What Happened to That Guy? Kelly Gregg

The former Ravens defensive tackle went back to his country roots and is now a college sports broadcaster who still reps his Ravens pride.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Readings and welcome to What Happened to That Guy? A
Ravens podcast about former players and life after football. I'm
your host John Eisenberg. As the Ravens head coach in
the early two thousands, Brian Billick always wanted to make
sure he had his finger on the pulse of the
locker room. So after the two thousand and fourth season,
he took a week and flew around the country on

(00:25):
Steve Bischotti's private plane to visit with several team leaders.
I know, nice work if you can get it right.
When he flew to Dallas to meet with Dion Sanders,
Dion arranged for him to be picked up in a limo.
The limo took Billick to sanders Mansion, a suburban enclave
in a gated community. After they visited for a few hours,

(00:46):
Sanders limo took Billick back to the airport. He flew
on to Las Vegas, where Jonathan Ogden, the All Pro
offensive tackle and future Hall of Famer lived during the offseason.
Ogden picked him up at the airport, but rather than
go back to the house to discuss the Ravens, the
two guys hit the Vegas Strip. I mean, why wouldn't you.

(01:07):
They wound up at a fancy restaurant eating steaks at
midnight as they chatted about the Ravens. Billick then got
back on Bishotti's plane and flew to Oklahoma to see
Kelly Greg, the squatty nose tackle who manned the middle
of the Ravens defensive line for nearly a decade. I'll
let Billock tell the story from here and apologies he

(01:28):
does curse as he recreates his get together with Greg.
I fly in I think Oklahoma City and he picks
me up in a beat up his original fe I
mean it was a pizza ship and we went to
which was clash of killing, you know, and sat there
for three hours. You went where I'm sorry? Okay, yeah,

(01:49):
I kicked me up on his beat up, shitty truck.
That was Keret. Greg came to the Ravens from his
native Oklahoma, and he's back there now in retirement, happily
married for more than two decades, a father to three
growing boys who surely get fed at Eyehop now. And then.
When we spoke by phone for this podcast, Greg was

(02:11):
riding out a violent thunderstorm in the cab of his truck,
possibly the same truck he used when Billick visited all
those years ago. I asked him if he kept up
with his former teammates. You bet, I'm on a you know, obviously,
especially deep in to buy. I taught Dwan Edwards, Johns
and Justin Danae Revor Fries once in a bloomerle I

(02:31):
have too many adult beverages and I'll shoot all those
guys at Jack Nobal Reminisce. Fans love Greg like few
players who've worn the Ravens uniform. It was just a
perfect fit. Like Baltimore, Greg was an undersized underdog without
airs or pretension, spend a season on the practice squad
before getting a chance to play, never expected anything, knew

(02:55):
he'd have to work extra hard to keep whatever he got,
and as much as the ends loved him, his teammates
loved him more. He was a sawed off former high
school wrestling champion who loved to line up and hit people,
and also loved the give and take of locker room banter.
Before and after practice, he'd waddled through the carpeted locker

(03:15):
room with a big grin on his round face, zinging
his teammates with good nature. Barbes and cackling when they
zinged him back. He was the first to tell you
he wasn't real complicated. Growing up in Edmond, outside Oklahoma City.
He'd liked to play football and wrestle and hunt and fish,
and he hadn't really changed. He was genuine country, as

(03:37):
they say. His former d line sidekick Trevor Price told
me Greg was just about the funniest guy he'd ever met.
We always had, you know, great time and locker and
playing Frank Sun guys, you know, giving guys a hard time.
We always just said, you know, skin like armadilla, and
you know, we always just had a great time. And

(03:57):
you know, luckily I was, you know, have around a
little bit, and you know, we all we just had fun.
And you know, all those guys, Trevor had a great personality.
And that's one thing. You know, you looked at the
guys and the Ravens the way they you know, sort
of went about flecting their guys. They you know, the big,
good guys that really love football, you know, and that's
one thing, and love being a part of the team.
And that's one thing I always cherished, just you know,

(04:18):
laughing and conversations with the teammates. The defensive line is
a rich source of Raven's history, with coordinators like Marvin
Lewis and Rex Ryan and position coaches like the late
Clarence Brooks coaching one of a kind characters like Tony
Sarah Goosa, Sam Adams, Price, Michael McCrary, Hellodi Nada. Kelly

