August 30, 2024 • 14 mins
On this episode of Rams Iconic, Rams legend punter & kicker Frank Corral joins D’Marco Farr to reflect on his career with the Rams. Corral talks about how he got into football, playing both kicker and punter, learning lessons as a rookie, his Hispanic heritage, playing in the Super Bowl, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Rams Iconic, presented by eighteen hundred Tequila, the
best taste in tequila. Please drink responsibly. I'm your host,
DeMarco Farr, and this is the podcast where we get
to catch up with some of the greatest players in
franchise history. I love this. My next guest played four
season with the Rams as a kicker and a punter.
Think about that. They pay you double for that. Yes,
(00:28):
we'll get to that. Hold On as a rookie in
nineteen seventy eight, not only did he make the Pro Bowl,
but he led the league in scoring. And like I said,
he is the last player in NFL history to be
both a punter and a kicker on the same team. Amazing.
Please the Pride of Chihuahua, Mexico, please welcome in. Frank
corral Man. How you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Doing good? DeMarco doing great?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, somebody told me Chiuhua, Mexico is the biggest city
in Mexico's that right?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It is? And this is the food is outstanding, outstanding
in the bigger Mexicans.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Bigger Mexicans, the bigger guys. Okay, I need to go
with you then I'll be safe down there. So you
grew up in Mexico. How did football become a part
of your life.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, let's go back a little bit. I was born
in Mexico, raised in East LA. Yeah, and soccer was
introduced to me here or there here okay here, and
my high school coach, his kicker went down. He comes
to ask me, hey, I can see you playing soccer.
You want to try kicking the football? I said, but
let's give it a shot. And the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's how you played soccer growing up. And that's something
else that stood out. Your resume is outstanding. But you
played six sports in high school? Yes, basketball, baseball, football, tennis,
and track and field.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You got it?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Okay, I got to see your letterman jacket. Then is
it all on there if I can find it, if
you can find it? Were you good at all these sports?
Are you just playing?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I was just a body in tennis.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
They needed somebody to play doubles. They put me in
the back. The number one singles was my partner. So
he did everything except that, I said, poop once in
a while.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Poop.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, I was an a doubt you were.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
You were that guy? I see it. So you became
the place kicker for your high school football team? Were
you great? Then? You know you're gonna be good?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
That wasn't bad. My sophomore year junior college, just started visiting, okay,
and then I ended up at our CC, Riverside Community College.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah. What's your longest off off the tee? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
In junior college it was sixty five?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You banged the sixty five yarder. Really, look me in
the eye and tell me you banged the sixty five
yard in high.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
School off a hold or up a hold?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
No way, But we used a T then, Yeah, yeah,
the black T. Yeah, the black square tea.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It gives you an advantage.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, was that weird going from tee to grass? Did
you have to do that?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well? A lot of kickers can't come, you know, can't adjust.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah. John Lee was the guy.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Lee from UCLA. Yes, he has every record I think
him and Chris Sailor every record at u c l A.
Johnny or Chris Sailor. Yeah, yeah, they couldn't adjust into
the pros.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I could not. I just it does not compute like
it's just a tee and it just makes that much
of a difference.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, what happens is when you make contact a trajectory. Okay,
what does it? And that t he helped you. So
now you just got to get used to just punching
at the ball. But back then you hit and follow
through golf. Yea good example.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You know you just me too, right, I played golf,
drink beer in the cart, That's what I do. You know,
just like John Lee. I used to have these conversations
about him. So as a player born in Mexico, did
you have any edit added pressure to be like a
role model for others, to pave the way.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
For you know, there was a couple of kickers before me,
Danny Bi. Yeah, and then there was also and he
he and I with an I remember him, Yeah, yeah, okay,
he kicked at Seattle. Yeah yeah, and he and I
became good friends, and basically he said, you know, we're
the first, the few, and we have to basically leave
a good example.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, did you have to change who you are or
kind of hide who you are?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Just be who you are?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Just be who you are? Just like now, there's always
pressure to be in the NFL. We're always trying to
be role models, but I mean there had to be
some extra pressure.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, no, DeMarco, there's a lot of pressure, but you know,
you get groomed. You go from high school to college.
