Sasquatch Chronicles - Bonus Show: Randy White "The Manster"

Episode Date: October 25, 2019

i am traveling this week. I met hall of fame legend Randy White while I am down here in Dallas. I could not pass up the opportunity to interview him. This will be a bonus show, it has nothing to do with Sasquatch but if you enjoy football you will love this interview.Randy White is a former American football defensive tackle. He attended the University of Maryland from 1971 to 1974, and played professionally for the Dallas Cowboys from 1975 to 1988. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame (1994), the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1994) and the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.

about each other. We came together to play football. I mean we all came together as a team. Success doesn't come, nobody gives it to you, it just doesn't happen. You have to earn it. It's easy when it's going your way. But when things get tough, what do you do? If you care about people, you have to drive to be the best you can be, and when things get tough, you look at yourself and don't point the finger somewhere else. Look at yourself and do what you can do to be the best you can be. to be the best you can be. When you get a group doing that, I tell you what, you're going to be successful.

Sooner or later, it's going to go your way. The Manster. Some say he's half man, half monster. If you were an opposing team in the NFL from 1975 to 1988, you knew him well, and that was not a good thing. Randy White was a defensive tackle, a linebacker, college football Hall of Fame, pro football Hall of Fame, Super Bowl champion, nine Pro Bowls, and the list goes on.

I'm currently in Dallas, and I met Randy White, and it's not too often you come across to Hall of Fame legend and say, hey, would you like to do an interview? And he says, sure. I know it's a Bigfoot show, but I could not pass up this opportunity. I sat down with Randy, and we talked about football, his personal life, and had a great time, a true gentleman. I'm sure if you're a quarterback in the era he played, you would disagree with that. But he is absolutely a true gentleman. And I want to thank Randy for coming on the show. This is a bonus show and a gift to, I was going to say a gift to the people of Texas. But if you're

a fan of the NFL, you're a fan of Randy White. I want to welcome Randy to the show. Randy, thanks for coming on. Well, thanks for having me. Yeah, it's an honor to meet you. I know, You're kind of a living legend in football in general, but especially down here in Dallas. And you were known as the Manster. Who gave you that name? And how did all that come about? Well, the Manster came about because I was a nice guy off the field. And on the field, I wasn't a very nice guy.

So they said I was a Man, half man, half monster. Did you like that name or were you not really fond of it? I never paid much attention to it. But, you know, if you look, when they originally came out with that, half man, half monster, the satswatch was the picture that they used in reference to me. Oh, really? Oh, they did. You go look back there.

That's what the manster was. He was the satskwatch guy with all the hair. But, you know, I have a funny story about the master. Yeah, of course. I have a guy that's a guy that's name is Greg Couch, and he's from Houston. And he used to play guard for the Minnesota Vikings one year. And during the game, he played the other tackle. He played against Dutton.

So he starts giving me a hard time, right? So I get in a push and shoving contest, and they had an article in the Game Day magazine about how we were applying martial arts to football. And so I'm getting in this little deal with him. He goes, what are you going to do, Kung Fu-me? Kung Fu man. And, you know, I thought that was kind of funny, but on the field, I'm not going to laugh, right?

So, boom, boom, we go through that. Well, next year, he's playing with the Green Bay Packers. Here I go again. I get in another argument with him, right? I'm not playing against the guy. And I'm thinking, what did he says, you're not a manster, you're a manhole. And I said, manhole, he goes, yeah, half man, half bum hole. So I laughed on the field

That's one a few times I ever laughed On the football field And he does a radio show Down in Houston And he's called me And we've talked about that And he was just a prankster

Just jabbing me Trying to get a reaction Yeah Yeah Yeah but Master was I took that as a compliment Yeah

I guess it's better I'm being called Like Tinkerbell Or you know I think I'd rather be called Manster on the football field You know Well I've been called

A lot of other things out there I can't tell you, but, you know, master was okay. Yeah. Yeah. I want to ask you, you know, Tom Landry, that was before, you know, when I think of Tom Landry, everyone talks about what a legend he is, and then you see highlights of him on the sidelines with this hat and everything. But I think, like, my generation doesn't know much about Tom Landry.

