November 6, 2024 • 51 mins
Former NFL quarterback Gus Frerotte joins Rich to talk about his path to the league, and how golf has been an essential part of his life after football.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Rich Konwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This week, we are very very I'm very excited to
have a guest on with us this week that's from
a kind of a different world, but we're gonna get
it back into golf and we're going to talk a
lot about mental acuity, mental development, and mental strength and
things like that. But our guest this week is Gus Faratt.
Gus is a former National Football League quarterback fourteen year
(00:27):
NFL career. He's from Western Pennsylvania and we're going to
kind of talk through a lot of his development with him.
But first off, I just want to say, Gus, thanks,
thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, thanks for having me Rich, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All right.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Cool, So, I guess most people would know but maybe not,
that Western Pennsylvania is the hotbed of NFL quarterbacks, you know,
with people like Marino and Johnny Unidas and George Blanda
and things like that. But you obviously grew up in
(01:02):
Western Pennsylvania. So you grew up in Ford City, correct?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, So what sports did you play growing up?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Well, you know, we were such a small school, we
kindently had the major sports, so I basically was you know, football, basketball,
baseball every year?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay, And obviously you're a pretty good athlete because you
actually had some pretty your school had some pretty good
success in high school for baseball, correct.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
A few state championships, and we were kind of up
there every year. And and you know, when you go
to a small school and you can put some good kids,
good athletic kids together on the same team, you can
have some good success with good coaching.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So when did so obviously, as you said, you played
them all, But obviously was when when did football become
like your your primary I mean, obviously you played them
all when I get that, and you know, but when
did it become like your sole focus?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Football, I mean I played it, and then in ninth
grade I started out the year and I actually had
a major injury. I broke my neck tackling somebody with
my head down in two days, and so I really
didn't play football for two years ninth and tenth grade,
And so baseball and basketball were kind of Basketball was
(02:28):
probably my third sport. I love playing it, but I
wasn't great at it. But baseball was probably my original
love and just loved to be out there play the game.
Usually played the third base pitching. I wasn't great at pitching.
I mean, I could throw it really hard, but you know,
(02:48):
you obviously need an incredible accuracy when you're playing it.
It takes a lot of mental stability and I didn't
really kind of have that yet, so and there were
a lot of factors that played into that. So when
I was younger, I played outfield. When I got older,
played third base and really enjoyed that. And then when
I got into my junior year, my wife's father came
(03:11):
to my school, I kind of got back into football.
Harry Beckwith was his name. He was. He's a Hall
of Fame coach in Pennsylvania and kind of got me
back in just playing quarterback, didn't really playing defense. Senior year,
played some more defense, and then got recruited into you know,
major college football, and but baseball was more of kind
(03:33):
of D three, D two, And for me, it was like, Okay,
which one is going to be better for me? And
I have to pay for and not have my parents
pay for anything. So football, as I got older into
high school, football became even though I loved baseball, football
(03:54):
became more of what I saw myself doing in the future.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So all right, so let me go backwards a little bit. Sae.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You break your neck putting your head down and tackle somebody.
So were you scared when you came back to play football?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, you It took a long time. It's
like I said, I didn't play tenth grade, just kind
of sat out and still kind of went over there
and watched. Didn't really want to do it. My dad,
he was a tough meal guy, so he was basically like,
get your ass back out there. My mom obviously didn't
(04:26):
want me to go play, but you know, it just
taking time to your kids heal, you know, and you
know I kind of had some issues with it, but
never really anything that bothered me and just started playing quarterback.
We ran the wing tea. Maybe I threw it forty
times in high school, you know, but I was six
(04:50):
four and two hundred pounds, and you know, there's a
lot of upside there that I just saw on that.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Because you can't coach that.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can't teach that either, you know, six four one
hundred pounds as a as a you know, a junior
and senior in high school.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
You can't. You can't. I can't coach that. Nobody can coach.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, in the mid eighties, there were no like quarterback schools,
and you couldn't watch on videos and all that. It
was just what you had at your high school, you know.
And my parents we weren't you know, we didn't have
the money to go and travel to do anything. So
you worked out, you went to you know, you threw
what your coach knew, which luckily, my coach kind of
(05:27):
played quarterback in college a little bit. It was a punter.
So I took a lot of skill sets that he
gave me and was able to go and you know,
go to college with those and become an okay quarterback.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty funny what you said before
about your dad being a milk guy, and just get
your ass back out there, because it's funny because my
dad not obviously nowhere near of that, but he had
four boys, and he always just say kids get knocked
down and kids get up, and you're.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Gonna yeah, you know, you're gonna be okay. I always
tell a story about my dad. When I was in
eighth grade and I was actually playing football and it
was the first practice and I came home and I
remember my foot was just killing me, and I kept
telling my mom. She finally took me to the hospital
get an X ray and and I think, no, I
(06:14):
think we just went to the doctor and he said, well,
you know, just it's okay, just put the mice on
and maybe take a couple of weeks off. And got home.
My dad said, no, just hi, youre shrewd tighter. I
just bought you those cleats and I'm not wasting money
on them. Go out there and play. So I played
all year. At the end of the season, my foot
was still kill me. We get an X ray at
the end of the season and find out it's broken.
(06:36):
So they're just things that you go through as a kid,
Like you're just like killing me, and you just slid
through it, and your dad's just a tough soob and
you just kind of, you know, you kind of deal
with it and it makes you who you are.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
That's great, that's great, that's that's that's actually now obviously
because it was a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Now I was that's a funny story.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Now today, well, now today they could get somebody for
child abuse for that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know, that's what the scary thing is like, that
would be not good.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
World changes and it does. It's just like, you know,
I always kind of liking it too. When you're a
kid and there was somebody in your neighborhood or a
weird person that drove through your neighborhood, you know, you
nobody really knew, or somebody tried to pick up some
kid or whatever, like it was just very local. Right now,
(07:27):
somebody in California watches somebody in Pennsylvania, right, you know
that happened to and they put it out there, and
it's just it's just how the world works. And you
kind of move on with it, and you got to
adapt to different different mindsets and you know, I don't
think you can ever go backwards. You just got to
keep moving forward.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So okay, so you get through high school and so
you get recruited. Who are you getting Who are you
getting recruited by?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Well, first I was heavily recruited by Michigan, and that
was like where I wanted to go, and I was
super excited about that at and I had Louisville and Tulsa, Temple,
Kansas State. I'm trying to think a couple of the
other schools, and then Michigan kind of dropped off because
(08:12):
they were recruiting three or four different quarterbacks, which they can, right,
and they kind of got the one they really wanted.
And it's funny their their quarterback coach end up being
my quarterback coach with the Washington Redskins, and he was like, yeah,
we got to and to and we just kind of
dropped everybody else, and like that's just how it goes.
(08:33):
And then after the recruiting process and seeing the schools
and seeing the coaches, I just really like Coach Raider
at Tulsa, and you know, he flew twice to come
visit me at home, where you know, nobody else really did,
and so I just really appreciated that. I knew they
threw the ball with Tulsa and you know, just end
(08:55):
up going and the only problems was one thousand miles
away from home. Right.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, so all right, absolutely ask you that question. Then
you brought up did you get homesick?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Uh? No, I mean I think everybody misses it when
they leave, because you missed you know, me and your
parents are doing everything for you, obviously, But I didn't
get homesick. Like I had roommates who or from Philly.
I'd roommates for it from all over, and guys would
just get homesick and leave school and just say, nope,
I'm not doing this. And I was like, really, like,
(09:27):
you're you're here, you're growing up, and you're doing all
these things, and you just want to leave and they
want to go back and do what they did, you know,
be live at home. And it's just like, okay, Like
I saw that happened to many guys in college. Yes,
you know it's not for.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Everyone, right, is so okay? So let me ask you
this question. Was it was?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
It?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Was it way harder than you thought it would be
to play college football.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, nothing's ever easy, right, to play football hard obviously,
because if you want to play I learned at an
early age that you're going to go through bumb and
you're gonna have breaks, and you're gonna have different things
happened to you. And it's a hard game. And I
learned early on even about the media to say and
not to say, and so it's hard. Everything's hard. But
(10:12):
you know, if I always just enjoyed the work, I
enjoyed the practice, I enjoyed working out the guys in
the locker room, and those things were always. You know,
I never minded that kind of hard work and enjoyed it. Now,
I know, like my son they cut to college, they
didn't really like all that hard work that it takes
(10:33):
to you know, lift weights, practice, playing games, go to class,
beyond time, everything like that. So it's not for everyone,
but I absolutely enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
That's awesome. So so you play all four years at Tulsa.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I was there five years. I was red shirted second year.
I was not supposed to play. We had a quarterback
named TJ. Rubley. He was the senior. He was know
we were. We had a good team. We had a
lot of good players. Comes we're playing at Arkansas now.
The week before I think it happened when we were
(11:09):
playing maybe it was at Arkansas, but he blew his
knee out in the game and I had to go in.
I was the backup, and you know, those my first snaps.
So I had a year and so in year and
you know a few months changed to get ready to
perfect my you know, my footwork, to perfect my uh
(11:31):
you know, how I'm holding the ball, how I'm throwing
the ball. Because I'm sure coming from you know, some
little town that ran the wing team my my form
is not as seen as as I really needed it
to be. So I had a coach workman. I had
a couple of other coach raider, you know, really working
on how to throw the football and getting it up
(11:53):
and being how to be accurate and things like that,
and just put in the time and then was able
to play. Everything wasn't great, but you know I really
enjoyed it. And then the next year, teacher got a
medical red shirt. He came back, so he played. My
third year, he ended up playing that year. We ended
up going to a bowl game. I was the punter
(12:13):
that year, so I still got to be on the
field and then started my last two years at Tulsa,
and you know had a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Okay, so let me ask you, and I asked this
when I'm fortunate enough to talk to guys that get
to those levels. Was it incredibly faster when you got
to Tulsa?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Well? Yeah, I mean you just had to you had
to figure it out. Well, you know, coming from what
I did, I didn't really throw. It's not like I ran.
We lined up in five whites and threw the ball. Ever,
you know, the wing tea is, you know, we're under center.
