October 24, 2023 • 37 mins
The Seahawks GOAT is here! Steve Raible and Jim Zorn are joined by their former teammate and one of the most decorated players to wear a Seahawks uniform, Steve Largent. Today’s show: early days with the Seahawks (01:42), the art of playing receiver (08:15), the Jack Patera days (12:53), Chuck Knox era begins (16:23), 100th touchdown reception (20:12), Raible and Largent as roommates (23:41), Hall of fame induction ceremony (28:05), and what Steve is doing now (31:50).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Seahawks stories, teaking you behind the scenes
with your favorite Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Set back to behind. Zorn, who's back to pass as
time looks for the left sideline, throws a bomb down there.
He's got a man in front. He makes the crab
a travel. It's a thirty down to the twenty. Don't
ever get him. He scores touched.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Out Seahawks powered by Seahawks Dot Com and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Zorn later in perfectly a Rabel who goes in to
score on an ady yard pass and run play.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Now here's your host, the voice of the Seahawks, Steve
Raebel and Seahawks legend Jim Zorn.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Do you know how embarrassing that is to be sitting
here with headsets on listening to one of the few
passes I was able to corral, especially a touchdown catch
from mister Zorn with Steve Largent on the other line,
who had more catches like in one game at some
point than I had in an entire season. Steve, welcome, Hey,
(00:59):
Steve Rabel, how you doing well. I'm doing okay. I
feel much smaller when I'm sitting here talking to you,
but but it's great to have you on Seahawks Stories
and Ze is sitting right across the table from me. So, Zee, Man,
how you doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Do you have to tell people when you meet with
people when Steve's not around?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I was faster than Steve.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
No, I don't ever say anything about it. I just
say I was his food taster. That's all I ever say.
When people ask about me and Yoda, and we're going
to get to the Yoda part, I apologize, Steve. I
know everybody calls you Steve or sir, but those of
us who love you and know you, we still kind
of call you Yoda. I hope that's all right.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay, good. Let's start like at the beginning, and we've
only got an hour or thereabouts, so we want to
we want to get as much in as we can.
But Steve, those early days, Jim and I have talked
about it a lot in our opportunities here on this
Seahawks Stories podcast to talk about those early days. And
(02:02):
we all know, you know you came in in that
trade from Houston. It took like one game and bang
you were in the starting lineup. From your standpoint, when
was it that you felt comfortable and said, I know, A,
I know I can be a help to this team,
but B I've got I know I can make something
work with this young left handed quarterback. When did those
(02:23):
things start to start to show for you?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I can tell you that I wasn't thinking in terms
of z Man or making the team or anything like that,
because I was coming from Houston where I had just
been cut and you know, they call it, they say
I was traded, and that in fact is what technically happened.
(02:48):
But before that, I was released by the Houston Oiler
Phillips and was packing up everything I owned, which wasn't much,
in a small leather suitcase and UH and and had
to call my wife to come down from Tulsa to
UH pick me up and UH and take me back
(03:11):
to Tulsa. And UH, so I I was in the
throes of trying to come to terms with being released
from the only team that I ever knew of, UH
that that was interested in me, and that was the
Houston Oilers. Now, behind the scenes, what was taking place was, UH,
the Seahawks were trying to work out a trade UH
(03:34):
with the Oilers after I was released, And so that's
what happened. They ended up trading an eighth round draft
choice I was taking in the fourth round, UH, an
eighth round draft choice for me, and I got a
call from the Seahawks and uh, it was oh gosh,
what was the general manager's son's name, n Rick Thompson,
(03:58):
Rick Thompson, Rick Thompson. It was Rick Thompson who called
me and said, hey, Steve, we want to give you
another chance if you want to take it. And so
I said sure, you know what do I need to do?
And they told me they have a ticket for me.
I was to leave the next day, and so I did.
And I didn't take nearly as many clothes with me
(04:18):
this time as I with me down at Houston, and
I didn't take a lot even down to Houston but
for Seattle, because I didn't know what was going to
happen or how long it would last. But my ace
in the hole really was Jerry Rome, who was the
quarterback Fever coach. He was the one that was that
(04:39):
tried to convince the Seahawks to draft me.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
But then when I was released, was right on top
of it and h talked the Seahawks into trading for
an eighth round draft choice for me for a guy
that got cut and I'm surprised he even got eighth
round pick, but you know they did and said then
thing I know, I was in Seattle and I was
with Jerry and my eighth and the hole was the
(05:06):
fact that Jerry Rome had implemented our entire offense from
Tulsa University into the Seahawks playbook. So when they asked
me to line up, you know, wherever I was supposed
to be, I knew exactly how deep to run the routes,
when to look for the ball, and all those kind
(05:26):
of things that you guys were working on since training
camp started. I'd been I'd been doing for three years
at the University of Tulsa. That was when Jerry came
to the University of Tulsa as a coach for my
college team for three years. So that was a huge
bonus for me. The fact that I could step in
the huddle nowhere, to line up nowhere, how deep the
(05:48):
route was run, when the quarterback is going to throw
the ball. I'd been doing that stuff for three years.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, Jim, when you when you hear that and you've
heard the story, you know it. You and Steve were
as close as any guys. I know. When you hear that,
do you ever stop to think? And obviously in our
game we never kind of look back very much. But
I came this close. This is you talking. I came
this close to not having a guy like Steve Largent,
who not only was is a Hall of Fame receiver
(06:16):
but became the closest friend in the world. I came
this close and Steve, my fingers are about an inch
and a half apart right here. Came this close to
maybe not having a guy like Steve Largent on this team.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
It's it is weird, but nobody thinks about those things. Yeah,
we go along and you you, as as Chuck Knox
would say, you play the hand you're delt and you
go through. And it's just I think you gravitate towards
things that are happening as they go along. I didn't
(06:47):
know Steve had Jerry for three years in college even today,
That's the first I'd ever heard of that. And Steve,
I do know, and you know that Steve was married
all through college and so uh. But to learn about
Steve and then to watch Steve develop, to watch him
die for balls, I mean, he really set the set
(07:10):
the bar high for almost like for everybody to go
out and play with passion, play with the with the
ability that that you had, and to improve as you're
going along. He was serious about ball and I loved
it because I like that technical part, the detail part
(07:31):
of football. And he brought it with him. I'm not
saying that you didn't.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Bring it, Steve well, but we both but we both know.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
But Yoda brought it and we worked. We worked a
lot on the side, yeah, uh, before and after practice
to try to be precise with what we were going
to try to accomplish during the game.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Steve, for somebody like me who came out of a
wishbone offense for two years at Georgia Tech, it and
to this day when people ask me, I say, I
was always amazed at watching a guy like Steve, and
to maybe a little bit lesser extent, but Sam McCollum,
who had run, he'd been in pro styles before, he
understood running pass routes and all that it was. It
(08:16):
was amazing to me to watch the skill. I just
always thought being a receiver you just run out there
and maybe run past somebody and catch the ball. But
how many years, how long did it take you to
develop the kinds of abilities that ended up showing forth
in a Hall of Fame career? How long did that take?
