July 31, 2024 • 44 mins
His roots are in Illinois, along with most of his 12 seasons in the NFL. However, Emery Moorehead’s football career went through Colorado twice.
Emery had his choice of colleges as a star athlete out of Evanston and opted to head to Boulder and play for the Buffs. He played both running back and wide receiver and was a captain his senior year when CU won the Big 8 Conference Championship.
He got noticed by NFL Scouts and was picked by the Giants in the 6th round of the 1977 draft. After two head coaches and three seasons, he was traded to the Broncos for the 1980 season. His teammates included names like Watson, Upchurch, Wright, Egloff and Morton on offense and Gradishar, Foley, TJ, BT and Chavous on defense. He only spent one year in Denver, but quickly became part of the Broncos family.
He was cut by the Broncos in 1981 and his former Buffs teammate Dave Williams suggested to the Bear that they bring Emery in. They did and he stuck around for the next 8 years playing wherever and whenever… and winning a Super Bowl ring.
After retirement, Emery was a real estate agent in Illinois for 28 years and today is fully retired, splitting his time between Illinois and Colorado.
Emery had his choice of colleges as a star athlete out of Evanston and opted to head to Boulder and play for the Buffs. He played both running back and wide receiver and was a captain his senior year when CU won the Big 8 Conference Championship.
He got noticed by NFL Scouts and was picked by the Giants in the 6th round of the 1977 draft. After two head coaches and three seasons, he was traded to the Broncos for the 1980 season. His teammates included names like Watson, Upchurch, Wright, Egloff and Morton on offense and Gradishar, Foley, TJ, BT and Chavous on defense. He only spent one year in Denver, but quickly became part of the Broncos family.
He was cut by the Broncos in 1981 and his former Buffs teammate Dave Williams suggested to the Bear that they bring Emery in. They did and he stuck around for the next 8 years playing wherever and whenever… and winning a Super Bowl ring.
After retirement, Emery was a real estate agent in Illinois for 28 years and today is fully retired, splitting his time between Illinois and Colorado.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm at the pregame mail and the coach says, Emory
resigned Noah, and we had to release somebody, so we
have to let you go. They said, you can either
get you a ticket, or you can wait come to
the game and you can come back with the team.
And I'm like, well, I'll just come back with the team.
I don't want to go to the airport to the airport,
I just stay and watch the game. So I'm walking back,
going over to the stadium. This girl from a high school,
(00:22):
she goes Emory, Emmy, we're so glad you're playing for
the Bears. I didn't have the heart to tell her
they cut me an hour ago.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced being cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. This
episode's guest has a couple of ties to Colorado. Emory
Moorehead grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and decided to come
west for his college football career and play at the
(00:51):
University of Colorado. He had a lot of success with
the Buffs, both as a running back, wide receiver and
a captain for the nineteen seventy six Big Eight Conference
championship team. Emory was taken by the Giants in the
sixth round of the nineteen seventy seven draft, where he
spent three seasons and then got traded to the Broncos.
He played just one season in Denver, mostly on special teams,
(01:12):
and made some lifelong friends with teammates. After Dan Reeves
cut him in nineteen eighty one, his former Buffs teammate
Dave Williams recommended to his Bears coaching staff that they
should sign Emory. Way to go, Dave. Emory went on
to play eight seasons in Chicago and started in Super
Bowl twenty in nineteen eighty five. After retiring from football,
Emory spent twenty eight years in real estate in Illinois.
(01:35):
These days, he's completely retired and splits his time between
Illinois and Colorado as he loves getting into nature and
seeing his old buddies on the Broncos Ladies and Gentlemen.
Emory Moorehead cut Traded fired retired podcast with Susie wargin
Emory Moorehead, How you doing.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
It's great to be here in Denver? Every day is beautiful,
isn't it? Though?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yes, this is exciting for me because we have not
met before. In researching you, our paths should have crossed
at some point, but they just haven't.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
No, just timing, I guess you know. I've just been
out here about.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Eleven years now, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And I'm half the year in Chicago, half the year here.
So I missed a football season because I'm more popular
in Chicago football.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Everybody knows you in Chicago, but you should be here
sometimes because you played at SeeU. You had a year
with the Broncos, so you definitely have some ties here,
which is great. And we're gonna get into all of that,
but let's do start with your Chicago, your Illinois roots.
You're born in Evanston and that's where you grow up.
How did you get into football and what other sports
were into as a kid.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, I grew up actually in high school. Our team
we want state championship at Eveston and there were a
couple of state championships as I was growing up, and
I lived the block away from that field. Oh perfect,
And I used to sneak in I was skinny then
I could sneak in between the fence and get in
and watch the Eveston Wild kids play. And there's a
great program. We have a great coach who coached, I
(03:02):
believe for eighteen years and lost only sixteen games, So
he coached more years than in games he lost.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah. So it was a program that everybody wanted to
be a part of, and I just had an opportunity
to play there. And our team won the state and
they came to Chicago and they said where all the
players at and they said, they're up there in Evanston,
and a guy by the name of Augi Tamarello, who
was the offensive line coach at the CEU, came and
(03:29):
talked to four of our guys, and I was the
one that was excited about going to Colorado, and all
the other three stayed in the Big Ten. But it
didn't take long. I came out here on the recruit
and visit in January and it was fifty degrees outside.
Fifty five felt like it was about seventy because it
was so dry, and everybody's walking around in T shirts
(03:50):
and shorts, and I'm like, I think this is going
to beat Purdue in Michigan State out I think this
is going to be.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Much better at winter. Yeah. What position do you did
you initially play when you were in high school? Did
you play both ways?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I played, well, initially I played. We had an all
state halfback that got hurt a week before the season started.
And you have to understand, this is nineteen seventy one.
That's when everybody was running the wishbone in college Texas
and Ohio State and Oklahoma, and so our coach switched
to the wishbone offense a week before the first game.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And I was playing tight end of well, you know,
one hundred and ninety pound tight end, and he goes,
you're coming into the backfield. And so I played one
of the halfbacks in the wishbone my senior year. And
like I said, we had a great team. We had
a you know, all state quarterback, we all state full back,
and I was an all state halfback and an all
(04:43):
state offensive lineman. And when you run the wishbone in
high school, it's probably like I don't know, maybe ten
years ago when the high school started going to spread.
The first one went to spread, and nobody.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Could stop exactly. Nobody knows how to defend it.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Defended and that's what happened in our wishbone. And Amarello
came out and recruited me to Colorado when they were
number three in the country at the time. And Dave
Logan here was on All state and everything a football, right,
football and baseball, and uh, we ended up in the
same position. I read shirted a year, he went straight through,
(05:17):
and then I was out in Colorado for five years,
which was really okay with me. Oh yeah, because I
mean Boldie was great. I really had a great time
out that.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
That's awesome. So you were a half back in high school?
Did they recruit you then that way or did they
know that you were going to be switching positions, either
playing tight end or wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, you know at that time, they were running like
a Houston Verer kind of thing, and uh and.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
This was called Crowder Eddie Crowder, Eddie.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Crowder and John Keyworth was playing a wingback, johnwa John Keyworth.
Em you're going to be like John Keyworth. He came
here little, and you know, he grew to six five
two twenty five, and you're going to do the same
thing and didn't quite make it to six five.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But there's some genetics and things involved with that too, right.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, So it was a good transition for me to
do that. And I believe Dave Logan actually played the
wing back two position. So I came out here and
had to set out. We had freshman games, and we
had four freshman games, and we didn't even play that
first freshman game till like October. And so you're going
through training camp in August and September and you finally
(06:22):
get to play a game in October. And we played
the University of Northern Colorado, We played Dodge City, Kansas
Junior College, and then we played Wyoming twice home and away.
There's a lot of work for four games.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
No kidding. Oh my gosh. Wow. So why Well, you
kind of said the reason you wanted to come to
see you is because you fell in love with Boulder
and the weather and everything else. Did you have other options?
Were there other schools that you had thought about.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I could have went to any Big ten school, but
that year Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Colorado finished one, two three,
And just coming from a high school that was very competitive,
not only in after letics but academically, I felt like,
you know what, I think I can play with anybody
in the country. And when I came over that hill
on Highway.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Thirty six and nothing like that view is there.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Think about it fifty years.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Ago and there was nothing out there.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, nothing, you come over that hill, it was nothing but.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
The university with the flat irons.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, the red brick and it was just it was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You mentioned the academics. I know that you were an
Eagle Scout. Oh yeah, when you were younger, so very
involved with that. And that takes a lot of work
and a lot of dedication to become an Eagle Scout.
So you not only had athletics going on as a kid,
but also scouting.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, I was very fortunate. My neighbor was in scouting
and he said, come on join and I went and
I really enjoyed. This partial reason when I came to
Colorado is because I really enjoyed the outdoors. And I
went to a National jamboree in Boise, Idaho, and that
was the first time getting away from the Midwest. And
we go through the bad lands of South Dakota, we
(07:59):
see the presidents Mount Rushmore Rushmore, we go through Yellowstone
and we do all that stuff, and it was just beautiful.
So when I came out to Colorado and I'll get
hit the button outdoors here, man, we can do all
that stuff. We can go skiing in the morning and
hiking in the afternoon. And it really touched the chord
(08:20):
with me. But I learned so much from boy Scouts,
I have to say. Really was the first time that
I set a gold like being an Eagle Scout, and
I reached it. And you learn a lot about the environment,
you learn a lot about survival, you learn a lot
about so many things. I spent a lot of time.
In fact, when I retired from football after twelve years
in the NFL, I think I retired on a Friday,
(08:42):
and that Monday, the old district called me and they said,
remember when you took the ego scout. Oh they said,
if you get something out of something, you got to
put it back in. And they had me on their
board for twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Oh my gosh. Wow, Well that's perfect. You served it well,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, you know, when they told me to come on,
I wanted to go camping and hiking and.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
In the boardroomdroom.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, so it was different, but you know, I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the people I met, and we set up
a lot of different things. I ran the gamut from
membership and the popcorn Colonel and all kinds of things.