From college, you got those big stadiums that are filling
the crowd. The crowd is in there and going into
pro just basically getting that baby and put in between
the uprights and you're.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, you got one job and hit it. So in
nineteen seventy eight, you were drafted in the third round.
I think was picked number seventy eight. That was the
Earl Campbell draft.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Right early, and I came up together.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You got did you really?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
We played in the Senior Bowl. We played in there
and the all the all the Senior Bowls, you know,
the Hulu Bowen those are fun. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, yeah. Earl was the number one pick, correct, And
that was also James Lofton Leroy Selman and the Lams
picked in the first round Elvis Peacock. Peacock, another big
from Aklahoma.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Where is he? We need to find him?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, we gotta find it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
They called me in and try to him and William Miller.
We couldn't find really.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, okay, I heard he doesn't talk about his RAMS
career that much or his NFL career.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Well, it was tough to go for the first round
and then come up and uh, there was some other
great window tyler there was. There was Clutch, Lawrence McCutcheon,
you know. So it was tough.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I came up. Clutch was the lead scout here when
I was a rookie. Yeah, I mean he used to
scare me. Man, he would never smile, he does what
did I do? Imagine when I was a rookie. When
I was a rookie listening to this DeMarco, I took
the wrong wear a camp at Bullerton, and I took
the wrong parking spot and that was Tom Max's parking spot.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Okay, and I had a big olds Mo bill. They
turned it upside down.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
They flipped your car over.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I was a rookie. I was singing at every airport
you can think of. And then and Mac comes up
to me because you're not gonna do that again, are
you rookie? Oh no, sir, they flipped your car. I
had to get a tow truck to get change and
bring it back on.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And they left.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
They were there.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
They won't help me. They're going like, rookie is gonna
learn right now? And I did.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
See that's rookie. That's that's not hazy, that's not just
making you better. That's that's how I learned.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
See.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
You know who taught me. I think he was a
team any yours, Jackie Slater. Jackie taught me in a
in a similar sort of way, except it was painful
out there. That's not me beating you up. This is
me like teaching you, youngster. Yeah, how to slow down
in practice.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know. And that's pretty much what the veterans did.
You know that?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, yeah, so did those teams in the in the seventies,
late seventies, early eighties. I mean, I know, it was
like we were here and when I was a rookie
was ninety four. It was a whole lot of fun
to be a pro athlete in southern California. What about
the late seventies and eighties. What was that like to
be a pro athlete here?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You know, it was awesome. We had great fans. We
had Mama casts I believe as a cheerleader mom, and
she was awesome. She started off all the cheerleaders going out,
and of course the players came out. Yeah, we had
a great, great fan base. We played at the Coliseum. Yeah,
my last year we played at Anaheim. Yeah, but we
(06:47):
had some good, good fans.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You played in, we play, So you left in Anaheim
and I came into Anaheim. Same dirt field or No.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It was ugly and I used to miss field good
because you go from you go from grass to dirt
and you're slipping all over the place and they got
just a chip shot.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Oh you're kicking. Try playing d line on dirt. Oh yeah,
when they running the ball at you. Yeah, can imagine.
It stinks. Absolutely, It's no fun at all. So in
seventy eight you came in third round pick and as
a rookie, you lead the league and field goals made
with twenty nine and you lead the league and scoring
at one eighteen. And I think you guys had the
best special teams that year. Yeah, best return game too.