It wasn't just a natural thing for.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
You, was it. No, it wasn't natural. But it really
began when my high school coach said, hey, you've been
playing running back, We're going to put your wide receiver.
So I had to learn a whole new position from
the start right for my sophomore year in high school.
And I had another quarterback there, Tony Brantley, who played
(08:55):
for Notre Dame and then he went on to punk
for somebody I can't remember, But anyway, Tony and I
worked together really really closely too, and to hone the
skill that we were both learning learning, you know, pass
routes and timing and all that sort of thing. And
so I just I just kind of grew up with
(09:19):
a mentality of a work workman's mentality, uh, for playing
the game. And you know, there's no secret to it.
It just takes a lot of hard work.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Let me give you an example of what Steve's talking about,
because let's say that a comeback, a deep out, okay,
and the coaching staff picks the yardage, and every coaching
staff has different ideas of how deep that comeback should be.
So let's say it's eighteen yards. Well, what Steve and
I would do is he would say, Okay, now I'm
(09:54):
going to make believe that the dB is hard inside technique.
But he's off okay, and then you watch him, he's
running his route. I'm throwing him the ball and now okay,
now the guy's playing soft but he's outside shoulder. Now
what Now here's what I'm going to do there? And
now he's playing uh press, he's now he's pressed. Man,
(10:15):
Now he's pressing and bailing out. Uh So all these
different Now he's hard press inside technique. Now here's what
I'm gonna do. And so we would work on those
different techniques that a dB would uh would We had
to make believe it. Sometimes we'd have Dave Brown uh
(10:36):
give us the example on the other side, but we'd
run a lot of those routes versus air, just imagining what,
you know, what the dB was, And that's I think
that's one of the reasons we had good The communication
was there because inevitably during the game, now we'd see
I'd see a dB and he'd be hard inside off
(10:57):
and I'd know, Okay, Steve's gonna run and at the
top of his route, he's going to be straight up, man.
But I better get it to the sideline because when
he's wicked, when he comes out of his break, I'm
going to get the ball there. So when he turns,
the ball was already in the air. And those are
the things that we worked on. We did it at practice,
but we talked about him and slowed everything down as
(11:19):
we were talking about him, so we could get him
right right in the game.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Those kinds of specifics. And I know they break things
down like that much more so today and and but
even then it was being done. And I'll tell you
it wasn't just Zee who had that kind of trust
in Steve, in being in the right place and all
that sort of thing. I'll never feel. We played a
(11:42):
game in Cleveland at the old stadium in Cleveland, old
Municipal Stadium, and it was windy and cold and Stevie
you might remember the game, but the field was all
beat up. You know they had grass in those days.
It was all torn up. Anyway, we were going on
a drive and Steve, you would like three pass routes
or four pass routes in a row, made three or
four catches in a row, and you, you know, you
(12:04):
tapped out. You hold your hand up and started to
come to the sideline. So I came running in. I
heard this later from Howard Mudd who said, Jerry about
jumped out of the booth. What is Rabel going in
there for? Because he had just sent the play in
to be like a seventy seven Z eight or something,
and which was Steve's route? I mean, that was Steve's
calling card. If it's the post isn't there, If it's
(12:26):
a zone, he's going to break it off and he's
going to run the outside route. And so I went
ahead and ran it that way, and I caught a
pass down to about the five yard line.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
It was a night.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Beautiful over the shoulder throw. But it was just funny, Steve,
that Jerry obviously had that kind of trust in you,
and he knew and he understood, you know what you
brought to the table. And and I don't know, I
think all of us knew that. I never wanted to
see you come out of the game. I always liked
being in the game with you. Talk about those those
(12:54):
teams that we had early on and the you know,
the relationships maybe not as much as the exit and o's,
but the relationships with all of these guys we all
played together for those first six seven years before the
Chuck Knox era came around.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Well, I think the thing that really for me made
a difference in the team were the core group of
guys that we had, whether it was Dave Brown or
Sherman Smith or Jim or myself U Steve. We had
a core group that was rock solid. Had Norm Evans,
(13:33):
another guy that was rock solid, guy that you could
look up to, that had been around, you know, been
around football his whole life, and just guys that had
a lot of experience in the league that we looked
up to, that that were really great examples for us.
And you know that we we had, you know, many
guys maybe ten or fifteen on the outside that you know,
(13:57):
maybe weren't as good as players and didn't last as long.
And there was a kind of a revolving door at
the Seahawks for at least for the first year, if
not the second or third year, that guys were coming
and going, But there was a core group that was
really the face of the Seahawks that were very good
football players that really gave everything they had, that knew
(14:21):
how to play the game, that set a positive example
for all the rest of us. And that was really
how I feel like that. I was raised in the
NFL through very experienced players and coaches, and I learned
a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
In fact, Zee, you and I talked about in our
first conversation. We both Steve thought that one of the things,
one of the issues that happened to us after the
seventy nine season was when we started to make those changes,
especially up front, and guys like Nick Bebount, you know,
you let go of him and you start bringing in
some young offensive linemen, and yeah, you know, we all
played the game. We know that you're going to have to,
(15:02):
you know, change some faces along the way. But a
guy like Nick, who was such a leader on that
offensive front. You know, you had Fig over there at guard,
Bob Newton and Artie and then John Yarno at center,
guys that we you know, were really kind of stabilizing factors.
Sometimes change doesn't equal getting better, at least initially, right, Zee,
That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
It takes It does take time. We laughed at a
bunch of guys coming in and out, but they did
go out almost as quickly as they came in. They
just weren't right for the for the NFL, and some
weren't right for the Seahawks team, but played and did
well on other teams. And it was that core group.
You're right, that kind of took us, or we took
(15:47):
the team and the fans took the team. I mean,
we kind of went a distance and we got we
got stimied a little bit in the early eighties eighty
eighty one. I could you could feel it. We just
didn't We weren't getting better and other teams had gotten better,
and you know, I think reality reality for us set
(16:09):
in saying okay, we you know that first round draft
choice was was premium And did we know that coming in?
Probably not Because we were an expansion team. We didn't
have a history. We were creating that history.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Steve, how much did kind of things change for you?
I know, the obviously offenses and verbiage and all that stuff.
How much did things change for you though? When Chuck
took over and took the team to that next level.
