like Laquon Treadwell (4.64 40 at the Combine) are still selected in the first round. Largent only got a chance because of Jerry Rhome, one of his college coaches at Tulsa who praised him as much as possible and later became the offensive coordinator of the Seahawks and was instrumental in bringing Largent to Seattle after he was cut by the Oilers.

So the anti-White template was well in place 45 years ago. And despite Largent's all-time great career, no other "slow, short" White receivers were drafted in the early rounds after him. The tall and speedy Cris Collinsworth was the only White receiver drafted early for many years and of course until the late '90s White receivers were all but extinct post-Largent before a very brief one-year mini-renaissance in the memorable '99 season. We all know the truth here, but how many potential all-star White receivers, running backs, and defensive players have never gotten any opportunity at all? Hundreds and hundreds of them.

I recall a Pro Football Weekly column in the late 70's by a Seattle writer, who wrote something like: "Largent is always compared to Fred Biletnikoff because he is white. He is faster and better than Biletnikoff."

In his film highlights, Steve Largent is constantly shown way behind the defense and wide open before catching a TD pass.

Funny thing, in the 70's there were several white running backs, more white runners than white wide receivers as I remember.

Yes, the scouts and personnel "experts" didn't like Steve Largent coming out of college. Without Jerry Rhome, Largent would never have had "A Football Life."

 

[Don Wassall]

Something else interesting about Largent that I didn't know, or had forgotten, is that he came from a very dysfunctional family. His parents divorced when he was 5 or 6 years old and he essentially never saw his father again. His mother remarried, to a bad alcoholic. Despite that, not only did Largent become an all-time great pro football player but later became a Congressman from his native state of Oklahoma. He was a conservative Republican and who knows may have become Vice President or President at some point, but left politics after deciding to run for Governor of Oklahoma and losing a very, very close race in which he was smeared but did not retaliate. According to the show, the deciding votes against him came from rural Oklahomans who supported **** fighting, which Largent opposed; that's how close the race was.

After that defeat in 2002, Largent retreated to private life and has been quiet since. He overcame a lot in his life, but with a great combination of pro football greatness, integrity, character and looks, it's a shame he didn't continue in politics as this country is doomed due to too few "Steve Largent types" emerging as leaders.

 

[white is right]

Something else interesting about Largent that I didn't know, or had forgotten, is that he came from a very dysfunctional family. His parents divorced when he was 5 or 6 years old and he essentially never saw his father again. His mother remarried, to a bad alcoholic. Despite that, not only did Largent become an all-time great pro football player but later became a Congressman from his native state of Oklahoma. He was a conservative Republican and who knows may have become Vice President or President at some point, but left politics after deciding to run for Governor of Oklahoma and losing a very, very close race in which he was smeared but did not retaliate. According to the show, the deciding votes against him came from rural Oklahomans who supported **** fighting, which Largent opposed; that's how close the race was.

After that defeat in 2002, Largent retreated to private life and has been quiet since. He overcame a lot in his life, but with a great combination of pro football greatness, integrity, character and looks, it's a shame he didn't continue in politics as this country is doomed due to too few "Steve Largent types" emerging as leaders.

Yes Largent seemed too normal for him to be from a family where his mother fled to a women's shelter in the middle of night with her children. He never did cocaine or partied with a million women, gambled or battered women. The excuses for the dysfunctional players that the NFL currently have could have been given towards him if he was inclined to be a misfit. It shows you that it's not just the environment that you were raised that causes this antisocial behaviour.

 

[Truthteller]

Largent's career stats completely show he could never be considered "slow" or a "overachiever". "Rudy types" just don't average 16.0 yards per reception during a career that spans 14 season and 200 games. That is quite simply dominance! https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LargSt00.htm

If he was "slow", it was no different than fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, who some claim ran a 4.71/40 at the Indianapolis Combine coming out of college. As slow as Rice was reported to be, no one ever ran him down from behind when he was in his prime.

Largent broke into the league before my time as a fan, but I have often wondered why the Houston Oilers released him as a rookie, a few months after taking him in the 4th round?

Looking at the '76 Oilers stats, they had a star receiver named Ken Burrough, leading the way (51/932/7). Billy Johnson, who was a great kick/punt returner, was the other starter at wide receiver, but he posted mediocre stats as a receiver (47/495/4). The Oilers #3 receiver in 1976 was someone named Melvin Baker, who had 3 receptions for 32 yards...and their 4th receiver had just 4 receptions for 15 yards. So, that was 7 receptions for 47 yards for all of Houston's backup's combined! Also, the tight ends posted pedestrian stats -- only two TE's gained 208 and 174 yards in 1976, each.