Who was your coach, Paul anaming them? Okay, So how
(07:26):
were you guys so good? Why were you so good
as a rookie?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You know, it just happened. It just happened. I knew
that I needed to come in and do what I
needed to do. You know, as a third round pick,
I had to battle repels heap then, yes, you know,
one of us was going to either the Cowboys or
the Raiders, the one or the other. They were needing
a kicker, and coach had told us. Coach Landham said,
we're scrimmaging the Raiders and he says, whoever has the
(07:54):
best game, it stays.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Wow, okay, go of course it's cutting dry.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I mean, I know, can't battles are tough, but I
mean place kickers that gets cutthroat because there's only they
only keep one. Yeah, I mean, were you guys cool
throughout the battle?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, yeah, helping each other? Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Ralphiece was a good kicker. He was All Pro the
year before.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, and went to Dallas and played for like for
ten years. Right, Yeah, I mean that's crazy. I mean,
like when the guy misses, that's good for you, But
what do you tell him, like, get him next time?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Nice shot, Nice shot, on to the next.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Okay. So, speaking of Dallas, the TV show, the football team,
they were kind of a thorn in your side for
a while. They were really good. So that year nineteen
seventy nine, you guys made the Super Bowl on a
nine and seven record. How in the heck do you
make the Super Bowl going nine and seven, first time ever.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Everybody was taking us to light. You know, we knew
we had the talent, yeah, but everybody was thinking low.
We got this game one, got this game one.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
We go into Tampa, Guy Williams with quarterback Doug Williams.
Doug Williams, I'm sorry, he was a quarterback. They busted
his jaw that game. It was nothing him but a
defensive battle.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
The Rams broke his jaw.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Okay, yeah, Jim Youngblood broke his jaw.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That makes sense. Yeah, yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
He comes into the locker room after we beat them,
and he's asking me for advice because in college I
busted my jaw and I said, look, just pull out
one of these teeth. You're gonna get a vitam mix
and then suck stick of a French fry in there
once in a while, because that's the only way otherwise
you're on liquid diets. I was wired shut for six
months and and Doug was gonna get a wired shot.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Did French ry in there?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, you got to tick one out right here, man,
because you don't eat solids, and when your buddies are
eating chicken, fried chicken and fries, you're gonna do this
and stick of rest.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Jaw?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
How did you bring the University of Houston? Ben Bence
Greenwood from the University of Houston. Come down on a
kickoff and you know, you become defense after the receiving
team and the guy just peeled around. And as I
chased the ball, this guy was right here waiting for me. Boom,
we bust. He hit. Here are face mask locked and
minds busting. See.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I looked at some of your film. You were not
a small guy. You're still not a small guy. You're
pretty big, dude. I was six twenty Yeah, as a
place kicker. Yeah, that's not why you should be playing
linebacker safety or why I.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Did that in college.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
In school, you didn't think you were a hitter, did you.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, I used to go down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Really Okay, then I don't feel bad for you getting little.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Guys if we turn in the ball, you know, little
guys like this. This is just beetsters.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
This is true.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
They go like this and good and we stay wide and.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
They're gone, Wow. But I mean, look, making the super
Bowl when they're playing it in Pasadena had to be
something that's basically your backyard.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, yeah, The same thing was with the Pro Bowl. Yeah,
we played at the Coliseum. No, I didn't get to
go to Hawaii. No, I didn't get to go you know, London.
What's the other place that they go. Yeah, I didn't
get a chance.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
What was it like for you?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It was awesome playing at home? Yeah, but you know
playing at home, DeMarco is, you got eighty tickets to
buy instead of just for when you go away.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
See, no one knows.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
That they and it's expensive.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
One knows that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I played the whole Super Bowl for free. Yeah, my
whole family show exactly. Yeah, they thoughts were for free.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
The incentives I got, uh, we're gone gone. All the
swag that gone. Everything. I have nothing left from that
Super Bowl. Everything is gone.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
That's how I have. Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
And you guys were closing that game leading. Bradshaw brought
three quarters, We were leading for three quarters.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Amiss uh dB block Yeah, and Nolan Cromwell hit him
in the chest and for Nolan, Yeah, that's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Then you became this is interesting, You became a place
kicker and punter for Do they pay you a double
for that?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
What happened? Yes? Yeah, Marvin Demo was my my, my agent. Yeah,
And basically coach asked me, he goes, look, they're gonna
go down to a forty nine man roster. I believe
it was okay, we're gonna be nine guys. Yeah, wow,
okay for fifty three right. Yeah. So basically said, we're
not going to give it to you. You got to go
out there and compete and we'll see what happens. And
(12:03):
Ken Clark was a punter. Yeah, and so good punter too. Yeah,
a punter from Canada. Yeaheah.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
So I mean, how do you practice that in a day.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I'll tell you what's too different. Discipline practice was tough.