Now you're without you know, you don't have guys at
least toward the end of the Chuck Knox era. Certainly,
guys like Zee and myself and Sam and all those
(16:45):
guys that you had kind of grown up with as kids,
now you were that older veteran. How did things change?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Well, I think I think for me, the greatest changes
that I that I noted was not so much the
x's and o's, the depth of the route or you know,
all that kind of stuff the technical staff, but it
was more the demeanor that Chuck carried himself and that
he expected and demanded from his coaching staff about the
(17:16):
you know, we were going to win and there was
no doubt about it. Chuck had always come from a
winning franchise and h he was going to make another
winning franchise in Seattle. And it was really just a
confidence thing. A uh, I don't know what else you
would call it. Uh, But but Chuck was the factor
(17:38):
in the turnaround of the Seahawks. I think, uh, there's
no question about that. And he just instilled a type
of confidence that we didn't have before. Uh. And and
it really was I don't think, I don't think. I
don't think Chuck could have come in the very first
year and done any better than than the coaches that
(18:00):
we had. But he came in at the right time
and delivered the right message and really did a great job,
I thought in turning the franchise around.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I've often said that he ended up taking mostly Jack's
players and taking you guys to the AFC Championship game
that year in nineteen eighty three. I mean, it was
just an amazing run. Now he had a little bit
of help. They went out and got Kurt Warner. That
really helped the offense to have that young man.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I'll never forget. Also, the very first handoff I gave
to Kurt Warner, I cannot tell you how different it
was because the acceleration that he took it with. You know,
we're as a quarterback, the idea is pressed the ball in, right,
You're not just holding it out there, but you're actually
(18:51):
reaching and pressing the ball in. When I pressed the
ball into Kurt Warner, there was a big difference in
how he accelerated away from me down the field. It
was like, you know, it was like he was saying, oh,
I know how to I know what I'm doing here,
let me have this. There was never a question. It
was always acceleration.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
If memory serves, his first run, official run in the
National Football League was like fifty yards around the left side.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
It might have been sixty. And that's the one I'm
talking Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about about sixty
yards and when he took it, it was just you know,
I could make that sound effect, but that's how to
how it felt when I hit it, even the ball. Yeah,
we drafted him. We had Jacob Green, you know, and
then Cortes came sure, and then Kenny easily, and so
(19:39):
we started seeing that those draft choices were panning out.
And you know, I think the Seahawks were trying to
be creative earlier. But we we you know, we didn't
benefit as much from a football star like a Kurt
Warner Steve.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
We could talk, you know, obviously, teams and plays and
wins and records and all those things all day. Unfortunately,
NASA's looking at me like, listen, Rabes, this is only
going to be in an hour show, So come on,
let's get on with it. So let's let's move on
a little bit beyond that. There was one one thing
I wanted you to talk about before I let you
(20:20):
go today, and that is that that game where you
caught your one hundredth touchdown pass and you gave your
jersey to Pete Gross and I to me for somebody
who gets the honor of sitting in his seat now
every Sunday and have for however many years. It was
still one of the most moving things I ever saw.
I don't know how you decided to do that. Maybe
(20:42):
you can tell us if it just was a spur
of the moment deal, but it was. It's just so
indelibly etched on my memory what you did for Pete
that day.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I actually thank Steve that it was. It was a
divine thing, because I didn't have I had zero thought
of doing that before the game, but at the time
it seemed like the right thing to do, And now
looking back on it, I still think it was the
right thing to do. That Pete had been such an
(21:14):
indelible part of the Seahawk history for fourteen years, and
this was my last game, and this was my chance to,
you know, to really honor Pete for the way he
had conducted himself and his demeanor. And he's always just
such a first class guy, always very positive about the Seahawks,
(21:38):
regardless of our record, and so I mean, I just
there was no doubt that, you know, what I was
going to do with that jersey if I got the chance.
But again, it wasn't. It wasn't with a lot of
forethought that I did that. It was just just a
I don't know, something came over me and said this
was the right thing to do. And looking back, like
(22:00):
I said, it was exactly the right thing to.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Do with that question. And for those who are listening
that don't know the full story. Pete went on to
pass a short time later a year later, year and
a half later from cancer. He actually broadcast almost up
until the time that he passed away.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
How many years did you work with Pete after you
were done?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Twenty two? No, I beg your pardon twenty two as
the analyst. But from nineteen eighty two until ninety two
when he died, so eleven seasons.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
You you had eleven season with him. You were the color, Yes,
he was the play by play by play.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And so I was just downstairs and it was eleven
in Pete's press conference talking to some people who have
done some play by play, and they wanted to see
how I set my board up, how I did my notes,
and I told him much of what I learned I
learned from a guy like Pete Gross and Steve, you
can attest to this too. Kenny Easily has always said this.
He said, Pete was one of the only guys in
that locker room who would walk up and the first
(22:58):
thing he would say is can I ask you a
few questions? Not stick the microphone in your face and
just blast away? But hey, Steve, Hey, Ken, Hey Jim,
can I ask you a couple of questions? And that
was the kind of person Pete was.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
God, no question about that. I mean Pete, Pete. I think,
like I said, he just left an indelible impression on
all the people that he worked with, including me. And
he was always a gentleman, always gentle He was always,
you know, just a really you know, fair, upright guy
(23:36):
that you had tremendous respect for. And I had that
same respect for him.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Now, the most important question I'm going to ask you today,
when was that that you decided that you needed not
to be rooming with me on the road, knowing full
well that I complained so much about your snoring. Honest
to goodness, Steve, I don't know how Terry has done
it all these years. God bless her.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
She's she's got a sound machine.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
She's an angel. She's going to need more than a
sound machine. I mean, I've said this before, when sleeping
in the same room with Steve sounded like you could
hear geese getting ready to hit the door. You know,
huh bang it sound. That was what it sounded like.
Good lord, my friend.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
It never woke me up. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Did you go a whole year, a whole season with
no sleep at least on game night? Yeah, you know,
the night before the game. Well, I mean it wasn't
that bad. Part of it was I didn't allow myself
to get some sleep some nights either. That was that
was that.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
It's like the one of the only things that you
remember because you've brought it up like two or three
times now. It has an impact in your life. I
sure hope your bride Sharon doesn't snore, No.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
She doesn't. But guess what I have now become that
I have become Steve larger that year, it only in
the snoring category, let me put it. Let me tell
everybody that upfront. But and then you know, Adkins and
I developed relationship isn't it an interesting how quarterbacks receivers,
you know, because you you end up talking the same
language all the time. And Steve, you and Jim did
(25:07):
that and uh and Sam and I did that too.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
There's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, yeah, it's been It was really a fun. I
mean I look back on those years that I played
with the Seahawks and uh, they they just were irreplaceable.
It was so much fun uh to play the games. Uh,
to uh you know, you know, developed the game plan, uh,
(25:31):
to execute the game plan uh, and to celebrate after
the after the season or after the game. I just
have so many fond memories of of my time in Seattle.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
UH.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
And it was just so so so much fun.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
You know. Steve, the thing that one of the things
that I remember about you and and thinking about this
idea rabes uh with quarterback receiver relationships, you did not
ever uh can can test what the game plan was
going to be. Like I never heard you go in
(26:05):
and say, you know, pound the table and say no,
we need to do this or we need to do that.
It was once what we would do is just learn
and trust basically what was being developed. Like we trusted
the coaches that what they were seeing on video we
were going to get during the game, and our game
(26:25):
plan was going to reflect that. You didn't do a
lot of trying to change the game plan, did you
when you were a part of either PETERA Era or
I didn't see it then, and even Chuck Knox era.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
No, I didn't. I trusted the game plan that we
came in with. But I sure would get into my
quarterback or offensive coordinator's ear in the middle of the
game and say, hey, if we ran this route, this
would be a home run, and give advice to my
quarterback and to my offensive coordinator about what I saw,
(27:04):
what we could do on second down, third down, whatever,
and just things that I felt could help us win.