Every play there was really never shotgun and you're you know,
you're you're running a waggle, you're run you know, to
(12:56):
drop back was very rare. So you get the Tulsa
and you just kind of you know, you're playing with
a different set of athletes. It is faster. But the
one skill I was given was that my arm and
the way I could throw football.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Let me keep up with all that, right, right, So
that that's kind of that's kind of neat. So so
your last to your last two years you played right.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And then at what point did you kind of went on?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I don't know how this goes, So y'a, I'm going
to ask you, like, how do you figure out that
you can actually play in national football? And somebody come
and not come and tell you, but.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Like, you don't, you don't you The only way you
can ever figure it out is if you get a
chance to go playing a game. And it doesn't matter
if your first round pickerre you're a free agent, you know,
because okay, they go through all these workouts, even the
combine and went to the combine. They come work you
(13:52):
out in your place. They want to see your skill sets.
I want to see what you look like, but how
you hold yourself, how you present yourself, all those types
of things. I mean, there's so much work that goes
into trying to pick up first round or compared to
somebody that don't even want to take like it's a
free agent. There's so much work that goes into it,
right and all right, So this is the guy that
(14:14):
we're putting all our eggs in his bag, you know
what I mean, and we're just gonna go and deal
with him. And even those guys, and we see it
all the time, those guys go out there and they
can't compete. It's just a different game when you get
to the NFL compared to college, and it's you have
that what it takes. And I'm not really sure what
(14:37):
that is, but you either got it or you don't,
because I've seen a lot of guys go out there
and not be able to compete and you only get
one shot in the NFL, rarely get two. And you know,
luckily when I came in, I was the seventh rounder.
We had a first rounder in front of me, and
he's sureer and he's just held out for more money
(15:00):
and didn't show up all training camp. So I got
every single one of his reps and was able to
prove to people that I could be in the huddle,
that I could call plays, that I could you know,
do what it takes to be a leader, and and
then obviously go out and you know, move the ball
up and down the field. And then you know, through
that first year, was given opportunities and took advantage of it.
(15:22):
Where the first game I went out and beat the Colts,
you know, threw four touchdowns. And then those kind of
things where I've seen guys that you know, are rookies
and you're hoping they're doing well, and then they get
an opportunity to go out and play and and they
look lost and they're just throwing the ball around. It's
a three interception game. And and we all have those,
(15:43):
but when you get your first shot to have one
like that, it's not unless you're a first round or
you won't.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Get another opportunity. That is fascinating.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
That's that's really that's really interesting. Okay, So we're going
to tell you commercial break. When we come back, I
want to talk to talk to you about like your
first couple of years in the NFL and and see
how that how that kind of mentally kind of transforms you. Okay,
so we'll be right back with Gus farant This is
the rich Conwell Golf Show.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Welcome back to rich Conwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
We're joined by former NFL quarterback Gus Faratt, who was
walking through his his younger years and and leaving Ford
City and going to Tulsa and then getting in to
the NFL and and we are actually going to transform
this all back into golf in a minute.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
But these are these are really cool stories.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
So you get so you go to Washington and he
sure holds out, so you get that job, right.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It's pretty much right. Yeah, So and it goes pretty
well for you. And so.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Your first game you say, you said through three touchdowns
or four touchdowns?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Four?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Okay, So at that point do you think it's easy
or do you think you're lucky.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I think I'm lucky. I was pretty humbled. I mean
I never try to get it big ahead, and if
you do, you get humbled really fast in the NFL.
So it's just a matter of going back and working
harder and harder every time because there's always somebody taking
your spot.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So it is so like that there's really no way
unless you experience that, you can you can explain the
competitive level at the National Football League level.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, even like so many times are seen guys come
into camp or practice and they look great and they
do these things that catch the ball, and then they
get in the game and they jump off sides or
they don't know how to line up, or they run
the wrong route or you know, they don't block the
right person, and you know, it's just it's just a
(17:43):
thing that you don't realize what people can do until
they actually get into a live game situation, and not
even preseason. Preseason gives you a little bit, but regular
season is really where you kind of separate everything. And
you know, you've seen a lot of guys come and go,
and a lot of people want to play in the
league and right, and you just it's just it's just
(18:07):
hard to get the opportunity and then it's hard to
keep that opportunity and stay in it for a long time.
And those guys that are Hall of famers, you know,
they've been able to take everything they've learned they're athleticism
and then their mental toughness and just do it week
in and week out.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Okay, So that's okay.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
So so all right now I want to talk to
you about that a little bit. So obviously you already
mentioned you're six foot four hundred pounds and obviously probably
a little bit bigger than that when you come out
of college, and obviously they have all the all the
the diet stuff and things like that. But like mentally,
and I won't say this negatively, but I say positively,
(18:50):
you're just different.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well, there's different kind of mental capabilities, right, there's tough,
there's very we're going to dissect everything, and you know,
I know what's happening before everybody else knows what's happening,
and then you just see different kind of players. But
it all comes I think it just comes down to
mental toughness, like can I let the last play go?
(19:15):
Can I move on? What's happening? Can I not throw
this ball? And what's the best decision to make? So
mental preparation is not easy, and then it becomes what
does my demeanor look like? What does my mentality look
(19:36):
like to everyone else? Right? Because if you're a quarterback
and you're in a huddle and you look like you're
mentally weak, nobody's following you. Nobody's helping you, nobody's doing
what you need them to do, right, because then they
don't necessarily trust you all the time. So mentally, when
things going wrong direction, people need to have faith in
(19:58):
you and make sure that no matter what happens, I
know that you're going to be there. You're going to
pull us out. And that's no different than a tackle
or a guard, a center, a receiver, a tight end,
you know, the same way on defense. Right, there's there's
just a mental toughness and a mental kind of I'm
trying to think of a good word for it. And
(20:19):
it's not all type. It's not all like one type
of mentality because there are different types and you've seen
it in any sport, even golf, right, there's different types
of golfers. Right, Bryson de Chambella is a completely different
type of golfer than the probably anybody out there. You
have all these different people, but it comes down to trust,
(20:39):
and it comes down to being able to say, you
understand what we need to do, I'm going to follow
you or I'm going to work with you and we're
going to be in this together. And then how does
that take it work? You know, you talk about the
difference between golf and football. It's just, you know, golf
is you're.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
By yourself, right right.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
You're making those decisions on your own, And a lot
of times in football, I can't survive without the end
the other ten guys, you know what I mean. So
that's a little different. But and it's it's hard. You know,
guys who are incredible athletes, they can't out, they can't
go out and swing a golf club. It's it's sometimes
it's really amazing to watch.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
That's so so in other words, like if you walk
in there and you're not sure what's going on, how
the hell are they going to be sure what's going on?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Sayeah, well, how are they going to trust you? You
know what I mean? Like, So when it's just it's
just long, it's it's coaches, it's players, and it's a
it's a hard process because you have to be able
to go in the huddle, you have to be able
to call to play clearly, to be able to tell
everybody what to do. So in essence, I'm baking a cake.
(21:49):
I got to have all these ingredients and they got
to be right or the cake's not going to turn
out right. It's every play, it's every twenty five seconds,
and you got to be able to process and do
all those things. Inevitably, guys line up wrong, guys don't
know snap count. You're always telling these things, especially when
you get watch these guys who check on the offense
a lot. Right, they're changing plays, they're doing different things.
(22:11):
So the processing goes on. It's super fast. But then
there's all this other mental work that goes in when
we're in the locker room, when we're in the weight room,
when we're out of the practice field, when we're watching film, right,
Because like there's a quarterback who came out a long
time ago, well not long but after me, but he
(22:33):
was drafted by the Raiders. I think he played at LSU,
you know, top prospect, and he's the number one pick
and he goes to the Raiders and just isn't doing
very well. And so the coach says, hey, I want
you to take this film home, watch it and tell
let's talk about it tomorrow. And the coach comes in
(22:55):
the next day and says, hey, how'd that film go.
He goes, oh, yeah, it was really good. I watched
it all. And the coach is like, there was nothing on.
It was blank, right, So there's just that mentality that
all of a sudden he's caught like trying to trying
to take his way through and that's the one thing.
You can't take your way through anything in the NFL. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
So now, yeah, obviously because now you just not only
did I don't trust you, you just lied to me.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So now we're done. And now we're done because because they.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Had to find out, like, you know, he's saying all
these things, but why is he really like you know,
is he just pointing the fingers of everybody else out
in the field or does he really not know what
he's doing? So they had to find out what's really
going on? Wow, you know, And I mean there's the
NFL is an incredible place. There's people from all different
walks of life, all different backgrounds across this great country,
(23:46):
and you have to come together and you have to
build a team with them. And it's no different than
anything else, whether it's a company or business, you know,
in a hospital or in a you know, financial setting,
whatever it is, you have to be able to build
a team and the leadership has to make sure that
everybody is pointed in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
That's that's that's actually, that's that's you are right, that's it's,
it's anywhere, it's anywhere. I don't care if you're if
you're running a mail room. It's like, if we're not
all doing the same thing, we're all going the same direction.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
We're all done. We're not gonna we're gonna run all
over the place.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So so okay, so I'm gonna ask you this question.
So who was the who was who was the Who's
the best player you ever played with? Offensive?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Well, it all depends on what position. I played a
lot of Hall of Famers receiver wise, one of my
favorite was that I ever played with. I mean there
was several several, but you know, Randy Moss obviously is
top of the top of the list. And then the
(24:51):
first kind of top receiver I ever played with was
Henry Ellard. And Henry was just amazing quiet but like
would very quietly tell me and teach me how to
like how he likes fall throne, what he's looking for
because he played with a you know, a bunch of
great quarterbacks and you're always trying to learn and it
(25:12):
wasn't always just me telling everybody what to do. It's
like you got to listen to them because they're going
to run routes how they run them. They're going to
do things how they like. And if I can make
it easier and we can complete passes, that's really all
that matters.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Right, It doesn't matter how, it just matter it is done.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
No. Yeah, but you know, I just played with a
you know, because I played for seventeams. I played fifteen years,
met a lot of guys played on a lot of
different organizations who had Hall of Famers and or you know,
they're in the Ring of Honor for their teams, and
it's just, you know, most of those guys are just
(25:49):
incredibly gifted, but they're also gifted in work ethic and
taking everything seriously and taking it to another level.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, because you know, I've been, you know, because I'm
from Western Pennsylvania, so I've been I've been able to
talk to like Jack Ham, like I know, you know
who he is, and like I've been able to talk
to people that were around like Sydney Crosby, and like
they're obviously really good players, but every everybody that talks
about them sos how hard they work, like they're really, really,
really talented obviously, but like they work really hard.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, there's no days off like you I mean, you're
going to get a day off here and there, and
everybody wants to take a day off. But when you're
when it's time to go and you're in practice and
it's you know, you got to work and then you
got to watch film you got there's so many things
that go into it, and it's keeping your body in shape. Obviously,
with the way things have kind of come over the
last forty years, that has definitely changed. You know, because
(26:46):
if you ask guys back in the day, you know
they were smoking cigarette then it wasn't a big deal.