And I wanted to ask you, when you think of, I'll give you an example like Mike Dicca, if Mike Dicca would have gone to the Saints instead of the Chicago started off his career in the Saints and you know how bad the Saints were back then would anyone ever talk about Mike Dicca and I don't think we would even know his name but he went to Chicago

and you got a Hall of Fame quarterback you got Walter Payton and Walter Payton could play I think he could have been a quarterback I think he could have been a kicker I think he could have been I mean you watch Highland

of this guy and there's nothing he can't do. And then on top of that, you got the bear's defense, which Buddy Ryan obviously laid the foundation for that. Some could argue. And so you got this amazing defense, you have all these tools at your disposal, is, does a credit really go to Mike Dick? And I don't mean this in a disrespectful way,

but when I think of Tom Landry, you give me Randy White, you give me most of those guys on the defense, You got Roger Stalback throwing the ball. You got Dorset. I would have been a Hall of Fame coach. And I'm obviously simplifying the little thing. But, I mean, you have all those weapons at your disposal.

How could you not... What made Tom Landry a great coach? I guess is my question. Well, a lot of things... Well, let me dress Mike Dicca first. All right. Because Mike Dicca was my coach on special teams when I was a rookie with the Cowboys.

So I spent a couple years with Mike Dicke. Oh, okay. And got to know him very well. And when he went to Chicago, you know, he turned that whole team around. Mike Dicka is the reason why that team was turned around. He had the talent, yeah. But when Mike Dicka got there, all these guys are rolling their sleeve. Even the kicker used to roll his sleeves up.

They all thought they were tough guys because Mike was a tough guy. Yeah. And his attitude and his philosophy, and he was very smart on top of that, was the reason why Chicago, sure, Buddy Ryan in that defense, they had a lot of talent. Walter Payton came out of college the same year. I did. Great football player, great person, in my opinion. Best football player that ever played was Walter Payton, best running back for sure.

So Mike Dicker was a special guy and a special coach. And when he went to down there to New Orleans, he brought me in there to work with his defensive line on using their hands. He was smart. Yeah. Their team led the league in the Saints led to league in Sacks. Why? Because we went, I'd like to think it was because we helped them. They had the ability, but we pushed them over the hump.

So Dicca was a heck of a coach and a great guy. And it wasn't, didn't mean it in a derogatory way. No, no, I know. I know. but, you know, Mike was a special, he's a special guy. Yeah. And then Coach Landry. I mean, where do you start with Coach Landry?

I mean, as far as a football coach, you know, he was a great coach. But as far as a person, a leader, a guy that you would look up to, you know, you always used to tell us, you know, God should be first in your life, your family, and then whatever else comes into place. You know, when you're a young guy, I'm a young guy. I don't want to hear that back then. Yeah. But, you know, the older I got and more I was around him, you know, he had his priorities in order, and he did things the way they should be done. And he was a great example to anybody that was ever had the opportunity to be around him,

came away being a better person. I always say that. As far as football goes, he demanded the best, but he made you learn the game of football. You just didn't play football. He made you learn the game of football. He made you know your position, the guys around you, and how you were going to stop the opposing team. You know, that's, you know, as far as his coaching. And he taught, you know, he taught you a lot of lessons. One of the things he said was your strength becomes your weakness if you only rely on your strength. Well, in the end, we played that flex defense, and teams started catching on to it,

and we really should have changed it up. And my coach, Ernie Stoughtner, used to put in some changes in that defense every year. And Coach Landry, he would come in and he would throw them out. So we stayed with that defense. And he also used to tell us, if you're fortunate enough to stay around long enough, the game humbles everybody. So not only... What did he mean by that? Well, the older I've gotten, not only football, when you're talking about football,

if you stick around long enough, there's going to be younger guys that can do it better. Oh, I got to. You know, I mean, you're going to get humbled. You're not always going to be on the top. You know, it's going to come a time when you're going to start slipping. And as far as life goes, you know, you stick around long enough, you get humbled in life too.

So, you know. So he was more or less just a great mentor. Well, he was a teacher. He said one thing we could be sure of, things will change. And things always change. You just have to be ready to change with them. So he wasn't just a great football coach. He was a great teacher.

And he was a great example. I always say this, even to this day, if I ever grow up, I want to be like Tom Landry. Yeah. I ain't made it yet. Yeah, I hear you. I hear you. You know, when the, was it 85, when the Bears came back and they were, you played that game in Dallas and the Bears.