And I think I did that more, you know, in
my later years, so to say, after I'd played six
seven years, eight years in the league. I played fourteen
(27:25):
in all, But you know, I think that I was
more willing to share the information that I could give
to them coming off the field and making suggestions on
place work.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Steve, we talked about the Pete Gross moment. There was
another moment when you asked our longtime friend Gary Wright,
who was at the time the director of pr for
the Seahawks to give the introductory or induction speech for
(28:02):
too Yes, to welcome you into the Hall of Fame.
How did you choose Gary? And what did that? What
did that day mean to you? After all that you
had been through in your career and you you know,
I mean, listen you your background was a little bit
tougher than some others that you had to overcome and
that you did and here you are standing up in
(28:22):
front of all of those yellowjacket folks at the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Well, you know there there were There were two reasons
and they were both influential in my life. Uh, that
I that I chose Gary. Uh. One was that I
had Jim Zorn for my quarterback for the first half
of my career and Dave Craig my quarterback for the
(28:49):
last half of my career. And you know, Jim really
became my best friend and still is uh. And Dave
was a very good friend. We worked hard on the
field and did all the things that I did with Jim.
But but so it was really a hard decision who
do I pick? And Gary Wright was a guy that
over my entire career fourteen years, was just always a
(29:13):
great guy, always did his job with class and reverence,
and a guy that I really respected. And so I
couldn't make a decision between Dave or Craig, and I
mean Dave or Jim, And so I chose Gary. And
(29:33):
because it would be too hard to tell I tell
Dave or tell Jim, Hey, I'm not I'm gonna go
with the other guy. And so I couldn't do that,
and so I chose Gary. And it was a good choice.
I mean Gary did a great job, he'd always done
a great job, and I have no issues about him
(29:55):
him introducing me or I wouldn't change my mind today
over that vision. But it was a hard decision.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, Steve, that was in nineteen ninety five. And now
you've seen the Hall of Fame You've been a part
of the Hall of Fame since then. How is how
has the Hall of Fame changed or has it changed
since you have been inducted? How are things done the
same way? Are you? Do you do things differently today
(30:24):
than what you had done just by getting into the
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Well, let me tell you. One of the biggest differences
is there's a whole lot of guys that were there
in nineteen ninety five that aren't there now. That's a
constant reminder for me that, you know, life is not
very long. But in saying that, I would also say
(30:51):
there's a whole lot of guys that are there now
that weren't there in nineteen ninety five. And it's really
fun to get to know those players on a personal level.
When they come into the Hall. I get to see them,
you know, two or three times a year, and so
that's really fun. And so I really enjoy that. But
(31:11):
you know, to be inducted in the Hall of Fame,
that's like every player's dream, and so I don't take
it for granted. I really feel blessed by that and
being in the Hall of Fame. I think that's one
of the highest honors that you can have as a
football player in the National Football League.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Steve, you truly have had a remarkable life. Hall of
Fame career, You go on to be elected to Congress,
although I don't know if today you would want to
be within, you know, five hundred miles of that place,
and then a successful corporate career. What does what do
the largents do today? What keeps Steve Terry the family
(31:55):
what keeps you occupied? What's fun for you? I know,
you come out and see z Man every so often,
you come out here and visit the Seahawks. But what
is a what is a typical day for the largeins Like.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Well, we don't have a typical day anymore. Uh, but
I'm still married. That's a good thing, yes, Uh, Terry
and I. I didn't get married at my first years
in college gym. I was married in my junior year
in college. But uh, yeah, Terry and I, Uh, we
have ten grandkids and that's always fun to see them.
(32:28):
We have seven of them living here, uh in Tulsa,
and three of them in Seattle. Our oldest son, Kyle
is living in Seattle once again with his job, and
he's got three daughters. So we always look forward to
seeing them. But uh, yeah, it's uh, you know, my
life is has has slowed down somewhat in that I'm
(32:50):
not working at you know, a regular eight to five
jobs five days a week. I am. I still do
some speaking and appearance work and stuff like that, but
I'm really just enjoying my grandkids and watching their football
games and baseball games and soccer games and all that stuff. Uh.
And enjoying my wife and enjoying my life here in Tulsa.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That's it. That's good. Glad, You're glad you're doing all
those things. And I really look forward to seeing you
when you come up and we chase around. He's got,
as you well know, he's got certain eating habits, and
he'll say, hey, we should have you know, when he
comes into town, Hey we should have lunch. Well, I
(33:36):
never I used to suggest, okay, let's go here. I
know I've learned. You know, I'm kind of a pretty
smart guy, never to suggest a place to go for
Steve because he's already got things in mind, and he
has certain, you know, certain places that he hers, certain haunts,
especially here in Seattle, that he has to go frequent.
(33:57):
So we go to those places. I'm okay with it
because I you know, I can, I can eat most
of what Steve likes, and here we go. But yeah,
you just don't want to get on his wrong side
when it comes to food, and you know, you learn
that over the years.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Well, I guess I should be honored then that we've
all had breakfast together a.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Number of times.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Queen Anne, there's a little place up there that we
like to go and have breakfast, and and we just
we you know, Steve, we just don't get a chance
to see you enough. And I just you know, always
look forward to when you and Terry can get out here.
It's always fun when we come down onto the field
on Sundays and there we get a chance to see you.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
It.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
It has been not only has this hour been fun
for me, You and Jim get to talk a lot,
You and I don't quite as much, but it has
been such a treat to be your friend and to
be Jim's bud here and for the three of us
to have gone back now almost fifty years that we've
all been associated with the Sea All organization. We all
(35:01):
grew up together, Sharon and I got married, you guys
were there, Joy and Jim the same way. It's that
part of us becoming adults and now growing into old men,
quite frankly, has been, you know, a treasure to my
life and to all of us who can say we
know you. I appreciate it, Steve. Thank you for taking
(35:23):
the time.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Well, thank you, Steve. And you know I feel the
same way about you and Jim. And we've had a rich,
rich history that we've shared together and there's just not
much that can replace that. And so I really counted
a blessing that I've been able to hang out with
you guys and play with you guys and just be
(35:45):
friends for so many years. And it's really been, like
I said, a rich Rish blessing in my life.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, and for me here we are in the Seahawk
office still. How about that? I mean, how many years
ago did we play? We met something to the team,
then we moved on. I've been coaching, You've been speaking,
Steve's been Hall of Faming and do all kinds of stuff.
But to do all these things and then still be
a part of the Hawks and the fan base that
(36:16):
we get to that we get to impact people. Still.
Remember we're going to be in old school uniforms here
this year and it's kind of exciting to see the
old logo and so much of it at at the
Seahawks games here in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Yeah, they call them now throwbacks. We just called them
our jerseys. That's what we wore. Those were what we wore.
But there will be a number eighty and I think
I'm going to get Sharon at number eighty three. She's
got one, but not too many other people want those,
But tens and eighties will be in rich supply. I
am sure at here, Steve, thanks very much. We will
(36:57):
see you the next time you come out here, and
don't make it too long.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Okay, all right, guys, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Hi Steven James, lovely job as always. Let's see what
other old geezer we can we can search up for
next week. All right, Well, I just.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Had Bob Newton call me on the phone while we
were while we were interviewing Steve.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Bob would be a good one to talk to Bob too.