I learned a lot about scouting from that perspective.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Right, different than when you were a kid. And I
have to think that obviously you have some leadership abilities
because you were the captain the year that the Buffs
went and won the Big Eight Championship. You're the captain
of the Buffs that year.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, myself and Don Hasselback. It was a great team
and we had been building and you know, we could
see ourselves building and Coach Mallory was the type of
guy that just you know, he grinded hard work into you.
And to be honest with you, Susie, every team that
I've been on that Big successful. There was a lot
of hard work and a lot of discipline involved. Those
(09:53):
that were kind of left it up to the players
to decide what they wanted to do. We never did win,
but the guy that was like, you know, the discipline
guy and said we're going to do it my way
at a highway, and that includes Coach Dicker.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And I was just going to say, I have a feeling,
but it works.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
It works, and I don't know if it works today
with the players and the attitudes that the players have,
and certainly they have options and choices with all the
transfer rules and il the money's flowing, so it's a
lot different now than it was then. But I really
enjoyed my time all the way through playing football.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And speaking of that Big Eight Conference championship that you
had in nineteen seventy six, See, you went to the
Orange Bowl that year, right, we loses to Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
State, Right, we lost to Ohio State. And that was
the first year the Big Ten allowed teams to go
anywhere other than the Rose Bowl, and you had to
go to the Rose Bowl that you didn't go to
a bowl game, And that year they let other teams
go and hat the draw. We ended up drawing Ohio
State because Michigan went to the Rose Bowl. Back in
(10:56):
that day, it was it was Ohio State, Michigan and
then the rest of the Big Ten. So we drew
Michigan and down there in the Orange Bowl we lost.
I believe it was twenty four to ten or twenty
seven to ten. Charlie Johnson, a big nose guard, got
hurt early in the game, and he was the run stopper.
But then we had a big party after at Carl
(11:17):
gave Us Country Club, and what I remember is that,
you know, we're there and all of seafood from the
Florida coast and they had all that stuff sprung out,
and both teams are in there and we were kind
of sad. And then about twelve o'clock, all of a sudden,
these yellow buses, four yellow busses pull up and they're
(11:37):
like all Miami Dade co ed's and they dump them
into the party. And that's from my house. Start says,
this was the bus that kicks the Rose bowls. But
they never had nothing like this man, and it was
a grave. We had a good.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Oh my goodness, how funny. Wow, great memory there.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, that was a fun time. But the whole thing,
I mean, the Orange experience was great. We stayed on
Miami Beach and Ohio State stayed Donaldtown, you know, and
Woody Hayes was the coach, and it was like, you know,
it was a great time. And that was a great
era because the Big Eight was truly the sec of today.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
In every team you played, they had pro players that
were eventually going to get there and make their mark.
And even the last place, Kansas State, they had Steve Grogan.
You know, everybody had guys and it was a great
time to.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Be very tough conference, very tough com Yeah. Absolutely, And
speaking of pro in nineteen seventy seven, that's when you
go into the NFL Draft. You go in the sixth
round to the Giants. Yeah, and you spend three years there?
What was that like? And I think you had two
different coaches during that right the.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
First year we had John McVay, who is Sean mcvay's grandfather. Yeah,
the guy from the Rams, it's his grandfather. You know,
you feel well, Yeah, he had just came from the
U SFL because they had folded. And we had Larry
Zonka on our team as a fullback because he came
up with McVeigh who was a Memphis I forget their name,
(13:11):
but they all was Warfield and Kick and Zonka all
came from Miami to get more money in playing in
the USFL and folded. Zaka came up with McVeigh to
New York, and you know, color from Colorado and going
to New York, it was a big, big, big difference.
And even being from Chicago. It was a big, big,
(13:32):
big difference. I mean, New York is a huge city
and great, great tradition, but I happened to be there,
probably in the worst time in New York Giants football history.
I was there for the Fumbo. They called it the fumble, yeah,
and Philadelphia calls it the Miracle in the Meadow ass.
But we were not a very good football.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Team and are brutal.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
They're very knowledgeable. Don't gotta you don't have to wait
till Monday. They'll tell you before exactly exactly what you
did wrong. It was a you know, a great media town,
great restaurants, great, a lot of good things. But even
for Chicago. You know, Chicago, we have a lot of
a lot of everything, but New York has seven times
(14:19):
as many. If you see bombs on the street, it's
seven times more bombs on the street in New York.
If you got great, big, tall buildings, they got seven
times more tall buildings in New York. And you can
get lost in there. But I'll tell you this, the
fans are great, and like I said, they're very knowledgeable.
By the time you call home Sunday, your neighbors will
(14:39):
tell you exactly what happened, and you know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So you have John McVay and then Ray Perkins.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And Ray Perkins he came in from Alabama.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And so what were those coaching styles like did they
have that heavy hand like you kind of needed or
that players needed at that time or did they let
the players run the show.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
See when John came we came to practice at ten
o'clock and we were going at five o'clock.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, it's nice, but it's not good if you got
a bunch of guys that are out in the street.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And you know, if you go to practice at ten o'clock,
you can roll out of bed and get there, you know,
but you know, and so they needed discipline. And then
Ray Perkins came in and he had a different style.
He was more hands on and you know, he was
more like discipline, and he moved me to full back
and that didn't work for me. Really, I mean a
(15:33):
wide receiver going to fullback, I mean you're engaged every
play at full back, and sometimes it's you know, full
back blocking defensive tackles. Sometimes it's full back blocking defensive end.
And the actual break was blocking an outside linebacker, which
you know, for a wide receiver is still pretty tough.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, and maybe you got the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, maybe you got the ball. You didn't get the
ball much now because at that time and all in
the seventies and even in through the eighties, NFL was
run first. And then the forty Niners were like the
only team in the eighties that mixed it up pass, run,
and they would. They had a guy by the name
of what was his name, that halfback, Roger Craik. He
(16:15):
caught a thousand yards running and a thousand yards passing
one year, and they would pass on first down, which
NFL they didn't pass on first down. He ran, he ran,
and then you pass. Other than that, throughout the eighties, Redskins,
two tight ends, one back, run the ball. I mean
everybody ran the ball. Tony dor said in Dallas, it
(16:36):
was just a run first league.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Absolutely. So you're in New York for three years, then
you come to Denver. What happened? Did you get released?
Did you decide it was time? Was your contract up?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
New York traded me to Denver? Oh, okay, during the
draft Miller's last year. Yes, and so I played Red
Miller's last year as a wide.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Receiver Okay, So they moved you back to back.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
To wide receiver until the end of the year when
people got hurt. Then they pulled me back the half back.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Uh you've done this.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah. But I came here to Denver and there was
Haven Moses.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And Rick up Church, the team you had. I started
looking through who was there in the eighties on that
eighty team.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, Steve Watson.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Watson, Craig Morton, Ron.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Eggy was there, but he's a fixer Eggie.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, yeah, here Louis right.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, it was great guys.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Church, Mike Harden, fully Gratishark.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, it was a great you know the one year,
the one year I was here, and that that's another
reason why I moved out here. When I see those guys,
they treating like I played every year with them. They do.
They're absolutely they knew me from they knew that I
played up and see you. Yeah, and so they welcome
with me, warm on all those guys, man, and I
love playing for the Broncos. And then they fired uh
(17:50):
Red Miller, and then uh.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Dan Reeves came in.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Dan Reeves came in, and the Dallas Cowboys were you know,
they never really enforced the rule when they put it
in seventy eight, but you couldn't chuck a guy past
five yards, and so he was looking for smaller, quicker receivers,
not a two hundred and ten pounds wide receiver like
I was. So he cut me right after the first scrimmage,
(18:16):
I believe it or not. My buddy who was quarterback
up at see You, Dave Williams, he's playing running back
in Chicago, backing up Walter Payton, and he goes, you
ought to sign Emory, and they signed me to a contract,
and that's how I ended up getting in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Holy yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And then I played wide receiver but got cut the
last cut. Then through injuries, they brought me back and
I played nine games for the Bears, But all I
did was play special teams those nine games and the
whole first year in Denver, all I did was play
special teams. I didn't even play any scrimmage wide receiver.
(18:54):
In fact, the only scrimmage I played is when Dave
Preston Otis Armstrong got hurt and they needed somebody just
in case the body. Yeah, they needed a body in
case the other guy got hurt. And I ended up
getting more snaps at half back. I think it was
about five than I did any other position here in PINBG.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
But you're a returner. I mean you you played special
teams as a returner, did you here?
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Here? I just ran down on kickoffs, kickoff return return. Yeah.
And back then, you know, there was the wedge and
all that. They had wedge busters, and.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
It was brutal. It was brutal, brutal, brutal.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And then when I got to Chicago and you did
a kick returner, and you know, they said, can you
return to kick them? Are you kidding? Man? Just give
me the ball. I'm a baller, Give me the ball.
I ended up running kickoffs back that first year.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
A lot of them.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, you're having quite a few return.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Because I just thrown straight ahead. Man opened up that
the hole opens up, find it and get in it.
You know. And that guy, that guy man.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Mark, who I just talked to, a former offensive line
for the Broncos. He's like, everybody's got that loose nut
back then that played on those teams in the seventies
and eighties. You got you got a loose nut.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, because it's crazy. Uh, the stuff that was you
look at it now and the stuff we did back then.
And really, when I was with the Giants, we had
nine weeks of two a days, you know too A
days they don't even.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Have, Yeah, they don't even have No it's ten to noon. Yeah,
it's like your old Giant schedule.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, you know, and then you go into film room.