I used to have Benny's end up throwing the ball
once in a while because I was just to beat.
So the game is a piece of cake. You're gonna
get five punts, a couple of kicks, a couple of kickoffs,
and that's it. Practice you hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
and the return team and you got to do the
opposing team and all that stuff. You know how it is. Yeah,
And so part of practice Benny would throw the ball
(12:35):
instead of me punting it.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Save your leg a little bit, all right, We do
this on every single show, everybody that sits in that
chair on rams Iconic. I asked them to remember their
favorite play, the time, the place, who was against Tell
me about your favorite play it was.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
It was in September. I'm not sure of the date.
It was against Philadelphia Eagles. Okay, Dick Premire was their coach.
No way, Yeah, we're losing by two points. It was
fourteen six, I believe, six seconds to go, and Melobasi
asked me to go in there and kick a fielical.
We ended up winning the game. Wow, that's your favorite
(13:09):
flight against my U c L.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
A coach against your coach. Did you go shake his
hand out?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Oh? He come and shake my hand and then he goes.
He goes, Correl, you're gonna be able to afford tacos
and you can go steak And I said, coach, I
love tacos.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Dick Formil said that to you.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You he says, no more, He said, no more tacos,
you can go straight to Oh my god, I said, coach,
I love tacos.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
My man, Oh my god, what a coach person. Absolutely man,
thank you for joining.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
This is my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
I'm stoked. I could not wait. I would love that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Can we go out and I can't kick no more
twenty yards? I can do that all right.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Well, look, that's a wrap on this episode of The
Rams Iconic. I hope you enjoyed talking to Frank Correll,
catching up with the last place kicker, punter, and just
absolute legend for the REMS. I'm DeMarco Farr and we
will see you next time.
Welcome to Rams Iconic, presented by eighteen hundred Tequila, the
best taste in tequila. Please drink responsibly. I'm your host,
DeMarco Farr, and this is the podcast where we get
to catch up with some of the greatest players in
franchise history. I love this. My next guest played four
season with the Rams as a kicker and a punter.
Think about that. They pay you double for that. Yes,
(00:28):
we'll get to that. Hold On as a rookie in
nineteen seventy eight, not only did he make the Pro Bowl,
but he led the league in scoring. And like I said,
he is the last player in NFL history to be
both a punter and a kicker on the same team. Amazing.
Please the Pride of Chihuahua, Mexico, please welcome in. Frank
corral Man. How you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Doing good? DeMarco doing great?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, somebody told me Chiuhua, Mexico is the biggest city
in Mexico's that right?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It is? And this is the food is outstanding, outstanding
in the bigger Mexicans.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Bigger Mexicans, the bigger guys. Okay, I need to go
with you then I'll be safe down there. So you
grew up in Mexico. How did football become a part
of your life.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, let's go back a little bit. I was born
in Mexico, raised in East LA. Yeah, and soccer was
introduced to me here or there here okay here, and
my high school coach, his kicker went down. He comes
to ask me, hey, I can see you playing soccer.
You want to try kicking the football? I said, but
let's give it a shot. And the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's how you played soccer growing up. And that's something
else that stood out. Your resume is outstanding. But you
played six sports in high school? Yes, basketball, baseball, football, tennis,
and track and field.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You got it?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Okay, I got to see your letterman jacket. Then is
it all on there if I can find it, if
you can find it? Were you good at all these sports?