So it's all changed. You know, a lot of people
used to chew and do different things, and you know,
now it's like there's so many you can wear. You'se
wearable to understand where your heart rate is and how
your body's you know, processing glucos and doing all these things.
(27:07):
Back in the day, we didn't even have lunch rooms,
you know what I mean. So it's completely different, and
so it's all it's all good, but you know, it's
just it's just the mentality of working hard and those
guys that just persevere pushed through. Everybody's going to be hurt.
You're going to get hurt. Okay, can how can you
(27:29):
manage that? Are you hurt or are you injured?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
But let's talk about that for a second, because I
was fortunate enough to talk to to.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
A guy who's in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Now who played for the Steelers recently running back, and
you could figure out who that is. But he told
me there was a guy on a team that was
very popular with people, but like he was never going
to get really, really, really far in the national football
because he kind of was a lot more injured than
he was hurt, you know, like he just couldn't quite
power throw it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, he was always injured right now, like you're always injured.
You're missing practice, you're missing games. Like you know, there's
plenty of times where you know you can't move, you know,
on Monday, but somehow you persevere, get shut up and
go back out on Sunday and you have a hell
of a game. Right It's just the nature of the beast,
(28:20):
and you have to be willing to put yourself through that. Now,
they've changed a lot of rules right from back in
the day, you know, as far as concussions go and
and all those types of injuries, and they're more into
protecting their investment. But you know, what what does that mean?
You know, obviously, if I'm a quarterback and I'm making
(28:41):
you know, half a billion dollars in ten years, it's like, Okay,
I'm probably protecting this investment because I need him to
play for me for ten years, right, you know, But
there's other guys that they're probably not doing that with,
and those guys just have to suck it up. You
have to go and play because the average career is
not very long.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
It's a couple years, right, all right, So yeah, you
just got to figure out that you won't you want
to play or you want.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
To not play.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
And then if you choose to not play, I would
think they would let you. They would let you just
stay over there and we'll move on to somebody else,
because that's what they're going to do.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
They don't have to like choose somebody as there's always
somebody else, right, There's always somebody else waiting in the
wings to get an opportunity. I mean, do you just
never know who the next superstar is going to be.
So obviously when you see guys in college and you know,
things happen and oh this guy he's legit, you know
what I mean. But you just never know. You just
(29:37):
really never know.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Okay, so all right, let me ask you this question then, okay,
then just get back to mental strength and things like that.
But did you now you said you don't know until
you get a chance to play, Like, but when did
you in the national football He's when did you kind
of realize.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
That you could stick around for that long?
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Well, you know, I got to play a lot and
luckily in DC and when I was in Washington, and
you kind of realize, Okay, I'm making a team, I
got a new contract. Then you kind of realize like, okay,
I can I can play a long time if I
do the right things. And you know, I was able
(30:23):
to pick up different offenses. I was able to go
to a new team and listen to a new coach
because it's like a foreign language if you've never heard
it before, and you've got to go out and process
it and practice and throw the ball at the right
place and call them in the huddle and all that.
And so I was able to do that. So there
were just things that throughout my career were able to,
(30:43):
you know. And I was always really good with other players,
like I felt like I could help coach or I
was never a guy who said I'm in it for me.
I'm in it for everyone, right, I'm in it for
us to win. It doesn't matter if it's I'm the
second or the first or third string quarterback. I'm gonna
do all I can to help this team. And you know,
(31:04):
and I just learned things along the way. When I
was young, I was doing practice squad my rookie year
and just throwing the ball where the coaches tell you
to throw it, right, Okay, I'm just I'm here for
the defense and wherever they want me to throw them
to throw it. So all of a sudden, I'm throwing
you know, you're throwing interception after interception in practice because
(31:25):
the coaches are saying, okay, let's run this play against
cover two. Oh, it looks great, right, just because that
they wanted to look good in practice. All right. So
Darryl Green comes up to me after a practice and
he says, what are you doing? And I said, what
do you mean? He goes, why are you throwing all
these interceptions and stuff? I said, I'm just I'm just
(31:47):
telling throwing the ball where they tell me to throw it.
He goes, why would you do that? And I said, well,
that's because I'm a rookie and you know they're telling
me to do it. I just want to make the team.
He goes, no, stop it. You're not helping yourself, you're
not helping me. And I said, well, Darrel, what am
I supposed to do when the coaches are telling me
(32:07):
to do one thing and I'm just a rook He said, look,
I'll tell I'll talk to defense coaches. You throw the
ball where you read it and you're supposed to throw it,
And that's what I did, and you just go in
And that made me a lot better. But you have
to have leaders and people around you like that to
give you that authority and that power to do that,
(32:27):
because you know, coaches, they're all under stress, they're all
under the right, you know, and they want everything to
look well and so, but that doesn't always correlate to
game day. And what Darrell told me correlated precisely the
game day because I'm that's our starting defense, and I
can throw the ball against them in practice and do
(32:49):
the right things, and you know, I have an opportunity
and a chance to do it in.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
A game that's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
All right, when we come back from this commercial break,
we are going to talk about like what you're doing
now and like how you I really I'm going to
ask you a question about mental strength when we start this,
and then then we'll go from there. This is this
is the rich Comwall Golf Show. Welcome back to rich
Comwoll Golf Show. We were talking with former NFL quarterback
Gus Forout today and we're going to kind of dive
(33:15):
into an area that actually translates to golf, but it's
good for all sports and it's really interesting. But it's
mental strength or mental toughness. Gus, can you develop that?
Did you develop it?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah? Yeah, you have to develop it, I think, and
it helps you look for me and golf. You know,
I'm not a great golfer. I'm not a bad golfer.
I'm just kind of shoot around eighty and have fun, right,
but I know that if I go out and I
push one in the woods or I hook one or whatever,
(33:55):
and I can't think of you know, and you see
it all time and affects guys golf games the rest
of the round right right, the next shot is terrible.
Then they missed through two putts and then they're just done.
I've seen I've seen my kids do that right right.
And when I play against them, and if I want
(34:16):
to beat him, I just start coaching them, you know,
because golf is all mental. It's all like okay, and
I lined upright, am I doing all these things properly,
you know. And I'll give you an example. When I
was playing in Washington, we played we played Tampa Bay
one year and I was young and and we were
(34:37):
playing Tampa Bay and warrens Half was a d line
and saw him after the game, and I said, hey,
what's up on how you doing? And he goes, hey, man,
I just want to tell you something. I said, what's up?
And he goes, hey, your feet change between a run
and a pass. I said, what do you mean. He goes, yeah,
you put your feet different when you're going to throw
it and when you're going to hand it off because
you're under center, and you know that's what he's looking at.
(35:00):
And I said, oh my god, I don't even you know,
I never even recognize that, you know, because a lot
of times you want to have your feet in a
different position so guard doesn't step on you when I
drop them back, and things like that, or if I'm
going to if I'm going to go out left and
go out right, and then from that point on, I
just kept my feet perfectly even. And because I never
(35:20):
you don't want to give anybody a tip because they
have a tip, they're so good that they're going to
exploit it.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
But it's the same thing. It's like, okay, when I
line up, if you know I'm trying to. That's why
when you see people golf and they have such a
regiment and they have like sometimes I don't always understand
it because I like just kind of line up. I
don't think a lot of practice swings. I just kind
of say, all right here I am, let's go, let's
go do this. And that's not always perfect, but you
(35:50):
know it is. It's a mental toughness. Can I get
through this? Can I you know, if I miss a putt,
it's a hard, fast green. Can I come back and
make the next putt? Uh? You know? And it's none
of it's easy, and it's I watch film just like
I do, and you know, there's that's a great thing
about internet now I can go out and watch a
(36:11):
ton of people's information on golf right and learn a
lot of stuff, and you know, maybe it works for me,
maybe it doesn't. But I think the biggest thing for
me in golf mentally is that it's still practice. Like
I was good at football because we've practiced all the
time and we were able to throw the football and
(36:32):
run routes and you know, just get timing down and
everything like that. And that's probably why I'm not great
at golf now because I don't put in that practice. Right.
My practice is all right, guys, let's go play and
have fun. And you know, and I could shoot a
seventy eight, but it's like, you know, you look at
(36:52):
your score and said, oh yeah, I can shot a TOQO, right,
VE done these things right, But I don't. I know,
but I realize in my mind that I don't, you know,
I don't spend hours at the driving range, er chipping
and putting like you like you really need to to
be that take that next step.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, that's that's really interesting because what you said this
second ago about letting it go, because because like well
you're talking about Darryl Green, right, and and and and.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
And like, guys, let it go. And I have I
coached at.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
William University men's golf team, right or Division two, so
we're like, we're not playing against Jordan's beath at Texas
or whatever. But but like I see these guys and
if it goes if it's going well for them, it's okay.