But we had nine weeks of two to days.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And like I said before, the wedge people hook at
arms and you.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Know, literally, yeah, it was brutal.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
It was brutal.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I want to ask about your story about getting cut
here in Denver because there's a lot of people who
have Dan Reeves getting cut stories. Did Dan cut you
or how did it happen? After that first scrimmage?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
You know, I can't even remember who cut me, but
I just remember I was shocked because I didn't even
get an opportunity to really play. And they were up
for columns at the time training and I had to
pack my bags. And then, luckily, as I was saying,
my quarterback Dave Williams was playing running backs those the
Bears to pick me up because all of their receivers
were five to eleven and under and they needed a
(21:13):
bigger target. And so I come back and I go
through training camp and I do okay. And here's a
great story. So the last preseason game, a guy holding
out named Noah Jackson, who was our offensive lineman left guard,
started and he signed on the game day of the
last season game since Saint Louis and the Bears play
(21:34):
him every year, was called the Armed Forces game. I
at the pregame meal and the coach says, Emory resigned
Noah and we had to release somebody, so we will
have to let you go. Well. Game. Before I get
to the mayor brat, before I'm in the hotel walking
to the mail, they cut me. And so they said,
you can either get you a ticket or you can
(21:55):
wait come to the game and you can come back
with the team. And I'm like, well, I'll just come
back with the team.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I don't want to go to the airport.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
At the airport, I'll just stay and watch the game.
So I'm walking from you know, in Saint Louis, the
hotel that's right across from the stadium and right by
the arts, Saint Louis Arts. I'm walking back going over
to the stadium. This girl from a high school, she goes,
hear me, we're so glad you're playing for the Bears.
I didn't have the heart to tell her they cut
(22:21):
me an hour ago. So I go over to the
stadium and you know, I come back with the team,
and you know, but you really kind of all plays
into a part. Is why they called me back seven
games later and said, you know, we need you are
you're in shape and and in fact, I'm living here
in Colorado, and I go, yeah, I'm in great shape.
(22:41):
And so I go down to the raquetball club and
bowlder and I play like five games of roquetball, wing,
going and everything, and the Bears signed me when I
come in there and ended up playing the last nine
games with the Bears.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
And then they fired the coach, Neil Armstrong, and my
ticket comes in and he comes in from Dallas, and
so I'm like, well, I know one thing. They don't
like big receivers coming out of that.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, you just went through that with Dan Race.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I said, can I play tight end? Because tight
ends on the Bears, the three tight ends they had
caught twelve passes the whole year. And I said, I
know I can catch twelve. I don't know if I
can block, but I can catch twelve, and he moved
me to tight end and then I found out those
guys couldn't block at all. You know, they were very undisciplined.
And this is where fundamentals come in. Yes, and going
(23:31):
back to high school and going back to college, we
were taught fundamentals, footwork and stuff. And then I figured out, hey,
we got walk to Payton. I don't have to block
them that long. Yeah, he's gonna be breaking any arm
tackles coming through that whole. You're not gonna bring him
down with one arm or nothing. And it just worked
out because I had wide receiver skills. I knew how
(23:54):
to release off the line of scrimmage. Now I'm at
an advantage because linebackers are looking much bigger than me
as opposed to cornerbacks to which I was used to
getting around. And I made a living because we ran
the football. We got off the bus running in Chicago,
there was no question about it. And we would do
play action to Walter Payton and by the time they
(24:15):
figured Walter didn't have the ball, and with my release
skills off the line, I'd be five six yards down
the fields and the linebacker'd be turning around looking going,
oh crap, there you go. And I was open all.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
The time, my god, all the time. Well, the fact
that you were so versatile, Emory, and I think that
gets lost sometimes because even kids in high school will
get so specialized in something and then they don't branch
out into anything else. And the fact that you could
do different positions and then everywhere you went you plugged
a different hole and you were able to make a
twelve year career out of it.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You know, my mindset was, you know, I'm a football player.
Whatever you want me to do, I can do it.
I can play defense, and you want me to play defense,
you know, I'll play whatever to play because I was
coachable and you know pretty as and like you said,
I was never in one position at any level of football.
And I think sometimes also gets lost with kids today
(25:09):
is that, like you say, they get they want to
play one sport. I played three sports in high school football, basketball,
and through the discus in track. And we used to
have a seeing in pro football, the more you can do,
the more valuable you are to the team. And we
had guys sitting by the light switch in the film
room turning a lot. I can do this, I can
do that. I'm valuable, very valuable, the switch like me
(25:33):
in the film room.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh my gosh, that's funny. And while you're with the Bears,
of course, you got that eighty five team. You guys
go and you win Super Bowl twenty you're the starting
tight end. Yes, what was that like? I mean, that
was such a I mean we had the Super Bowl shuffle.
We had everything going on. I mean, the Bears were
the team in eighty five.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
No America love the Bears. I mean we had so
many we have so many characters. You know. The year before,
we lost to the forty nine ers in San Francisco
twenty three to nothing, and they go on to the
Super Bowl the next round. And we knew we're that
close because we had beat the Redskins in Washington and
(26:12):
they had never lost a home game in the playoffs
in ten years, and we went in there and we
beat them. So we were full of confidence, and we
went to San Francisco and got it. Hand it to us,
and forty niners were talking trash. Bring your offense next year,
bring your offense. And so we go out there next
year and we beat them and were just on the row.
We were undefeated for twelve games. Our defense was just unbelievable.
(26:37):
I mean, Buddy Ryan had that forty six defense, and man,
we played teams and I remember we played the Raiders
and who had won it in eighty three. We played
them in eighty four, played them at home, and we
knocked out both quarterbacks in the first half. Ray guy,
the punter had to finish the half.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
We had several buffs on the Raiders. Mike Davis, Otith
McKinnie and I saw him after the game. They said, yeah, man,
them dudes was arguing who had to go back and
finish the half because nobody wanted to finish the half.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Nobody wanted to.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Play because you know Buddy Ryan. In fact, that eighty
five year I bet you out of sixteen games, probably
seven quarterbacks did not finish the game because Buddy would
tell the defense. He says, you get to that quarterback
and you knock him out, and we're going to see
how good that's second string guys. Of course, the Bears
led the NFL for two or three years in a
(27:30):
row in total defense because of that forty six defense,
but they couldn't figure out And then you compliment that
on offense with Walter Payton and leading the NFL five
years in a row and rushing the football and so
it was time consuming. And then the defense. We used
to tell the defense man, y'all only out there for
three players we got ten play drives.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Week is completely off right fresh all the time. But
forty minutes to fifteen there was a time of possession.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
We ran the football and then they'd come in and
Buddy would blitz every everybody. It was a fun time. Uh,
you know, William Perry was playing full back on the
gold line and Fridge had his own cheerleaders called the Frigerettes,
a bunch of big girls, you know, cheering for cheering
for the Fridge, and uh, it was just a great time.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
The Super Bowl shuffles that, you know what.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
We had so many deals going and I had a
deal that night at water Tower Place that they did it.
And ironically it was the Tuesday after the Monday Night loss.
A lot of people that didn't want to do it,
like Man didn't want to do it, Walter didn't do it.
And if you really look close at the video, they
were not down there. They had to come up to
Hallas Hall, go into the rocketball court and tape them
(28:47):
after persuading them like for two weeks after, you gotta
do it. There's no video without Walter. If you look close,
you'll see a little just a blurred background, and they're
in the rocketball court there doing it. And then halfton McMichael,
they just were straight up, we're not we haven't won
anything yet, and we're not doing it. And then we
(29:08):
finished the year. You know, we kind of were waiting
for the playoffs. I mean, we didn't finish. I want
to say we finished the strong, but we beat everybody
and then we go to the playoffs. We got a
first round by and then the first game we played
the Giants and we beat them fourteen to zero. And
then the second game we played the Rams and we
beat them twenty one to nothing. And so we're going
(29:28):
into the Super Bowl. Nobody's even scored on the defense.
Then the first play, first series at the Super Bowl
against New England, Walter fumbles on like the twenty five
yarding line and then they try to pass like three
times in a row to the defense like they know
they can't run it, and so they kick a field
goal and they're leading three to nothing and then we
(29:49):
put up like forty something points in a row on them,
and then they scored at the end of the game. Yeah,
they scored at the end of the game when the
second string was in, but the structed string had already
enter step to the pass and ran back for a touchdown.
Another guy inter stuff in the past and got tackled
on the one yard line, and when they finally scored,
it was it was over. Yeah, the game was over.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
It was Tea was so deep and so strong, and
it really was I mean all of America, and you
don't see that very often where everybody's rooting. There wasn't
anything not to like about the Bears.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
No, and we had John Madden on our side. He
loved us long. He tried to get every Bears game
he could because he just loved the Bears and the
way they grew up, the way they were growing. And
then because you got the coach Dickett, who was just
like a maniac.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Oh yeah, the sidelines, and you.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Know he tried to stay calm with a tie and
a sweater like because he was Tom Landry protegee. But
you could just see the steam coming up from his
neck all the time. Man. But he was perfect coach
for us because he said, you know, you guys, especially McMahon,
he says he didn't want to admit it, but they
were just like him. But he was a player. He
(30:55):
was a hot head and you know, always mad and
telling coach hallis you know, they're throwing Nicholas around like
manhole coverts, and you know when they tried to get paid,
and he didn't like us a lot, but now he
loves us. Oh, I'm sure we all as he loves
us now.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah. Well, and that's a lot of personalities to try
and manage, and there aren't a lot of guys aside
from maybe a coach Didker or somebody kind of like that,
that could keep all of that contained and then also
have success with it, not have each of those personalities
be like it's all about me, because you guys were
really all about team.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Well. You know, see Dicker and Buddy Ryan didn't get along,
and so Buddy would tell Dicker just stay your bet
over there. I got the defense, and I mean he
literally meant meant it, and they really went at it
a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Really really yeah, and in front of you guys, in front.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Of us, and this is why, you know, the defense
stood up for Buddy all the time. They knew they
had to play for Buddy. And then on offense, you know,
we had Walter Payton, we had Jim McMahon who was
growing as a quarterback, and by the time we got
to the Super Bowl, you know, a complete control of
the offense. And then we had an offensive line which
was great that played together for five years in a row.
(32:08):
And you can't get that continuity of today because of
free agency. And so they were humble and they knew
what they had to do. And then you have a
guy like me that's just like glad to be there.
I'm just gonna do my job. You know, I will
stay right up in there. And everybody could take all
the glory, and because everybody wanted it a part of it,
you know, because it was so phenomenal that amount of media.
(32:31):
I mean, everybody had golf tournaments, everybody had radio, TV commercials,
everybody had everything. And then you got the divas outside
Willigut and Dennis McKinnon, and they were great receivers. But
you know, we didn't pass about that much except for
play action, and so we really had a complete team.
