Club Shay Shay - Sterling Sharpe Part 2

In the second half of Sterling Sharpe's sit-down, the brothers reminisce about their early jobs, and how trying different things helped them figure out what they didn’t want to do. Shannon even learned to drive at 5 years old. Sterling shares how those experiences shaped his mindset as he chased his football dreams.

Though he dreamed of playing for Clemson, Sterling chose South Carolina (USC) for deeper connections — a school that would later retire his number, which he nearly unretired once for Duce Staley. He recounts being drafted in the first round, alongside Anthony Miller, Aaron Cox, and Anthony Jones, and thinking he was headed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before being drafted by the Green Bay Packers.

Sterling reflects on life in the NFL, including not knowing what the receiving “Triple Crown” was until Cooper Kupp achieved it. He shares how Jon Gruden once compared him to Michael Jordan, how fast Deion Sanders truly was, and how different the game looks now. Coaches and peers like Andy Reid believed that if Sterling hadn’t gotten hurt, he would’ve gone down as the greatest wide receiver ever.

Sterling also shares memories of playing alongside Terry Crews, his devastating injury, and how even Jerry Jones once asked him to make a comeback. Today, if given the chance, he says he’d love to play with Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson. The episode ends with a reflection on his eye surgeries, life after football, and the journey that led him to his Hall of Fame moment.

This isn’t just a football story — it’s a story about family, sacrifice, legacy, and resilience. Don’t miss this rare, heartfelt sit-down between two legendary brothers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for coming back. Part two is underway.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
I think all the things that we did growing up,
it definitely the work ethic. But I knew I didn't
want to clip on you for the rest of my life.
I knew I didn't want to bail.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I didn't want to lower watermelons. I don't want to
do tomatoes. I don't want to pick up he cans.
I don't want to crop tobacco. I don't want to
catch chicken. I don't want to pour concrete. I don't
want to lay ass fat. I don't want to work out.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm looking at your face, man, you saying that, and
I'm looking at this thing right here. I'm like, this
dude is angry. And I was like, I'm determined not
to do that, bro, And that's good.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
But that served you. Oh wow, Bro, I remember you
were in college. Now I'm working in Savannah for Richard
and for more reics playing. Now I got to be
We gotta be on the job at like six Savannah
is an hour way, that's right. I gotta get up,
wash my face, get down there, and we're not getting

(00:54):
off the job until like five thirty. I'm like, man,
I don't want to do this, so we I mean,
they are right there, ain't having no ride level. We pushing,
we cutting two acre, two ach of lawns and three acre,
law would pushing more. We building burns, man, we laying
asphalt for parking lots and putting down cross tied.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
I said, nah, man, this ain't for me. This ain't
for me. I mean, look at it. But the thing was,
I did that too.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
I left college during the summer for the two months
month and a half that I had off, and I'm
back in the field with mister Joe or I'm back
in Savannah lay inside landscaping with Richard Golden. I'm doing
all that too, because in college I don't need a
lot of money, but I need some, right.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
But it's not it's just means to an end. This
dude is.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Like I mean, he's like, man, I ain't I don't
want to lake railroad ties a cliff running.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Into I'm like, no, I know, I didea what to do.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
We looked out of the same window and saw two
totally different things, and yet instilled at sixty and at
fifty seven, we end up in the exact same place.
I'm like, look, I can't make this story up.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
I can't.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
I ain't never look at this or never I can't
make this up. But for us to end up where
we are seeing two totally different things, obviously that's your life.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
There are many like it. That one is yours.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
And you use what you saw and what you wanted
and didn't want to your advantage.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I commend you for that. People ask up, man, how
do you develop your work ethic? You ain't got no choice.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Wait, hold on, See the thing is is their work
ethic is do I.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Want to do it right? When you got no choice,
You're gonna do it.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, and you are going to do it better than
anyone else does anything else right. And so it ain't like,
oh you know what, I'm gonna havel ask this job
because I don't know. Oh no, no, no, because see
you ain't doing this for him or him. Everything you
do goes home. This represents Mary Porter right now. Ye

(03:03):
Mary Porter is at the house, and I don't want
Joe Tatum or Miss Joe Anne Tatum or Tiny Tatum
going back and telling them Mary he worked, but he
don't do it very good.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Everything you do goes home. And I've had this conversation
about the Hall of Fame. I'm like, hall of Fame
ain't for me. Oh, that's for Mary Alice and Libby
and if Mary Porter was here, and for Shannon, and
for William Hall and for Buddy mccau that's for them.

(03:35):
Because see, everything I did is a reflection of everything
they gave me. And people don't understand that because they
look at they live in the here and now. So
I'm working for you, and I don't want to work
for you because I want tom I really want to
do real estate. So I'm working to get a real

(03:57):
estate license so I can get away from you. Out
of understanding that, guess what we're working for you because
what I'm doing is a reflection of who I am.
And so they get caught up in the wrong thing
because everybody is. And I'm not saying this right wrong
or in death. I'm just saying that there's a better
way to do it.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, obsolutely. You learn to Papa, I learned you. Let
you learn how to drive. He lets you say, okay,
just follow me.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
We learned.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
I learned how to drive in the tobacco field. I
was five or six years old, and none of the
big kids wanted to go get the car.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
All the way down there, which was which was like,
and we're talking about like.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Sixty yards.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
We ain't talking about a mile, so the truck is
sixty yards. And they'd be like, hey, who wanted to
go get the truck?

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Gone? I'm five or six years old? Hey, all right,
just be careful, Pete. We so Lendy lady pressing the
gas because I can't see over the steer with Letty
he working the steeros, I'm working the stier.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
He working the steering wheel like there's no tomorrow. So
he liked it. Landy is so the truck is going
like this, and it's like, so imagine what that looked
like coming down the road. About this why it's hilarious.
But that's how we learned how to do things.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
You mentioned that sports would like you didn't get an
opportunity to play until like you're would not.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Have gotten a chance to play at Arnie Barter doesn't
if if Pop Pauk doesn't die, and I'm not gonna
say die in seventy seven or seventy nine or eighty one.
If he doesn't die, I never play football to America.
Who's gonna see this greatest day of my entire life,

(05:51):
because all I ever.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Wanted to do was play football.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Because everybody tell us, everybody will say, man, your brother
so fast he could he could play football, but because
of what transpired with my uncles. Because our high school
coach coaching my uncles, he also coached my mom. My
mom graduated in sixty So I let you know just
how long he's been a coach, and he let him.
Papa let my uncles and then play. He said, but wait,

(06:15):
who broke that leg? James James broke his leg, broke
his collar, broken collar bone, and he said, now, if
anything happens, who gonna help me in these fields?

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Who's gonna co coach follow?

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Who gonna pick my Well, he told Coach Hall that
Coach Hall didn't tell Coach followed that Papa had told
him that.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
So he let coach follow take the boys.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Home, and then they're like, who gonna pick my backer?
Coach Father was like, it ain't gonna beat me. He's
a haul di in't ten and that's it.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
And that's it.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
So it wasn't gonna be no more football. So and
I know how it sounds. I know how it sounds,
but I want you to understand the guy. An older
gentleman told me one time, he said, you know where
the dream is? And I said, no, sir. He said,

(07:04):
a dream is a gift you give to yourself. It's
the only dream I ever had. It's the only gift
I've ever given myself was to play football.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's why nothing ever bothered me.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
That's why having been red shirted my second year, which
was at the time the greatest year at the University
of South Carolina ever, had never bothered me. That's why
leaving the NFL, you know where people would say, dog,
you are not in your prime. You were coming into
your prime. Bro. My last year catching ninety something past

(07:38):
is for a thousand yards in eighteen touchdowns and never
play again never bothered.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Me because I had accomplished my dream.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
I had given myself that gift that I could give
to myself. Man, I was, you know, and a lot
of people don't understand that. But let me tell you.
Coming from where we're coming from, come from how we came,
I got no problems and got no.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I wouldn't know why your uh you cut me
with that knife? Man? Okay, hold on, where did I
cut you? On? The thigh.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Where'd you cut me? It's still that it's right out?
Well this why wait?