(04:40):
Greg is a fundamental piece of that history. We had
some great guys come through there, and you know it
started off with Sam and Goose and Robernette and those guys,
you know, Hordball, Billick. You know, they'd always you know,
they let us have a good time, work their taels off,
and that's one thing they always did. And we had
some great guys. Bannon, Oh, we just said personality had

(05:00):
are gone. It's just you know, all those guys bill
can come around. We'd always say fire, fire, inferno. But yeah,
we always you know, we always say even when Marvin
was there, you know we was that fine. You knew
we're gonna go out there and try to you know,
shut people down and get after people, and you know,
why not have a lot of fun while you're kicking
button To understand where Kelly greg is now at age

(05:24):
forty two, you have to go back years because there's
a progression in his life that makes sense. Growing up,
he was a policeman's son with that stubby body and
really no designs on a long NFL career. He played
at Oklahoma, but believe it or not, the Sooners weren't
very good when he was there. Then he was a
sixth round NFL draft pick in nineteen ninety nine, and

(05:47):
he got cut twice before he landed in Baltimore, where
he spent his first year two thousand on the practice squad.
I remember calling on practice first on Kelly and Stretch
I see this like you say, short fire plug guy.
I'm thinking, okay, which coach is doing somebody a favor here?
I mean, who who is this kid? You know? This

(06:07):
kid doesn't He certainly doesn't look like a pro player
with a body and a background like that. Greg recognized
that his football career was liable to end any day,
so he had no choice but to start planning for
life after the game. She was very, very focused on

(06:28):
more than anybody know. This thing can disappear quickly for
any number of reasons, and I'm gonna I'm gonna save
my money and make sure they take care of my
family and whatever time I have in the NFL. Crazy
how some guys blowing their mind and stuff because you know,
guys think they're gonna make it forever, and you know,
you gotta think about tomorrow for sure. You know, my

(06:48):
dad was a police officers, so I thought, you know,
even when I was growing up going to college, I
thought about, you know, I wanted to go into law
enforcement or something like that. And you know, I didn't know,
you know, when I first got in the league, I
decided to just be there for breakfast and gone by lunch.
So I always had that in the back of my mind.
I would sort of be my fallback, you know. And
then I thought, you know, how long I would play,

(07:09):
that I might go into it. But lucky enough, I was,
you know, able to play long enough and save my money.
So I said, no, I don't want it. I don't
want to work a full day, so I'll just relax
and yeah, that's about it. Really, did you hear that?
Lucky enough? He said, typical Kelly greg There was nothing
lucky about it. He worked hard to make the leap

(07:31):
from the practice squad to the roster to the starting
lineup in Baltimore. The thing that immediately with Kelly, it
was whatever you needed. Because I used to run the
scout squad on most offensive defense. It was you my
way of kind of keeping in touch with all the
players and touching all the players on a daily basis.
And no matter I can be on the opposite. I
need a dark get Kelly jumped right in. I need

(07:52):
a fullback standing right there. I need a quarterback. No, Kelly,
you cannot play quarterback. Okay, I'm not going to let
you do that, but whatever you need it. He was
just that word everybody, I'm gonna do whatever they want
me to do. And then you began to see again
his unique skills, that strength, that power, that burst, that
leverage is impossible block just because he was so small,

(08:12):
it's so powerful, and he understood leverage because he was
a wrestling and the players loved it, you know, because
he just was the anti player in terms of what
he looked like. Greg never made the Pro Bowl, but
he was good, really good, a strong and active force
in the middle of some truly stellar defensive lines. Victor
the line on first had said, Falcon's habited there thirty

(08:35):
two two receivers right eye formation play acted Vic under pressure,
Kelly Greg wraps him up and takes him down with
the sack. At the twenty yard line. Kelly Greg monoamano
and puts Michael Vick down. Vic Sloan was feat probably
out of disbelief that a guy built like Kelly Greg

(08:55):
could sack a guy built like Michael rick Is. Good
things happen to good players, and when Greg signed a
nice contract extension with the Ravens in two thousand and seven,
it altered the course of the rest of his life.
He no longer had to follow his father into police
work once his playing days were over. Now he had
a nice nest egg, a cushion, which meant he had

(09:16):
options and could be more selective. So he didn't mind
when the end came a few years later. You know,
I'd have played for half of what they paid me.
I just loved playing. I loved being out there. But
you know, I'd say that last one or two years,
especially at last year, something turned off, like, you know,
I fell out of love. Without their grinding and being
physical and stuff. You know, obviously I was getting all

(09:39):
the more out. I used to practice being physical and stuff,
and you know, my kids playing I hear a big
hit and my phones started taking and cracking again. I'll
miss playing one bit, but I missed drinking beers and
hanging out with the guys and you know, joking around
in the locker room. I looked back and over the
times and the great memories that I had with teammates.