You know, we should have won more but Willie Gout left,
(32:54):
Otis Wilson left because they were just getting to the
point where you could leave if your contract wasn't It
wasn't total free agency, but it was some form of
free agency, and so we's lost a few guys. Wilbur
Marshall he was the first one to go for somehow
odd reason. He had a loop in his contract that
he could become a free agent after his first four years,
(33:17):
and there was no free agency in the NFL. I
think Lyle Blackwood was the only one for Baltimore that
got an opportunity to be a free agent. Wilbur was
the second interesting and once he left for Washington, people
started to loosen the reins and become free agents. And then,
of course after the eighty age season, they had a
thing called Plan B where the last third of your
(33:40):
roster you had to let him go be free agents.
So those guys were getting paid a lot more than
a lot of the starters, and so the salaries started
to increase. And then in nineteen ninety three, total free
agency happened, and that's when the money started flowing off.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Oh for sure, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
They had to open their books the NFL and showed
that there was money there.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Oh yeah, Oh there's always been money there, yeah, just
not always for the players like it should have been.
And that came five years too late for you. After
the eighty eight season, you retire. How did you know
that it was time?
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Emory, Well, I could tell you exactly what I knew.
My favorite play was the play action pass to Walter.
Walter had retired the year before, but Neil Anderson was
a hecup of back and we're in the first preseason
game and they do a play action pass and I
got my little smooth moves. I'm going up the field
and this rookie linebacker from Nebraska of all places, and
(34:37):
I come off the line and I go up the field.
I'm ready to cross. When I turned, the dude is
in my hip pocket. Looking back at the quarterback with me.
I'm like, dude, if you can't get away from the linebacker,
you're done. I knew I was thinking that one play,
one play, I said, united as fast as it used
to be, And they finally figured the play out, man,
they finally figured what you were doing, and I knew
(34:59):
I was done.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Interesting, Oh my gosh, so you retire I retired?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Interestingly, I started selling real estate in the town that
I was living in, Deerfield, Illinois, this off season of
the Super Bowl, because I was in my ninth year
and I go due and you're not going to get
any higher than this. This is the pinnacle of your
career right here at the Super Bowl. So you better
get a.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Job, which a lot of guys did in the eighties. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, because you're not making that much money, right And
in fact, those first three years when I signed with
the Giants, I was making twenty eight, thirty three and
thirty eight thousand, and that's just enough that in six
months after the season, you're going to be flat broke
and you gotta.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Go back well. And also you only get paid during
the season. You don't get a paycheck in the off season.
So that's another reason why guys got jobs.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah. I worked every year those three years in the
off season and Giants because it just wasn't a lot
of money.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
That was smarter you to get your real estate license
before you were done.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah. So I sold real estate for three years before
I retired, and then when I retired, I just went
into the it was on Monday. I already had my
best How they have my phone list. I'm like, there,
now you got to.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
You're already printed.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Yeah, you got to start selling for real now. And
I sold for twenty eight years, eight years. And that
was uninteresting also because you know, people think, oh, you're
making a lot of money selling real estate because you
played for the Bears. Well no, you know, you're talking
about handling the people's dream. Really, how I start, It's
going to be the biggest purchase at that time in
(36:26):
their life. And so you got to be good. And
I was just like my football career, you know, I
didn't stay in a little area like everybody else that
was selling. They selling one of two thousand, and I
was all over Lake County trying to make a deal.
I didn't care. And you know what, I sell a
house for one hundred and thirty thousand dollars in Lake County,
up and around Lake because my philosophy was, you know what,
(36:47):
you gotta get first downs before you make touchdowns, and
so keep the change moving, man, no't matter how much
it is, sell it and make it. And then I
got involved with the Real Estate Board and started working
as the director, and then I went all the way
through and became the president of the North Shore of
barrenton Board of Relatives and was on some state committees
(37:08):
and national committees. Just do them what I do. Man,
Try to stay involved, try to learn, try to educate
people about what's going on.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah, so smart. And I've had that same philosophy. I've
had my license for eleven years and same thing. People go, oh,
you help all the athletes sell their houses. I said, no,
I don't help any of them.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Athletes are the worst and they.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Rent a lot of times. If they're smart, they rent.
The ones that buy probably haven't bought the right thing.
And I'll do the same thing where I'm like, I'll
go help you with the whatever price house because you're
not staying there forever. You're going to buy another house,
and I'm going to help you with that one. So
here we go.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Why not, you're good buy two or three houses because
as they progress first job, second job, promotions, they're moving up,
their families growing and they need more space. You got
to do them good. One time.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
They'll come back, and they'll come absolutely they will. Yeah,
all right, Emry, I want to ask about your son, Aaron,
who also played in the NFL wide receiver for the Colts.
An undrafted free agent who also played on a Super
Bowl and you are one of three I believe father
son duos to have played in Super Bowl and one
and one and one. Okay, we were the first.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
We were the first.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
We were the first one.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
We were the first ones to play in and win
a Super Bowl. He actually played on the Colts when
they played the Bears.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
How ironic they beat the Bears.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Which was crazy because everybody like, who you cheering for?
Who you cheer I'm going with my son because I
know how hard it is to get to the Super
Bowls and sometimes you only get there once and you
gotta win. But he was interesting story because he came
out of high school and the team he was on
rand the ball all the time. He didn't catch a
lot of passes. But my teammate in Chicago was Leslie Fraser,
(38:45):
and Leslie was the defensive back coach at Illinois. He
always told Aaron, you know wherever you go, because he
was first coach out a little small school in Deerfield
and he liked Aaron, and Aaron would go to his
camp and he said, wherever I go, I'm gonna make
you get a shot. And he took him on his
walk on the Illinois he walked on and he ended
(39:06):
up starting. And then the senior year he got bench
because he got in an crazy story, but he got
bent because he got an argument with the head coach,
Ron Turner, who also ended up being an NFL coach.
And so his senior year, he don't get drafted, don't
get invited to the combine, and Leslie comes out of
Illinois and becomes the defensive back coach of the Indianapolis
(39:28):
coach And true to his word, he gave Aaron a
shot wow, and Aaron ended up making the team. Not
the taxis go out. He actually made the fourth receiver
and made that team for five years in a row.
It is some perseverance because he walked ont of Illinois.
He walked on that coach, so you just never know.
I'll never forget. When he left to go to Indianapolis.
(39:48):
I go Aaron, I said, son. First, I gave him
Walter Payton's pure Peyton video. I said, watch this video
before you go to camp, because this is Walter Payton
and he's just unbelievable. Then I said, second, if you
don't catch Peyton Manning's passes, because all you got to
do is turn your head. It's gonna be right there.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
It'll be there, It'll be right on part.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
I said, you just come on back home, man, because
I said, if you don't catch him, and uh, Peyton, man,
I'll never forget when he made the team the first year,
Peyton had a party at his house and everybody's over
there drinking beer, having a good time. We all made
the teams at Doc. Aaron's in the kitchen and Peyton
comes in. Peyton, you know, he's very studious and very Yeah,
(40:30):
he ain't gonna throw you the ball if you don't
know what you're doing. My son's popping a few beers
when he's feeling good. You know, Paynte goes, Aaron, what
do you doing this play? If this happens with that
hairing and so Nights got to straighten up, and you
know she answer all the Peyton's crushing was. I guess
he did okay because Peyton's liked him and you know,
try to get him the ball man. Yeah. It was
a great team that had Marvin Harrison, Reggie, Wayne Stokely,
(40:53):
uh Dallas Clark and they passed that ball all over.
So it was a great team.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Oh how fun for him. That's great, that's great. Okay,
So now you're officially retired, retired, you've reinvented yourself for
twenty eight years as a real tour and now you're retired.
You spend some time here in Colorado, and then you
spend some time in Chicago depending on the season, which
is fun.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
What else are you doing then?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Well, I'll play a lot of golf. Unfortunately, looking at
hip surgery in about three and a half weeks, so
I hadn't played it all this year, and I didn't
play a lot last year, maybe about ten times, So
it's been slowed down my retirement activities and coming out here.
I used to hike a lot too, before my leg,
my hip, and my back started bothering me about two
(41:36):
years ago. So hopefully after the surgery, I can get
back to hiking because there were so many trails. I mean,
I know, I know a lot of trails, man, A
lot of trails out here in the foothills within thirty
minutes up in the mountains. Oh yeah, there's just a
ton of them. And I really enjoyed getting back to
nature for my boy scout days. Yeah, catching an occasional
(41:58):
elk or deer or depending on the time of the day.
I never ran into a bear, for it's fortunately about that,
you know, of course, And they know the same thing
with those cougars and mountain lions. I mean I never
ran into any of them, but those type of things
they generally see you before you see them. Oh yeah,
and they're not trying to engage. So that's all good.
(42:19):
So I look forward to getting back to that next year.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Oh that's great. All right. So last question for you, Emory,
and I think you're the perfect candidate for talking about
when you know you kind of have those down times
and you're able to get back up and keep going.
You've had multiple times that you've changed positions or things
like that. What do you tell people and what did
you give advice to your son about when there were
those times where you're like, oh, man, am I going
to get to the next step? How do I do this?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Well? You never know what your future is going to be,
and you just got to have a goal, stick to it,
believe in yourself that it can happen. Success is not
made without failure. I was cut twice before I ended
up on an eight year run, you know, Chicago and
my son even had disappointment too. I mean, everybody has disappointment.
In fact, I was reading a story about Junior Bridgeman
(43:05):
who ended up with like one hundred Windys and you know,
became one of the most successful athletes behind Michael Jordan
and Matthew Johnson's third behind him. And he talked about
first Wendys he bought. They told him, you know, yeah,
why don't you do this? And he put in like
two fifty and lost it all and lost it all,
(43:26):
but it didn't discourage him from sticking with the plan.