But once it goes offline once for a couple of them,
that's like, that's like the wheels have all fallen off,
(37:42):
and it's it's and I don't know how to I
kind of I know some things.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Did you have a I have a question for you
now if you how long have you been coaching golf?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Well, for me for twenty five years, I mean the
golf team.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
How many now, if you think back to all the
golfers you've had, how many golfers that have come in
college have played multiple sports in high school just golf
two Like a lot of golfers just of golf I have.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I'll tell you it's interesting you say that because I
have a kid on my team now that actually played
a lot high level basketball. He's from Indonesia, played a
lot of high level basketball, like on the Indonesian national
team or whatever. Like the junior national team or whatever,
and like his mental strength is stronger than those that
have just stuck with one.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
To your point like that, because I think when you
play multiple sports, there's failure and all that. Right, There's like, okay,
missing a three, or you know, in football we don't
get a first down. There's there's a lot of things
that you got to overcome and and and I feel
like if I would have just played one sport, I
wouldn't have learned a lot of different ways mentally to
(38:54):
be able to accept and react and overcome all the
mental pressures that go with all of that, right, And
I think that's the great thing about sports is even
like if you play a sport and you're not great
at it, but you go out and you work hard
and you give it, you're all you're learning so much
that you don't even realize that helps you and whatever
(39:15):
you do later in life, whether it's a you know,
whether you're doing a job like an electrician or you're
just you know, you're behind a desk, whatever it is,
but you've persevered through something I've failed, We've done great
at it, Like, but it didn't matter because the next
day I had to come back and do it all
over again.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah, that's that's learned from it.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
That's actually fascinating because, like you know, I referenced my
father before, and obviously we're not that level of athlete,
but he always used to tell us play as much
as you can, for as long as you can, because
one day you're not going to play any of it.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
And he's and it's a lot of fun and you'll
and you'll learn a ton and I do.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
And it's funny because the kids I have now they
play a lot of basketball now. But it's interesting you
say that because the one guy I taught that was
that won on what is now the Corn Ferry Tour,
but he played he played baseball, a lot of baseball
all the way up until college. And he was like,
(40:14):
it just seems to it seems to like it's like
it's a different mindset because it's also like, get away
from it. It's not twenty four to seven.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, and I yeah, I wonder like, and I don't
mean to sound like I'm picking on golfers or whatever,
but like when you have a kid that just kind
of golfed, and let's say that he has an injury
and he has to play through that in golf, Like,
are are a lot of golfers? Are they able to
do that? Or or not able to do that? Like
(40:45):
that's a mental tough like like for me, like football
was all about like playing through You know, I just
got hit by a three hundred and twenty pound dude.
Like I'm laying on the ground, face full of dirt,
like and you just push up off the ground because
I got my dad in my head yelling at me
get up.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
So let me ask you. Yeah, I do know what
you mean.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
And it's actually and actually just and it's interesting because
you just equated a physical event to mental strength, which
is exactly what it is. It's exactly what it is.
So let me okay, I do have to ask you
this question. I'm never asking anybody this question. When you
get hit like that, does it hurt? Does it mean
like literally hurt or is it just like are you
like shocked?
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Well, you know, I've been hit so many times that
sometimes you like get hit and you just get up
and you're like, oh, I didn't so that bad at all,
you know what I mean. Then you watch a film
and you're like, oh, like that should have hurt, like hell,
but it didn't, you know. And then there's other times
where just like two guys fall on you and you're like, God,
(41:47):
that the worst feeling in the world, and you just
never know, like you're just gonna get hit. And if
you play the game scared, yeah, I'm afraid to get hit.
And you can watch a game and you can tell
guys who are right because they're short arm and the throws,
(42:07):
they're not stepping up in the pocket and doing different things. Yes,
none of us want to get hit, but if you
play the game like that, you're just not going to
be very good. And then sometimes I feel like it
even hurts worse when you play scared, right, you play
all out, Like that's why when I watched like Josh
Allen play, dude does not play Scared at all, right,
(42:29):
and just is it It's just I think it's a mindset.
And then like you know, like if you said, oh,
this is going to hurt, and it probably is going
to hurt, right, But when you just play and you
get hit, you kind of move on. It's like it's
somehow mentally it's it's not that it's but you know,
(42:52):
I've been hit lots of times where I couldn't get back.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
So, okay, who hits you the hardest?
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Well, I would tell the story about Strahan because he did.
He blindside hit me one time. I uh pee blood
for for like four days after that. And then when
he got inducted to the Ring of Honor for the
Giants on the big screen. Was that play up there
(43:21):
when he got inducted. That was the play And he
always says that was the best hit I ever had
in a quarterback. And I said, see, I got you,
I got yeah, Like I'll text him, Matt, He'll laugh
and like, but that was a pretty hard hit. But
there's been other you know, I've been planted on my
shoulder and separated my shoulder. You know, I've had one
(43:42):
year playing San Francisco and and I remember h Dana
Doubblefield and uh what was the other d tackle? There
They were laying on top of me just laughing in
my face, going how that feels like you guys are
a hole? So you know what I mean, Like, it's
just it's just there's probably if I went back and
(44:05):
watched film, I could probably tell you about the defense
and stuff. I mean, I can't remember all of it,
but like some of the hits you just you just
never forget. Wow.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
That's that's that's fascinating. All right. So all right, so
let me know, let me what are you doing now?
Speaker 3 (44:21):
So right now, we started a network called the Alumni
Media Network. We I podcasted for a long time before
the pandemic and then through the pandemic, and then I
met a gentleman who said, why aren't we doing this?
Why don't former players have their own network and not
rely on other people to have it? And I said, oh,
it's a good idea. So we started doing this down
(44:44):
the road. We video everything that we do When we
first started and it was basically just podcasting, but now
it's more of like content creation lifestyle network. What do
you like to do? You know? Do you like to
talk about cars or golf or barbecue or the professional
team you played for, the college team you played for?
(45:05):
What do you want to talk about? So a lot
of guys have and a lot of girls, they have
no idea how to do technology right, to create something,
to really take a video, edit it, put an intro
and outro, cut it up for radio, or cut it
up for TV, and do all that stuff. But they
have incredible stories so our goal was really to support
(45:28):
alumni and really have them come on and tell their stories.
So it's been about a two year process of us
gaining traction, getting more and more people on board. But
it's for former players and people who have played professionally
or in college that I want to have a show,
that want to create content, and we help them with
(45:48):
social media, we help them with distribution. There's a lot
of things that go on with it to grow your following,
and it's not easy. And I tell them, look, none
of us were able to be professionals without working hard
and putting in an effort. And so some guys want
to put in that effort and some people don't. And
(46:09):
I said, you're never grow your following if you don't
put it in that effort. Now, some people just have
a big name and have an automatic following, right, But
I always say, you know, that's not who we are.
We want it to be for everyone. So we not
only do football, obviously because that's my background, but we
have you know, Baron Davis who came on board NBA player.
(46:30):
We have the WFA, which is Women's Football Alliance and
they have sixty teams across the country and they played
tackle football, They play their national championship game before the
Hall of Fame game. So there's just things and we
just want to be able to start expanding and grabbing
new people to bring them to our audience of hey,
(46:52):
we're all alumni, we're all this together. Come hear our stories.
Some of them are sports, some of them are just
about the lifestyle and what we have a passion for.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
That's really really, really neat.
Speaker 3 (47:01):
So you go any sport, correct, Yeah, yeah, we you
know we're expaying. We just spoke. I know, my co
founder Craig he just had had a conversation with the
Olympic alumni. You know, obviously they would be great because
all they want to do is, you know, you hear
about them in the summer and four years later, here
(47:22):
about them again, right, So like, okay, give them an
opportunity to tell their stories all the time, because I'm
sure they have incredible stories as well. But it's just
a it's just a platform where you know, people don't
really don't know how to do a lot of things,
and we support them and then you know, we're not
doing all the work for them, and but it's a
it's a model that's been doing pretty well for us.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
So so that that's pretty neat and so okay, so
aside from that, okay, and obviously you have kids. I mean, look,
so what else I mean because this is this is
I got to ask you this. That's kind of weird
I would think to be a young guy and retire
because obviously, yeah, well I.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Kind of searched for a long time on what to do.
You know. I came out when I first got back
to Pittsburgh. I did some high school football coaching. When
I first retired, I was we were living in Saint Louis.
I coached high school football where my kids went to school.
I actually coached Ezekiel Elliott Foyer Lucon in high school.
That was a lot of fun. Went to four state
(48:25):
championships there. Moved back to Pittsburgh, or kids went to
Central Catholic. I helped out a Central Catholic. But I
don't know, I just kind of didn't enjoy it as
much anymore, and I looked for other things to do,
and I met a gentleman, Clarence Carlos. Here was a
company called Roberto, named after Roberto Clameny. They developed an
app and measures of Montship brain performance, and I really
(48:47):
enjoyed that, but you know, it was the startup and
that's kind of where I got my feet wet into
the business side of it. And then moving on, you know,
one of things I realized was that, you know, I
had this incredible family. After I retired, I just went
to be with my life, my kids and be a
dad and make sure I'm there for them, put them
through college, all that stuff. And then I realized too,
(49:08):
after so many years, that man, I missed my other family.
I missed the locker room, missed the people I did
this with every day, you know, twenty four to seven
that you know, all these people that I got to
hang out with, and I haven't seen any of them.
So started podcasting and it gave me an opportunity to
call them and catch up over an hour call and
see how they're doing and tell stories. And then that led,
(49:30):
you know, into trying to interview other people who wrote
books and we're you know, all all around in sports.
So it's been it's been an interesting go. And now
the other thing I do is I help my friend
kind of rebuild kitchens and baths, which is kind of crazy,
but my dad did it. I always loved helping them
(49:52):
and I love working with my hands, and it's kind
of like I really enjoy It's something to tear something
down build it back up to finished product, and I'm
happy it makes people. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
The other thing is, guess what you're still You're still
the kid from Ford City.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
So that's what you're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
Yeah, right, And I like the you know, fish and golf.
That's my two hobbies.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
There you go, there you go. Well, Gus, I'll tell
you what you're all done.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
See, it only took it only took a little bit
of almost an hour. But I can't I can't tell
you how much I appreciate it and absolutely awesome to
hear those stories.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
And it's awesome too.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
A couple of things you said in there that I'll
I'll revisit several times and we'll catch up in the
future and and we'll see what you see what you're
up to.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Then appreciate I that was my golf games, Like you
just gotta ask Bob Sila. So yeah, Bob will tell
you how I played out in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
He did tell me that, and he said he also
but he also actually he couched up pretty well. He said,
you know, you can tell he's an athlete. So I
don't know if that means anything that good or bad,
but you know.
Speaker 1 (50:59):
That's exactly all right. He did not he did not
give you a grade. He just said, you can tell
that guy's an athlete. I'm like, okay, there you go.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
I put it. I wasn't running out of any van trips, that's.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
For sure, all right, Gus, Thanks tons, I appreciate it,
and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
All right, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
This has been the Rich Comwell Golf Show.