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Hold on?

Speaker 3 (08:18):
I wanted to see how sharp the knife was. Cut
through his jeans, cut his leg, two.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Pair of geans.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
The short hold on, he threatens me, So I got
to let him cut me. If you notice where my
cut is, and you probably can't see my cut, it's
right here, two centimeters to the left.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
I ain't here. I bleed out.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Look, it cost him a cut back and a couple
of you know, a couple of silver dollars, silver dime.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
What I gotta tell, Papa, I got I don't want
to tell, I gotta I gotta tell.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
If you don't let me get you back, got you
gotta tell, And then you wouldn't been here.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
And then I say, HI, wouldn't have been there. So
I'm definitely where I'm supposed to be. There's no doubt
about that.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Who do you think we got athleticism from Mam and dad?

Speaker 3 (09:09):
I honestly don't know. And the reason I say that
is is I don't know how. I know my mom
did something, I know my dad did something, but I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
I mean, the thing is, I'm.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Going to step outside the box and talk about athleticism
because I think a lot of people think, oh, because
of Lebron, Brinnie and all these other kids are going No,
what is your determination. I don't think you got to
where you got to because oh, you got your athleticism

(09:41):
from your mom and you got your smarts from your
dad or vice versa.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
No.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
I think because of your circumstance and what you saw
in that thousand block center block house made you develop speed, strength, skill, stamina,
and more importantly, determination that I to make this work
because I don't want that woman Mary Porter live in
like that anymore. And I don't think athleticism is inherited

(10:09):
or passed down.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
I don't believe that.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
I don't because I don't think you need athleticism to
be successful in sports. I think you need timing, luck,
grace of God to put you in a position. Let
me tell you, if I go to New York, if
I go to Texas, I go to California, we are

(10:32):
not sitting here having this conversation. If you go to
class and you are a straight A student, we are
not sitting here having this conversation. If I don't have
to come home and tell you bro you going to
Savannah State. We ain't going to Army. You're going to
Savannah State. We ain't having this conversation. Because of the

(10:54):
circumstance and the way things fall, it gives you an
opportunity to grow that which you need to do, that
which you need to do.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
That's all. That's what I believe. What do you think
your best sport was? In high school?

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Track?

Speaker 3 (11:17):
One hundred two hundred four one four by four long jump.
I think track was my best sport. Football was the
easiest because, as Buddy McCall used to say, the reason
why you run the triple options so easy is you.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Don't care about your stats. The triple option is trust.
The triple option.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Is I'm reading, I'm riding the fullback and I'm reading
the tackle, and then after I read the tackle, at
some point my eyes have to go to the end.
So I approached the end and I have to approach
his inside shoulder, and I have to determine and if
I can get there or if I need to pitch it.

(12:02):
I never cared about keeping it. I never cared about numbers.
Like I can't tell you. The one game I can
tell you in football was the one game I didn't
play against Montgomery County my senior year, the only game
I've ever missed because I got cut and it got
infected right here, and I didn't I was in the

(12:25):
hospital all week. I got out Thursday. I didn't play Friday.
That's the only thing I can tell you about. When
I look at track and field. I had battles Man Ladon,
Greg Stafford, herschel Walker, you know, going twenty three eight
in the long jump at the Georgia Relays. Winning that,

(12:48):
you know, against people in schools that I'd never heard
of or didn't know. Track was probably my best sport
because one hundred, two hundred four by one, relay four
by four and long jump, Yeah, I was probably I
was in the top two in the state knows for
a long time. Do you wish you had focused more

(13:10):
than No? Football was what I wanted to do. I
wanted to play football. I was going to be a
football player, come hell or high water. I was going
to be a football player. If I had to murder
two people, I was going to be a football player
right now.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
If I played. If I got in the NFL and
got cut, I'm fine.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
With that because I got there. I got my chance,
got my opportunity. It's all I wanted. So no, football
was what I wanted. That's where I wanted to be.
That's where my growth and development was from.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
You get a scholarship and you go to the Universus
South Carolina, but that's not where you really wanted to go.
You wanted to go to Clemson. I did until they
told you no, no, no. I went to South Carolina because
I knew everyone.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
You know, Dominique blasting game in Quentin Lewis and from
Bradwell Institute, which was Yesville. I had, you know, run
track against Thad Johnson Johnson County. I knew most of
the guys that were at South Emory Baker, my cousin
was at South.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Carolina, so I knew.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Let's say there was one hundred guys on the team,
I had either played football, basketball, or ran track against
eighty of them. So that's why I felt comfortable going
to South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Right, if you mentioned that, you got it.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
The only reason I wanted to go to Clemson was
because of Homer Jordan.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
You would you was number three, he was number he
was number three. But but you know, they wanted you
to play dB.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
They wanted me to play dB and I was like,
like Georgia, and I was like, oh, I need to
have a ball in my hands. But you know, my
favorite player Wascondrige Holloway at Tennessee Homer Jordan War number three,
So of course I gravitated to him.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
But Condric's Holloway. Yeah, man, Look.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
What do you remember most about your playing day at
the University of South Carolina? What made that so special?

Speaker 3 (15:09):
Because I can't get to the NFL without it, I
can't get there without South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
But just growing, man, just being there and figuring it out.
I almost flunked out of South Carolina.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
I was a knock on my door and our academic
advisor going sterling, you know, hey, I don't want to
bother you, but you know, next semester, if you don't
have a four point zero or three point six, you
gonna plunk out. You got to go back to Georgia. Man,
ride attractor.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh, we ain't doing this.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
I ain't never had that probably state, you know, be
I just say I got my work, got my work,
got my work, bro.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
We'll come back it out.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
But South Carolina gave me an opportunity to grow, develop
and more importantly, take what I had got from Glenville
and administer and empower that.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
In Columbia, that's what it did. But at the university,
you played a lot of You didn't play quarterback.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
They wouldn't let me, but go ahead, wide receiver, running back.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah. I think one year they tried to put your DVD.
Yeah they were. But in today's situation, kids will transfer. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
In my situation, I just want to play. So if
you want me to play defensive tackle at two hundred
and twelve pounds.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
You want me to play defensive end at two twelve,
let's do it. You know, because I just wanted to play.
And I think I think a lot of young people
get sidetracked. And I'm going to say young people, A
lot of people get sidetracked. And what I want and
where I am is the same thing. What I wanted
to do was play where I was. You know, being

(16:55):
at all these different positions wasn't the same thing, because
eventually it was gonna work its way out and now
I'm gonna play.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
So whatever that was, you know, if it was dB.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
Fine, if it was quarterback fine, if it was running
back fine, And it just turned out to be receiver,
and that's fine too, but I never got sidetrackedor caught
up in someone else controlling my destiny.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
They retired your number at the University of South Carolina
while I was still playing. You still playing, there have
been a lot of guys come and ask you, man,
can we read that number two?

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Why won't you let anybody wear it?