Are you just playing?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I was just a body in tennis.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
They needed somebody to play doubles. They put me in
the back. The number one singles was my partner. So
he did everything except that, I said, poop once in
a while.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Poop.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, I was an a doubt you were.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
You were that guy? I see it. So you became
the place kicker for your high school football team? Were
you great? Then? You know you're gonna be good?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
That wasn't bad. My sophomore year junior college, just started visiting, okay,
and then I ended up at our CC, Riverside Community College.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah. What's your longest off off the tee? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
In junior college it was sixty five?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You banged the sixty five yarder. Really, look me in
the eye and tell me you banged the sixty five
yard in high.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
School off a hold or up a hold?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
No way, But we used a T then, Yeah, yeah,
the black T. Yeah, the black square tea.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It gives you an advantage.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, was that weird going from tee to grass? Did
you have to do that?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well? A lot of kickers can't come, you know, can't adjust.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah. John Lee was the guy.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Lee from UCLA. Yes, he has every record I think
him and Chris Sailor every record at u c l A.
Johnny or Chris Sailor. Yeah, yeah, they couldn't adjust into
the pros.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I could not. I just it does not compute like
it's just a tee and it just makes that much
of a difference.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, what happens is when you make contact a trajectory. Okay,
what does it? And that t he helped you. So
now you just got to get used to just punching
at the ball. But back then you hit and follow
through golf. Yea good example.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You know you just me too, right, I played golf,
drink beer in the cart, That's what I do. You know,
just like John Lee. I used to have these conversations
about him. So as a player born in Mexico, did
you have any edit added pressure to be like a
role model for others, to pave the way.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
For you know, there was a couple of kickers before me,
Danny Bi. Yeah, and then there was also and he
he and I with an I remember him, Yeah, yeah, okay,
he kicked at Seattle. Yeah yeah, and he and I
became good friends, and basically he said, you know, we're
the first, the few, and we have to basically leave
a good example.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, did you have to change who you are or
kind of hide who you are?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Just be who you are?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Just be who you are? Just like now, there's always
pressure to be in the NFL. We're always trying to
be role models, but I mean there had to be
some extra pressure.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, no, DeMarco, there's a lot of pressure, but you know,
you get groomed. You go from high school to college.
From college, you got those big stadiums that are filling
the crowd. The crowd is in there and going into
pro just basically getting that baby and put in between
the uprights and you're.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, you got one job and hit it. So in
nineteen seventy eight, you were drafted in the third round.
I think was picked number seventy eight. That was the
Earl Campbell draft.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Right early, and I came up together.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You got did you really?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
We played in the Senior Bowl. We played in there
and the all the all the Senior Bowls, you know,
the Hulu Bowen those are fun. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, yeah. Earl was the number one pick, correct, And
that was also James Lofton Leroy Selman and the Lams
picked in the first round Elvis Peacock. Peacock, another big
from Aklahoma.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Where is he? We need to find him?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, we gotta find it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
They called me in and try to him and William Miller.
We couldn't find really.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, okay, I heard he doesn't talk about his RAMS
career that much or his NFL career.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Well, it was tough to go for the first round
and then come up and uh, there was some other
great window tyler there was. There was Clutch, Lawrence McCutcheon,
you know. So it was tough.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I came up. Clutch was the lead scout here when
I was a rookie. Yeah, I mean he used to
scare me. Man, he would never smile, he does what
did I do? Imagine when I was a rookie. When
I was a rookie listening to this DeMarco, I took
the wrong wear a camp at Bullerton, and I took
the wrong parking spot and that was Tom Max's parking spot.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Okay, and I had a big olds Mo bill. They
turned it upside down.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
They flipped your car over.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I was a rookie. I was singing at every airport
you can think of. And then and Mac comes up
to me because you're not gonna do that again, are
you rookie? Oh no, sir, they flipped your car. I
had to get a tow truck to get change and
bring it back on.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And they left.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
They were there.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
They won't help me. They're going like, rookie is gonna
learn right now? And I did.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
See that's rookie. That's that's not hazy, that's not just
making you better. That's that's how I learned.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
See.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
You know who taught me. I think he was a
team any yours, Jackie Slater. Jackie taught me in a
in a similar sort of way, except it was painful
out there. That's not me beating you up. This is
me like teaching you, youngster. Yeah, how to slow down
in practice.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know. And that's pretty much what the veterans did.