Welcome to the Rich Konwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This week, we are very very I'm very excited to
have a guest on with us this week that's from
a kind of a different world, but we're gonna get
it back into golf and we're going to talk a
lot about mental acuity, mental development, and mental strength and
things like that. But our guest this week is Gus Faratt.
Gus is a former National Football League quarterback fourteen year
(00:27):
NFL career. He's from Western Pennsylvania and we're going to
kind of talk through a lot of his development with him.
But first off, I just want to say, Gus, thanks,
thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, thanks for having me Rich, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All right.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Cool, So, I guess most people would know but maybe not,
that Western Pennsylvania is the hotbed of NFL quarterbacks, you know,
with people like Marino and Johnny Unidas and George Blanda
and things like that. But you obviously grew up in
(01:02):
Western Pennsylvania. So you grew up in Ford City, correct?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, So what sports did you play growing up?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Well, you know, we were such a small school, we
kindently had the major sports, so I basically was you know, football, basketball,
baseball every year?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay, And obviously you're a pretty good athlete because you
actually had some pretty your school had some pretty good
success in high school for baseball, correct.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
A few state championships, and we were kind of up
there every year. And and you know, when you go
to a small school and you can put some good kids,
good athletic kids together on the same team, you can
have some good success with good coaching.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So when did so obviously, as you said, you played
them all, But obviously was when when did football become
like your your primary I mean, obviously you played them
all when I get that, and you know, but when
did it become like your sole focus?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Football, I mean I played it, and then in ninth
grade I started out the year and I actually had
a major injury. I broke my neck tackling somebody with
my head down in two days, and so I really
didn't play football for two years ninth and tenth grade,
And so baseball and basketball were kind of Basketball was
(02:28):
probably my third sport. I love playing it, but I
wasn't great at it. But baseball was probably my original
love and just loved to be out there play the game.
Usually played the third base pitching. I wasn't great at pitching.
I mean, I could throw it really hard, but you know,
(02:48):
you obviously need an incredible accuracy when you're playing it.
It takes a lot of mental stability and I didn't
really kind of have that yet, so and there were
a lot of factors that played into that. So when
I was younger, I played outfield. When I got older,
played third base and really enjoyed that. And then when
I got into my junior year, my wife's father came
(03:11):
to my school, I kind of got back into football.
Harry Beckwith was his name. He was. He's a Hall
of Fame coach in Pennsylvania and kind of got me
back in just playing quarterback, didn't really playing defense. Senior year,
played some more defense, and then got recruited into you know,
major college football, and but baseball was more of kind
(03:33):
of D three, D two, And for me, it was like, Okay,
which one is going to be better for me? And
I have to pay for and not have my parents
pay for anything. So football, as I got older into
high school, football became even though I loved baseball, football
(03:54):
became more of what I saw myself doing in the future.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So all right, so let me go backwards a little bit. Sae.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You break your neck putting your head down and tackle somebody.
So were you scared when you came back to play football?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, you It took a long time. It's
like I said, I didn't play tenth grade, just kind
of sat out and still kind of went over there
and watched. Didn't really want to do it. My dad,
he was a tough meal guy, so he was basically like,
get your ass back out there. My mom obviously didn't
(04:26):
want me to go play, but you know, it just
taking time to your kids heal, you know, and you
know I kind of had some issues with it, but
never really anything that bothered me and just started playing quarterback.
We ran the wing tea. Maybe I threw it forty
times in high school, you know, but I was six
(04:50):
four and two hundred pounds, and you know, there's a
lot of upside there that I just saw on that.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Because you can't coach that.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can't teach that either, you know, six four one
hundred pounds as a as a you know, a junior
and senior in high school.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
You can't. You can't. I can't coach that. Nobody can coach.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, in the mid eighties, there were no like quarterback schools,
and you couldn't watch on videos and all that. It
was just what you had at your high school, you know.
And my parents we weren't you know, we didn't have
the money to go and travel to do anything. So
you worked out, you went to you know, you threw
what your coach knew, which luckily, my coach kind of
(05:27):
played quarterback in college a little bit. It was a punter.
So I took a lot of skill sets that he
gave me and was able to go and you know,
go to college with those and become an okay quarterback.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty funny what you said before
about your dad being a milk guy, and just get
your ass back out there, because it's funny because my
dad not obviously nowhere near of that, but he had
four boys, and he always just say kids get knocked
down and kids get up, and you're.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Gonna yeah, you know, you're gonna be okay. I always
tell a story about my dad. When I was in
eighth grade and I was actually playing football and it
was the first practice and I came home and I
remember my foot was just killing me, and I kept
telling my mom. She finally took me to the hospital
get an X ray and and I think, no, I
(06:14):
think we just went to the doctor and he said, well,
you know, just it's okay, just put the mice on
and maybe take a couple of weeks off. And got home.
My dad said, no, just hi, youre shrewd tighter. I
just bought you those cleats and I'm not wasting money
on them. Go out there and play. So I played
all year. At the end of the season, my foot
was still kill me. We get an X ray at
the end of the season and find out it's broken.
(06:36):
So they're just things that you go through as a kid,
Like you're just like killing me, and you just slid
through it, and your dad's just a tough soob and
you just kind of, you know, you kind of deal
with it and it makes you who you are.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
That's great, that's great, that's that's that's actually now obviously
because it was a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Now I was that's a funny story.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Now today, well, now today they could get somebody for
child abuse for that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know, that's what the scary thing is like, that
would be not good.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
World changes and it does. It's just like, you know,
I always kind of liking it too. When you're a
kid and there was somebody in your neighborhood or a
weird person that drove through your neighborhood, you know, you
nobody really knew, or somebody tried to pick up some
kid or whatever, like it was just very local. Right now,
(07:27):
somebody in California watches somebody in Pennsylvania, right, you know
that happened to and they put it out there, and
it's just it's just how the world works. And you
kind of move on with it, and you got to
adapt to different different mindsets and you know, I don't
think you can ever go backwards. You just got to
keep moving forward.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So okay, so you get through high school and so
you get recruited. Who are you getting Who are you
getting recruited by?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Well, first I was heavily recruited by Michigan, and that
was like where I wanted to go, and I was
super excited about that at and I had Louisville and Tulsa, Temple,
Kansas State. I'm trying to think a couple of the
other schools, and then Michigan kind of dropped off because
(08:12):
they were recruiting three or four different quarterbacks, which they can, right,
and they kind of got the one they really wanted.
And it's funny their their quarterback coach end up being
my quarterback coach with the Washington Redskins, and he was like, yeah,
we got to and to and we just kind of
dropped everybody else, and like that's just how it goes.
(08:33):
And then after the recruiting process and seeing the schools
and seeing the coaches, I just really like Coach Raider
at Tulsa, and you know, he flew twice to come
visit me at home, where you know, nobody else really did,
and so I just really appreciated that. I knew they
threw the ball with Tulsa and you know, just end
(08:55):
up going and the only problems was one thousand miles
away from home. Right.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, so all right, absolutely ask you that question. Then
you brought up did you get homesick?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Uh? No, I mean I think everybody misses it when
they leave, because you missed you know, me and your
parents are doing everything for you, obviously, But I didn't
get homesick. Like I had roommates who or from Philly.
I'd roommates for it from all over, and guys would
just get homesick and leave school and just say, nope,
I'm not doing this. And I was like, really, like,
(09:27):
you're you're here, you're growing up, and you're doing all
these things, and you just want to leave and they
want to go back and do what they did, you know,
be live at home. And it's just like, okay, Like
I saw that happened to many guys in college. Yes,
you know it's not for.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Everyone, right, is so okay? So let me ask you
this question. Was it was?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
It?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Was it way harder than you thought it would be
to play college football.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, nothing's ever easy, right, to play football hard obviously,
because if you want to play I learned at an
early age that you're going to go through bumb and
you're gonna have breaks, and you're gonna have different things
happened to you. And it's a hard game. And I
learned early on even about the media to say and
not to say, and so it's hard. Everything's hard. But
(10:12):
you know, if I always just enjoyed the work, I
enjoyed the practice, I enjoyed working out the guys in
the locker room, and those things were always. You know,
I never minded that kind of hard work and enjoyed it. Now,
I know, like my son they cut to college, they
didn't really like all that hard work that it takes
(10:33):
to you know, lift weights, practice, playing games, go to class,
beyond time, everything like that. So it's not for everyone,
but I absolutely enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
That's awesome. So so you play all four years at Tulsa.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I was there five years. I was red shirted second year.
I was not supposed to play. We had a quarterback
named TJ. Rubley. He was the senior. He was know
we were. We had a good team. We had a
lot of good players. Comes we're playing at Arkansas now.
The week before I think it happened when we were
(11:09):
playing maybe it was at Arkansas, but he blew his
knee out in the game and I had to go in.
I was the backup, and you know, those my first snaps.
So I had a year and so in year and
you know a few months changed to get ready to
perfect my you know, my footwork, to perfect my uh
(11:31):
you know, how I'm holding the ball, how I'm throwing
the ball. Because I'm sure coming from you know, some
little town that ran the wing team my my form
is not as seen as as I really needed it
to be. So I had a coach workman. I had
a couple of other coach raider, you know, really working
on how to throw the football and getting it up
(11:53):
and being how to be accurate and things like that,
and just put in the time and then was able
to play. Everything wasn't great, but you know I really
enjoyed it. And then the next year, teacher got a
medical red shirt. He came back, so he played. My
third year, he ended up playing that year. We ended
up going to a bowl game. I was the punter
(12:13):
that year, so I still got to be on the
field and then started my last two years at Tulsa,
and you know had a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Okay, so let me ask you, and I asked this
when I'm fortunate enough to talk to guys that get
to those levels. Was it incredibly faster when you got
to Tulsa?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Well? Yeah, I mean you just had to you had
to figure it out. Well, you know, coming from what
I did, I didn't really throw. It's not like I ran.
We lined up in five whites and threw the ball. Ever,
you know, the wing tea is, you know, we're under center.
