Time Machine: Louis Lipps, Feb. 16, 2023

Time Machine: Louis Lipps, Feb. 16, 2023

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So here you are Hall of Honor. Remember how does
that for you? Man? I told them my friends last night,
this is my super Bowl. I mean, this is just unbelievable.
I'm so happy. Man. I'd always tell people, I say, well, man,
you know, I know we didn't win with super Bowls,

(00:21):
I said, but we was trying like here and this
is where I end up. Man. I mean, I gave
it my best and uh, you know, and I got
rewarded for it. And I'm so thinking. I can see
the emotions are real. It is your super Bowl. Yes,
it's uh. I've always looked at the Hall of Honor
as for those who didn't get to the Hall of
Fame in Canton, Ohio, it's the next best thing. I mean,

(00:43):
it's very difficult to get to the Pro Football Hall
of Fame, but if you're a Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steeler,
that says a lot considering how many great players have
come through here. I know, man, this is this is ginormous.
I mean, it's uh, it's a great feeling. Ginormous is
a Craig Wolfley word. You stole that from the first

(01:06):
time I heard it was Craig Wolfley sayings let's go
back to the beginning. You were drafted first round pick.
I think overall, um, tell us about when you got
the call, when you found out you're going to be
a Pittsburgh Steeler. Your thoughts. Well, first of all, man,
I mean in my college career. About in my college career,

(01:29):
I had ninety two total catches, and I'm like, what
the heck do these people seeing me? And I get
drafted in the first round. I'm like, are you kidding me?
I mean, and my little hometown, Man, they just imploded
and um, and I was so thankful. Man, I'm like,

(01:53):
the first thing was on my mind was dead. I
didn't really care where I went. All I wanted to
do was be draft and get a chance. And then
once I got that chance, then I was I was
gonna make it worth the while. And that's what I did. Man.
The first thing on my mind was, Man, I cannot
get cut. That's your first round pick, Bob them from

(02:18):
little town in Louisiana, Reserve, Louisiana. I mean, everybody knew everybody.
So the first round just meant that you got picked early.
That don't mean that you automatically on the team. And
that was the first thing in my mind, I said, Man,
I can't get cut if I go back home. Man,
my boys are just gonna rip me apart, man, you know.

(02:40):
And after I came up here, we were in Liatro
practicing and so the wine. Don't you know, we always
sit on our home and take breaks right while Stall
and Calvin Sweeney was there. And then Calvin says, hey, man,
come on, look, take a break. I said, take a break, man,
I gotta make this. He said, Louis Man, you got

(03:03):
draft in the first round. You already on a team.
I said, nobody told me that yet, And so that
that was my attitude my whole first year there. But
that's the proprietitude to have. It's like a lot of
these guys who are undrafted today they find that level
of motivation that maybe first rounders don't have. But you
had it even though you were a first round pick.
Yes I did, Yes, I did because why because you

(03:24):
were insecure about ninety two catches, but you were more
than that. You were special teams that nobody else could
have done. Yeah, because that was I think I was
ranked third in the nation at that time for point retires,
and so I think I think that had a big
thing to do with it. And then that time that
was Chuck's little baby. The special teams, so I think

(03:46):
that had a big part of it of why they
drafted me so high. Did you feel responsibility to give
them what they wanted? And the special teams even though
you know today it's different, first round pickure, you don't
see me, then I'm going back taking puntsofs. Here, you
are a first round pick and you're willing to do
just about anything, right, Absolutely, absolutely, man. I mean I

(04:09):
wanted to play. I wanted to play, and however or
whatever it took for me to get on that field
and do it. I mean I was on the kickoff team,
I was on the punt return team. I was on
the UH kick return team, punk coverage team, all them
hands team, I was on everything, and I just I

(04:31):
just wanted to play. I said, I'm here, so I
don't want to play. And then these games are on TV,
you know, And in college we didn't get that contents
at Southern mist we didn't get very many televised games.
It wasn't not Alabama or Auburn or Florida State that

(04:53):
was on TV every Saturday. And so in most places.
You know, you got a very good possible billity to
be on TV every Sunday. And that was that was motivation, man, motivation.
And then at the same time, you know, I had
those guys like, uh, you know, I played with Lambert,

(05:14):
I played with Larry Brown, John Stoward, Donnie Show. These
guys were showing you because they are all I'm already
at four, they already had four, and they're showing you, Hey, man,
look if you want one, look, here's what you gotta do.
Those guys you're talking about most of our defense, who
was the guy on the offensive took you under his wing,

(05:38):
no doubt. And so in Bob, the more I think
about it stalls ten years in the league already, and
here I am in my first year and we are roommates.
How does that happen? Why did that happen? You know?

(05:59):
I mean even even at training camp, we were roommates.
In training camp. He might be on the phone talking
to his wife or whatever, and I'm in the bed
and I'm looking at my plays and I'm like, uh,
you know, I'm trying to like memorize this stuff, right,
dog goes nah, He said, just just remember what you

(06:24):
gotta do. Don't try to memorize the play, just learn
your route and everything was gonna fall into place. Did
you find that unusual or somewhere with all that experience,
all those rings, and yet he was more than happy
to help you first, because a lot of those guys
may not want to do that, and even even guys
who I'm trying to get your job, Man, what you're

(06:48):
helping me for? I mean, that's the way it was,
that's the that's the way it was, and that's the
way it happened. And then no ill feelings if um,
you know, he got yanked or I got yanked and
somebody else got put into play and you had to
sit out a few plays or whatever. No ill feelings, man,

(07:10):
all we want to do with when that's all we
wanted to do. You were a person that could help
him too. And I say that because you had the
deep game that main things possible for him. I would imagine,
and I looked at the numbers coming into this, and
I saw that his numbers in your rookie season, we're
maybe as good as that he had in his career.