You know that?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, yeah, so did those teams in the in the seventies,
late seventies, early eighties. I mean, I know, it was
like we were here and when I was a rookie
was ninety four. It was a whole lot of fun
to be a pro athlete in southern California. What about
the late seventies and eighties. What was that like to
be a pro athlete here?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You know, it was awesome. We had great fans. We
had Mama casts I believe as a cheerleader mom, and
she was awesome. She started off all the cheerleaders going out,
and of course the players came out. Yeah, we had
a great, great fan base. We played at the Coliseum. Yeah,
my last year we played at Anaheim. Yeah, but we
(06:47):
had some good, good fans.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You played in, we play, So you left in Anaheim
and I came into Anaheim. Same dirt field or No.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It was ugly and I used to miss field good
because you go from you go from grass to dirt
and you're slipping all over the place and they got
just a chip shot.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Oh you're kicking. Try playing d line on dirt. Oh yeah,
when they running the ball at you. Yeah, can imagine.
It stinks. Absolutely, It's no fun at all. So in
seventy eight you came in third round pick and as
a rookie, you lead the league and field goals made
with twenty nine and you lead the league and scoring
at one eighteen. And I think you guys had the
best special teams that year. Yeah, best return game too.
Who was your coach, Paul anaming them? Okay, So how
(07:26):
were you guys so good? Why were you so good
as a rookie?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You know, it just happened. It just happened. I knew
that I needed to come in and do what I
needed to do. You know, as a third round pick,
I had to battle repels heap then, yes, you know,
one of us was going to either the Cowboys or
the Raiders, the one or the other. They were needing
a kicker, and coach had told us. Coach Landham said,
we're scrimmaging the Raiders and he says, whoever has the
(07:54):
best game, it stays.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Wow, okay, go of course it's cutting dry.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I mean, I know, can't battles are tough, but I
mean place kickers that gets cutthroat because there's only they
only keep one. Yeah, I mean, were you guys cool
throughout the battle?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, yeah, helping each other? Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Ralphiece was a good kicker. He was All Pro the
year before.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, and went to Dallas and played for like for
ten years. Right, Yeah, I mean that's crazy. I mean,
like when the guy misses, that's good for you, But
what do you tell him, like, get him next time?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Nice shot, Nice shot, on to the next.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Okay. So, speaking of Dallas, the TV show, the football team,
they were kind of a thorn in your side for
a while. They were really good. So that year nineteen
seventy nine, you guys made the Super Bowl on a
nine and seven record. How in the heck do you
make the Super Bowl going nine and seven, first time ever.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Everybody was taking us to light. You know, we knew
we had the talent, yeah, but everybody was thinking low.
We got this game one, got this game one.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
We go into Tampa, Guy Williams with quarterback Doug Williams.
Doug Williams, I'm sorry, he was a quarterback. They busted
his jaw that game. It was nothing him but a
defensive battle.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
The Rams broke his jaw.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Okay, yeah, Jim Youngblood broke his jaw.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That makes sense. Yeah, yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
He comes into the locker room after we beat them,
and he's asking me for advice because in college I
busted my jaw and I said, look, just pull out
one of these teeth. You're gonna get a vitam mix
and then suck stick of a French fry in there
once in a while, because that's the only way otherwise
you're on liquid diets. I was wired shut for six
months and and Doug was gonna get a wired shot.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Did French ry in there?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, you got to tick one out right here, man,
because you don't eat solids, and when your buddies are
eating chicken, fried chicken and fries, you're gonna do this
and stick of rest.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Jaw?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
How did you bring the University of Houston? Ben Bence
Greenwood from the University of Houston. Come down on a
kickoff and you know, you become defense after the receiving
team and the guy just peeled around. And as I
chased the ball, this guy was right here waiting for me. Boom,
we bust. He hit. Here are face mask locked and
minds busting. See.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I looked at some of your film. You were not
a small guy. You're still not a small guy. You're
pretty big, dude. I was six twenty Yeah, as a
place kicker. Yeah, that's not why you should be playing
linebacker safety or why I.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Did that in college.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
In school, you didn't think you were a hitter, did you.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, I used to go down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Really Okay, then I don't feel bad for you getting little.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Guys if we turn in the ball, you know, little
guys like this. This is just beetsters.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
This is true.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
They go like this and good and we stay wide and.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
They're gone, Wow. But I mean, look, making the super
Bowl when they're playing it in Pasadena had to be
something that's basically your backyard.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, yeah, The same thing was with the Pro Bowl. Yeah,
we played at the Coliseum. No, I didn't get to
go to Hawaii. No, I didn't get to go you know, London.