Speaker 3 (17:32):
The only guy that I considered was Deuced Daley kids
name Deuce. The reason why I want is once you
unretire it, now everybody canna wear it.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
And the university thought so much of me that they
were like, not only are arena, We're gonna let you
wear it, but we don't want anybody else to wear
And I thought, you know what, I'm doing this more
so for them, a little bit for me, but more
so for the University of South Carolina, because they thought
enough of what I did and how I did it

(18:12):
that they were like, we don't want anybody else to
wear this number.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Wow, why'd you pick the number two? Because you had
eighty five?

Speaker 3 (18:19):
I wanted number three, but skip meant and we didn't
know if he flunked out, was going to transfer, or
if he was coming back. I wanted three because I
went three in high school. I wanted three. So I
went in and talked to coach Morrison as coach, you know,
I want to get number three, and he goes, well,
I don't know what skip's going to do, so he
blows me off this way. Oh hell, won't you just

(18:42):
take number two? And the rest is history? He was like, okay,
it was a single digit number and the rest is history. Right,
That's how it worked. I have been blessed to be
led by a spirit that if I just get out
of it my way, it usually works out. I end

(19:03):
up in Green Bay. When I took my photo, being
their first round draft pick. I was holding up the
number thirty seven, not number one, not oh we're gonna
put you in number eighty four or eighty two, number
thirty seven. When I got there, they gave me eighty four.
Fast forward to email addresses. You got to come up

(19:25):
with an email address. My email addresses throw to it,
you know, coming out, and I'm like, I can't. I
can't make this up, right, So if I just stay
out of my own way, usually it works out.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
You get to go to the East West Shrine game,
which I followed. You and that would and you go
to the Senior Bowl. When you came out, what was
your expectations? And you playing those two bowl games and
now you go to the Combine. The Combine was vastly
different then than when it was when I come out
and what we see today.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
East West Shrine Game. I got a chance to meet
guys from the West Coast. Eric Allen, who's going into
the Hall of Fame this year, met. He and I
met and became really good friends. At the East West
All Star Game. We would talk about he was a
defensive back, I'm receiver. We talk about technique one. He
had never seen a receiver as big as me.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Two.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
I didn't know they played football plays the Mason Dixon line.
So we got a chance to learn some about each other.
The Senior Bowl was work, and I say work. Jim
Moore was our head coach, Jim Morrow, and he was
a coach, the Saints head coach at the time, and
Jim Morrow was all about banging and physical two things
that never bothered me. Hitting and being physical never bothered me.

(20:39):
The Combine, I did nothing, got wingspan and I went
home because it was like, Hey, you're going to be
a first round pick. There were six of us in
the first round. Tim went six, I went seven, Mike
went eleven, Anthony Miller, Aaron Cox, and I want to
say Ernie Jones, and I could be wrong, but I
think six of us went in the first round. So

(21:02):
I just went and did that, came back, ran, did
the lifting of my pro day, and the rest is history.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
When you got the call, did you know Green Bay?
You wanted to go to Tampa?

Speaker 3 (21:13):
I thought I was going to Tampa only because they
had drafted Vinnie the year before, and Ray Perkins, the
Tampa Bay head coach at the time, was like, you, Vinny,
we got that combination set for the next ten years.
I could either have gone one to Atlanta, four to Tampa,

(21:34):
seven to green Bay, eleven of Dallas. Green Bay wanted
Michael Irvin. If green Bay takes Michael Irvan, there's a
chance I saw. The only place I knew I wouldn't
going was Oakland because Tim brown and won the Heisman
and Al was gonna take the Speed.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Win't going there.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Okay, so it didn't have I didn't have much of
I wasn't gonna be around long if I didn't go
to Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
At something right, get to sign the bonus. You can
get that big old check.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Man, What does my brother want? I'm like, my sister goes,
I want your car. I'm driving the Nissign Maxim, a
two tone brown and gold on the bottom.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
That's yours.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
I'm driving around in a three hundred z X.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
Bro's like, yeah, I can roll with that. I take
that brug gets that. I get to Green Bay, I
get an endorsement deal with a car company. I'm driving
a Geep. The next year, nineteen eighty nine. My brother
is like, oohg you've seen them new new three hundred.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, yeah, cause you know cool more dcent. He drived
a be and wasn't ninety. I'm gonna drive a beer
three hundreds. I'm like, no, I ain't. I ain't see that. Yeah, man,
I like that. So I'm like, well, Bro, I want
to see he is. He's still a Samanna state.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
I'm like, so we get to three hundred e but
now he'd neseen somewhere in some magazine that you can put.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
Skirts on it. Kid that fag I had a kid
teen in Star five Star wheels. You don't put a
tail older, you don't put a wing on.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
The wing on the back he rolling in a Mercedes
three hundred e in college. Yeah, I'm driving a bmw
M three. That's about the size of this glass. But
that's just the way it was. Whatever he wanted, he
was gonna get it. I was gonna make sure that.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
You paid.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
You were basically paying all my bills until summer, until
summer was born. Yes, and when when summer was born,
I was like, bro, I got to let you go
because now my focus is this right here, you know,
her well being and of course taking care of but
college and all that other stuff.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
I'm like, bro, you you on your own. I remember
you calling me, going, man, I can't get a place.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
And without a co.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
Sign bring you in the NFL. Yeah, but I ain't
got no credit. Your first credit card, the Goal, the
Gold American Express I.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
Had, I had a Texan had a college got to
be doing and you know I passed them on the buck,
I buck.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
I got to put you out there. But you know,
all the belt and.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Jac Penny credit card, the gas card Texico. She ran
them up and then cut them up and didn't tell
me he ain't pay him up.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
You know, I really should have murdered my family a
long time ago, but I didn't. But no, it was
that that. The thing was is man, you were you
were it for me.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
You know.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Everything I did athletically I did for you. You know
I never did anything for public assumption. I did everything
for you. I wanted to make sure or I tried
my best that if you said that you wanted a
role model, you didn't have to look past our table
to find that that was.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
That was.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Do you remember I called you from Daytona when you
junk yard my mind? Yeah, I had the first one
in the state of South Carolina. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and
you junk Hey man, I junk yard.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
I junked yardy ship man Wait what wait what I'm sorry? Yeah?
So he and Emmett. Yeah, we're riding and.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
I had a white, well, I had a white, had
your white with MBA had a burgundy one at the time,
burgundy gold with with the gold emblem.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
And wasn't paying attention and ran into the trailer head
of a car and you ain't the Mercedes emblem out
and been up the front.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, I remember that those of the days, Those were
the days bad.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
What is it about your rookie year that you remember
most because a lot of people that hard.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
It was.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
It was hard. The verbiage ripped as eighty slide. I'm
ripped lizing eddy slide. I'm I'm running the bubble. I
go in motion, come back. I'm running the bubble twenty
eight lead. I'm always going right unless I'm told to
go left. Harrold's in the backfield twenty eight lead. When

(26:13):
I got to Green Bay, they were like, to flip
wide short ninety y option X smash. I was like, wait,
I'm sorry, could you repeat that year? Okay, to flip wide?
So that tells you to go into slots short ninety
that's the protection for the offensive line. Why option? If

(26:34):
you're outside an option? Because remember we're in flip slot.
Why tells the back to get outside the tight end?
You outside? Why option? You run a hende at thirteen
yards X is outside of me running a smash, So
you come off the ball real slow. Inside of smash,
you run a corner.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Oh. Hold on. Most of the defenses.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Were three four, so the blitz read was one defensive
back plus the outside linebacker. I'm thinking, oh the burbage, Yeah,
I could not. The first six weeks of the year,

(27:19):
I was just like, you know what, man, I should
have been a plumber two outside short ninety externs. He choose, Oh,
this is a four to three defense. So instead of
one plus the OLB in a three four, it just
takes one.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
When we play New York, the OLB is Lawrence Taylor.
But we don't want our back blocking Lawrence Taylor. So
we're gonna make him down. Wait what so he's coming
ninety percent of the time, right, we don't side it.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Just off him. So maths takes two? What hold on?