Every play there was really never shotgun and you're you know,
you're you're running a waggle, you're run you know, to
(12:56):
drop back was very rare. So you get the Tulsa
and you just kind of you know, you're playing with
a different set of athletes. It is faster. But the
one skill I was given was that my arm and
the way I could throw football.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Let me keep up with all that, right, right, So
that that's kind of that's kind of neat. So so
your last to your last two years you played right.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And then at what point did you kind of went on?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I don't know how this goes, So y'a, I'm going
to ask you, like, how do you figure out that
you can actually play in national football? And somebody come
and not come and tell you, but.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Like, you don't, you don't you The only way you
can ever figure it out is if you get a
chance to go playing a game. And it doesn't matter
if your first round pickerre you're a free agent, you know,
because okay, they go through all these workouts, even the
combine and went to the combine. They come work you
(13:52):
out in your place. They want to see your skill sets.
I want to see what you look like, but how
you hold yourself, how you present yourself, all those types
of things. I mean, there's so much work that goes
into trying to pick up first round or compared to
somebody that don't even want to take like it's a
free agent. There's so much work that goes into it,
right and all right, So this is the guy that
(14:14):
we're putting all our eggs in his bag, you know
what I mean, and we're just gonna go and deal
with him. And even those guys, and we see it
all the time, those guys go out there and they
can't compete. It's just a different game when you get
to the NFL compared to college, and it's you have
that what it takes. And I'm not really sure what
(14:37):
that is, but you either got it or you don't,
because I've seen a lot of guys go out there
and not be able to compete and you only get
one shot in the NFL, rarely get two. And you know,
luckily when I came in, I was the seventh rounder.
We had a first rounder in front of me, and
he's sureer and he's just held out for more money
(15:00):
and didn't show up all training camp. So I got
every single one of his reps and was able to
prove to people that I could be in the huddle,
that I could call plays, that I could you know,
do what it takes to be a leader, and and
then obviously go out and you know, move the ball
up and down the field. And then you know, through
that first year, was given opportunities and took advantage of it.
(15:22):
Where the first game I went out and beat the Colts,
you know, threw four touchdowns. And then those kind of
things where I've seen guys that you know, are rookies
and you're hoping they're doing well, and then they get
an opportunity to go out and play and and they
look lost and they're just throwing the ball around. It's
a three interception game. And and we all have those,
(15:43):
but when you get your first shot to have one
like that, it's not unless you're a first round or
you won't.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Get another opportunity. That is fascinating.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
That's that's really that's really interesting. Okay, So we're going
to tell you commercial break. When we come back, I
want to talk to talk to you about like your
first couple of years in the NFL and and see
how that how that kind of mentally kind of transforms you. Okay,
so we'll be right back with Gus farant This is
the rich Conwell Golf Show.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Welcome back to rich Conwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
We're joined by former NFL quarterback Gus Faratt, who was
walking through his his younger years and and leaving Ford
City and going to Tulsa and then getting in to
the NFL and and we are actually going to transform
this all back into golf in a minute.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
But these are these are really cool stories.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
So you get so you go to Washington and he
sure holds out, so you get that job, right.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It's pretty much right. Yeah, So and it goes pretty
well for you. And so.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Your first game you say, you said through three touchdowns
or four touchdowns?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Four?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Okay, So at that point do you think it's easy
or do you think you're lucky.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I think I'm lucky. I was pretty humbled. I mean
I never try to get it big ahead, and if
you do, you get humbled really fast in the NFL.
So it's just a matter of going back and working
harder and harder every time because there's always somebody taking
your spot.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So it is so like that there's really no way
unless you experience that, you can you can explain the
competitive level at the National Football League level.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, even like so many times are seen guys come
into camp or practice and they look great and they
do these things that catch the ball, and then they
get in the game and they jump off sides or
they don't know how to line up, or they run
the wrong route or you know, they don't block the
right person, and you know, it's just it's just a
(17:43):
thing that you don't realize what people can do until
they actually get into a live game situation, and not
even preseason. Preseason gives you a little bit, but regular
season is really where you kind of separate everything. And
you know, you've seen a lot of guys come and go,
and a lot of people want to play in the
league and right, and you just it's just it's just
(18:07):
hard to get the opportunity and then it's hard to
keep that opportunity and stay in it for a long time.
And those guys that are Hall of famers, you know,
they've been able to take everything they've learned they're athleticism
and then their mental toughness and just do it week
in and week out.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Okay, So that's okay.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
So so all right now I want to talk to
you about that a little bit. So obviously you already
mentioned you're six foot four hundred pounds and obviously probably
a little bit bigger than that when you come out
of college, and obviously they have all the all the
the diet stuff and things like that. But like mentally,
and I won't say this negatively, but I say positively,
(18:50):
you're just different.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well, there's different kind of mental capabilities, right, there's tough,
there's very we're going to dissect everything, and you know,
I know what's happening before everybody else knows what's happening,
and then you just see different kind of players. But
it all comes I think it just comes down to
mental toughness, like can I let the last play go?
(19:15):
Can I move on? What's happening? Can I not throw
this ball? And what's the best decision to make? So
mental preparation is not easy, and then it becomes what
does my demeanor look like? What does my mentality look
(19:36):
like to everyone else? Right? Because if you're a quarterback
and you're in a huddle and you look like you're
mentally weak, nobody's following you. Nobody's helping you, nobody's doing
what you need them to do, right, because then they
don't necessarily trust you all the time. So mentally, when
things going wrong direction, people need to have faith in
(19:58):
you and make sure that no matter what happens, I
know that you're going to be there. You're going to
pull us out. And that's no different than a tackle
or a guard, a center, a receiver, a tight end,
you know, the same way on defense. Right, there's there's
just a mental toughness and a mental kind of I'm
trying to think of a good word for it. And
(20:19):
it's not all type. It's not all like one type
of mentality because there are different types and you've seen
it in any sport, even golf, right, there's different types
of golfers. Right, Bryson de Chambella is a completely different
type of golfer than the probably anybody out there. You
have all these different people, but it comes down to trust,
(20:39):
and it comes down to being able to say, you
understand what we need to do, I'm going to follow
you or I'm going to work with you and we're
going to be in this together. And then how does
that take it work? You know, you talk about the
difference between golf and football. It's just, you know, golf
is you're.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
By yourself, right right.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
You're making those decisions on your own, And a lot
of times in football, I can't survive without the end
the other ten guys, you know what I mean. So
that's a little different. But and it's it's hard. You know,
guys who are incredible athletes, they can't out, they can't
go out and swing a golf club. It's it's sometimes
it's really amazing to watch.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
That's so so in other words, like if you walk
in there and you're not sure what's going on, how
the hell are they going to be sure what's going on?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Sayeah, well, how are they going to trust you? You
know what I mean? Like, So when it's just it's
just long, it's it's coaches, it's players, and it's a
it's a hard process because you have to be able
to go in the huddle, you have to be able
to call to play clearly, to be able to tell
everybody what to do. So in essence, I'm baking a cake.
(21:49):
I got to have all these ingredients and they got
to be right or the cake's not going to turn
out right. It's every play, it's every twenty five seconds,
and you got to be able to process and do
all those things. Inevitably, guys line up wrong, guys don't
know snap count. You're always telling these things, especially when
you get watch these guys who check on the offense
a lot. Right, they're changing plays, they're doing different things.
(22:11):
So the processing goes on. It's super fast. But then
there's all this other mental work that goes in when
we're in the locker room, when we're in the weight room,
when we're out of the practice field, when we're watching film, right,
Because like there's a quarterback who came out a long
time ago, well not long but after me, but he
(22:33):
was drafted by the Raiders. I think he played at LSU,
you know, top prospect, and he's the number one pick
and he goes to the Raiders and just isn't doing
very well. And so the coach says, hey, I want
you to take this film home, watch it and tell
let's talk about it tomorrow. And the coach comes in
(22:55):
the next day and says, hey, how'd that film go.
He goes, oh, yeah, it was really good. I watched
it all. And the coach is like, there was nothing on.
It was blank, right, So there's just that mentality that
all of a sudden he's caught like trying to trying
to take his way through and that's the one thing.
You can't take your way through anything in the NFL. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
So now, yeah, obviously because now you just not only
did I don't trust you, you just lied to me.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So now we're done. And now we're done because because they.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Had to find out, like, you know, he's saying all
these things, but why is he really like you know,
is he just pointing the fingers of everybody else out
in the field or does he really not know what
he's doing? So they had to find out what's really
going on? Wow, you know, And I mean there's the
NFL is an incredible place. There's people from all different
walks of life, all different backgrounds across this great country,
(23:46):
and you have to come together and you have to
build a team with them. And it's no different than
anything else, whether it's a company or business, you know,
in a hospital or in a you know, financial setting,
whatever it is, you have to be able to build
a team and the leadership has to make sure that
everybody is pointed in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
That's that's that's actually, that's that's you are right, that's it's,
it's anywhere, it's anywhere. I don't care if you're if
you're running a mail room. It's like, if we're not
all doing the same thing, we're all going the same direction.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
We're all done. We're not gonna we're gonna run all
over the place.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So so okay, so I'm gonna ask you this question.
So who was the who was who was the Who's
the best player you ever played with? Offensive?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Well, it all depends on what position. I played a
lot of Hall of Famers receiver wise, one of my
favorite was that I ever played with. I mean there
was several several, but you know, Randy Moss obviously is
top of the top of the list. And then the
(24:51):
first kind of top receiver I ever played with was
Henry Ellard. And Henry was just amazing quiet but like
would very quietly tell me and teach me how to
like how he likes fall throne, what he's looking for
because he played with a you know, a bunch of
great quarterbacks and you're always trying to learn and it
(25:12):
wasn't always just me telling everybody what to do. It's
like you got to listen to them because they're going
to run routes how they run them. They're going to
do things how they like. And if I can make
it easier and we can complete passes, that's really all
that matters.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Right, It doesn't matter how, it just matter it is done.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
No. Yeah, but you know, I just played with a
you know, because I played for seventeams. I played fifteen years,
met a lot of guys played on a lot of
different organizations who had Hall of Famers and or you know,
they're in the Ring of Honor for their teams, and
it's just, you know, most of those guys are just
(25:49):
incredibly gifted, but they're also gifted in work ethic and
taking everything seriously and taking it to another level.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, because you know, I've been, you know, because I'm
from Western Pennsylvania, so I've been I've been able to
talk to like Jack Ham, like I know, you know
who he is, and like I've been able to talk
to people that were around like Sydney Crosby, and like
they're obviously really good players, but every everybody that talks
about them sos how hard they work, like they're really, really,
really talented obviously, but like they work really hard.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, there's no days off like you I mean, you're
going to get a day off here and there, and
everybody wants to take a day off. But when you're
when it's time to go and you're in practice and
it's you know, you got to work and then you
got to watch film you got there's so many things
that go into it, and it's keeping your body in shape. Obviously,
with the way things have kind of come over the
last forty years, that has definitely changed. You know, because
(26:46):
if you ask guys back in the day, you know
they were smoking cigarette then it wasn't a big deal.