But what he did is he went to the Wendy's
thing and learned how to flip burgers. In his second franchise,
he did every job, and then the next time when
the opportunity came, he bought five Wendys, and then he
went on and bought more and he got over one hundred. Well,
I think he had one hundred and thirty total at
one time at the point. But he failed first and
(43:48):
he lost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in nineteen eighty,
which was a lot of money. He had saved his
whole salaries for years and then he became successful. So
without failure, there's no sick scess.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
That is a great point.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Keep your eye on the prize.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Yeah. Absolutely, Oh, Emory, this was so fun, so fun
to hear your story and get to know you better.
And I love that you're back, and I love hearing
that even though you were just with the Broncos for
that one year, and they love you like you've been
here for ten.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Remarkable of one year here and those guys act like
I played ten years here with them. I have it.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
They're great, all right, Emory, thanks so much, Thank you, Susan,
Thank you, Emory. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired
are released on Tuesdays. Please follow and download this podcast
wherever you listen to podcasts and keep up on new
releases by following on Twitter and Instagram at CTFUR podcast
and also on the website ctfrpodcast dot com. I'm your host,
(44:45):
Susie Wargen. To learn more about me, visit susiewargon dot com.
Thanks for listening, and until next time, please be careful,
be safe, and be kind. Take care
I'm at the pregame mail and the coach says, Emory
resigned Noah, and we had to release somebody, so we
have to let you go. They said, you can either
get you a ticket, or you can wait come to
the game and you can come back with the team.
And I'm like, well, I'll just come back with the team.
I don't want to go to the airport to the airport,
I just stay and watch the game. So I'm walking back,
going over to the stadium. This girl from a high school,
(00:22):
she goes Emory, Emmy, we're so glad you're playing for
the Bears. I didn't have the heart to tell her
they cut me an hour ago.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced being cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. This
episode's guest has a couple of ties to Colorado. Emory
Moorehead grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and decided to come
west for his college football career and play at the
(00:51):
University of Colorado. He had a lot of success with
the Buffs, both as a running back, wide receiver and
a captain for the nineteen seventy six Big Eight Conference
championship team. Emory was taken by the Giants in the
sixth round of the nineteen seventy seven draft, where he
spent three seasons and then got traded to the Broncos.
He played just one season in Denver, mostly on special teams,
(01:12):
and made some lifelong friends with teammates. After Dan Reeves
cut him in nineteen eighty one, his former Buffs teammate
Dave Williams recommended to his Bears coaching staff that they
should sign Emory. Way to go, Dave. Emory went on
to play eight seasons in Chicago and started in Super
Bowl twenty in nineteen eighty five. After retiring from football,
Emory spent twenty eight years in real estate in Illinois.
(01:35):
These days, he's completely retired and splits his time between
Illinois and Colorado as he loves getting into nature and
seeing his old buddies on the Broncos Ladies and Gentlemen.
Emory Moorehead cut Traded fired retired podcast with Susie wargin
Emory Moorehead, How you doing.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
It's great to be here in Denver? Every day is beautiful,
isn't it? Though?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yes, this is exciting for me because we have not
met before. In researching you, our paths should have crossed
at some point, but they just haven't.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
No, just timing, I guess you know. I've just been
out here about.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Eleven years now, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And I'm half the year in Chicago, half the year here.
So I missed a football season because I'm more popular
in Chicago football.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Everybody knows you in Chicago, but you should be here
sometimes because you played at SeeU. You had a year
with the Broncos, so you definitely have some ties here,
which is great. And we're gonna get into all of that,
but let's do start with your Chicago, your Illinois roots.
You're born in Evanston and that's where you grow up.
How did you get into football and what other sports
were into as a kid.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, I grew up actually in high school. Our team
we want state championship at Eveston and there were a
couple of state championships as I was growing up, and
I lived the block away from that field. Oh perfect,
And I used to sneak in I was skinny then
I could sneak in between the fence and get in
and watch the Eveston Wild kids play. And there's a
great program. We have a great coach who coached, I
(03:02):
believe for eighteen years and lost only sixteen games, So
he coached more years than in games he lost.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah. So it was a program that everybody wanted to
be a part of, and I just had an opportunity
to play there. And our team won the state and
they came to Chicago and they said where all the
players at and they said, they're up there in Evanston,
and a guy by the name of Augi Tamarello, who
was the offensive line coach at the CEU, came and
(03:29):
talked to four of our guys, and I was the
one that was excited about going to Colorado, and all
the other three stayed in the Big Ten. But it
didn't take long. I came out here on the recruit
and visit in January and it was fifty degrees outside.
Fifty five felt like it was about seventy because it
was so dry, and everybody's walking around in T shirts
(03:50):
and shorts, and I'm like, I think this is going
to beat Purdue in Michigan State out I think this
is going to be.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Much better at winter. Yeah. What position do you did
you initially play when you were in high school? Did
you play both ways?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I played, well, initially I played. We had an all
state halfback that got hurt a week before the season started.
And you have to understand, this is nineteen seventy one.
That's when everybody was running the wishbone in college Texas
and Ohio State and Oklahoma, and so our coach switched
to the wishbone offense a week before the first game.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And I was playing tight end of well, you know,
one hundred and ninety pound tight end, and he goes,
you're coming into the backfield. And so I played one
of the halfbacks in the wishbone my senior year. And
like I said, we had a great team. We had
a you know, all state quarterback, we all state full back,
and I was an all state halfback and an all
(04:43):
state offensive lineman. And when you run the wishbone in
high school, it's probably like I don't know, maybe ten
years ago when the high school started going to spread.
The first one went to spread, and nobody.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Could stop exactly. Nobody knows how to defend it.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Defended and that's what happened in our wishbone. And Amarello
came out and recruited me to Colorado when they were
number three in the country at the time. And Dave
Logan here was on All state and everything a football, right,
football and baseball, and uh, we ended up in the
same position. I read shirted a year, he went straight through,
(05:17):
and then I was out in Colorado for five years,
which was really okay with me. Oh yeah, because I
mean Boldie was great. I really had a great time
out that.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
That's awesome. So you were a half back in high school?
Did they recruit you then that way or did they
know that you were going to be switching positions, either
playing tight end or wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, you know at that time, they were running like
a Houston Verer kind of thing, and uh and.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
This was called Crowder Eddie Crowder, Eddie.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Crowder and John Keyworth was playing a wingback, johnwa John Keyworth.
Em you're going to be like John Keyworth. He came
here little, and you know, he grew to six five
two twenty five, and you're going to do the same
thing and didn't quite make it to six five.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But there's some genetics and things involved with that too, right.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, So it was a good transition for me to
do that. And I believe Dave Logan actually played the
wing back two position. So I came out here and
had to set out. We had freshman games, and we
had four freshman games, and we didn't even play that
first freshman game till like October. And so you're going
through training camp in August and September and you finally
(06:22):
get to play a game in October. And we played
the University of Northern Colorado, We played Dodge City, Kansas
Junior College, and then we played Wyoming twice home and away.
There's a lot of work for four games.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
No kidding. Oh my gosh. Wow. So why Well, you
kind of said the reason you wanted to come to
see you is because you fell in love with Boulder
and the weather and everything else. Did you have other options?
Were there other schools that you had thought about.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I could have went to any Big ten school, but
that year Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Colorado finished one, two three,
And just coming from a high school that was very competitive,
not only in after letics but academically, I felt like,
you know what, I think I can play with anybody
in the country. And when I came over that hill
on Highway.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Thirty six and nothing like that view is there.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Think about it fifty years.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Ago and there was nothing out there.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, nothing, you come over that hill, it was nothing but.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
The university with the flat irons.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, the red brick and it was just it was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You mentioned the academics. I know that you were an
Eagle Scout. Oh yeah, when you were younger, so very
involved with that. And that takes a lot of work
and a lot of dedication to become an Eagle Scout.
So you not only had athletics going on as a kid,
but also scouting.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, I was very fortunate. My neighbor was in scouting
and he said, come on join and I went and
I really enjoyed. This partial reason when I came to
Colorado is because I really enjoyed the outdoors. And I
went to a National jamboree in Boise, Idaho, and that
was the first time getting away from the Midwest. And
we go through the bad lands of South Dakota, we
(07:59):
see the presidents Mount Rushmore Rushmore, we go through Yellowstone
and we do all that stuff, and it was just beautiful.
So when I came out to Colorado and I'll get
hit the button outdoors here, man, we can do all
that stuff. We can go skiing in the morning and
hiking in the afternoon. And it really touched the chord
(08:20):
with me. But I learned so much from boy Scouts,
I have to say. Really was the first time that
I set a gold like being an Eagle Scout, and
I reached it. And you learn a lot about the environment,
you learn a lot about survival, you learn a lot
about so many things. I spent a lot of time.
In fact, when I retired from football after twelve years
in the NFL, I think I retired on a Friday,
(08:42):
and that Monday, the old district called me and they said,
remember when you took the ego scout. Oh they said,
if you get something out of something, you got to
put it back in. And they had me on their
board for twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Oh my gosh. Wow, Well that's perfect. You served it well,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, you know, when they told me to come on,
I wanted to go camping and hiking and.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
In the boardroomdroom.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, so it was different, but you know, I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the people I met, and we set up
a lot of different things. I ran the gamut from
membership and the popcorn Colonel and all kinds of things.
I learned a lot about scouting from that perspective.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Right, different than when you were a kid. And I
have to think that obviously you have some leadership abilities
because you were the captain the year that the Buffs
went and won the Big Eight Championship. You're the captain
of the Buffs that year.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, myself and Don Hasselback. It was a great team
and we had been building and you know, we could
see ourselves building and Coach Mallory was the type of
guy that just you know, he grinded hard work into you.
And to be honest with you, Susie, every team that
I've been on that Big successful. There was a lot
of hard work and a lot of discipline involved. Those
(09:53):
that were kind of left it up to the players
to decide what they wanted to do. We never did win,
but the guy that was like, you know, the discipline
guy and said we're going to do it my way
at a highway, and that includes Coach Dicker.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And I was just going to say, I have a feeling,
but it works.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
It works, and I don't know if it works today
with the players and the attitudes that the players have,
and certainly they have options and choices with all the
transfer rules and il the money's flowing, so it's a
lot different now than it was then. But I really
enjoyed my time all the way through playing football.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And speaking of that Big Eight Conference championship that you
had in nineteen seventy six, See, you went to the
Orange Bowl that year, right, we loses to Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
State, Right, we lost to Ohio State. And that was
the first year the Big Ten allowed teams to go
anywhere other than the Rose Bowl, and you had to
go to the Rose Bowl that you didn't go to
a bowl game, And that year they let other teams
go and hat the draw. We ended up drawing Ohio
State because Michigan went to the Rose Bowl. Back in
(10:56):
that day, it was it was Ohio State, Michigan and
then the rest of the Big Ten. So we drew
Michigan and down there in the Orange Bowl we lost.