Speaker 3 (28:00):
This dude's standing right here getting ready to strangle me,
and I'm thinking he ain't thinking. That was the hardest part,
by far, was the verbiage and understanding Blitz's sighted justin
Blitz reads.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
And then you got a situation with the media. They
came down pretty hard on you. No, no, they didn't.
They were unfair to me only because they didn't ask me.
They came to me and they were like, hey, Lindy
said this. Lindy was my head coach, Lindy, and fine,
what am I supposed to do?

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Say?

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Lindy's crazy and you don't know what he's doing. He
don't know what he's talking about so they always led
me into a headache. And so it was kind of
twofold because remember you and I worked out in eighty
nine getting ready for the eighty nine season, and I'm like,
first of all, now I got it down. They're gonna
want to talk to me, and I'm not gonna say anything.

(28:57):
I never told him no. I would always say not
right now. And so because they never asked me about me,
what are my struggles? What am I going through? Everything
was leading well, you know, coach guys said this. You
know buddy, you know Lindy and Fannie coaching. Fannie said this,
So it was never just what do you think? What

(29:18):
are you going through? What do you deal?

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Right?

Speaker 3 (29:21):
And so it was kind of that, and I was like,
they gonna want to talk to me and I ain't
gonna have anything to say. And I ended up leading
the NFL and catches the follow the next year in
nineteen eighty nine.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, report did you come in?

Speaker 2 (29:35):
So what was your weight from the time that you
left the University of South Carolina and then your rookie
year at Green Bay.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
I was two o six when I got to I
was between two five and two twelve by junior and
senior year in college. Because remember you and I, we
were all about waste. We were all about throwing that eye.
We were all about benching, squaddy and power clings.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
We were throwing weight all our lives.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
We wanted to be was the four to six club, yep, bench,
four hundred, squat six hundred yep.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
That's all we did. So I was a solid.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
But you also got to remember when I came in
the league, corners didn't go to the huge because they
were standing at the line of scrimmage because they were like,
I got you.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
I don't care what the defense is. I got you.
So they said Green Bay said I was too big.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Granted they drafted me at two twelve, so I went
from two twelve to one ninety. I couldn't walk from
here to the door without cramping, So that was a
problem trying to deal with. Okay, I don't have any
body fat or salt or anything to be able to
so whenever the temperature got up, bro I cramped. Like

(30:45):
in college, I never came out for warm up because
it was so hot, been in South Carolina, I never
came out for warmup. So it was like I never
really you know, so it was all new to me
in Green Bay, and you know, they had a way
of doing things, and I had to adjust and adapt
to that way of doing things.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
They the injuries, you played through a lot of injuries.
You plowed through broken ribs. You had the turf toe
that you never practiced. You just shot the toe up
during the season, and then after the season you end
up having you had surgeon on that. How difficult was
it for you because you're not getting the Cardio Basculy and.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Man, you like, you know, the thing is is if
I play, don't treat me like I'm injured.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
I'm playing.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
And all the injuries I went through, if you look,
it was almost like I wasn't hurt, right, you know.
So my whole thing was is I just need to
be there on Sunday. I understand now what to do
on you know, Wednesday through Friday. I just need to
be there on Sunday. And I was fortunate enough to

(31:57):
be in a position to be able to perform being
nicked up in a way that I couldn't practice.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
After your rookie year, you come back, you lead the
league in catches, your first team All Pro, and then
ninety two ninety three, You're the first receiver in NFL
history to go back to back one hundred catches, first
team All Pro. How gratifying or satisfying was it to you?
They're like, I knew I had I knew I could
do this.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
It's just not what had no idea what it was
I was doing. I'm just doing it.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Hey, you call them a play, you know, and you
know the system as well as anybody. You know, change right,
see left, wagon right, double out, you know two jet Dino,
why shallow cross?

Speaker 1 (32:38):
You know, fox two X? Why I'm just running to play.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Because you had to coach. Now you could because at
that point in time, you have the coaching change. Now
you got I got Mike.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Honggeran who coached, who came from San Francisco with Jerry
Rice in that organization. So I'm not thinking about the numbers.
I'm just like, hey, man, I'm running the plays. And
they were like, hey, you know, and ninety two it
wasn't a thing. So I'm in the in the MVP
race and I'm like, man, I don't want to be

(33:08):
an MVP race for the Middle of Life, Layer of
the Year. I don't I don't know what this is.
I don't know what leading the league and catches, yards
and touchdown.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
I don't even know what that is. Steve Young, I
think won the MVP that year in ninety two, did
it one in ninety three and.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Then the ninety three yep, So I don't know what
that is. But I'm just running the place. I got
no expectation on number. The only time I ever paid
attention to numbers was a dude in Denver.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Was like, I'm better than you, Sterling, you know, better
than you.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
I bet you twenty grand I had more catches than
you have, more yards and more touchdown And I was like, bro,
don't do that.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
So the dude in Denver bet me that. But they
stole me out, man, Coach Reeves stowed me out. I
never won paid attention to the numbers. I never did.
I just was they called the player.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
I ran to play to the best of my ability,
and the numbers just added up.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Before you got the triple crown? Did you know what
the triple crown was? It wasn't a thing.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
I didn't know the Triple Crown was a thing until
Cooper could. The year Cooper Cup did it, the Rams
called me and asked me if I would send a
video message to them that they would play during the
game that I don't know if it was a playoff
game or regular season game for Cooper Cup. I didn't

(34:35):
even know it was a thing because I think Jerry
had done it in ninety Jerry did it first, yes,
and then I did it in ninety two. And remember now,
in eighty nine, I had led the league in catches
and touchdowns, So.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Didn't even know what that was. Just I'm playing. All
I'm doing is playing.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
So I had no idea the magnitude of what that
would turn out to be.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Being the number one option, because it doesn't matter what
defense they throw. You know, every Wednesday, when they go
on there, they circle you. We've got to stop him.
You're gonna get their best. You're gonna get the Eric Allens,
you're gonna get the Deon Sanders, You're gonna get the
Nis Williams, you're gonna get the Darryl Greens.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
You're going to get the best.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
And to be able to go out there every single
week in function and do your job, did you feel
any added pression?

Speaker 3 (35:29):
No, because guess what, they got a job to do,
and I got a job to do. But guess what,
just like I'm over here, if if quarterback seees where
he likes, I may get it.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
If he does and he goes elsewhere.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
My whole thing was, I just want to be in
the right place at the right time, and if you
need me, you throw it to me. And the only
thing I ever said to our quarterbacks in the seven
years I played was before we went out on the field,
or before introductions or whatever the case may be, where
I had that moment, I would always say to our quarterbacks, let.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Us help you. Just let us help you. Let us help.
But I.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Tried to explain this to people that the best of
my ability. Man, I never cared about numbers or rankings
or any of that. I was doing what I wanted
to do and playing. And when I got Mike Homegren
in ninety two, I did understood. I understood what I got.
I got a system that would allow me at the
receiver position to end football games. And I was like,

(36:36):
that's a lot because when you can end for you
know usually and you would know this playing for Mike,
who was in San Francisco at Shanahan.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
At one point, you throw to get the league, you
run to keep it.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
Yep, So we're gonna get the lead and then we're
gonna turn it over it in your case, TVP, we
threw to get the lead, and we threw the end
the football game. And I was at the beginning and
the end of both of those.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Right.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
That is in that which is really ironic because of
all the debating on who's the greatest, you know, Michael
or le Bron and you go, Michael had the system
to triangle Go, yeah, but you know it's Michael Jordan.
Well then you look at LA and Kobe had to
triangle with Phil and there's five out there. And then
you look at Steve Kerr and Golden State, there's four there.