Thanks so much for all of you for checking out
Sea York Stories. We appreciate it. Wherever you can find
your finest podcast. We'll talk to you next time.
You're listening to Seahawks stories, teaking you behind the scenes
with your favorite Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Set back to behind. Zorn, who's back to pass as
time looks for the left sideline, throws a bomb down there.
He's got a man in front. He makes the crab
a travel. It's a thirty down to the twenty. Don't
ever get him. He scores touched.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Out Seahawks powered by Seahawks Dot Com and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Zorn later in perfectly a Rabel who goes in to
score on an ady yard pass and run play.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Now here's your host, the voice of the Seahawks, Steve
Raebel and Seahawks legend Jim Zorn.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Do you know how embarrassing that is to be sitting
here with headsets on listening to one of the few
passes I was able to corral, especially a touchdown catch
from mister Zorn with Steve Largent on the other line,
who had more catches like in one game at some
point than I had in an entire season. Steve, welcome, Hey,
(00:59):
Steve Rabel, how you doing well. I'm doing okay. I
feel much smaller when I'm sitting here talking to you,
but but it's great to have you on Seahawks Stories
and Ze is sitting right across the table from me. So, Zee, Man,
how you doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Do you have to tell people when you meet with
people when Steve's not around?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I was faster than Steve.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
No, I don't ever say anything about it. I just
say I was his food taster. That's all I ever say.
When people ask about me and Yoda, and we're going
to get to the Yoda part, I apologize, Steve. I
know everybody calls you Steve or sir, but those of
us who love you and know you, we still kind
of call you Yoda. I hope that's all right.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay, good. Let's start like at the beginning, and we've
only got an hour or thereabouts, so we want to
we want to get as much in as we can.
But Steve, those early days, Jim and I have talked
about it a lot in our opportunities here on this
Seahawks Stories podcast to talk about those early days. And
(02:02):
we all know, you know you came in in that
trade from Houston. It took like one game and bang
you were in the starting lineup. From your standpoint, when
was it that you felt comfortable and said, I know, A,
I know I can be a help to this team,
but B I've got I know I can make something
work with this young left handed quarterback. When did those
(02:23):
things start to start to show for you?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I can tell you that I wasn't thinking in terms
of z Man or making the team or anything like that,
because I was coming from Houston where I had just
been cut and you know, they call it, they say
I was traded, and that in fact is what technically happened.
(02:48):
But before that, I was released by the Houston Oiler
Phillips and was packing up everything I owned, which wasn't much,
in a small leather suitcase and UH and and had
to call my wife to come down from Tulsa to
UH pick me up and UH and take me back
(03:11):
to Tulsa. And UH, so I I was in the
throes of trying to come to terms with being released
from the only team that I ever knew of, UH
that that was interested in me, and that was the
Houston Oilers. Now, behind the scenes, what was taking place was, UH,
the Seahawks were trying to work out a trade UH
(03:34):
with the Oilers after I was released, And so that's
what happened. They ended up trading an eighth round draft
choice I was taking in the fourth round, UH, an
eighth round draft choice for me, and I got a
call from the Seahawks and uh, it was oh gosh,
what was the general manager's son's name, n Rick Thompson,
(03:58):
Rick Thompson, Rick Thompson. It was Rick Thompson who called
me and said, hey, Steve, we want to give you
another chance if you want to take it. And so
I said sure, you know what do I need to do?
And they told me they have a ticket for me.
I was to leave the next day, and so I did.
And I didn't take nearly as many clothes with me
(04:18):
this time as I with me down at Houston, and
I didn't take a lot even down to Houston but
for Seattle, because I didn't know what was going to
happen or how long it would last. But my ace
in the hole really was Jerry Rome, who was the
quarterback Fever coach. He was the one that was that
(04:39):
tried to convince the Seahawks to draft me.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
But then when I was released, was right on top
of it and h talked the Seahawks into trading for
an eighth round draft choice for me for a guy
that got cut and I'm surprised he even got eighth
round pick, but you know they did and said then
thing I know, I was in Seattle and I was
with Jerry and my eighth and the hole was the
(05:06):
fact that Jerry Rome had implemented our entire offense from
Tulsa University into the Seahawks playbook. So when they asked
me to line up, you know, wherever I was supposed
to be, I knew exactly how deep to run the routes,
when to look for the ball, and all those kind
(05:26):
of things that you guys were working on since training
camp started. I'd been I'd been doing for three years
at the University of Tulsa. That was when Jerry came
to the University of Tulsa as a coach for my
college team for three years. So that was a huge
bonus for me. The fact that I could step in
the huddle nowhere, to line up nowhere, how deep the
(05:48):
route was run, when the quarterback is going to throw
the ball. I'd been doing that stuff for three years.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, Jim, when you when you hear that and you've
heard the story, you know it. You and Steve were
as close as any guys. I know. When you hear that,
do you ever stop to think? And obviously in our
game we never kind of look back very much. But
I came this close. This is you talking. I came
this close to not having a guy like Steve Largent,
who not only was is a Hall of Fame receiver
(06:16):
but became the closest friend in the world. I came
this close and Steve, my fingers are about an inch
and a half apart right here. Came this close to
maybe not having a guy like Steve Largent on this team.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
It's it is weird, but nobody thinks about those things. Yeah,
we go along and you you, as as Chuck Knox
would say, you play the hand you're delt and you
go through. And it's just I think you gravitate towards
things that are happening as they go along. I didn't
(06:47):
know Steve had Jerry for three years in college even today,
That's the first I'd ever heard of that. And Steve,
I do know, and you know that Steve was married
all through college and so uh. But to learn about
Steve and then to watch Steve develop, to watch him
die for balls, I mean, he really set the set
(07:10):
the bar high for almost like for everybody to go
out and play with passion, play with the with the
ability that that you had, and to improve as you're
going along. He was serious about ball and I loved
it because I like that technical part, the detail part
(07:31):
of football. And he brought it with him. I'm not
saying that you didn't.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Bring it, Steve well, but we both but we both know.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
But Yoda brought it and we worked. We worked a
lot on the side, yeah, uh, before and after practice
to try to be precise with what we were going
to try to accomplish during the game.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Steve, for somebody like me who came out of a
wishbone offense for two years at Georgia Tech, it and
to this day when people ask me, I say, I
was always amazed at watching a guy like Steve, and
to maybe a little bit lesser extent, but Sam McCollum,
who had run, he'd been in pro styles before, he
understood running pass routes and all that it was. It
(08:16):
was amazing to me to watch the skill. I just
always thought being a receiver you just run out there
and maybe run past somebody and catch the ball. But
how many years, how long did it take you to
develop the kinds of abilities that ended up showing forth
in a Hall of Fame career? How long did that take?
It wasn't just a natural thing for.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
You, was it. No, it wasn't natural. But it really
began when my high school coach said, hey, you've been
playing running back, We're going to put your wide receiver.
So I had to learn a whole new position from
the start right for my sophomore year in high school.