(10:00):
I'm not making plays, just being together, lasting, fishing together.
I miss that. No, I don't miss out there. You know.
Grid and I tried to play it flowed me up
like a line chair and stick me under the table.
Like I said, I haven't missed it one bit. These days,
Gregg isn't exactly a mister mom, but he has three boys, Wyatt,
Writer and Maddox, ages fifteen, fourteen, and eleven, and he

(10:24):
drives him to school every morning and picks them up later.
He made enough money in football that he doesn't have
to spend his days toiling away in an office, but
he does work. His post football career is in wait
for it. Sports talk radio Kelly Greg has cracked up
at his Red Bull. I've poured my double cheeko and

(10:45):
we are ready for a Friday of fun and killing.
Unfortunate Friday. Let's go fast, No, mistakes. We're not out
here long. Let's go and unfortunately you're gonna see me
tomorrow becaus we're gonna be family leisure, that's right, doing
our pregame. We're doing it again. Oh you seasons, so
you know what's going to happen. The franchise is gonna
fire up and you have a full day of coverage. Yep.

(11:07):
Greg is the co host of a weekday afternoon show
on Oklahoma City's biggest all sports station. For two hours
a day, he's on live radio talking about Oklahoma and
Oklahoma state football and basketball, pro football, college football, and
of course, his hometown team, the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.

(11:28):
He also works weekends in the fall as part of
the pregame show on Oklahoma football radio broadcasts. You know,
I did it, just something to do. You know, it
gets me out of house and it's you know, it's
important to be my kids, you know, still see me
go to work and stuff. But yeah, two hours a day,
it's for me and it's good too. I get to
go down and do OHU pre games and stuff sort
of sort of keep you know, I get my fill

(11:49):
of football that ways, you know, running my fat mouse
every once in a while on the radio and then
you know, obviously game days are fun. So how long
did it take you you were done with football? How
long did it take you to get going in radio?
I mean did you get into it right away or
did you sort of look around? Oh no, it was
just it was sort of out of half a stance.
They had called me some one to seven point seven

(12:11):
here in Oklahoma City. They had called me to see
if I wanted to be on the radio, and I
was like, you going five ten minutes and they said no,
would you like to come in? And you know, in
a sport job, you know, it's like talking sports in
the sports bar. You know, I'd be doing the same
thing if I wasn't on the radio. So why not
get paid a little bit? You know, give me a job.
Act like I'm, you know, talking sports in the bar.
So you interact with the people a lot, and oh

(12:33):
you bet. And I love it too, because for some
reason there's a bunch of Steelers fans down here and
I just get on there and I basked Pittsburgh and
players that and they hate it. So it's you know,
a little competitive juices go. I love bashing what in
the world of a bunch of Steelers fans in Oklahomas.
No idea, no idea. I think all the crazies of
left Pittsburgh. Yeah, I get a kick out of it too,

(12:55):
So it's all and good fun. There's quite a few
Steeler fans here. And your persona on air, are you?
I mean it's not a persona, it's just you, right, yeah, yeah,
it's just just me. And you know, I get a
lot of people get on me too, the grammar police.
I'm allays been pronunciating and you know stuff like that.
Me and school are never the best of friends. So

(13:15):
I'd just like to have a good time and not sport.
But so I heard it though talking on the radios,
you know, you know back in the death that I
would be easy. But seas you're playing and talking on
the radio for sure, really you think that? Yeah? I
think so? Say, you know, me watching basketball short of
fish out of water, but now I try my best. Yeah,
they don't turn it into hear me talk basketball? Tell
you that? Yeah, but you have to in that town, right,