I believe it was twenty four to ten or twenty
seven to ten. Charlie Johnson, a big nose guard, got
hurt early in the game, and he was the run stopper.
But then we had a big party after at Carl
(11:17):
gave Us Country Club, and what I remember is that,
you know, we're there and all of seafood from the
Florida coast and they had all that stuff sprung out,
and both teams are in there and we were kind
of sad. And then about twelve o'clock, all of a sudden,
these yellow buses, four yellow busses pull up and they're
(11:37):
like all Miami Dade co ed's and they dump them
into the party. And that's from my house. Start says,
this was the bus that kicks the Rose bowls. But
they never had nothing like this man, and it was
a grave. We had a good.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Oh my goodness, how funny. Wow, great memory there.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, that was a fun time. But the whole thing,
I mean, the Orange experience was great. We stayed on
Miami Beach and Ohio State stayed Donaldtown, you know, and
Woody Hayes was the coach, and it was like, you know,
it was a great time. And that was a great
era because the Big Eight was truly the sec of today.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
In every team you played, they had pro players that
were eventually going to get there and make their mark.
And even the last place, Kansas State, they had Steve Grogan.
You know, everybody had guys and it was a great
time to.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Be very tough conference, very tough com Yeah. Absolutely, And
speaking of pro in nineteen seventy seven, that's when you
go into the NFL Draft. You go in the sixth
round to the Giants. Yeah, and you spend three years there?
What was that like? And I think you had two
different coaches during that right the.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
First year we had John McVay, who is Sean mcvay's grandfather. Yeah,
the guy from the Rams, it's his grandfather. You know,
you feel well, Yeah, he had just came from the
U SFL because they had folded. And we had Larry
Zonka on our team as a fullback because he came
up with McVeigh who was a Memphis I forget their name,
(13:11):
but they all was Warfield and Kick and Zonka all
came from Miami to get more money in playing in
the USFL and folded. Zaka came up with McVeigh to
New York, and you know, color from Colorado and going
to New York, it was a big, big, big difference.
And even being from Chicago. It was a big, big,
(13:32):
big difference. I mean, New York is a huge city
and great, great tradition, but I happened to be there,
probably in the worst time in New York Giants football history.
I was there for the Fumbo. They called it the fumble, yeah,
and Philadelphia calls it the Miracle in the Meadow ass.
But we were not a very good football.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Team and are brutal.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
They're very knowledgeable. Don't gotta you don't have to wait
till Monday. They'll tell you before exactly exactly what you
did wrong. It was a you know, a great media town,
great restaurants, great, a lot of good things. But even
for Chicago. You know, Chicago, we have a lot of
a lot of everything, but New York has seven times
(14:19):
as many. If you see bombs on the street, it's
seven times more bombs on the street in New York.
If you got great, big, tall buildings, they got seven
times more tall buildings in New York. And you can
get lost in there. But I'll tell you this, the
fans are great, and like I said, they're very knowledgeable.
By the time you call home Sunday, your neighbors will
(14:39):
tell you exactly what happened, and you know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So you have John McVay and then Ray Perkins.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And Ray Perkins he came in from Alabama.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And so what were those coaching styles like did they
have that heavy hand like you kind of needed or
that players needed at that time or did they let
the players run the show.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
See when John came we came to practice at ten
o'clock and we were going at five o'clock.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, it's nice, but it's not good if you got
a bunch of guys that are out in the street.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And you know, if you go to practice at ten o'clock,
you can roll out of bed and get there, you know,
but you know, and so they needed discipline. And then
Ray Perkins came in and he had a different style.
He was more hands on and you know, he was
more like discipline, and he moved me to full back
and that didn't work for me. Really, I mean a
(15:33):
wide receiver going to fullback, I mean you're engaged every
play at full back, and sometimes it's you know, full
back blocking defensive tackles. Sometimes it's full back blocking defensive end.
And the actual break was blocking an outside linebacker, which
you know, for a wide receiver is still pretty tough.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, and maybe you got the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, maybe you got the ball. You didn't get the
ball much now because at that time and all in
the seventies and even in through the eighties, NFL was
run first. And then the forty Niners were like the
only team in the eighties that mixed it up pass, run,
and they would. They had a guy by the name
of what was his name, that halfback, Roger Craik. He
(16:15):
caught a thousand yards running and a thousand yards passing
one year, and they would pass on first down, which
NFL they didn't pass on first down. He ran, he ran,
and then you pass. Other than that, throughout the eighties, Redskins,
two tight ends, one back, run the ball. I mean
everybody ran the ball. Tony dor said in Dallas, it
(16:36):
was just a run first league.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Absolutely. So you're in New York for three years, then
you come to Denver. What happened? Did you get released?
Did you decide it was time? Was your contract up?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
New York traded me to Denver? Oh, okay, during the
draft Miller's last year. Yes, and so I played Red
Miller's last year as a wide.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Receiver Okay, So they moved you back to back.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
To wide receiver until the end of the year when
people got hurt. Then they pulled me back the half back.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Uh you've done this.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah. But I came here to Denver and there was
Haven Moses.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And Rick up Church, the team you had. I started
looking through who was there in the eighties on that
eighty team.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, Steve Watson.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Watson, Craig Morton, Ron.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Eggy was there, but he's a fixer Eggie.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, yeah, here Louis right.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, it was great guys.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Church, Mike Harden, fully Gratishark.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, it was a great you know the one year,
the one year I was here, and that that's another
reason why I moved out here. When I see those guys,
they treating like I played every year with them. They do.
They're absolutely they knew me from they knew that I
played up and see you. Yeah, and so they welcome
with me, warm on all those guys, man, and I
love playing for the Broncos. And then they fired uh
(17:50):
Red Miller, and then uh.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Dan Reeves came in.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Dan Reeves came in, and the Dallas Cowboys were you know,
they never really enforced the rule when they put it
in seventy eight, but you couldn't chuck a guy past
five yards, and so he was looking for smaller, quicker receivers,
not a two hundred and ten pounds wide receiver like
I was. So he cut me right after the first scrimmage,
(18:16):
I believe it or not. My buddy who was quarterback
up at see You, Dave Williams, he's playing running back
in Chicago, backing up Walter Payton, and he goes, you
ought to sign Emory, and they signed me to a contract,
and that's how I ended up getting in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Holy yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And then I played wide receiver but got cut the
last cut. Then through injuries, they brought me back and
I played nine games for the Bears, But all I
did was play special teams those nine games and the
whole first year in Denver, all I did was play
special teams. I didn't even play any scrimmage wide receiver.
(18:54):
In fact, the only scrimmage I played is when Dave
Preston Otis Armstrong got hurt and they needed somebody just
in case the body. Yeah, they needed a body in
case the other guy got hurt. And I ended up
getting more snaps at half back. I think it was
about five than I did any other position here in PINBG.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
But you're a returner. I mean you you played special
teams as a returner, did you here?
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Here? I just ran down on kickoffs, kickoff return return. Yeah.
And back then, you know, there was the wedge and
all that. They had wedge busters, and.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
It was brutal. It was brutal, brutal, brutal.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And then when I got to Chicago and you did
a kick returner, and you know, they said, can you
return to kick them? Are you kidding? Man? Just give
me the ball. I'm a baller, Give me the ball.
I ended up running kickoffs back that first year.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
A lot of them.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, you're having quite a few return.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Because I just thrown straight ahead. Man opened up that
the hole opens up, find it and get in it.
You know. And that guy, that guy man.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Mark, who I just talked to, a former offensive line
for the Broncos. He's like, everybody's got that loose nut
back then that played on those teams in the seventies
and eighties. You got you got a loose nut.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, because it's crazy. Uh, the stuff that was you
look at it now and the stuff we did back then.
And really, when I was with the Giants, we had
nine weeks of two a days, you know too A
days they don't even.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Have, Yeah, they don't even have No it's ten to noon. Yeah,
it's like your old Giant schedule.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, you know, and then you go into film room.
But we had nine weeks of two to days.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And like I said before, the wedge people hook at
arms and you.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Know, literally, yeah, it was brutal.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
It was brutal.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I want to ask about your story about getting cut
here in Denver because there's a lot of people who
have Dan Reeves getting cut stories. Did Dan cut you
or how did it happen? After that first scrimmage?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
You know, I can't even remember who cut me, but
I just remember I was shocked because I didn't even
get an opportunity to really play. And they were up
for columns at the time training and I had to
pack my bags. And then, luckily, as I was saying,
my quarterback Dave Williams was playing running backs those the
Bears to pick me up because all of their receivers
were five to eleven and under and they needed a
(21:13):
bigger target. And so I come back and I go
through training camp and I do okay. And here's a
great story. So the last preseason game, a guy holding
out named Noah Jackson, who was our offensive lineman left guard,
started and he signed on the game day of the
last season game since Saint Louis and the Bears play
(21:34):
him every year, was called the Armed Forces game. I
at the pregame meal and the coach says, Emory resigned
Noah and we had to release somebody, so we will
have to let you go. Well. Game. Before I get
to the mayor brat, before I'm in the hotel walking
to the mail, they cut me. And so they said,
you can either get you a ticket or you can
(21:55):
wait come to the game and you can come back
with the team. And I'm like, well, I'll just come
back with the team.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I don't want to go to the airport.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
At the airport, I'll just stay and watch the game.
So I'm walking from you know, in Saint Louis, the
hotel that's right across from the stadium and right by
the arts, Saint Louis Arts. I'm walking back going over
to the stadium. This girl from a high school, she goes,
hear me, we're so glad you're playing for the Bears.