And I had another quarterback there, Tony Brantley, who played
(08:55):
for Notre Dame and then he went on to punk
for somebody I can't remember, But anyway, Tony and I
worked together really really closely too, and to hone the
skill that we were both learning learning, you know, pass
routes and timing and all that sort of thing. And
so I just I just kind of grew up with
(09:19):
a mentality of a work workman's mentality, uh, for playing
the game. And you know, there's no secret to it.
It just takes a lot of hard work.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Let me give you an example of what Steve's talking about,
because let's say that a comeback, a deep out, okay,
and the coaching staff picks the yardage, and every coaching
staff has different ideas of how deep that comeback should be.
So let's say it's eighteen yards. Well, what Steve and
I would do is he would say, Okay, now I'm
(09:54):
going to make believe that the dB is hard inside technique.
But he's off okay, and then you watch him, he's
running his route. I'm throwing him the ball and now okay,
now the guy's playing soft but he's outside shoulder. Now
what Now here's what I'm going to do there? And
now he's playing uh press, he's now he's pressed. Man,
(10:15):
Now he's pressing and bailing out. Uh So all these
different Now he's hard press inside technique. Now here's what
I'm gonna do. And so we would work on those
different techniques that a dB would uh would We had
to make believe it. Sometimes we'd have Dave Brown uh
(10:36):
give us the example on the other side, but we'd
run a lot of those routes versus air, just imagining what,
you know, what the dB was, And that's I think
that's one of the reasons we had good The communication
was there because inevitably during the game, now we'd see
I'd see a dB and he'd be hard inside off
(10:57):
and I'd know, Okay, Steve's gonna run and at the
top of his route, he's going to be straight up, man.
But I better get it to the sideline because when
he's wicked, when he comes out of his break, I'm
going to get the ball there. So when he turns,
the ball was already in the air. And those are
the things that we worked on. We did it at practice,
but we talked about him and slowed everything down as
(11:19):
we were talking about him, so we could get him
right right in the game.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Those kinds of specifics. And I know they break things
down like that much more so today and and but
even then it was being done. And I'll tell you
it wasn't just Zee who had that kind of trust
in Steve, in being in the right place and all
that sort of thing. I'll never feel. We played a
(11:42):
game in Cleveland at the old stadium in Cleveland, old
Municipal Stadium, and it was windy and cold and Stevie
you might remember the game, but the field was all
beat up. You know they had grass in those days.
It was all torn up. Anyway, we were going on
a drive and Steve, you would like three pass routes
or four pass routes in a row, made three or
four catches in a row, and you, you know, you
(12:04):
tapped out. You hold your hand up and started to
come to the sideline. So I came running in. I
heard this later from Howard Mudd who said, Jerry about
jumped out of the booth. What is Rabel going in
there for? Because he had just sent the play in
to be like a seventy seven Z eight or something,
and which was Steve's route? I mean, that was Steve's
calling card. If it's the post isn't there, If it's
(12:26):
a zone, he's going to break it off and he's
going to run the outside route. And so I went
ahead and ran it that way, and I caught a
pass down to about the five yard line.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
It was a night.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Beautiful over the shoulder throw. But it was just funny, Steve,
that Jerry obviously had that kind of trust in you,
and he knew and he understood, you know what you
brought to the table. And and I don't know, I
think all of us knew that. I never wanted to
see you come out of the game. I always liked
being in the game with you. Talk about those those
(12:54):
teams that we had early on and the you know,
the relationships maybe not as much as the exit and o's,
but the relationships with all of these guys we all
played together for those first six seven years before the
Chuck Knox era came around.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Well, I think the thing that really for me made
a difference in the team were the core group of
guys that we had, whether it was Dave Brown or
Sherman Smith or Jim or myself U Steve. We had
a core group that was rock solid. Had Norm Evans,
(13:33):
another guy that was rock solid, guy that you could
look up to, that had been around, you know, been
around football his whole life, and just guys that had
a lot of experience in the league that we looked
up to, that that were really great examples for us.
And you know that we we had, you know, many
guys maybe ten or fifteen on the outside that you know,
(13:57):
maybe weren't as good as players and didn't last as long.
And there was a kind of a revolving door at
the Seahawks for at least for the first year, if
not the second or third year, that guys were coming
and going, But there was a core group that was
really the face of the Seahawks that were very good
football players that really gave everything they had, that knew
(14:21):
how to play the game, that set a positive example
for all the rest of us. And that was really
how I feel like that. I was raised in the
NFL through very experienced players and coaches, and I learned
a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
In fact, Zee, you and I talked about in our
first conversation. We both Steve thought that one of the things,
one of the issues that happened to us after the
seventy nine season was when we started to make those changes,
especially up front, and guys like Nick Bebount, you know,
you let go of him and you start bringing in
some young offensive linemen, and yeah, you know, we all
played the game. We know that you're going to have to,
(15:02):
you know, change some faces along the way. But a
guy like Nick, who was such a leader on that
offensive front. You know, you had Fig over there at guard,
Bob Newton and Artie and then John Yarno at center,
guys that we you know, were really kind of stabilizing factors.
Sometimes change doesn't equal getting better, at least initially, right, Zee,
That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
It takes It does take time. We laughed at a
bunch of guys coming in and out, but they did
go out almost as quickly as they came in. They
just weren't right for the for the NFL, and some
weren't right for the Seahawks team, but played and did
well on other teams. And it was that core group.
You're right, that kind of took us, or we took
(15:47):
the team and the fans took the team. I mean,
we kind of went a distance and we got we
got stimied a little bit in the early eighties eighty
eighty one. I could you could feel it. We just
didn't We weren't getting better and other teams had gotten better,
and you know, I think reality reality for us set
(16:09):
in saying okay, we you know that first round draft
choice was was premium And did we know that coming in?
Probably not Because we were an expansion team. We didn't
have a history. We were creating that history.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Steve, how much did kind of things change for you?
I know, the obviously offenses and verbiage and all that stuff.
How much did things change for you though? When Chuck
took over and took the team to that next level.