Again, what were the Oilers thinking when they just gifted the expansion Seattle Seahawks their 4th round pick at a position of need? I've never seen that discussed.

 

[Shadowlight]

Your guess as to why the Oilers released him is as good as mine. Probably a caste move.

Also worth noting their HC Bum Phillips was as dumb as a box of rocks. Bum never understood how to play off the clock at the end of games. With his crew cut, burly build and clueless look he looked like somebody beamed in from a 50's rockabilly band. Good nickname though. He was a bum. He wasn't unlikeable per say but the media sort of understood Bum didn't know what the hell was going on. He was kind of like Yogi Berra with his off beat goofy observations.

His Earl Cambell teams were good but always fell short at crunch time. His teams had zero imagination.

 

[Don Wassall]

Largent was cut by Houston because he was having, by his own admission, a poor training camp, struggling to get open during practice. It's mentioned in the "A Football Life" show about Largent beginning around the 6 minute mark (as noted by Carolina Speed, it's available on YouTube and has over a quarter million views.) As a struggling "slow and short White guy" it's not surprising that he was cut.

Although this thread is getting a bit sidetracked, I'll mention that the Oilers of the late '70s and early '80s had a pretty good White receiver in Mike Renfro. He's best known for having a TD catch wrongly ruled that he was out of bounds by the officials, pre-instant replay days, in the '79 AFC championship game against the Steelers that the Oilers might have otherwise won. It's briefly covered here: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-netwo...73/Top-Ten-Controversial-Calls-Renfro-s-catch

Renfro was underutilized by the Oilers and then by the Cowboys, but did come close to a thousand yard receiving season in 1985, finishing 60/955/8. He ended his career with 323 receptions.

 

[white is right]

Your guess as to why the Oilers released him is as good as mine. Probably a caste move.

Also worth noting their HC Bum Phillips was as dumb as a box of rocks. Bum never understood how to play off the clock at the end of games. With his crew cut, burly build and clueless look he looked like somebody beamed in from a 50's rockabilly band. Good nickname though. He was a bum. He wasn't unlikeable per say but the media sort of understood Bum didn't know what the hell was going on. He was kind of like Yogi Berra with his off beat goofy observations.

His Earl Cambell teams were good but always fell short at crunch time. His teams had zero imagination.

I recall Bum being a hardcore run first, pass when you have to coach, most coaches at this time had a similar philosophy.

In 76' I'm not sure who his tailback was but I know when he got Campbell in 78' he literally ran Earl into the ground similar a baseball manager burning out a starting pitcher's arm. Interestingly the understudy to Campbell was Rob Carpenter who was the 2nd string tailback who also rushed for 400+ yards one season when Campbell rushed for close to 2K yards.

Bum was shown the door when his team lost to the Oakland Raiders in a wild card game after going to two straight AFC title games. When he went to New Orleans he tried the same style but without Campbell his teams were sub 500, and he even brought in a washed up Campbell near the end of his New Orleans run and that didn't work.

PS, his crew cuts, chaw and heavy Texan drawl made him seem as dumb as Jed Clampett, but I have my doubts on his image as he probably would have failed miserably in Houston from start if he was that dumb.

 

[Shadowlight]

For sure the media played up the Bum image and you are right I am sure he had some football savvy. But I have to tell you and I was young then I can't recall another HC since Bum who had so much trouble figuring out clock management at the end of games. He was completely flummoxed by it all.

As for WR Mike Renfro the name registers but I am drawing a complete blank. I don't remember watching him play. Seems buried in the far reaches of my mind ( I vaguely recall something) but it just won't come to surface unlike say Steve Watson or obviously Steve Largent and many others.

 

[sport historian]

Season 9 of A Football Life kicks of tonight (Friday) at 10 pm ET with an episode on Terry Bradshaw. He should have a two hour program IMO.

When he came into the league in 1970, Terry Bradshaw was described as having more physical talent than any QB ever seen. The rap was he was "dumb." Over time it seemed his trouble was ability (or lack thereof) in handling pressure. Eventually Bradshaw became the best "Big Game" QB of the era.

They'll probably emphasize the conflict between him and Chuck Noll, always a favorite theme.

There was a 2017 biography (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34258686-terry-bradshaw) titled "Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality." The theme was his emergence as a "true cultural icon." Bradshaw far outpaced Joe Namath and O.J. Simpson (pre-1994) as such. At the time of the murders, Simpson was fading as a TV personality, barely hanging on at NBC while Bradshaw was just beginning at Fox. Namath's show business career went nowhere and he failed as an announcer.

Terry Bradshaw is still going strong as a TV personality at 71. I don't think anyone else has lasted so long.