So it's all changed. You know, a lot of people
used to chew and do different things, and you know,
now it's like there's so many you can wear. You'se
wearable to understand where your heart rate is and how
your body's you know, processing glucos and doing all these things.
(27:07):
Back in the day, we didn't even have lunch rooms,
you know what I mean. So it's completely different, and
so it's all it's all good, but you know, it's
just it's just the mentality of working hard and those
guys that just persevere pushed through. Everybody's going to be hurt.
You're going to get hurt. Okay, can how can you
(27:29):
manage that? Are you hurt or are you injured?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
But let's talk about that for a second, because I
was fortunate enough to talk to to.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
A guy who's in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Now who played for the Steelers recently running back, and
you could figure out who that is. But he told
me there was a guy on a team that was
very popular with people, but like he was never going
to get really, really, really far in the national football
because he kind of was a lot more injured than
he was hurt, you know, like he just couldn't quite
power throw it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, he was always injured right now, like you're always injured.
You're missing practice, you're missing games. Like you know, there's
plenty of times where you know you can't move, you know,
on Monday, but somehow you persevere, get shut up and
go back out on Sunday and you have a hell
of a game. Right It's just the nature of the beast,
(28:20):
and you have to be willing to put yourself through that. Now,
they've changed a lot of rules right from back in
the day, you know, as far as concussions go and
and all those types of injuries, and they're more into
protecting their investment. But you know, what what does that mean?
You know, obviously, if I'm a quarterback and I'm making
(28:41):
you know, half a billion dollars in ten years, it's like, Okay,
I'm probably protecting this investment because I need him to
play for me for ten years, right, you know, But
there's other guys that they're probably not doing that with,
and those guys just have to suck it up. You
have to go and play because the average career is
not very long.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
It's a couple years, right, all right, So yeah, you
just got to figure out that you won't you want
to play or you want.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
To not play.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
And then if you choose to not play, I would
think they would let you. They would let you just
stay over there and we'll move on to somebody else,
because that's what they're going to do.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
They don't have to like choose somebody as there's always
somebody else, right, There's always somebody else waiting in the
wings to get an opportunity. I mean, do you just
never know who the next superstar is going to be.
So obviously when you see guys in college and you know,
things happen and oh this guy he's legit, you know
what I mean. But you just never know. You just
(29:37):
really never know.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Okay, so all right, let me ask you this question then, okay,
then just get back to mental strength and things like that.
But did you now you said you don't know until
you get a chance to play, Like, but when did
you in the national football He's when did you kind
of realize.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
That you could stick around for that long?
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Well, you know, I got to play a lot and
luckily in DC and when I was in Washington, and
you kind of realize, Okay, I'm making a team, I
got a new contract. Then you kind of realize like, okay,
I can I can play a long time if I
do the right things. And you know, I was able
(30:23):
to pick up different offenses. I was able to go
to a new team and listen to a new coach
because it's like a foreign language if you've never heard
it before, and you've got to go out and process
it and practice and throw the ball at the right
place and call them in the huddle and all that.
And so I was able to do that. So there
were just things that throughout my career were able to,
(30:43):
you know. And I was always really good with other players,
like I felt like I could help coach or I
was never a guy who said I'm in it for me.
I'm in it for everyone, right, I'm in it for
us to win. It doesn't matter if it's I'm the
second or the first or third string quarterback. I'm gonna
do all I can to help this team. And you know,
(31:04):
and I just learned things along the way. When I
was young, I was doing practice squad my rookie year
and just throwing the ball where the coaches tell you
to throw it, right, Okay, I'm just I'm here for
the defense and wherever they want me to throw them
to throw it. So all of a sudden, I'm throwing
you know, you're throwing interception after interception in practice because
(31:25):
the coaches are saying, okay, let's run this play against
cover two. Oh, it looks great, right, just because that
they wanted to look good in practice. All right. So
Darryl Green comes up to me after a practice and
he says, what are you doing? And I said, what
do you mean? He goes, why are you throwing all
these interceptions and stuff? I said, I'm just I'm just
(31:47):
telling throwing the ball where they tell me to throw it.
He goes, why would you do that? And I said, well,
that's because I'm a rookie and you know they're telling
me to do it. I just want to make the team.
He goes, no, stop it. You're not helping yourself, you're
not helping me. And I said, well, Darrel, what am
I supposed to do when the coaches are telling me
(32:07):
to do one thing and I'm just a rook He said, look,
I'll tell I'll talk to defense coaches. You throw the
ball where you read it and you're supposed to throw it,
And that's what I did, and you just go in
And that made me a lot better. But you have
to have leaders and people around you like that to
give you that authority and that power to do that,
(32:27):
because you know, coaches, they're all under stress, they're all
under the right, you know, and they want everything to
look well and so, but that doesn't always correlate to
game day. And what Darrell told me correlated precisely the
game day because I'm that's our starting defense, and I
can throw the ball against them in practice and do
(32:49):
the right things, and you know, I have an opportunity
and a chance to do it in.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
A game that's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
All right, when we come back from this commercial break,
we are going to talk about like what you're doing
now and like how you I really I'm going to
ask you a question about mental strength when we start this,
and then then we'll go from there. This is this
is the rich Comwall Golf Show. Welcome back to rich
Comwoll Golf Show. We were talking with former NFL quarterback
Gus Forout today and we're going to kind of dive
(33:15):
into an area that actually translates to golf, but it's
good for all sports and it's really interesting. But it's
mental strength or mental toughness. Gus, can you develop that?
Did you develop it?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah? Yeah, you have to develop it, I think, and
it helps you look for me and golf. You know,
I'm not a great golfer. I'm not a bad golfer.
I'm just kind of shoot around eighty and have fun, right,
but I know that if I go out and I
push one in the woods or I hook one or whatever,
(33:55):
and I can't think of you know, and you see
it all time and affects guys golf games the rest
of the round right right, the next shot is terrible.
Then they missed through two putts and then they're just done.
I've seen I've seen my kids do that right right.
And when I play against them, and if I want
(34:16):
to beat him, I just start coaching them, you know,
because golf is all mental. It's all like okay, and
I lined upright, am I doing all these things properly,
you know. And I'll give you an example. When I
was playing in Washington, we played we played Tampa Bay
one year and I was young and and we were
(34:37):
playing Tampa Bay and warrens Half was a d line
and saw him after the game, and I said, hey,
what's up on how you doing? And he goes, hey, man,
I just want to tell you something. I said, what's up?
And he goes, hey, your feet change between a run
and a pass. I said, what do you mean. He goes, yeah,
you put your feet different when you're going to throw
it and when you're going to hand it off because
you're under center, and you know that's what he's looking at.
(35:00):
And I said, oh my god, I don't even you know,
I never even recognize that, you know, because a lot
of times you want to have your feet in a
different position so guard doesn't step on you when I
drop them back, and things like that, or if I'm
going to if I'm going to go out left and
go out right, and then from that point on, I
just kept my feet perfectly even. And because I never
(35:20):
you don't want to give anybody a tip because they
have a tip, they're so good that they're going to
exploit it.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
But it's the same thing. It's like, okay, when I
line up, if you know I'm trying to. That's why
when you see people golf and they have such a
regiment and they have like sometimes I don't always understand
it because I like just kind of line up. I
don't think a lot of practice swings. I just kind
of say, all right here I am, let's go, let's
go do this. And that's not always perfect, but you
(35:50):
know it is. It's a mental toughness. Can I get
through this? Can I you know, if I miss a putt,
it's a hard, fast green. Can I come back and
make the next putt? Uh? You know? And it's none
of it's easy, and it's I watch film just like
I do, and you know, there's that's a great thing
about internet now I can go out and watch a
(36:11):
ton of people's information on golf right and learn a
lot of stuff, and you know, maybe it works for me,
maybe it doesn't. But I think the biggest thing for
me in golf mentally is that it's still practice. Like
I was good at football because we've practiced all the
time and we were able to throw the football and
(36:32):
run routes and you know, just get timing down and
everything like that. And that's probably why I'm not great
at golf now because I don't put in that practice. Right.
My practice is all right, guys, let's go play and
have fun. And you know, and I could shoot a
seventy eight, but it's like, you know, you look at
(36:52):
your score and said, oh yeah, I can shot a TOQO, right,
VE done these things right, But I don't. I know,
but I realize in my mind that I don't, you know,
I don't spend hours at the driving range, er chipping
and putting like you like you really need to to
be that take that next step.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, that's that's really interesting because what you said this
second ago about letting it go, because because like well
you're talking about Darryl Green, right, and and and and.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
And like, guys, let it go. And I have I
coached at.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
William University men's golf team, right or Division two, so
we're like, we're not playing against Jordan's beath at Texas
or whatever. But but like I see these guys and
if it goes if it's going well for them, it's okay.