What's the other place that they go. Yeah, I didn't
get a chance.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
What was it like for you?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It was awesome playing at home? Yeah, but you know
playing at home, DeMarco is, you got eighty tickets to
buy instead of just for when you go away.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
See, no one knows.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
That they and it's expensive.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
One knows that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I played the whole Super Bowl for free. Yeah, my
whole family show exactly. Yeah, they thoughts were for free.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
The incentives I got, uh, we're gone gone. All the
swag that gone. Everything. I have nothing left from that
Super Bowl. Everything is gone.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
That's how I have. Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
And you guys were closing that game leading. Bradshaw brought
three quarters, We were leading for three quarters.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Amiss uh dB block Yeah, and Nolan Cromwell hit him
in the chest and for Nolan, Yeah, that's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Then you became this is interesting, You became a place
kicker and punter for Do they pay you a double
for that?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
What happened? Yes? Yeah, Marvin Demo was my my, my agent. Yeah,
And basically coach asked me, he goes, look, they're gonna
go down to a forty nine man roster. I believe
it was okay, we're gonna be nine guys. Yeah, wow,
okay for fifty three right. Yeah. So basically said, we're
not going to give it to you. You got to go
out there and compete and we'll see what happens. And
(12:03):
Ken Clark was a punter. Yeah, and so good punter too. Yeah,
a punter from Canada. Yeaheah.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
So I mean, how do you practice that in a day.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I'll tell you what's too different. Discipline practice was tough.
I used to have Benny's end up throwing the ball
once in a while because I was just to beat.
So the game is a piece of cake. You're gonna
get five punts, a couple of kicks, a couple of kickoffs,
and that's it. Practice you hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
and the return team and you got to do the
opposing team and all that stuff. You know how it is. Yeah,
And so part of practice Benny would throw the ball
(12:35):
instead of me punting it.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Save your leg a little bit, all right, We do
this on every single show, everybody that sits in that
chair on rams Iconic. I asked them to remember their
favorite play, the time, the place, who was against Tell
me about your favorite play it was.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
It was in September. I'm not sure of the date.
It was against Philadelphia Eagles. Okay, Dick Premire was their coach.
No way, Yeah, we're losing by two points. It was
fourteen six, I believe, six seconds to go, and Melobasi
asked me to go in there and kick a fielical.
We ended up winning the game. Wow, that's your favorite
(13:09):
flight against my U c L.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
A coach against your coach. Did you go shake his
hand out?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Oh? He come and shake my hand and then he goes.
He goes, Correl, you're gonna be able to afford tacos
and you can go steak And I said, coach, I
love tacos.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Dick Formil said that to you.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You he says, no more, He said, no more tacos,
you can go straight to Oh my god, I said, coach,
I love tacos.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
My man, Oh my god, what a coach person. Absolutely man,
thank you for joining.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
This is my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
I'm stoked. I could not wait. I would love that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Can we go out and I can't kick no more
twenty yards? I can do that all right.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Well, look, that's a wrap on this episode of The
Rams Iconic. I hope you enjoyed talking to Frank Correll,
catching up with the last place kicker, punter, and just
absolute legend for the REMS. I'm DeMarco Farr and we
will see you next time.
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