(37:22):
We know what San Francisco did in the system when
I got that system, which.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Allowed me to not have to change.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Mike never once carried about if I weighed twenty one
or two twenty four. The system allowed me to end
football game. Oh that was different. And if there was
one thing that I would like to change is I
would like to check play one more year in that system,
selfishly because of what that system provided for me to do.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
John Gruden, who was you? I think Gruden was your
position coach Wedding was.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
In the last two years. Yeah, he compared you to
Michael Jordan. He said, the more time Sterling touches the ball,
the better chance we have to win. It's no different
than when the Chicago Bulls rote Michael Jordan the three championships.
What was Gruden like find okay? Was he always that animated?

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Yes, extremely intelligent. I'm not gonna say smart. He was
extremely intelligent. He's always looking you're on first down, He's like, well,
I'm third and two, I'm gonna do this.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
He's always there.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
John was always the kind of person that would be like, hey,
can you stay for a minute. I want to show
you something and build my game. I had three outstanding
position coaches. Buddy got Sherm Lewis, John Grugel, and they
all took my game as high as they could before
I got the next one. So it wasn't like, you know,

(38:51):
Buddy for four years, he couldn't take me any higher.
Sharm for two years, Sharm for a year, and then
I got Gruden for two years. And what John gave me.
He was energetic, intelligent, and he was always thinking two
three moves ahead, which benefited me tremendously.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Those years with Jerry and Michael. That was kind of
the competition. Although Andre Rising.

Speaker 3 (39:19):
As far as going to the Pro Bowl and who
thought it was Carter better and all that.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
From ninety two to ninety four, you had three hundred
and fourteen receptions, thirty eight hundred and fifty four yards,
forty two touchdowns that same time frame, Jerry had two
ninety two forty two oh three and thirty eight touchdowns.
There was that competition. Well, who's really the best receiver
in the NFL currently right now? Is it Sterling Sharp
and Greenvey or is it Jerry in San Francisco?

Speaker 1 (39:46):
If you say so that, I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
Like I said, I just rolled out put my helm
when I rolled out there and tried to, you know,
put up some I was playing.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
Man, I'm playing football. You know.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
All that other stuff is the fan that's the fans stuff.
I enjoy that I'm playing football. And so, but like
I said, when I got Mike Holmgren in that system,
and I got sherm Lewis and John Gruden and Mike
Holmgren calling the plays and talking to me like you
and I are sitting here talking, he gave me something

(40:19):
that I never ever had before, and Buddy McCall tried
to give.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
It to me, but I didn't understand it.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
I had ownership. I had ownership. Usually when you're the quarterback,
yes you're gonna have ownership. I was a receiver and
I had ownership of our offense, and that was something
that had never I didn't understand, but I went with it,
and that was really cool having Mike Hunger and talk
to me during games and be like, what are they

(40:47):
doing on what do you see on third?

Speaker 1 (40:49):
And this? You know, what do you like? Oh? Well,
you know?

Speaker 3 (40:55):
Because I had ownership, It was really cool to be
a part of that system and that offense for the
length of time I got to play at it.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Have you thought about your Mott Rushmore receivers that had
you had, had you continue, let's just say you play
another five years.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
It's unfair and I have constantly shied away from it
because no one's gonna have Don Hudson. First, Don Hudson
had ninety nine touchdowns when they were throwing the box
twice again, ninety nine when they were throwing it two
times a game. No one's gonna add him. No one's
gonna happen when I mentioned Charlie Henninigan. Nobody's gonna mention

(41:30):
them last. No one's gonna mention Lambs. You know, no
one's gonna mention Raymond Berry. And I'm like, how fair
is it? Because you're only going to talk about what
you see. I'm not gonna do that to those guys
because they were actually Hella receivers in their own right.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Do you think anybody's gonna break Jarvis's record, which won
one hundred and ninety seven career touchdown catches.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
He has two o seven total thousand yards fifty.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
It'd be hard to say no, because the the adding game,
when the rules that were set up for them to
do it. Yeah, So do I think someone will do it? Yes,
only because of the way the game is going. Remember
when in our day, defenses could impose their will on you. Yes,
they could deter you from six catches and four touchdowns

(42:24):
a year.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
They can't do that now.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
The players don't want to do that now, right, So yeah,
somebody will break that eventually.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Yeah, somebody will break it.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Jim Brown had a quote reftless so he said he
could play in any era.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
Greatest quote, greatest compliment ever gotten athletically, greatest compliment ever
gotten athletically.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
How different is the game today than when you played.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Other than the defenses imposing their wills. And you don't
have to be a technician. I prided myself and being
a technician, I'm getting out of my break with the
best of them. Dion was a lot faster here, but
and I'm developing a counter to his speed, a counter
to Dion. And when we're using Dion, because he's one
of the greats, I'm using prime Dion speed. I got

(43:12):
to counter it with power. There ain't no sense in
me and you running forty fifty sixty yards, you're probably
gonna win. Now, okay, here's this to be doing it?
But I tell you what I will do. Let's see
what you look like after eight catches and you got
to make six tackles.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Let's see what you look like after.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Eight slams, eight hitches, eight comebacks, eight curls. Because now
I'm putting him in what I feel and got nothing
to do with him. I'm putting him in what I
feel his uncomfort zone is hamp for Dition and Frank Minifield,
Albert Lewis, and Kevin Ross Carl Lee and Naji Muhammad

(43:51):
straight up bump and run corners. I got Mac and
watching the line, L Yes, I got. I got to
counter what you do well and encountering what you do well.
I'm bringing power. I'm bringing two hundred and twenty pounds
and I won't contact. You know, back then they didn't

(44:13):
have smoke, but I wanted that smoke. I want to
see you make this tackle because that was my way
of imposing my will on them.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Andy Reid said, if you didn't get hurt, you would
go down as maybe the greatest receiver to play the game.
How was the and of the coach? And it was
a tight end coaching.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yes, fun loving, outstanding, very intelligent and really in tuned
with the team.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
What Mike Holmgren did.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Was prepared all those guys to be head coaches. Yep,
he did a really good job of that. I love
Mike to this day because he was a lot like
I try to be. He just gave it away. You
want information here it is. You want money to a
default here it is, You want time here it is.
And Andy Reid is the spitting image of Mike Homegrin

(45:05):
because he just you see how Patrick Mahone played without restriction.
Just give it away, go ahead and play your way.
I'll adjust.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Loved the way Andy was with me in Green Bay
and how he's doing now in Kansas City.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Who's the toughest corner? You played against.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Ricky Reynolds and Tampa, Don Griffin and San Francisco and
in my division also, I would say Carl, Ricky Reynolds
and Don Griffin were technically sound as fast as me
wanted to make every tackle. Yeah, Carl was difficult because

(45:45):
he was long, he had really good speed. He wasn't
above average and speed, but he was long, and he
was technically probably the most dominant corner technically that I
played again, because he was all about the positions, because
if I hit my positions, I put you in the
positions I need you to be in for me to