Beat is 67 to 13. I'll never forget it. What was the conversation with Tom Landry like after that? Because, you know, Mike Dick had looked up to Tom. I mean, he speaks about that in a lot of interviews. And the way that team just slaughtered, you know, his mentor, his, you know, his guy. Did Tom Landry ever talk about that? Not much other than going over that film, which was no fun.

You know, but as far as that game goes, you know, it happens. That happens from time to time where you go out and it's just not your day. It's not because you don't try. It's not because you don't want to win. But, you know, the son don't sign on the same dog every day. So sometimes it's the other guy's turn. You know, the other question I want to ask you with, Regarding the NFL, there's this weird culture as far as if you get hurt.

And it kind of rears its ugly head every once in a while from time to time, like with Brett Fav. And Brett Favreve came out and basically said, yeah, I'm addicted to bike it in. And then you start hearing the real story on what happened. And you see these guys go off the, they come off the out of the game hurt. And then they go on the sideline. a commercial and then when they come back from commercial the guy's fine he looks like he just came back from church and he's throwing the ball and but what you hear is they take you in the back

and they're like can you go can you go so there's this weird pressure that uh the coaches the doctors and your peers put on you to go out there and perform there's a pressure of if i don't go out there they're going to put my backup in and maybe i'll be out of a job and then there's a weird pressure of just being known as a guy that's hurt all the time. And do you think that culture should change where they put, and I've never gone but gone on the sideline, so I might be speaking out of term, but where they load you up on painkillers,

tape you up and say, you're good to go? Do you think that culture should change to where they say, you know what, you're actually hurt? And I know the team, it's called the team doctor, but he's really, I don't know how much of his best interest he has in you. Maybe heal up and we'll see you next week. We'll see how you film next week. And you're our guy. Don't worry, you'll be back. Do you think that culture should change? Or is that even the culture when you get hurt on the field?

Well, I mean, that's a part of the game of football is you're going to get hurt. Yeah. Now, if you're hurt to where it's going to do permanent damage to you, I mean, then you're out. Now, I played 14 years. I miss one game in 14 years, and I missed that game because I broke a foot, a bone in my heart. my foot on Thursday when we played the Houston Oilers or the Philadelphia Eagles, I broke a bone on my foot and had to turn around and play again on Thanksgiving Day. I heard it on Sunday, had to come back on Thursday and play on Thanksgiving Day. Well, you know, I couldn't do it, so I missed the game.

There's nothing I could do. But I wanted to play. I mean, I played with broken ribs. I played with stingers in my neck. I broke with broken bones in my fingers. You know, I mean, that was just part of the game. That was my job was to go out there and play football. And I would do it that way over again today.

I mean, if I had a chance to do it over, I'd do the same thing over again. Now, the game has changed as far as they're trying to protect the players a little more. Right. And they do stay out of the game. I mean, they take them in that tent. And if they can't go, they're not going to put them out there on the football field. But you have to understand, guys want to play. The real football players, they want to get out there.

They don't want to miss one play. So the doctor's job, in my opinion, is to protect them. Because if you look, you ask me a question, you say, can I go? I'm going to say, yes, I can go. And so now it's up to the doctor. Can he really go, or is he risking some kind of permanent injury? Now, you know, broken fingers. I saw Ed Jones.

Here's the example. too tall. He comes out this middle finger, the bone sticking out of the finger in the huddle. Oh, man. Compound fracture. He's not going out of the game. He wouldn't go. I said, Ed, get out of the game.

He said, I'm all right, Randy. I called the referee over Jim Tunney. I said, hey, Jim, I said, come over here. I said, look at his finger. Tony looked at his finger. I said, he don't want to get out of the game. Tony called a timeout, and they got him out of the game. They protect the players.

They're not going to let anybody go out there and hurt their self. That, I think, is a big misconception from my standpoint. They really, even when I played, if you were hurt, you weren't going in there. And, you know, and if you had guys that were kind of injury prone, you know, they didn't last very long. You know, that's the nature of the game. It's not too hand touch. You're out there whacking the other guy. So that's a part of the game is hitting and getting injuries.