(13:37):
I mean that's your team. Well, for sure, you know,
I enjoy I go to a couple of games here
and there, but yeah, it's you get a lot of
preparation just for two hours. The good news is his
schedule leaves him plenty of time to watch his boys
played football, which surprise they all do. I'm at a
lot of games and I get a kick out of it.
You know, they're yeah, I having fought, and you know

(13:59):
it's it's crazy. Seems like more of these little league
games or sometimes more intense NFL, which is crazy serious
deal these days. You know, back when I played high
school little league, we just played for fun. Now everything
is so serious, so it seems different. It does, Yeah,
it does. I coached, you know, little league. You know,
I helped out a little bit. But I see them

(14:19):
parents and you know, they're like, well, what do you think.
And I'm like, oh, he's gonna be great. You know,
he's gonna be good. And they're like, no about college,
and I'm like, I think we should worry about fifth
grade over you know, college football right now. It's just,
you know, sometimes it gets a little crazy. I had
to ask, are his boys stubby interior linemen like their
dad was? Has Kelly Greg produced more? Kelly Greg's my

(14:43):
two older boys wide writer, built like me, short and squatty.
You know, I'm looking. I didn't have a girl, she'd
be built like me. But my two older boys are alignement.
And my little guy, he's a little He's got a
little athlete, didn't he. Yeah, well you had some athlete,
didn't you be a different kind of athlete, you say, so,
he might be a little faster or a little more. Yeah,
he's a faster tower. He's he's waiting. You know. He

(15:04):
plays tied in a little stand up wide receiver. But no,
there you know, a bother as gonna have fun. Let's
father Meg. You know it can't be that band. So
he's talking sports on the radio in his hometown and
watching his boys grow up and played football. Sounds pretty good,
doesn't it? And wait, it gets even better. Greg also

(15:26):
owns a farm a three hundred and twenty acres spread
about fifteen minutes from his house, farther out in the country.
It's his happy place. It's got a cabin out there,
and I got four horses, four pigs. I've had it
for about I don't know eight years now. I got
it when I first retired. I bought it from a golfer,

(15:48):
Bob Tway. He won the PGA one time, but he
had it. I always should hunt it out there before
in the past, and that's one thing I you know,
i'd hundred when I played a little bit, but you
know I got done it. You know, that's one of
my abs. I'm not a big killer. I probably I'm
killed like four deer in my life, but I always
enjoy chasing them. I'm always out there hunting or fishing
or trying to grow feed plot. I want to live

(16:10):
out there, but my wife won't let me. We're always
out there or you know, it's a good getaway. I
think that's the most important thing. When guys, uh, you know,
they get done playing. Some of these guys in the past,
they don't know what to do, you know, or they
have no hobbies. And that's what thing is. I look
forward to, uh you know, retire quitting that way I
could fish and hunt more. I got a big bond

(16:30):
out there, ol wheelers, horses for my kids. Yeah, I
got a little jeeper. I'm always on my tractor out
there messing around. So I'm a weekend warrior. I'm all
hating no cattle. You know what I'm saying, Yes, yes
I do, so are you you're not growing anything. I
try to sweet peas, milo for deer, and I love

(16:51):
you know, wild pigs. But I'm not a very I
don't have very good green time. You know. My wife says,
when I said I'm going out there right the tractor,
that means I'm going out there to have a dope
beverages and ship by the bond. So it's funny, isn't it.
I mean, how people's memories are short. How many people

(17:12):
remember you as Kelly Greg the NFL player? Ohe you
Ravens Sunday Night football against the Steelers, And you know
how much do you hear it these days? You know,
sometimes you know more now. It's just usually people look
at me like, man, you look like a football player,
I said a long time ago. Yeah, you don't get
recognized near as much as when you were playing with
you know, every once in a while, even when I

(17:32):
was up there playing, you know, people didn't know as
the football player because I wasn't the tallest guy. So
you know, it's never been one of those deals where, oh,
you know, I like to be you know, recognized this
to that, and a lot of people just think, man,
you look like a football player. Do you ever be
a football player. It's humbling, isn't it? You bad? Yeah,
but you know it's all part of the process. It
was a great ride. Every day I wake up and
I feel very blessed and lucky, and you know, it's

(17:54):
been a good ride so far. Kelly Greg ranks high
on Brian Billick's list of all time favorite players he
ever coached anywhere. Another story Billicks shared with me helps
explain why. In two thousand and seven, during what turned
out to be his final season as the Ravens head coach,