(46:07):
cover you. So he I mean those three guys because
I played against Don he was in my division every year,
and then I played against Carl, who was in my
division every year.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Because only you face time what once or twice.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
Twice here, once at Fulton County, once in the dome,
right and times.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
So he ain't want no problems and say you just
too strong.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Only only because of what he brought at the time
when he brought to the table in Fulton County. He
was everywhere inside outside, He followed me. When we played
in the Dome was the probably the only time I
remember Tim mccarr hey man, what you doing here ain't
gonna and it ain't gonna in well for you. And

(46:52):
only because that's how I talked.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
I was. I was trash talking, friendly but personal.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
But those three guys Carl Lee, Don Griffin and San
Francisco Ricky Reynolds in Tampa technically where the three probably
when you can cover and tackling because you had to
block them because they were they wanted to make the
tackle on the running back or so you had to
block them. They were probably the three technically most sound

(47:21):
guys I played.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Who is your favorite player to watch? When you're standing
on the sideline and you watching somebody.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Anthony Carter by far, and I'm not talking, I probably
can't tell you to catch Anthony Carter made in the NFL.
But when I saw number one at Michigan, I was like,
that's it right there, That right now is what I want.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
I know where I want to be now. I want
to be that right there.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Anthony Carter, uh was my favorite player, and I met
him once in the airport after he and I were
both done playing. Anthony Carter when he was at Michigan.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Ain't nobody better? What was your favorite route? Smoke? May
you just want to catch a hitch?

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Yes, sir, If you throw it forty yards and I
go seventy. You know, if you throw it fifteen yards
and I go forty. But if you throw it behind
the line of scrimmage and I run over to guys
and pick up fourteen yards, they remember, you remember, And

(48:27):
so I just wanted the ball in my hands. So
when I got Mike homegrin and he caught smoke thunder
on and you know, smoke thunder on the hall Man
three step lion a lion, Denver, Colorado. You know when
we got those where we were just running hitches, slants, stops,

(48:49):
slant goals, get it in, get it to me as
quick as possible.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
You have a pregame routine. No one could touch my hands.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
So I was never a high five nobody because I said,
if nobody can touch nobody can touch my hands, nobody
can get my head. But my pre game routine was
when I came. When I got one in the NFL,
because remember I didn't come out in college. In the
NFL was just to come out and just to be
out enjoy looking around stadium fans, see friends that you developed.

(49:21):
I got a chance to spend time with you on
the you know during pre game.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Maybe you held the lane in Temple, yelled at the
road to Temple and other than the game.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Line high five on us when we came out, and
Lindy was like, who the hell is that?

Speaker 1 (49:33):
I was like, it's my brother. They about to be
to come back because you showed that you had a Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Show did, But no, I didn't really have a pregame routine.
I was just more of I'm ready to go, let's go.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
You played with T Crew, Ted Crew, what was T
Cruise like? Man? I thought it just showed. You know.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
Terry was one of the guys that showed me. I
didn't know what I was looking at, but I he
was fun, he worked, and I say he really wanted
the NFL. He put it in the time, he put
it in the effort, and I was really I can
say I was disappointed when Terry got let go because
I thought with his size, his strength and his feet,

(50:12):
he would definitely make our right the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
You had a couple that your first playoff game Detroit,
three touchdowns, the game winning touchdown.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
What do you remember about that game.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
That I was trying to come out on the game
winning touchdown. I was trying to come out of the
game because of my turf toe. We ran flanker drive
and the guy fell on it, and I'm Robert Brooks
is standing from me to you, and I'm trying to
tell him to come in the game, and Mike is
telling Brett to play twenty five twenty five double square

(50:51):
out yep, Mark Clayton. So we as the receivers made
the decision to win, not going to switch side. What
we're gonna do is is Ed West goes left. Mark
now as the ex you're the flankers, step off twenty
five twenty five, twenty five. Kevin Scott's standing right there.
I know the safety's coming over the top, so it's

(51:12):
three cloud. Brett takes his drop, looks at Mark Clayton.
There is no one within one hundred miles of Mark Clayton,
no one. Brett could have underhanded the ball and it
would have been a catch and Mark would have probably
gotten to the one three cloud corner squats. Everybody rolls

(51:33):
over safeties right behind me. I'm running, I run to
Scott kind of drifts well our tight end ed I
think it was Ed West pops wide open on the
basic cross and the safety that was supposed to be
over the top jumpson and Brett goes. It's the only

(51:54):
time I've ever seen his eyes. I've caught a lot
of deep bass from Brett, but usually you know when
you run a deep route, look up right. So it
was the only time, and it was almost like he
was like Clayton, no, I'm gonna move, and he just
let it go. Game set, match, Tracey else the contract.

(52:17):
You had some contract issue with the Packers. They promised
you one thing and that it didn't happen. You go
through training camp, you do everything, and then the night
before the first.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
Game, which is how it's supposed to be done. Yes,
and I'll say this.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
Worked out well for me because after that season, I
never played another down. So with that those monies, I
was able to secure most of my future because I
got to increase my insurance, not knowing I got to
secure my family's future based on that decision of holding

(53:01):
out of the first game. I was going to miss
the first game and I was going to do it,
but it worked out.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Your final season, you have ninety four catches, eleven hundred
and nineteen yards. The eighteen touchdown is still currently tied
for third most touchdowns any single season.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
When there's only one person happier, two people than me.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
That my career ended.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
And I was a two specialists that said you should
definitely play football again. They were the happy they were,
you know, they were like, hey, based on what we see,
you shouldn't play football again. I was up the table.
I was like, okay, appreciate that information. And because remember
all I wanted to do was play. I wasn't playing

(53:51):
for a length of time or status or to be
on someone's Mount Rushmore or be considered one of the great.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
I just wanted to play right and I did that.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
And so when it was time for me to find
something else to do, the American dream was you go
to college and get your degree and allows you to
compete with anyone for a position or a job. I
had my degree, and I was like, I couldn't you know,
once I get out of this neck braks, I'm going
to be able to compete and lo and behold. I
ended up in TV. But my career, my job ending

(54:26):
then did the way it was supposed to, because I
would probably be still trying to play if it was
it didn't.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
What do you remember because I remember watching the game
and I saw you blocking your former teammate Brad Edwards
for the Falcons, and then you just like to lapse.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
What you don't see, what you didn't see.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
Being in Denver was I had been having episodes in
nineteen eighty nine, my rights, my left side went no. Okay,
just standing here talking to the guys at practice one day,
left side went no. In nineteen ninety one, my right leg,
left shoulder would just go numb. The end of ninety one,

(55:08):
I could control my hand, but I had no feeling
in it. So I started having symptoms, and then I
started having a lot more my last season, you know,
holding my head down, I could feel my spine vibrating,
and when you hit your spine, it feels like you're
on fire, and I.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Would be like, ooh, that burns, you know.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
So I started having I started having episodes, and I
kind of had an idea what it was, but you go.
You know, you still can do everything, So I keep doing.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
It lying on the field. You laid there for like
three minutes, and I remember you tell me I was trying.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
I was.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
I was trying to get up, yeah, but I had
no strength to get up. And then Andre Rising, one
of my best friends, Andre Rising, is top talking to
me and he is making me laugh. So Andre and I,
I'm laying on the field. I can move, but I
can't control my movement. But I'm laughing with this fool.