If you're not willing to play banged up a little bit, you need to find another sport. Yeah, I hear you. And I think, obviously, I mean, you've probably never played 100% ever in a game. 100% healthy. I mean, you're probably constantly fighting through an injury or through something. I like to say when I was younger, I played on Sunday, and I could have played again on Monday. When I got older, I played on Sunday, and I wasn't ready to play for two weeks. Yeah.

It's just, you know, it's just part of the game. That's what I was talking about. If you're fortunate enough to stay around long enough, you get humbled. That's just the part of it. Yeah, sometimes guys go through the cracks. So I know like Troy Aikman, and he went down, I think it was a championship game before the Super Bowl. So he goes down and I think it was a defensive tackle. It was trying to jump over him instead of drill him into the ground.

Right. And his knee caught his head. And he was, I don't know if you remember that game or not, but he was out. So they take him off. to commercial, they come back and he's back in the game. And you can tell he didn't know what planet he was on. He was throwing balls to different routes and they were just ugly. So maybe there is a misconception.

I mean, you were there. You know as far as them. They should watch after the players. They should take care of the players. Well, you have to. And Troy Aikman. Now, you remember Troy Aikman's rookie year. I remember watching Troy Akeman as rookie year.

And he got beat up. That offensive line they had wasn't very. good. And he took a beating. Troy Aikman is a tough guy. He's a tough, he's a quarterback, which quarterbacks, you know, I don't. Not a fan of. Not that, but, you know, but Troy was tough. I mean, he's a tough guy. He's a competitor. And, you know, he's one of them guys that, you know, if he's hurt, you're going to have to pull him out. Because he's not going to tell you he's hurt. He's going to, he's going to go out there and he's going to still play. Last week, Doc Press, out against the Jets.

They had both their offensive linemen out, defense, both offensive tackles out. Well, he got pounded. I mean, he got pounded. I didn't think he was going to get up a couple times. So he's another guy's a tough guy that, you know, you better watch him. If he gets dinged pretty bad, you better,

you better look at him pretty hard because he's never going to say, no, I can't go. He's going to say, I'm good. Let me get back in there. Yeah. And those are, that's when the doctor's coming, important because it's hard that's a hard call right there and the your reference to the pain pills they don't work that fast they can't give you one on the sideline you got to go in there and get a

shot of novitaine or something that that works real fast because i got i got enough of them in my time so they do work and they used to say it's too far from your heart it's not going to kill you so let's shoot it wow that was a joke yeah i wanted to ask you the um Man, I just lost it. I had a perfect question for you. Oh. I threw you off with my answer. No, no, that's all right.

In this day and age, do you think, obviously you can play, that's not my question, but in the way the rules are today, you know, where if you're going to tackle Tom Brady, you've got to set him down gently, read him a book and tuck him in and make sure he's okay, do you think you could play in that environment because they're handcuffing the defenses? which I don't quite understand, because there's a lot of times where quarterbacks get hit, and you're like, that was a legal hit. And they're like, no, that was 15 yards. And this guy's probably getting fine for roughen the passer. And it's like, that wasn't rough in the passer. Would you want to play in today's game? And do you think he even could, or do you think he'd be fine left and right?

I mean, you were called the manster. Here's the answer to that question. The culture that I grew up in when I was growing up in, when I was growing up. up, dictated, you know, like watching Dick Buckkiss or watching Ray Nitzki or watching Deacon Jones or Merleyn Olson or Bob Lill. You know, hey, these are the guys you wanted to be like. Yeah. And, you know, they allowed you some freedom. The quarterbacks were tougher back then because I know when I play, we used to smash, smash Ron Jaworski so many times. And he got up and I thought, how the heck did he get up? Phil Sims, Joe Thysman. These guys were

tough. Now, had I grown up in the culture that these guys are growing up in now and been exposed to the rule changes, well, then that's all I would have known. Could I go from where I was and dump me in the middle of this thing the way it is today? I'd be kicked out of the league. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't last two weeks. I'd be gone. I'd be broken. I'd be gone. Because, you know, I would try to smash him. Yeah. You know, I never intentionally tried to hurt anybody, physically hurt them to where they couldn't come back and play. Now, did I try to hit them as hard as I could

and knock them goofy? Certainly I did. I mean, that's what the game of football is, you know, and that's the way I was taught to play, and that's the way I played it. Do you think the rule changing is ruining the game? Because, you know, you don't see defenses like what you guys were a part of.