I didn't have the heart to tell her they cut
(22:21):
me an hour ago. So I go over to the
stadium and you know, I come back with the team,
and you know, but you really kind of all plays
into a part. Is why they called me back seven
games later and said, you know, we need you are
you're in shape and and in fact, I'm living here
in Colorado, and I go, yeah, I'm in great shape.
(22:41):
And so I go down to the raquetball club and
bowlder and I play like five games of roquetball, wing,
going and everything, and the Bears signed me when I
come in there and ended up playing the last nine
games with the Bears.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
And then they fired the coach, Neil Armstrong, and my
ticket comes in and he comes in from Dallas, and
so I'm like, well, I know one thing. They don't
like big receivers coming out of that.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, you just went through that with Dan Race.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I said, can I play tight end? Because tight
ends on the Bears, the three tight ends they had
caught twelve passes the whole year. And I said, I
know I can catch twelve. I don't know if I
can block, but I can catch twelve, and he moved
me to tight end and then I found out those
guys couldn't block at all. You know, they were very undisciplined.
And this is where fundamentals come in. Yes, and going
(23:31):
back to high school and going back to college, we
were taught fundamentals, footwork and stuff. And then I figured out, hey,
we got walk to Payton. I don't have to block
them that long. Yeah, he's gonna be breaking any arm
tackles coming through that whole. You're not gonna bring him
down with one arm or nothing. And it just worked
out because I had wide receiver skills. I knew how
(23:54):
to release off the line of scrimmage. Now I'm at
an advantage because linebackers are looking much bigger than me
as opposed to cornerbacks to which I was used to
getting around. And I made a living because we ran
the football. We got off the bus running in Chicago,
there was no question about it. And we would do
play action to Walter Payton and by the time they
(24:15):
figured Walter didn't have the ball, and with my release
skills off the line, I'd be five six yards down
the fields and the linebacker'd be turning around looking going,
oh crap, there you go. And I was open all.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
The time, my god, all the time. Well, the fact
that you were so versatile, Emory, and I think that
gets lost sometimes because even kids in high school will
get so specialized in something and then they don't branch
out into anything else. And the fact that you could
do different positions and then everywhere you went you plugged
a different hole and you were able to make a
twelve year career out of it.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You know, my mindset was, you know, I'm a football player.
Whatever you want me to do, I can do it.
I can play defense, and you want me to play defense,
you know, I'll play whatever to play because I was
coachable and you know pretty as and like you said,
I was never in one position at any level of football.
And I think sometimes also gets lost with kids today
(25:09):
is that, like you say, they get they want to
play one sport. I played three sports in high school football, basketball,
and through the discus in track. And we used to
have a seeing in pro football, the more you can do,
the more valuable you are to the team. And we
had guys sitting by the light switch in the film
room turning a lot. I can do this, I can
do that. I'm valuable, very valuable, the switch like me
(25:33):
in the film room.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh my gosh, that's funny. And while you're with the Bears,
of course, you got that eighty five team. You guys
go and you win Super Bowl twenty you're the starting
tight end. Yes, what was that like? I mean, that
was such a I mean we had the Super Bowl shuffle.
We had everything going on. I mean, the Bears were
the team in eighty five.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
No America love the Bears. I mean we had so
many we have so many characters. You know. The year before,
we lost to the forty nine ers in San Francisco
twenty three to nothing, and they go on to the
Super Bowl the next round. And we knew we're that
close because we had beat the Redskins in Washington and
(26:12):
they had never lost a home game in the playoffs
in ten years, and we went in there and we
beat them. So we were full of confidence, and we
went to San Francisco and got it. Hand it to us,
and forty niners were talking trash. Bring your offense next year,
bring your offense. And so we go out there next
year and we beat them and were just on the row.
We were undefeated for twelve games. Our defense was just unbelievable.
(26:37):
I mean, Buddy Ryan had that forty six defense, and man,
we played teams and I remember we played the Raiders
and who had won it in eighty three. We played
them in eighty four, played them at home, and we
knocked out both quarterbacks in the first half. Ray guy,
the punter had to finish the half.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
We had several buffs on the Raiders. Mike Davis, Otith
McKinnie and I saw him after the game. They said, yeah, man,
them dudes was arguing who had to go back and
finish the half because nobody wanted to finish the half.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Nobody wanted to.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Play because you know Buddy Ryan. In fact, that eighty
five year I bet you out of sixteen games, probably
seven quarterbacks did not finish the game because Buddy would
tell the defense. He says, you get to that quarterback
and you knock him out, and we're going to see
how good that's second string guys. Of course, the Bears
led the NFL for two or three years in a
(27:30):
row in total defense because of that forty six defense,
but they couldn't figure out And then you compliment that
on offense with Walter Payton and leading the NFL five
years in a row and rushing the football and so
it was time consuming. And then the defense. We used
to tell the defense man, y'all only out there for
three players we got ten play drives.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Week is completely off right fresh all the time. But
forty minutes to fifteen there was a time of possession.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
We ran the football and then they'd come in and
Buddy would blitz every everybody. It was a fun time. Uh,
you know, William Perry was playing full back on the
gold line and Fridge had his own cheerleaders called the Frigerettes,
a bunch of big girls, you know, cheering for cheering
for the Fridge, and uh, it was just a great time.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
The Super Bowl shuffles that, you know what.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
We had so many deals going and I had a
deal that night at water Tower Place that they did it.
And ironically it was the Tuesday after the Monday Night loss.
A lot of people that didn't want to do it,
like Man didn't want to do it, Walter didn't do it.
And if you really look close at the video, they
were not down there. They had to come up to
Hallas Hall, go into the rocketball court and tape them
(28:47):
after persuading them like for two weeks after, you gotta
do it. There's no video without Walter. If you look close,
you'll see a little just a blurred background, and they're
in the rocketball court there doing it. And then halfton McMichael,
they just were straight up, we're not we haven't won
anything yet, and we're not doing it. And then we
(29:08):
finished the year. You know, we kind of were waiting
for the playoffs. I mean, we didn't finish. I want
to say we finished the strong, but we beat everybody
and then we go to the playoffs. We got a
first round by and then the first game we played
the Giants and we beat them fourteen to zero. And
then the second game we played the Rams and we
beat them twenty one to nothing. And so we're going
(29:28):
into the Super Bowl. Nobody's even scored on the defense.
Then the first play, first series at the Super Bowl
against New England, Walter fumbles on like the twenty five
yarding line and then they try to pass like three
times in a row to the defense like they know
they can't run it, and so they kick a field
goal and they're leading three to nothing and then we
(29:49):
put up like forty something points in a row on them,
and then they scored at the end of the game. Yeah,
they scored at the end of the game when the
second string was in, but the structed string had already
enter step to the pass and ran back for a touchdown.
Another guy inter stuff in the past and got tackled
on the one yard line, and when they finally scored,
it was it was over. Yeah, the game was over.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
It was Tea was so deep and so strong, and
it really was I mean all of America, and you
don't see that very often where everybody's rooting. There wasn't
anything not to like about the Bears.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
No, and we had John Madden on our side. He
loved us long. He tried to get every Bears game
he could because he just loved the Bears and the
way they grew up, the way they were growing. And
then because you got the coach Dickett, who was just
like a maniac.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Oh yeah, the sidelines, and you.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Know he tried to stay calm with a tie and
a sweater like because he was Tom Landry protegee. But
you could just see the steam coming up from his
neck all the time. Man. But he was perfect coach
for us because he said, you know, you guys, especially McMahon,
he says he didn't want to admit it, but they
were just like him. But he was a player. He
(30:55):
was a hot head and you know, always mad and
telling coach hallis you know, they're throwing Nicholas around like
manhole coverts, and you know when they tried to get paid,
and he didn't like us a lot, but now he
loves us. Oh, I'm sure we all as he loves
us now.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah. Well, and that's a lot of personalities to try
and manage, and there aren't a lot of guys aside
from maybe a coach Didker or somebody kind of like that,
that could keep all of that contained and then also
have success with it, not have each of those personalities
be like it's all about me, because you guys were
really all about team.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Well. You know, see Dicker and Buddy Ryan didn't get along,
and so Buddy would tell Dicker just stay your bet
over there. I got the defense, and I mean he
literally meant meant it, and they really went at it
a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Really really yeah, and in front of you guys, in front.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Of us, and this is why, you know, the defense
stood up for Buddy all the time. They knew they
had to play for Buddy. And then on offense, you know,
we had Walter Payton, we had Jim McMahon who was
growing as a quarterback, and by the time we got
to the Super Bowl, you know, a complete control of
the offense. And then we had an offensive line which
was great that played together for five years in a row.
(32:08):
And you can't get that continuity of today because of
free agency. And so they were humble and they knew
what they had to do. And then you have a
guy like me that's just like glad to be there.
I'm just gonna do my job. You know, I will
stay right up in there. And everybody could take all
the glory, and because everybody wanted it a part of it,
you know, because it was so phenomenal that amount of media.
(32:31):
I mean, everybody had golf tournaments, everybody had radio, TV commercials,
everybody had everything. And then you got the divas outside
Willigut and Dennis McKinnon, and they were great receivers. But
you know, we didn't pass about that much except for
play action, and so we really had a complete team.
You know, we should have won more but Willie Gout left,
(32:54):
Otis Wilson left because they were just getting to the
point where you could leave if your contract wasn't It
wasn't total free agency, but it was some form of
free agency, and so we's lost a few guys. Wilbur
Marshall he was the first one to go for somehow
odd reason. He had a loop in his contract that
he could become a free agent after his first four years,
(33:17):
and there was no free agency in the NFL. I
think Lyle Blackwood was the only one for Baltimore that
got an opportunity to be a free agent. Wilbur was
the second interesting and once he left for Washington, people
started to loosen the reins and become free agents. And then,
of course after the eighty age season, they had a
thing called Plan B where the last third of your
(33:40):
roster you had to let him go be free agents.
So those guys were getting paid a lot more than
a lot of the starters, and so the salaries started
to increase. And then in nineteen ninety three, total free
agency happened, and that's when the money started flowing off.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Oh for sure, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
They had to open their books the NFL and showed
that there was money there.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Oh yeah, Oh there's always been money there, yeah, just
not always for the players like it should have been.