Now you're without you know, you don't have guys at
least toward the end of the Chuck Knox era. Certainly,
guys like Zee and myself and Sam and all those
(16:45):
guys that you had kind of grown up with as kids,
now you were that older veteran. How did things change?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Well, I think I think for me, the greatest changes
that I that I noted was not so much the
x's and o's, the depth of the route or you know,
all that kind of stuff the technical staff, but it
was more the demeanor that Chuck carried himself and that
he expected and demanded from his coaching staff about the
(17:16):
you know, we were going to win and there was
no doubt about it. Chuck had always come from a
winning franchise and h he was going to make another
winning franchise in Seattle. And it was really just a
confidence thing. A uh, I don't know what else you
would call it. Uh, But but Chuck was the factor
(17:38):
in the turnaround of the Seahawks. I think, uh, there's
no question about that. And he just instilled a type
of confidence that we didn't have before. Uh. And and
it really was I don't think, I don't think. I
don't think Chuck could have come in the very first
year and done any better than than the coaches that
(18:00):
we had. But he came in at the right time
and delivered the right message and really did a great job,
I thought in turning the franchise around.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I've often said that he ended up taking mostly Jack's
players and taking you guys to the AFC Championship game
that year in nineteen eighty three. I mean, it was
just an amazing run. Now he had a little bit
of help. They went out and got Kurt Warner. That
really helped the offense to have that young man.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I'll never forget. Also, the very first handoff I gave
to Kurt Warner, I cannot tell you how different it
was because the acceleration that he took it with. You know,
we're as a quarterback, the idea is pressed the ball in, right,
You're not just holding it out there, but you're actually
(18:51):
reaching and pressing the ball in. When I pressed the
ball into Kurt Warner, there was a big difference in
how he accelerated away from me down the field. It
was like, you know, it was like he was saying, oh,
I know how to I know what I'm doing here,
let me have this. There was never a question. It
was always acceleration.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
If memory serves, his first run, official run in the
National Football League was like fifty yards around the left side.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
It might have been sixty. And that's the one I'm
talking Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about about sixty
yards and when he took it, it was just you know,
I could make that sound effect, but that's how to
how it felt when I hit it, even the ball. Yeah,
we drafted him. We had Jacob Green, you know, and
then Cortes came sure, and then Kenny easily, and so
(19:39):
we started seeing that those draft choices were panning out.
And you know, I think the Seahawks were trying to
be creative earlier. But we we you know, we didn't
benefit as much from a football star like a Kurt
Warner Steve.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
We could talk, you know, obviously, teams and plays and
wins and records and all those things all day. Unfortunately,
NASA's looking at me like, listen, Rabes, this is only
going to be in an hour show, So come on,
let's get on with it. So let's let's move on
a little bit beyond that. There was one one thing
I wanted you to talk about before I let you
(20:20):
go today, and that is that that game where you
caught your one hundredth touchdown pass and you gave your
jersey to Pete Gross and I to me for somebody
who gets the honor of sitting in his seat now
every Sunday and have for however many years. It was
still one of the most moving things I ever saw.
I don't know how you decided to do that. Maybe
(20:42):
you can tell us if it just was a spur
of the moment deal, but it was. It's just so
indelibly etched on my memory what you did for Pete
that day.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I actually thank Steve that it was. It was a
divine thing, because I didn't have I had zero thought
of doing that before the game, but at the time
it seemed like the right thing to do, And now
looking back on it, I still think it was the
right thing to do. That Pete had been such an
(21:14):
indelible part of the Seahawk history for fourteen years, and
this was my last game, and this was my chance to,
you know, to really honor Pete for the way he
had conducted himself and his demeanor. And he's always just
such a first class guy, always very positive about the Seahawks,
(21:38):
regardless of our record, and so I mean, I just
there was no doubt that, you know, what I was
going to do with that jersey if I got the chance.
But again, it wasn't. It wasn't with a lot of
forethought that I did that. It was just just a
I don't know, something came over me and said this
was the right thing to do. And looking back, like
(22:00):
I said, it was exactly the right thing to.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Do with that question. And for those who are listening
that don't know the full story. Pete went on to
pass a short time later a year later, year and
a half later from cancer. He actually broadcast almost up
until the time that he passed away.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
How many years did you work with Pete after you
were done?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Twenty two? No, I beg your pardon twenty two as
the analyst. But from nineteen eighty two until ninety two
when he died, so eleven seasons.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
You you had eleven season with him. You were the color, Yes,
he was the play by play by play.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And so I was just downstairs and it was eleven
in Pete's press conference talking to some people who have
done some play by play, and they wanted to see
how I set my board up, how I did my notes,
and I told him much of what I learned I
learned from a guy like Pete Gross and Steve, you
can attest to this too. Kenny Easily has always said this.
He said, Pete was one of the only guys in
that locker room who would walk up and the first
(22:58):
thing he would say is can I ask you a
few questions? Not stick the microphone in your face and
just blast away? But hey, Steve, Hey, Ken, Hey Jim,
can I ask you a couple of questions? And that
was the kind of person Pete was.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
God, no question about that. I mean Pete, Pete. I think,
like I said, he just left an indelible impression on
all the people that he worked with, including me. And
he was always a gentleman, always gentle He was always,
you know, just a really you know, fair, upright guy
(23:36):
that you had tremendous respect for. And I had that
same respect for him.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Now, the most important question I'm going to ask you today,
when was that that you decided that you needed not
to be rooming with me on the road, knowing full
well that I complained so much about your snoring. Honest
to goodness, Steve, I don't know how Terry has done
it all these years. God bless her.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
She's she's got a sound machine.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
She's an angel. She's going to need more than a
sound machine. I mean, I've said this before, when sleeping
in the same room with Steve sounded like you could
hear geese getting ready to hit the door. You know,
huh bang it sound. That was what it sounded like.
Good lord, my friend.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
It never woke me up. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Did you go a whole year, a whole season with
no sleep at least on game night? Yeah, you know,
the night before the game. Well, I mean it wasn't
that bad. Part of it was I didn't allow myself
to get some sleep some nights either. That was that
was that.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
It's like the one of the only things that you
remember because you've brought it up like two or three
times now. It has an impact in your life. I
sure hope your bride Sharon doesn't snore, No.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
She doesn't. But guess what I have now become that
I have become Steve larger that year, it only in
the snoring category, let me put it. Let me tell
everybody that upfront. But and then you know, Adkins and
I developed relationship isn't it an interesting how quarterbacks receivers,
you know, because you you end up talking the same
language all the time. And Steve, you and Jim did
(25:07):
that and uh and Sam and I did that too.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
There's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, yeah, it's been It was really a fun. I
mean I look back on those years that I played
with the Seahawks and uh, they they just were irreplaceable.
It was so much fun uh to play the games. Uh,
to uh you know, you know, developed the game plan, uh,
(25:31):
to execute the game plan uh, and to celebrate after
the after the season or after the game. I just
have so many fond memories of of my time in Seattle.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
UH.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
And it was just so so so much fun.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
You know. Steve, the thing that one of the things
that I remember about you and and thinking about this
idea rabes uh with quarterback receiver relationships, you did not
ever uh can can test what the game plan was
going to be. Like I never heard you go in
(26:05):
and say, you know, pound the table and say no,
we need to do this or we need to do that.
It was once what we would do is just learn
and trust basically what was being developed. Like we trusted
the coaches that what they were seeing on video we
were going to get during the game, and our game
(26:25):
plan was going to reflect that. You didn't do a
lot of trying to change the game plan, did you
when you were a part of either PETERA Era or
I didn't see it then, and even Chuck Knox era.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
No, I didn't. I trusted the game plan that we
came in with. But I sure would get into my
quarterback or offensive coordinator's ear in the middle of the
game and say, hey, if we ran this route, this
would be a home run, and give advice to my
quarterback and to my offensive coordinator about what I saw,
(27:04):
what we could do on second down, third down, whatever,
and just things that I felt could help us win.
And I think I did that more, you know, in
my later years, so to say, after I'd played six
seven years, eight years in the league. I played fourteen
(27:25):
in all, But you know, I think that I was
more willing to share the information that I could give
to them coming off the field and making suggestions on
place work.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Steve, we talked about the Pete Gross moment. There was
another moment when you asked our longtime friend Gary Wright,
who was at the time the director of pr for
the Seahawks to give the introductory or induction speech for
(28:02):
too Yes, to welcome you into the Hall of Fame.