 

[Don Wassall]

I thought the Bradshaw episode was well done. He's led a unique but scandal-free life, so the curiosity about him has always been about his relationship with Chuck Noll and secondarily with Pittsburgh and Steelers fans.

Pittsburgh DWFs have always been particularly brutal on White quarterbacks, so Bradshaw being from the Deep South and being mostly rural made him an easy target for a culture that has always enjoyed bashing White Southerners and country people. The charge of being "dumb" is what really cut him deep, understandably so, particularly when Hollywood Henderson said before Super Bowl XIII that Bradshaw couldn't spell "cat" if he was spotted the "c" and "a." Instead of criticizing and shutting down Henderson for engaging in a stereotype that would never be allowed to be said about a black person rather than being regarded as the two-time Super Bowl winning QB he was at the time, Bradshaw was mercilessly skewered by late night talk show hosts and the media in general. He likes playing the buffoon at times, but he's anything but dumb. His strained relationship with Pittsburgh was mostly caused by the loathing so many Whites have for other Whites, but of course it'll never be seen that way.

As far as Noll, the show made it very clear that Bradshaw always responded best to positive reinforcement rather than being regularly criticized and yelled at, but as great a coach as Noll was, warm and cuddly he was incapable of being. He's about as cold a figure as I can remember from football, though Bill Belichick reminds me of him in some ways.

 

[sport historian]

A Football Life is going to have Season 11 on the NFL Network. The schedule is:

September 16 - Joe Theismann
September 23 - Rod Woodson
November 18 - Edgerrin James
November 25 - Julian Edelman
December 23 - Franco Harris
Dec - Jan TBD - !972 Miami Dolphins

 

[sport historian]

A Football Life is going to have Season 11 on the NFL Network. The schedule is:

September 16 - Joe Theismann
September 23 - Rod Woodson
November 18 - Edgerrin James
November 25 - Julian Edelman
December 23 - Franco Harris
Dec - Jan TBD - !972 Miami Dolphins

Friday night, the NFL Network shows a new episode on Julian Edelman at 9 pm ET. The 2017 Wes Welker show is on right after at 10 pm ET.

 

[sport historian]

The NFL Network's A Football Life episode on the 1972 Miami Dolphins premiere's at 9 pm ET tonight (Friday). Note how many White players the 1972 Dolphins had.

They are the only undefeated team in NFL history, but were not that respected going into Super Bowl VII, which was 50 years ago this Saturday. They were 3 point underdogs to George Allen's Washington Redskins.

 

[footballenthusiast]

The NFL Network's A Football Life episode on the 1972 Miami Dolphins premiere's at 9 pm ET tonight (Friday). Note how many White players the 1972 Dolphins had.

They are the only undefeated team in NFL history, but were not that respected going into Super Bowl VII, which was 50 years ago this Saturday. They were 3 point underdogs to George Allen's Washington Redskins.

Ten white starters on defense. Shula seemed eager to field white defenders all the way up to the mid 80s. The Killer B's defense typically had eight white starters.

 

[wile]

The NFL Network's A Football Life episode on the 1972 Miami Dolphins premiere's at 9 pm ET tonight (Friday). Note how many White players the 1972 Dolphins had.

They are the only undefeated team in NFL history, but were not that respected going into Super Bowl VII, which was 50 years ago this Saturday. They were 3 point underdogs to George Allen's Washington Redskins.

First year of football as a Packer's fan that I have decent recollection, and if I remember right while the Skins dominated the Pack in their playoff game it was not a total owning by them, 16-3 off the top of my head. So while the Pack was not dominate team that year I can hardly see why the Skins would be over the Fins on the betting line except maybe for old prejudice against the AFL teams. Old faultly memories, but thanks for the reminder.

 

[sport historian]

First year of football as a Packer's fan that I have decent recollection, and if I remember right while the Skins dominated the Pack in their playoff game it was not a total owning by them, 16-3 off the top of my head. So while the Pack was not dominate team that year I can hardly see why the Skins would be over the Fins on the betting line except maybe for old prejudice against the AFL teams. Old faultly memories, but thanks for the reminder.

It was the old feelings about the AFL. The first team to win the Super Bowl after the merger was an old line NFL team, the Baltimore Colts, who had won the AFC. The next year in Super Bowl VI the Cowboys dominated the Dolphins, which caused "NFL Superiority" to come back in vogue.

Thus, the Redskins were favored over the Dolphins in Super Bowl VII.

 

[wile]

That was a great show, good to see all those old guys reminiscing. Also good to see footage of Shula, most of my memories of him were of the celebrity coach role which IMO is just awful.

 

[Bucky]

Definitely one episode I need to watch!