I mean, you have great players like a Ray Lewis or I can't think of it. Like Ray Lewis. You don't see like the Dallas Cowboys when you played in the 80s of these guys are monsters and they're coming to get you or even like the bears. You don't see full defenses like that. It's almost like it's ruining the game. Well, I'll say this. When I watch a game, I don't want to know the referee's name at the end of the game. I don't watch the game of football to see the referee.

I mean, I'm not there to watch a guy with the zebra stripes on. Yeah. I don't want to see him during a football game. I want to see the football game. And I don't like seeing penalty flags every other play. It makes it not fun to watch the game to me. So yeah, I think the referees are playing too much of a part. What they had five, what games I watch? I watched the game. They had five penalty plays in a row, pass interference. I mean, come on. Get the referee out of the game. Let these guys play football. You know, that's why people watch. Like I said, they don't watch NASCAR to see. them going around in a circle, they want to see the wreck. Right.

They don't watch football to see them play tapy tap. They want to see people hit each other. Yeah, you're right. And they want to see big plays and they want to see excitement. They don't want to see the referee throwing a flag and have a disappointment and another break and the momentum. I mean, it seems like the refs are really like the defensive players are the bad guys. Always the bad guys.

And you see that in game after game after game of them going after. I really think it's running the game, and hopefully it'll change it. I don't think it will. These guys are just doing their job. They're doing what they're told to do, and they're doing it to the best of their ability. Now, the owners and whoever makes these decisions, Godell, the guy up there in charge of this or whatever,

who's in ever in charge it? You know, in my opinion, they better take a hard look at what direction this game is going. You know, mothers that don't want their kids to play. because they might get hurt or a head injury or whatever. You know, my answer to that is you could fall off a bicycle. You could do anything and get hurt. I mean, I have an eight-year-old grandson, and I told his mother, I said, I don't want anybody encouraging him to play football.

But if he wants to play, he's going to play football. And, you know, then you tell him you want to play, you don't quit. You start it, you finish it. I mean, and that's the way that this younger generation, in my opinion, that's the way I was brought up. You start it, you finish it. You don't quit. Now, if you don't like it when it's over, so be it. But you don't quit. I hear you. So.

Let me ask you, is there a player that, and I'll ask the other side of this question, but was there a player that you just couldn't stand? And you may like him now, but I mean, at the time to where you're like, I can't wait until this game starts because I'm going to, your mind when this game starts. Was there anyone that you remember? I didn't like any of them. I'll be honest. I mean, that's true. I didn't like any of them.

Yeah. Is it a mindset? It's just a mindset. I disliked them. I mean, I didn't just, I spent a week not liking them. I spent a week mentally preparing myself to go out and play the game, but the guy I was playing against or the team I was playing against, I mean, I had a strong dislike for them.

You know, I can tell you, I used to go to the Pro Bowl games. I went to nine Pro Bowl games. And the first couple Pro Bowl games, I didn't really want to, you know, I had to go in there with Russ Grimm and these guys that I played against, right? Well, then you get to meet them and they're nice guys, and then you meet their wife, and they got kids, and, you know, and then you go out there, he's not, he's no longer number 70s, a person. Yeah. Right? You know, I didn't like that because, you know, I build up a half.

hatred to the guys I played against during a week. Now, when it was games over, and when I meet people now, I don't have that same animosity towards them. But, you know, that's the only way I know how to play football. Yeah, you almost have to get into that mindset to go after someone. Did you hit anyone more than anyone in a redskin jersey? I'm just talking to you have to answer that. Did I hit any more? Any teams more than someone wearing a redskin jersey? Or were they the ones you, uh, because your sister got, was your sister or was your sister or Your mom got a soda dumped on her.