How did you choose Gary? And what did that? What
did that day mean to you? After all that you
had been through in your career and you you know,
I mean, listen you your background was a little bit
tougher than some others that you had to overcome and
that you did and here you are standing up in
(28:22):
front of all of those yellowjacket folks at the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Well, you know there there were There were two reasons
and they were both influential in my life. Uh, that
I that I chose Gary. Uh. One was that I
had Jim Zorn for my quarterback for the first half
of my career and Dave Craig my quarterback for the
(28:49):
last half of my career. And you know, Jim really
became my best friend and still is uh. And Dave
was a very good friend. We worked hard on the
field and did all the things that I did with Jim.
But but so it was really a hard decision who
do I pick? And Gary Wright was a guy that
over my entire career fourteen years, was just always a
(29:13):
great guy, always did his job with class and reverence,
and a guy that I really respected. And so I
couldn't make a decision between Dave or Craig, and I
mean Dave or Jim, And so I chose Gary. And
(29:33):
because it would be too hard to tell I tell
Dave or tell Jim, Hey, I'm not I'm gonna go
with the other guy. And so I couldn't do that,
and so I chose Gary. And it was a good choice.
I mean Gary did a great job, he'd always done
a great job, and I have no issues about him
(29:55):
him introducing me or I wouldn't change my mind today
over that vision. But it was a hard decision.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, Steve, that was in nineteen ninety five. And now
you've seen the Hall of Fame You've been a part
of the Hall of Fame since then. How is how
has the Hall of Fame changed or has it changed
since you have been inducted? How are things done the
same way? Are you? Do you do things differently today
(30:24):
than what you had done just by getting into the
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Well, let me tell you. One of the biggest differences
is there's a whole lot of guys that were there
in nineteen ninety five that aren't there now. That's a
constant reminder for me that, you know, life is not
very long. But in saying that, I would also say
(30:51):
there's a whole lot of guys that are there now
that weren't there in nineteen ninety five. And it's really
fun to get to know those players on a personal level.
When they come into the Hall. I get to see them,
you know, two or three times a year, and so
that's really fun. And so I really enjoy that. But
(31:11):
you know, to be inducted in the Hall of Fame,
that's like every player's dream, and so I don't take
it for granted. I really feel blessed by that and
being in the Hall of Fame. I think that's one
of the highest honors that you can have as a
football player in the National Football League.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Steve, you truly have had a remarkable life. Hall of
Fame career, You go on to be elected to Congress,
although I don't know if today you would want to
be within, you know, five hundred miles of that place,
and then a successful corporate career. What does what do
the largents do today? What keeps Steve Terry the family
(31:55):
what keeps you occupied? What's fun for you? I know,
you come out and see z Man every so often,
you come out here and visit the Seahawks. But what
is a what is a typical day for the largeins Like.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Well, we don't have a typical day anymore. Uh, but
I'm still married. That's a good thing, yes, Uh, Terry
and I. I didn't get married at my first years
in college gym. I was married in my junior year
in college. But uh, yeah, Terry and I, Uh, we
have ten grandkids and that's always fun to see them.
(32:28):
We have seven of them living here, uh in Tulsa,
and three of them in Seattle. Our oldest son, Kyle
is living in Seattle once again with his job, and
he's got three daughters. So we always look forward to
seeing them. But uh, yeah, it's uh, you know, my
life is has has slowed down somewhat in that I'm
(32:50):
not working at you know, a regular eight to five
jobs five days a week. I am. I still do
some speaking and appearance work and stuff like that, but
I'm really just enjoying my grandkids and watching their football
games and baseball games and soccer games and all that stuff. Uh.
And enjoying my wife and enjoying my life here in Tulsa.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That's it. That's good. Glad, You're glad you're doing all
those things. And I really look forward to seeing you
when you come up and we chase around. He's got,
as you well know, he's got certain eating habits, and
he'll say, hey, we should have you know, when he
comes into town, Hey we should have lunch. Well, I
(33:36):
never I used to suggest, okay, let's go here. I
know I've learned. You know, I'm kind of a pretty
smart guy, never to suggest a place to go for
Steve because he's already got things in mind, and he
has certain, you know, certain places that he hers, certain haunts,
especially here in Seattle, that he has to go frequent.
(33:57):
So we go to those places. I'm okay with it
because I you know, I can, I can eat most
of what Steve likes, and here we go. But yeah,
you just don't want to get on his wrong side
when it comes to food, and you know, you learn
that over the years.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Well, I guess I should be honored then that we've
all had breakfast together a.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Number of times.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Queen Anne, there's a little place up there that we
like to go and have breakfast, and and we just
we you know, Steve, we just don't get a chance
to see you enough. And I just you know, always
look forward to when you and Terry can get out here.
It's always fun when we come down onto the field
on Sundays and there we get a chance to see you.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
It.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
It has been not only has this hour been fun
for me, You and Jim get to talk a lot,
You and I don't quite as much, but it has
been such a treat to be your friend and to
be Jim's bud here and for the three of us
to have gone back now almost fifty years that we've
all been associated with the Sea All organization. We all
(35:01):
grew up together, Sharon and I got married, you guys
were there, Joy and Jim the same way. It's that
part of us becoming adults and now growing into old men,
quite frankly, has been, you know, a treasure to my
life and to all of us who can say we
know you. I appreciate it, Steve. Thank you for taking
(35:23):
the time.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Well, thank you, Steve. And you know I feel the
same way about you and Jim. And we've had a rich,
rich history that we've shared together and there's just not
much that can replace that. And so I really counted
a blessing that I've been able to hang out with
you guys and play with you guys and just be
(35:45):
friends for so many years. And it's really been, like
I said, a rich Rish blessing in my life.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, and for me here we are in the Seahawk
office still. How about that? I mean, how many years
ago did we play? We met something to the team,
then we moved on. I've been coaching, You've been speaking,
Steve's been Hall of Faming and do all kinds of stuff.
But to do all these things and then still be
a part of the Hawks and the fan base that
(36:16):
we get to that we get to impact people. Still.
Remember we're going to be in old school uniforms here
this year and it's kind of exciting to see the
old logo and so much of it at at the
Seahawks games here in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Yeah, they call them now throwbacks. We just called them
our jerseys. That's what we wore. Those were what we wore.
But there will be a number eighty and I think
I'm going to get Sharon at number eighty three. She's
got one, but not too many other people want those,
But tens and eighties will be in rich supply. I
am sure at here, Steve, thanks very much. We will
(36:57):
see you the next time you come out here, and
don't make it too long.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Okay, all right, guys, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Hi Steven James, lovely job as always. Let's see what
other old geezer we can we can search up for
next week. All right, Well, I just.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Had Bob Newton call me on the phone while we
were while we were interviewing Steve.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Bob would be a good one to talk to Bob too.
Thanks so much for all of you for checking out
Sea York Stories. We appreciate it. Wherever you can find
your finest podcast. We'll talk to you next time.
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