(18:15):
the team was going south and rumors about Billick's job
security were starting to swirl. Then one day he heard
a knock on his office door. Reg was standing in
the doorway. You know, NFL and you don't know ways
thinks you're going when you're losing and you used to
win in those locker rooms. Unhappy and all the things
can go with it. And so Kelly comes up to

(18:35):
my office and which is was unique. Oh jeez, okay,
well what's going on? Though? He goes, coach, I just
want to know who do I need to take out for?
Like who do you go up to the Elmitate? Like
who you want me to hit and I'm going Kelly,
I'm okay, I'm good man. I appreciate, appreciate, because obviously

(18:56):
he just wanted to be very loyal and could see
things going to say and wanted to be helpful. Typical
Kelly Greg what do you need to be to do?
I always always appreciated that he went back and forth
between fiery and funny. But one thing that never changed
was he had his teammates backs and they had his because,

(19:16):
oh did he love to rumble. Talk about the ultimate
foxhole guy, the one you'd want to go to war with.
Even though he's fine now with being a former player,
done with the game, he does miss some things about
being in the NFL, getting down and dirty with the Steelers,
for instance. I always enjoyed playing the Steelers because it

(19:37):
was just you knew, it's, you know, take no prisoners,
let it all hang out. You know, you're looking trying
to get guys like Hinds. I'll never forget, you know,
he hit at one time and we're all trying to
pick him up, you know, playing their lot Alan fanaka
Jeff Harding, those guys. You know, that's one thing that
you know I missed, you know, I I didn't miss
playing football, but I missed, you know, getting in there

(19:59):
or those guys and trying to mix it up because
it was like a fighting you know, it was you know,
because it was usually for them, you know, AFC North
title and uh, you know, especially twice a year. But yeah,
I missed those days with those guys for sure. Have
you ever run into Fanica and those guys? I mean,
do you know him at all? You know after the
fact here, Yeah, I saw he got all skinny. I
heard he's one of marathons. Now I probably can't catch him,

(20:21):
but if I catch him, I getting back. Now that's
a great, uh sports memory for you. Oh yeah, definitely, definitely.
I'm looking right now at a Muddy Sandy film. I
hated Hinsfield because you can never get footing, you know.
Every time I see a big mudhole, I think, oh,
there's hinsteel And you wonder why Ravens fans loved him

(20:42):
so much and surely still do. More than a decade
after his last game in Purple, he is still making
fun of the Steelers, still carrying the Ravens banner on
the radio, still recalling with great fondness how much fun
he had in Baltimore. In fact, after we talked about
how so many of his former d line mates were

(21:03):
characters and then moved on to another subject, Greg halted
the conversation to point out that we'd forgotten to talk
about the greatest character of them all. Terrell Sugs Yo
suck was the main game. He was always he was
always a guy given guys a hard time. What a
great guy to great teammate. I'll never forget. He'd always
sit in front of me on the on the plane

(21:26):
and I'd always have to you know, I'd get my headphones,
I try to tie him up with something. You know.
It was like our ritual before every game. I was
giving him a hard time. So yeah, those are the
little things you miss. So Terrell, go keep them. Get
a house down the street from mine. I lived in
Jamal Lewis's old house, but I always go there and
knock on Terrell's door and mess with him a little bit.

(21:46):
Greg loves telling football war stories. But when he tells
them now to his sons, who were growing up fast,
they roll their eyes, you know, every once while, you
know if they remember when I used to do that,
and they always look at me like, oh, here comes
an old man story or from them hear me a
hard I'm like, I'm like, I'm finding funding short. That's

(22:10):
it from Kelly Gregg, former Ravens d lineman and no doubt,
just a regular guy. You can find out more about
his career at Baltimore Ravens dot com slash what Happened
to that Guy? I'd like to thank him for speaking
to me. Another episode of What Happened to That Guy
will drop in two weeks and they'll keep coming every
other week for the rest of the twenty twenty season.

(22:31):
If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe so you
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in the NFL hosted by my colleague Clifton Brown. Wherever

(22:54):
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Podcast Network and everything will come up. It's all good stuff.
This is John Eisenberg. I'll talk to you in two weeks.