And that came five years too late for you. After
the eighty eight season, you retire. How did you know
that it was time?
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Emory, Well, I could tell you exactly what I knew.
My favorite play was the play action pass to Walter.
Walter had retired the year before, but Neil Anderson was
a hecup of back and we're in the first preseason
game and they do a play action pass and I
got my little smooth moves. I'm going up the field
and this rookie linebacker from Nebraska of all places, and
(34:37):
I come off the line and I go up the field.
I'm ready to cross. When I turned, the dude is
in my hip pocket. Looking back at the quarterback with me.
I'm like, dude, if you can't get away from the linebacker,
you're done. I knew I was thinking that one play,
one play, I said, united as fast as it used
to be, And they finally figured the play out, man,
they finally figured what you were doing, and I knew
(34:59):
I was done.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Interesting, Oh my gosh, so you retire I retired?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Interestingly, I started selling real estate in the town that
I was living in, Deerfield, Illinois, this off season of
the Super Bowl, because I was in my ninth year
and I go due and you're not going to get
any higher than this. This is the pinnacle of your
career right here at the Super Bowl. So you better
get a.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Job, which a lot of guys did in the eighties. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, because you're not making that much money, right And
in fact, those first three years when I signed with
the Giants, I was making twenty eight, thirty three and
thirty eight thousand, and that's just enough that in six
months after the season, you're going to be flat broke
and you gotta.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Go back well. And also you only get paid during
the season. You don't get a paycheck in the off season.
So that's another reason why guys got jobs.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah. I worked every year those three years in the
off season and Giants because it just wasn't a lot
of money.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
That was smarter you to get your real estate license
before you were done.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah. So I sold real estate for three years before
I retired, and then when I retired, I just went
into the it was on Monday. I already had my
best How they have my phone list. I'm like, there,
now you got to.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
You're already printed.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Yeah, you got to start selling for real now. And
I sold for twenty eight years, eight years. And that
was uninteresting also because you know, people think, oh, you're
making a lot of money selling real estate because you
played for the Bears. Well no, you know, you're talking
about handling the people's dream. Really, how I start, It's
going to be the biggest purchase at that time in
(36:26):
their life. And so you got to be good. And
I was just like my football career, you know, I
didn't stay in a little area like everybody else that
was selling. They selling one of two thousand, and I
was all over Lake County trying to make a deal.
I didn't care. And you know what, I sell a
house for one hundred and thirty thousand dollars in Lake County,
up and around Lake because my philosophy was, you know what,
(36:47):
you gotta get first downs before you make touchdowns, and
so keep the change moving, man, no't matter how much
it is, sell it and make it. And then I
got involved with the Real Estate Board and started working
as the director, and then I went all the way
through and became the president of the North Shore of
barrenton Board of Relatives and was on some state committees
(37:08):
and national committees. Just do them what I do. Man,
Try to stay involved, try to learn, try to educate
people about what's going on.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah, so smart. And I've had that same philosophy. I've
had my license for eleven years and same thing. People go, oh,
you help all the athletes sell their houses. I said, no,
I don't help any of them.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Athletes are the worst and they.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Rent a lot of times. If they're smart, they rent.
The ones that buy probably haven't bought the right thing.
And I'll do the same thing where I'm like, I'll
go help you with the whatever price house because you're
not staying there forever. You're going to buy another house,
and I'm going to help you with that one. So
here we go.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Why not, you're good buy two or three houses because
as they progress first job, second job, promotions, they're moving up,
their families growing and they need more space. You got
to do them good. One time.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
They'll come back, and they'll come absolutely they will. Yeah,
all right, Emry, I want to ask about your son, Aaron,
who also played in the NFL wide receiver for the Colts.
An undrafted free agent who also played on a Super
Bowl and you are one of three I believe father
son duos to have played in Super Bowl and one
and one and one. Okay, we were the first.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
We were the first.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
We were the first one.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
We were the first ones to play in and win
a Super Bowl. He actually played on the Colts when
they played the Bears.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
How ironic they beat the Bears.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Which was crazy because everybody like, who you cheering for?
Who you cheer I'm going with my son because I
know how hard it is to get to the Super
Bowls and sometimes you only get there once and you
gotta win. But he was interesting story because he came
out of high school and the team he was on
rand the ball all the time. He didn't catch a
lot of passes. But my teammate in Chicago was Leslie Fraser,
(38:45):
and Leslie was the defensive back coach at Illinois. He
always told Aaron, you know wherever you go, because he
was first coach out a little small school in Deerfield
and he liked Aaron, and Aaron would go to his
camp and he said, wherever I go, I'm gonna make
you get a shot. And he took him on his
walk on the Illinois he walked on and he ended
(39:06):
up starting. And then the senior year he got bench
because he got in an crazy story, but he got
bent because he got an argument with the head coach,
Ron Turner, who also ended up being an NFL coach.
And so his senior year, he don't get drafted, don't
get invited to the combine, and Leslie comes out of
Illinois and becomes the defensive back coach of the Indianapolis
(39:28):
coach And true to his word, he gave Aaron a
shot wow, and Aaron ended up making the team. Not
the taxis go out. He actually made the fourth receiver
and made that team for five years in a row.
It is some perseverance because he walked ont of Illinois.
He walked on that coach, so you just never know.
I'll never forget. When he left to go to Indianapolis.
(39:48):
I go Aaron, I said, son. First, I gave him
Walter Payton's pure Peyton video. I said, watch this video
before you go to camp, because this is Walter Payton
and he's just unbelievable. Then I said, second, if you
don't catch Peyton Manning's passes, because all you got to
do is turn your head. It's gonna be right there.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
It'll be there, It'll be right on part.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
I said, you just come on back home, man, because
I said, if you don't catch him, and uh, Peyton, man,
I'll never forget when he made the team the first year,
Peyton had a party at his house and everybody's over
there drinking beer, having a good time. We all made
the teams at Doc. Aaron's in the kitchen and Peyton
comes in. Peyton, you know, he's very studious and very Yeah,
(40:30):
he ain't gonna throw you the ball if you don't
know what you're doing. My son's popping a few beers
when he's feeling good. You know, Paynte goes, Aaron, what
do you doing this play? If this happens with that
hairing and so Nights got to straighten up, and you
know she answer all the Peyton's crushing was. I guess
he did okay because Peyton's liked him and you know,
try to get him the ball man. Yeah. It was
a great team that had Marvin Harrison, Reggie, Wayne Stokely,
(40:53):
uh Dallas Clark and they passed that ball all over.
So it was a great team.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Oh how fun for him. That's great, that's great. Okay,
So now you're officially retired, retired, you've reinvented yourself for
twenty eight years as a real tour and now you're retired.
You spend some time here in Colorado, and then you
spend some time in Chicago depending on the season, which
is fun.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
What else are you doing then?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Well, I'll play a lot of golf. Unfortunately, looking at
hip surgery in about three and a half weeks, so
I hadn't played it all this year, and I didn't
play a lot last year, maybe about ten times, So
it's been slowed down my retirement activities and coming out here.
I used to hike a lot too, before my leg,
my hip, and my back started bothering me about two
(41:36):
years ago. So hopefully after the surgery, I can get
back to hiking because there were so many trails. I mean,
I know, I know a lot of trails, man, A
lot of trails out here in the foothills within thirty
minutes up in the mountains. Oh yeah, there's just a
ton of them. And I really enjoyed getting back to
nature for my boy scout days. Yeah, catching an occasional
(41:58):
elk or deer or depending on the time of the day.
I never ran into a bear, for it's fortunately about that,
you know, of course, And they know the same thing
with those cougars and mountain lions. I mean I never
ran into any of them, but those type of things
they generally see you before you see them. Oh yeah,
and they're not trying to engage. So that's all good.
(42:19):
So I look forward to getting back to that next year.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Oh that's great. All right. So last question for you, Emory,
and I think you're the perfect candidate for talking about
when you know you kind of have those down times
and you're able to get back up and keep going.
You've had multiple times that you've changed positions or things
like that. What do you tell people and what did
you give advice to your son about when there were
those times where you're like, oh, man, am I going
to get to the next step? How do I do this?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Well? You never know what your future is going to be,
and you just got to have a goal, stick to it,
believe in yourself that it can happen. Success is not
made without failure. I was cut twice before I ended
up on an eight year run, you know, Chicago and
my son even had disappointment too. I mean, everybody has disappointment.
In fact, I was reading a story about Junior Bridgeman
(43:05):
who ended up with like one hundred Windys and you know,
became one of the most successful athletes behind Michael Jordan
and Matthew Johnson's third behind him. And he talked about
first Wendys he bought. They told him, you know, yeah,
why don't you do this? And he put in like
two fifty and lost it all and lost it all,
(43:26):
but it didn't discourage him from sticking with the plan.
But what he did is he went to the Wendy's
thing and learned how to flip burgers. In his second franchise,
he did every job, and then the next time when
the opportunity came, he bought five Wendys, and then he
went on and bought more and he got over one hundred. Well,
I think he had one hundred and thirty total at
one time at the point. But he failed first and
(43:48):
he lost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in nineteen eighty,
which was a lot of money. He had saved his
whole salaries for years and then he became successful. So
without failure, there's no sick scess.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
That is a great point.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Keep your eye on the prize.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Yeah. Absolutely, Oh, Emory, this was so fun, so fun
to hear your story and get to know you better.
And I love that you're back, and I love hearing
that even though you were just with the Broncos for
that one year, and they love you like you've been
here for ten.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Remarkable of one year here and those guys act like
I played ten years here with them. I have it.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
They're great, all right, Emory, thanks so much, Thank you, Susan,
Thank you, Emory. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired
are released on Tuesdays. Please follow and download this podcast
wherever you listen to podcasts and keep up on new
releases by following on Twitter and Instagram at CTFUR podcast
and also on the website ctfrpodcast dot com. I'm your host,
(44:45):
Susie Wargen. To learn more about me, visit susiewargon dot com.
Thanks for listening, and until next time, please be careful,
be safe, and be kind. Take care
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