(07:33):
Do you think your presence there helped him, your speed
or your ability to stretch the field, which created more
opportunities for guys like him. I think it did because
I mean, he was so much more experienced than I was,
and he knew how to maneuver like read coverages and
get open better than I did. And so I was

(07:56):
a big distraction. And then he was always he was
all go to guy man. He would all go through
got third down stalls, getting it. You know, unless something
else happens, you know, he getting it, because that's just
how good he was. Man. We used to watch practice

(08:16):
after practice, we watch it as a receiving group, and
then a lot of times it would meet me, Calvin,
Donnie Stall, and sometimes Benny God bless her soul. We
would watch practice after the group was done, and then

(08:37):
we would all grab the film from from mac and
go watch the film again. And we just go back
and forth, back and forth. Hey, look, Donnie, say see
that you're fall stepping your false step And I got
you on that one. You're fall stepping. You know, Why
are you two yards outside and run the same route
all the time? Why are you two yards inside the

(08:57):
numbers and run the same route all the time? He said,
I see that, and I see that, and so that
helped me line up in the same place but run
a bunch of different routes from that spot. That's the
only way I learned that was wanting to film with them. Wow. Yeah,
that's unusual for guys with that much on the resume.

(09:20):
Young kids like that. Tell me about a punt return
and how difficult it is to do and why did
it come so easy for you? Well, first of all,
see success in the NFL. Well first of all, Well,
first of all, I don't know if you knew I
was a better baseball player and football player. No, I
didn't know that. I almost got drafted in high school,

(09:43):
but I didn't get drafted in high school. And I
wasn't allowed to get drafted in a high school because
my dad was a seventh grade dropout and he said
I was going to college my sophomore year in high school.
And I I went to the Philadelphia Phillies trial camp my
junior year in high school and went to Cincinnati Reds
tryout camp. I played center field. And so if you

(10:07):
played baseball at all, or anybody know anything about baseball,
you camping under the fly ball and somebody's on second
or first, I'm gonna try to make a run for
the next base Well, you gotta get rid of it
really fast, and you gotta know, you gotta know he
getting ready to tag up on you, and you're catching

(10:30):
and throwing the same time. So when I would be
camped under the ball, then I want to see who
coming down here to hit me. So that was a
natural thing for me to do, to look and see
where where they are if I'm gonna do this or
if I'm not gonna do that. Baseball held absolutely, absolutely,

(10:55):
absolutely absolutely. I mean, well, first of all, let me
go back to baseball. Were you serious about baseball? I mean,
if it was your choice, would you have gone baseball's football?
If it would have happened that way, I probably would have. Yes.
If your father had never told you you're gonna get
an education, you're gonna get a college degree, we're going
to send you to college, you would have gone baseball. Absolutely.

(11:18):
Do you think you were better at baseball? Yes, absolutely,
saying a lot. Yes, absolutely, Well, looking back, it's probably
a good thing that you ended up in the national
football age with If it's first time, I'm not mad
it would have happen. I'm so happy and fortunate, come glad.
I made the decision I made, and so were the Steelers,
by the way, So how did you come on so quickly? Though?

(11:40):
Right off the bat Rookie of the year you set
a record for touchdown receptions for someone who is not not,
you know, worried about making a team. I don't think
you had to worry about that after that first year.
The will to play and want to be good, that's
all I can say. I mean, I wouldn't cocky. I

(12:02):
wouldn't I didn't talk a lot of trash. I didn't
say nothing to a whole lot of people. I never
George Jabb like some of these guys. George Jabb, you
know I found that change because you're doing on the
golf course these days. Where did that come from? Okay,

(12:22):
so psychological? But yeah, man, I mean that's all it was, man,
I mean, just a will to want to be accepted.
That was the only way I knew how to do it.
That was the only way I was gonna get my

(12:45):
due respect is letting them know, like a look, I
belong here. How much of your motivation came from wanting
to win, impressing your friends in New Orleans who said
they give you a bunch of crap if you didn't
make the roster or money money. I ain't never had money,

(13:05):
so money wasn't really in it. Not that I wasn't
happy that I got what I got. I think it's
probably be like the biggest thing is like just not
embarrassing itself. One final thing I want to ask you,
and that's just because your relationship with the fans in

(13:26):
this town. Before there was Heath who were number eighty three,
you were the guy who got people saying, lou what
did that mean to you? And talk about your relationship
with those fans because they seemed to really embrace you
very quickly, and you probably still get that today. Well,
it just so happened like when they started that, I

(13:49):
was facing the big screen in three rivers, so I
saw the l with all the oaths because when it
first sounded and you know, it sounds like you're booing,
I'm like, oh, I ain't doing yet, you know, I
haven't even done nothing yet. And then I looked up
and I'm like, oh, dear Louin, so now I'm back there.

(14:14):
Especially when I go back to catch the point, I'm like, well,
now I got to mix up happen. So this was
not on my GYMNA. I said, I'm running it back
at all costs. No one would ever boot. It's always
loo for you. Congratulations, something in the Hall of Honor.
Thank you.