(56:12):
And then Brad comes over and he's like, Stirl, you okay.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
I'm like, yeah, yeah, I just need to, you know,
because I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Why
can't I can move? But why can't I get it upright?
And then all of a sudden, the feeling came back
and I was fine. And I remember before that I
caught a touchdown pass on the right side. Well, the
corner hits me and I turned my left ankle so

(56:38):
bad that I tore the tape and I used to
get taped to my skin. So when you tear that tape,
that's severe. And my ankle was about this big and
in hindsight, that was.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
The signal for me to be like, shut it down.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
But I'm like, no, retape it, you know, take that
back up and we'll make it go again. And so
I knew after that game that I probably was not
going to play again.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
But you played the following week because you go to Tampa.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Only because we needed to have a home playoff game, right.
And I told Mike, I said, hey, if you're gonna
get it to me, you better get it to me
early because I don't know how long I'm gonna be
in this game, right, And I had this thing was
about that big and I don't practice all week, right,
And I ended up with I don't know the particular

(57:31):
numbers about.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Now for a buck thirty two and three touchdowns, that
the last time you ever caught a pass in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
But I knew, if you're gonna get it to me,
you better get it to me early. I don't know
how long I'm gonna be in this.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
You reinjured the neck when you re I think Thomas
ever glazed you as he went back.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
He didn't even you know.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
The thing was is, like I said, the episodes that
I was having. I remember one day one night laying
in bed and luger my rock barn and I jumped
up and hit my spine and fell back and was
like what the I could move, but I had no
control over my move So I had had symptoms for

(58:11):
like nine weeks. That was, you know, leading up to
this is it, which made it easier for me because I,
you know, it wasn't like one hit that's it. You know,
I had enough tell tale signs that it was like
this is it?

Speaker 1 (58:29):
Did you ever think about coming back? No? I can.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
I think I can say this now it's been enough time.
Jerry Jones called me at ESPN and asked me, sterling it,
could you play? And I said yeah, but I but Jerry,
I'm not gonna play football anymore. When I was doing
TV in nineteen ninety five, asked me if I could play,
But no, I never considered coming back because that that
I'm what am I coming back forward? Because I did

(58:56):
what I wanted to do, and that would be move
when the goal post on God, because I asked him
to let me play, and if I come back to play,
I'm moving the goal post post, which is unfair and
I didn't want to do that.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
When the packers waged you, did you have any emotions
where they're like, ro I mean, y'all, no.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
I understood, well, I knew, we knew, we knew. I was.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
Here's the only thing that the packers did that bothered me.
Not one person called to say, how'd your surgery go?
Because they're fixing my spine? That I could, I could
roll out of there and never walk again. I could
die on the operating table. Not one person from the

(59:41):
organization said, hey, you know, how'd your surgery go? Not
the cold one person from the organization was like, hey,
look man, god we're pulling for you. You know, let
us know if you need anything. Not one person in
the organization checked up. That was the only thing that
I was. I wasn't bothered. I was disappointed in you

(01:00:02):
don't owe me anything, but I as men a common decency,
common courtesy, and the fact that that was life altering.
Not one, not one person from the organization. I don't
think you understand. That's player, trainer, front office, cod damn

(01:00:26):
no one.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
That's the only thing that bothered me. Not one player,
not one player.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
And I got no problem with that, because hey, look man,
we understand how cutthroat the business is.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
The season just ended. We just lost to Dallas in
the divisional round.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
I think it was for a chance to go to
the NFC Championship game.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
All this is happening, and so I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
You leave in Green Bay, gatting out of the cold,
You're you're trying to figure out some got contracts, babies
being born, Hey, man, life happens.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
But not one person from the organization was like, how
did the thing go?

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
Yes, and that that botherer was that's odd. That that
a common decency. And I'm saying a common yeah, a
common decence. That's not asking too much.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
Now. I didn't add, hey, look, I understand.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
Organization wise, you got to find uh uh do you
have the receivers in the room that we can go
from where we are and keep going upward.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
I get that. What pieces are we going to bring
in to help us? I get that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
Not one person, trainer, no one bothered me to the
point I was okay, man, I'm like. As soon as
I got out of my braves, Doc said your neck
is solid, I was like, okay, I'm good. And then
you know, everything fell into place with the ESPN. I
was off and running, and it was so funny that

(01:02:02):
I never thought about it until the Hall of Fame happened.
And when the Hall of Fame happened, now I start
to hear from people in the organization, and I'm saying
to myself, how do I feel about that? Honestly, Like,
you know what, when I was at my proverbial lowest,

(01:02:25):
never hurt from them what you would perceive as my highest.
I really don't need to hear from y'all. I'm not mad,
I'm not disappointed. It's just none of the people that you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
Can't have one without the other right now.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
Granted there's a lot of change in turnover, all change
from all change and turnover from when I was there
until now, but still, you know, it was still a
little bit nutsting. It doesn't have the value it should.
And I was just like, you know, you know, the
Green Bay Packers were gracious and to throw me a

(01:03:01):
Hall of Fame party at the Hall of Fame, and
I did everything on my can't that I could to
get them not to because I'm like, I don't feel
comfortable accepting that, you know. But but Kathy and the
Green Bay Packers have been wonderful.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
This group of folks have been.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
How how many from the former Packers like when you
were there the organization? Do you think will be at
the ceremony on Saturday? I have no idea. I do
know Don Mkowski. I will say I believe Ron Hallstrom,
but I really don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
I'm not that guy. I'm not nostalgic. Man.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
I lived twenty something miles from the University of South Carolina.
I ain't never been back to watch a game. I've
never been to alumni we can in Green Bay. I'm
not that guy. I mean, I did what I wanted
to do, and man, have at it. I'm just not
built that way to be. I think of my teammates,

(01:04:03):
I probably talked to two, maybe three keep inside Perry Kemp,
Clance Weathers, Don Makowski.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
Every now and then, he and I'll link up. I'll
see him somewhere. But I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
I mean, I loved all my teammates. I loved playing
with him, Leroy Butler, who was a Hall of Famer.
But I don't, you know, I don't talk to a
lot of them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
When you leave, you don't play.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
In ninety five year, retire, and the next two years
the Packers go to the Super Bowl, they win when
they lose one, did you like?

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Damn?

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
No, I didn't play football to go to the Super Bowl,
didn't play football to go to to the Hall of Fame,
didn't play football to be in All Pro, didn't play
football to go to the Pro Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
I did know that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
The first year I went, I took living and I
wanted to go back so I could take you. And
then the next time I was like, the next time
I go back is when he plays in one. He
don't plan one. I ain't going back. And the next
time I went, you made it. So I'm not, as
I said, I'm not built that way. You know, Green
Bay going At least I had an idea. A lot

(01:05:10):
of the guys were still on the team of what
they were going through to get there. Andre Rising slid
into the number eighty four. Yeah, caught a touchdown. I
was extremely happy for him and that success, but no,
it never bothered me.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Now we're less than a week away from going into
the Pro Football Hall of Fame and what they're three
eighty two, three eighty three, I'm three eighty two. But
we're the first set of brothers. Yes, that's cool. Of
twenty over twenty five thousand men that have played, that's coached, owned,

(01:05:46):
general managed over twenty five thousand men.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
We're the first two brothers. Wow, have you thought about
what that meant? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
Yeah, two little black boys from Glenville, Georgia that didn't
have a male figure in the household after age eleven
or ten and thirteen, that was pretty much predominantly raised
by women that didn't live in a house. We're running
water until nineteen eighty eight. Absolutely, it's just, you know,

(01:06:18):
it's God's gift to being on the path, not deviating
from that path, not trying to alter that path, and
not trying to change you know what.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
We could always get there from where we were at. Yeah. Man,
who reminds you what receiver reminds you of you today? None?
And Gwambolden. That's what I was gonna say when kwam
Bolden was probably the one.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
THEO you know too, But you met to before I
need too? Yeah, Yeah, t O and I go way
way back. I want to say to was in high
school when I met Teo too. Kind of in a way,
I don't know if he is at as then I'm
gonna say physical in a sense, I don't think he

(01:07:04):
loves contact like I did.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
But t O.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Baby Deebo Samuels, who's a South Carolina gamecock.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Also, Debo just got to stop getting hurt.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
Man. I need you every day, Debo. But Debo reminds
me a lot of me.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Yeah, if you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Could play with any quarterback currently playing today, who would
like to currently playing currently play it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
And I'm gonna say Joe Burrow because I would like
to say I would like to help him. I'm not Hey,
Jamar has done there. You know, hey, man, that cat's
that cat's special. But I think Joe Burrow just in
from what I have seen since he's been in the league,
since he left Ohio State actually went to l SU.