But once it goes offline once for a couple of them,
that's like, that's like the wheels have all fallen off,
(37:42):
and it's it's and I don't know how to I
kind of I know some things.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Did you have a I have a question for you
now if you how long have you been coaching golf?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Well, for me for twenty five years, I mean the
golf team.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
How many now, if you think back to all the
golfers you've had, how many golfers that have come in
college have played multiple sports in high school just golf
two Like a lot of golfers just of golf I have.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I'll tell you it's interesting you say that because I
have a kid on my team now that actually played
a lot high level basketball. He's from Indonesia, played a
lot of high level basketball, like on the Indonesian national
team or whatever. Like the junior national team or whatever,
and like his mental strength is stronger than those that
have just stuck with one.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
To your point like that, because I think when you
play multiple sports, there's failure and all that. Right, There's like, okay,
missing a three, or you know, in football we don't
get a first down. There's there's a lot of things
that you got to overcome and and and I feel
like if I would have just played one sport, I
wouldn't have learned a lot of different ways mentally to
(38:54):
be able to accept and react and overcome all the
mental pressures that go with all of that, right, And
I think that's the great thing about sports is even
like if you play a sport and you're not great
at it, but you go out and you work hard
and you give it, you're all you're learning so much
that you don't even realize that helps you and whatever
(39:15):
you do later in life, whether it's a you know,
whether you're doing a job like an electrician or you're
just you know, you're behind a desk, whatever it is,
but you've persevered through something I've failed, We've done great
at it, Like, but it didn't matter because the next
day I had to come back and do it all
over again.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah, that's that's learned from it.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
That's actually fascinating because, like you know, I referenced my
father before, and obviously we're not that level of athlete,
but he always used to tell us play as much
as you can, for as long as you can, because
one day you're not going to play any of it.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
And he's and it's a lot of fun and you'll
and you'll learn a ton and I do.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
And it's funny because the kids I have now they
play a lot of basketball now. But it's interesting you
say that because the one guy I taught that was
that won on what is now the Corn Ferry Tour,
but he played he played baseball, a lot of baseball
all the way up until college. And he was like,
(40:14):
it just seems to it seems to like it's like
it's a different mindset because it's also like, get away
from it. It's not twenty four to seven.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, and I yeah, I wonder like, and I don't
mean to sound like I'm picking on golfers or whatever,
but like when you have a kid that just kind
of golfed, and let's say that he has an injury
and he has to play through that in golf, Like,
are are a lot of golfers? Are they able to
do that? Or or not able to do that? Like
(40:45):
that's a mental tough like like for me, like football
was all about like playing through You know, I just
got hit by a three hundred and twenty pound dude.
Like I'm laying on the ground, face full of dirt,
like and you just push up off the ground because
I got my dad in my head yelling at me
get up.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
So let me ask you. Yeah, I do know what
you mean.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
And it's actually and actually just and it's interesting because
you just equated a physical event to mental strength, which
is exactly what it is. It's exactly what it is.
So let me okay, I do have to ask you
this question. I'm never asking anybody this question. When you
get hit like that, does it hurt? Does it mean
like literally hurt or is it just like are you
like shocked?
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Well, you know, I've been hit so many times that
sometimes you like get hit and you just get up
and you're like, oh, I didn't so that bad at all,
you know what I mean. Then you watch a film
and you're like, oh, like that should have hurt, like hell,
but it didn't, you know. And then there's other times
where just like two guys fall on you and you're like, God,
(41:47):
that the worst feeling in the world, and you just
never know, like you're just gonna get hit. And if
you play the game scared, yeah, I'm afraid to get hit.
And you can watch a game and you can tell
guys who are right because they're short arm and the throws,
(42:07):
they're not stepping up in the pocket and doing different things. Yes,
none of us want to get hit, but if you
play the game like that, you're just not going to
be very good. And then sometimes I feel like it
even hurts worse when you play scared, right, you play
all out, Like that's why when I watched like Josh
Allen play, dude does not play Scared at all, right,
(42:29):
and just is it It's just I think it's a mindset.
And then like you know, like if you said, oh,
this is going to hurt, and it probably is going
to hurt, right, But when you just play and you
get hit, you kind of move on. It's like it's
somehow mentally it's it's not that it's but you know,
(42:52):
I've been hit lots of times where I couldn't get back.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
So, okay, who hits you the hardest?
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Well, I would tell the story about Strahan because he did.
He blindside hit me one time. I uh pee blood
for for like four days after that. And then when
he got inducted to the Ring of Honor for the
Giants on the big screen. Was that play up there
(43:21):
when he got inducted. That was the play And he
always says that was the best hit I ever had
in a quarterback. And I said, see, I got you,
I got yeah, Like I'll text him, Matt, He'll laugh
and like, but that was a pretty hard hit. But
there's been other you know, I've been planted on my
shoulder and separated my shoulder. You know, I've had one
(43:42):
year playing San Francisco and and I remember h Dana
Doubblefield and uh what was the other d tackle? There
They were laying on top of me just laughing in
my face, going how that feels like you guys are
a hole? So you know what I mean, Like, it's
just it's just there's probably if I went back and
(44:05):
watched film, I could probably tell you about the defense
and stuff. I mean, I can't remember all of it,
but like some of the hits you just you just
never forget. Wow.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
That's that's that's fascinating. All right. So all right, so
let me know, let me what are you doing now?
Speaker 3 (44:21):
So right now, we started a network called the Alumni
Media Network. We I podcasted for a long time before
the pandemic and then through the pandemic, and then I
met a gentleman who said, why aren't we doing this?
Why don't former players have their own network and not
rely on other people to have it? And I said, oh,
it's a good idea. So we started doing this down
(44:44):
the road. We video everything that we do When we
first started and it was basically just podcasting, but now
it's more of like content creation lifestyle network. What do
you like to do? You know? Do you like to
talk about cars or golf or barbecue or the professional
team you played for, the college team you played for?
(45:05):
What do you want to talk about? So a lot
of guys have and a lot of girls, they have
no idea how to do technology right, to create something,
to really take a video, edit it, put an intro
and outro, cut it up for radio, or cut it
up for TV, and do all that stuff. But they
have incredible stories so our goal was really to support
(45:28):
alumni and really have them come on and tell their stories.
So it's been about a two year process of us
gaining traction, getting more and more people on board. But
it's for former players and people who have played professionally
or in college that I want to have a show,
that want to create content, and we help them with
(45:48):
social media, we help them with distribution. There's a lot
of things that go on with it to grow your following,
and it's not easy. And I tell them, look, none
of us were able to be professionals without working hard
and putting in an effort. And so some guys want
to put in that effort and some people don't. And
(46:09):
I said, you're never grow your following if you don't
put it in that effort. Now, some people just have
a big name and have an automatic following, right, But
I always say, you know, that's not who we are.
We want it to be for everyone. So we not
only do football, obviously because that's my background, but we
have you know, Baron Davis who came on board NBA player.
(46:30):
We have the WFA, which is Women's Football Alliance and
they have sixty teams across the country and they played
tackle football, They play their national championship game before the
Hall of Fame game. So there's just things and we
just want to be able to start expanding and grabbing
new people to bring them to our audience of hey,
(46:52):
we're all alumni, we're all this together. Come hear our stories.
Some of them are sports, some of them are just
about the lifestyle and what we have a passion for.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
That's really really, really neat.
Speaker 3 (47:01):
So you go any sport, correct, Yeah, yeah, we you
know we're expaying. We just spoke. I know, my co
founder Craig he just had had a conversation with the
Olympic alumni. You know, obviously they would be great because
all they want to do is, you know, you hear
about them in the summer and four years later, here
(47:22):
about them again, right, So like, okay, give them an
opportunity to tell their stories all the time, because I'm
sure they have incredible stories as well. But it's just
a it's just a platform where you know, people don't
really don't know how to do a lot of things,
and we support them and then you know, we're not
doing all the work for them, and but it's a
it's a model that's been doing pretty well for us.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
So so that that's pretty neat and so okay, so
aside from that, okay, and obviously you have kids. I mean, look,
so what else I mean because this is this is
I got to ask you this. That's kind of weird
I would think to be a young guy and retire
because obviously, yeah, well I.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Kind of searched for a long time on what to do.
You know. I came out when I first got back
to Pittsburgh. I did some high school football coaching. When
I first retired, I was we were living in Saint Louis.
I coached high school football where my kids went to school.
I actually coached Ezekiel Elliott Foyer Lucon in high school.
That was a lot of fun. Went to four state
(48:25):
championships there. Moved back to Pittsburgh, or kids went to
Central Catholic. I helped out a Central Catholic. But I
don't know, I just kind of didn't enjoy it as
much anymore, and I looked for other things to do,
and I met a gentleman, Clarence Carlos. Here was a
company called Roberto, named after Roberto Clameny. They developed an
app and measures of Montship brain performance, and I really
(48:47):
enjoyed that, but you know, it was the startup and
that's kind of where I got my feet wet into
the business side of it. And then moving on, you know,
one of things I realized was that, you know, I
had this incredible family. After I retired, I just went
to be with my life, my kids and be a
dad and make sure I'm there for them, put them
through college, all that stuff. And then I realized too,
(49:08):
after so many years, that man, I missed my other family.
I missed the locker room, missed the people I did
this with every day, you know, twenty four to seven
that you know, all these people that I got to
hang out with, and I haven't seen any of them.
So started podcasting and it gave me an opportunity to
call them and catch up over an hour call and
see how they're doing and tell stories. And then that led,
(49:30):
you know, into trying to interview other people who wrote
books and we're you know, all all around in sports.
So it's been it's been an interesting go. And now
the other thing I do is I help my friend
kind of rebuild kitchens and baths, which is kind of crazy,
but my dad did it. I always loved helping them
(49:52):
and I love working with my hands, and it's kind
of like I really enjoy It's something to tear something
down build it back up to finished product, and I'm
happy it makes people. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
The other thing is, guess what you're still You're still
the kid from Ford City.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
So that's what you're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
Yeah, right, And I like the you know, fish and golf.
That's my two hobbies.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
There you go, there you go. Well, Gus, I'll tell
you what you're all done.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
See, it only took it only took a little bit
of almost an hour. But I can't I can't tell
you how much I appreciate it and absolutely awesome to
hear those stories.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
And it's awesome too.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
A couple of things you said in there that I'll
I'll revisit several times and we'll catch up in the
future and and we'll see what you see what you're
up to.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Then appreciate I that was my golf games, Like you
just gotta ask Bob Sila. So yeah, Bob will tell
you how I played out in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
He did tell me that, and he said he also
but he also actually he couched up pretty well. He said,
you know, you can tell he's an athlete. So I
don't know if that means anything that good or bad,
but you know.
Speaker 1 (50:59):
That's exactly all right. He did not he did not
give you a grade. He just said, you can tell
that guy's an athlete. I'm like, okay, there you go.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
I put it. I wasn't running out of any van trips, that's.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
For sure, all right, Gus, Thanks tons, I appreciate it,
and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
All right, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
This has been the Rich Comwell Golf Show.
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