(01:07:58):
What I've seen, I think I'd like to play with him,
just to see what he sees and hear what he
says and how he talks. You know, playing with Patrick
Mahomes be like playing with Brett you.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
Know, hey here you know or and you know, believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
Patrick Mahomes has a lot more Mike Tomzacht than he
does Mike Brett bark but t Zach or flip it
to you, throw it behind his back, you know, call
a running play, miss the handoff, roll out and be like,
here's a flip, you know, touchdown right here, Lamar. I'd
like to play with Lamar Lamar Jackson too, you know.

(01:08:38):
And I go back and forth because I've had this
conversation with myself. Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson are the
two I think I'd love to play with.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Just to just to get a feel for their game
and what they see you left the game.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
And I think the thing is about golf is that
I don't think I'm off base saying this that you
love playing golf more than you ever love playing football.

Speaker 3 (01:08:59):
By far, I make on average seventy four decisions around.

Speaker 1 (01:09:05):
It ain't none of them right.

Speaker 3 (01:09:08):
Ain't none of them right, whether it's the right club
or the right line on this fuck, or the right
shot shape to hit, or the right club. It's seventy four,
seventy six decisions.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
And they're all wrong. But you know what, you accept them.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
And remember you ain't doing this for Tiger or Scottie
Scheffler or Jack Nicholas.

Speaker 1 (01:09:31):
You out here playing for you.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
It's the exact same way and the exact same paralletter
that I had playing football. So if I shoot seventy eight,
ain't nobody happier than me? If I shoot sixty eight,
ain't nobody happier to me? Because I'm doing this, I'm
playing this. I'm out here for me and me alone.
So it's wonderful. Like I said, I love I love

(01:09:54):
the fact that I got to make a decision and
I got to support and live with that decision. Nobody
care about the decision I make with me. You have
played against Jordan, not against him, No, not even with him.
I've played behind him and in front of him, but
not even when he would go into Tahoe, not even

(01:10:14):
with him. Right if y'all played, you think you beat him?
Nowadays he would probably. You know, I have lost a lot, man,
you know, which which wonderful. We haven't talked about my
eye surgeries. I've had enough eye surgeries that my life
and game has changed, and I have my body atrophy,

(01:10:37):
lost strength, distance. You know, I don't know how much
Mike is playing with small kids, and you know, I
don't know how much he's playing, but I can still
get it around it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
Just you know, it's different.

Speaker 3 (01:10:49):
It's like you know, driving a car, but it's not
a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, but it'll take you and
get you where you need to go.

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
Well, you mentioned the surgery, and since you brought it up,
you had a very serio I issue three and.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
Got another one.

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
You know, I had a retina that that was detached,
that tour that had a cataract removed, and now have
a hole? Am I retina as I'm sitting here right now,
So I am going. I was supposed to have surgery
the monday after the Hall of Fame induction, but I
was like, will I be able to fly to Green

(01:11:26):
Bay on September eleven to get my ring? And he said, ooh,
that's cutting it close. And I said, well, is it
possible to postpone the surgery until after September eleven? Because
we know it tour somewhere between July third and last week.

(01:11:48):
So my surgery is pushed postponed until after September eleventh.
But I'm going to be face down, reading a surgery
gas bubble, face down for X amount of hours a
day for fourteen, sixteen, eighteen days. Again, so it takes
a lot out of you because and I think I

(01:12:09):
said this to you, I've never contemplated suicide. But because
of what I've gone through since October with this, I oh,
I got a.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
Great understanding of it right now.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
Because when you go through the four drops four times
a day, you got three drops three times a day.
You got two drops five times a day, and each
one of those drops got to be five minutes apart.
So when you are tired and you jump into bed,
wait a minute, what's your drop regimen? When you get
up and you got to get back face down, what's

(01:12:41):
your drop regimen? And remember each drop has to be
five minutes at least five minutes apart. So you get
to a point where you're like, man, the hell with
these drops. But I'm doing everything I can to try
and save my vision and my eye, and so it
is taxing, it is trying it because of my eye,

(01:13:03):
I probably have not enjoyed being a selectee to the
Pro Football Hall of Fame as much because if you
ask me and November, I'll give you a choice. I'll
give you back sight in your right eye as you
had it, or I will make you a Pro Football
Hall of Famer. I would have chosen my right eye

(01:13:26):
every day and twice on Sunday, that's that's how where
I am.

Speaker 1 (01:13:32):
With this, because it's it's you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:38):
Yeah, I just had a cataract removed July sec July first.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
And let me tell you what's really crazy is.

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
You're like, I'm never it doesn't seem like I'm ever
gonna catch. This might be the first time I lose.
This might be the first time I lose. And when
I say lose, I'm not in control. I don't know
the outcome. I'm not prepared for the outcome. I'm like
this I and there's no pain. This might be the

(01:14:13):
first time I lose, which is really not difficult, but
hard to understand and to carry.

Speaker 1 (01:14:20):
Why is family so important to you?

Speaker 3 (01:14:22):
It's all I had When I had nothing, I had
you guys. When I got what people thought was everything,
I had you guys. And so when you look at family,
you look at people that may not care that you
are a hall of Famer. That's great. You look at
people that may be really excited at you're a hall

(01:14:43):
of Famer, that's great. You look at people that like
to talk a lot outstanding. You look at people that
don't talk. I mean, I go home to see Libby
and we may say fifteen twenty words a day, you know,
and people were like, what really.

Speaker 1 (01:14:59):
I mean you and I.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
Used to be together and we would say, hey, man,
when you want to eat, Hey you want to go
to the movie?

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
Yeah? Okay, I mean we didn't. It wasn't like a
lot of burbage.

Speaker 3 (01:15:10):
So you know, family is everything because you don't have
to do and be a certain way to be.

Speaker 1 (01:15:17):
Around them or with them.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Bro, congratulations, thank you. What half of the First Brothers
is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? The best
half of the pro first brother in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame. The lady at a Sweetened Savory ATL.
She said, I want to do something special for your brother.
I said, well, it's favorite cake is at last I
checked it's probably read be able to German chok and
no problem. She said, I can do what I can do.

(01:15:41):
I can I say, can you get it done? She said,
I would love to get it done. She made this.
This is a sweetened Savory ATL. Sweet Savory thank you.
I think I think I DMed her yes about one
of her cakes she had online. I think I was like, oh,
I need to get one of those.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
Yep. So but no, thank you you very much. Sweet
and savory a t L. Yeah, we're gonna it's him.
He got he got a sweet too. The half of
that'll be gold. But he might not make it back
to Columbia. Dahn's here. We're gonna knock a hole in
that right there.

Speaker 3 (01:16:14):
All my life, grinding, all my life, Sacrifice, hustle Pad
the Price.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
One slice got the brother. All my life.

Speaker 3 (01:16:22):
I've been grinding all my life, all my life, grinding
all my.

Speaker 1 (01:16:26):
Life, Sacrifice, trustle Pad the Price. One slice got the
brother all my life.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
I've been grinding all my life