No, she got a beer dumped on her in RFK Stadium. That's insane. And my brother smacked the guy, knocked him down in between the seats, and my mother pulled her blackjack out of the vodka book that she used to carry, and she was beating the guy with a blackjack. And they drugged this guy out of the stadium, and they cheered my mother in RFK Stadium. So, yeah, and then Philadelphia, I used to get anywhere between 50 and 100 tickets. of people that I knew from back home to go sit in the same section with my family

because Philly's a rough place to go if you're a cowboy fan. I've heard. Yes, it is. It's a rough place to go. And my mother was very vocal cheering and she would wear her cowboy stuff. And anyway, they had a few altercations, but there was one. After the game, I'm in the locker room and somebody runs in and they said, Randy, your family's outside fighting.

right so quick i put my pants on i run outside but as a guy laid out on the floor well the guy this guy was a gambler i found out later he was a gambler and he lost a bunch of money because golden richards caught a pass and beat the point spread near the end of the game and we beat the eagles so he was going after golden richards when my brother smacked him and when my brother hit him he knocked him into my sister and knocked my sister down. And all my dad saw was this guy knocked my sister down. So my dad clocked him and knocked him out cold as a cucumber. So, you know, those are the kind of stories that you, you know,

you get from them rivalries when the Dallas, Washington, New York wasn't that bad. But you go to Philadelphia, Washington was okay, but they had their moments. Yeah, that's funny. Your whole family's out there throwing this guy the beating. Well, they got into it. And they got into the game. They were into the game.

Yeah. Tell me about your concussion lawsuit because, you know, I don't know that it seems like the NFL should do more for players who've played in the past and actually built up teams like the Cowboys or Chicago Bears or, you know, they're standing on the shoulders of these guys. Tell me about the concussion lawsuit. How did that start and where's it at? well it's still going on and I'm actually involved in it I have my first meeting and I'm going back for a second one so you know obviously they've found something of concern in the first meeting that I did I need to go back and get checked again but you know the concussing lawsuit I've really you know the older you are the less money you get the younger you are the more money you get I'm I don't understand how that works, but at least they're trying to do something to compensate to players. Now, do they know what's going to happen to you when you're 75 years old or 80?

I don't know. You know, I'm going through this just to see, you know, what comes out of it. But at least they're trying. At least they're trying to do something for the former players. You know, if the truth be known. about the pre-93 guys, John Riggins and his wife put together this organization called Fair. And they're going to bat for the pre-93 players to try to get health insurance, a better pension, and be on at least something equal to what the post-93 guys are getting.

You know, guys that help make the game what it is feel, like, you know, we should be entitled to the same benefits of the guys that are playing now. And that's not the case. People out there don't really know that. I wish the public would know that, yeah, we have no health insurance. You know, the pre-93 players, we have zero, zero, zero health insurance. And I think that's wrong.

Yeah. The pensions are basically non-existent, and I could go into some. reasons why that is the way it is. But, so I think that's something that's not fair that is being addressed and hopefully it gets, gets taken care of. There's only 4,500 guys, pre-93 guys left. So, I mean, it's not like it's an insurmountable task to try to take care of them. So we'll see what happens with that.

And is the lawsuit mainly to help these guys? Is that, they're not trying to change rules of the game and they're not, they're not trying to redo helmets, it's mainly trying to take care of these guys that got hurt. Is that correct? Well, that's the way I see it. They're trying to compensate the guys for any injuries that they might have now or in the future. So, I mean, I think that's what this concussion lawsuit is all about. Now, is that going to fix everything? No. But I think it looks good to the public, like the NFL, and they're doing something to help these players. And they are, which is good, but I think they should be doing a lot more.

What was your worst loss? What was, is there one loss that you can, I know they all hurt, but I mean, is there one in particular that stands out to you that if you could go back in time, you could change? Yeah. I played in two Super Bowls. I played in three Super Bowls. Lost two.

My rookie year, we played the Steelers in 1975. Now, my best memory of that is after the game was over, we lost the game. And the game was over. So I was coming out of the locker room and going to get on a bus. And the PR guy said, Randy, the bus is full. You need to ride in the police escort cars with Burton Lawless, my teammate. He was only rookie out of the first 12 rookies that made that team that year in 75 that started. So we go back to the police escort car.

We're fixing to get in the car. Well, there's a guy sitting back there and look like Sasquots, right? Long hair, beard, the whole deal. Yeah. I said, Burton, you sit back there with that guy. I got in the front seat. We're riding down the road.

This guy taps me on the shoulder. He goes, hey, Randy. He said, I'm a Willie Nelson. I'm a big fan of yours. I said, oh, no. I said, I'm a big fan. It was Willie Nelson? It was Willie.

Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. And we used to sit around. Bob Brunick, our middle linebacker, was a roommate with Burton and I, and we used to sit around and play Willie's, I knew words to every one of Willie's songs back then. So that night at the party, Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Jeff Walker, Whalen Jennings, and Willie were at the party.

And they had some humdrum band up there. And Jimmy Buffett gets up on there and he goes, Bar-May, bring a pitcher. So you can imagine how that went. So after that, you thought that we had won the game. and I got to get up on stage with Willie Nelson and sing up against the wall redneck mother. How cool is that? That was really cool.

So that was my best memory of the first Super Bowl I played in. We lost. Now, the second one, we played Pittsburgh. We won Super Bowl 12. Harvey Martin and I were co-MvPs at a game. We won it with my birthday. That was a day I'll never forget. But then the next year, we played Steelers again in the Super Bowl.

And Mike Dicka, Mike Dicka put me in the kickoff return. And Roy Jurella squid kept the ball. I picked it up and went by the broken thumb where I broke it, broke my thumb the week before against the Rams in the NFG championship game. And I had it taped to my index finger. And I switched it to that hand and started running with the ball. Oh, no. And I fumbled it.

And anyway, I don't know if you remember. remember that game, but Jackie Smith dropped a pass in that game, and everybody said they'd lost because Jackie Smith dropped a pass. Well, if he ain't dropped the pass, they'd all said I'd lost because I fumbled to football. So that was a play that I'll never forget. Was it your dominant hand? Was it just more of a mechanical, like I got to put it in my dominant hand? Is that why you put it in that hand? No, I put it in my left hand. I had my left thumb was broke. I should have left into my right hand. I was running to the right. And the funny thing is, who do you think hit me and made me fumble who was a linebacker for the Steelers? This was a trivia question that it's

a couple of them. Tony Dungey's the linebacker that hit me. Really? Yeah, the coach was a coach with the Colts and all that. So anyway, that's a trivia question if you ever want to use it. We'll have to use it for the show. Yeah. Yeah, it's, I mean, you've had an amazing career and it's so fun to go back now with YouTube and just watch all the highlights and watch you playing the game. I mean, you were a monster. I mean, you were an absolute monster. The one thing I really like about the highlights when I watch you play, and you probably, I know this, but you never look at the offensive linemen in front of you. You're always looking at the quarterback. That's one thing I picked up last night when I was while. It's almost like you're

looking through the guy. You never look at the, offensive line. It's like you want to go through him. The whole karate thing, you're doing the and that is something you see a lot of NFL players do today, but back when you were doing it, it was unheard of. Was it trying to get your quickness down, get these guys around you? No, actually, our strength coach, Bob Ward, had a background into martial arts and JKD, Bruce Lee's style of

martial arts, and he was a student of Danny Anasano's who was Bruce Lee's training partner. And he brought Danny down to train us. And he gave us sticks, right? He gave us these sticks. And we're hammering around with sticks and hitting each other with sticks. And they're going, hey, coaches are going, hey, we can't play football with sticks. What are these guys doing?

But the lesson was when you put the sticks down, you do the same thing with empty hands. And the JKD was trapping hands. And that was exactly what we needed to learn to, to be more effective pass rushers because the game was changing. Guys are getting bigger. They were allowing them to hold. Swim move,

who was the marquee move for years, was becoming obsolete. So, you know, I credit the martial arts with a lot of my success in my career was being able to do the martial arts. And then we brought in Ajan Chai, who taught tie boxing. and as far as conditioning, that was the best conditioning that I was in the best shape I ever was

in my whole career of those last years when I started training the tieboxing. And you see everything you see today, you watch Aaron Donald with using his hands. He's good at using his hands. You watch all these guys that are good pass rushers. They're using her hands. Well, that's all a derivative of. Dr. Bob bringing Danny in and starting to martial arts and football. And it's evolved.

You know, I trained that for years. I still train it. And I still look for things that I can say, oh, I can show somebody that how to help rush the passer. Yeah. I just enjoy it. That's cool. What do you do now outside of football now that football is over with? What is it?

What are your interests outside of football? Well, right now I'm not doing just a whole lot. I stay busy every day, but I'm not doing a whole lot. I've been a spokesperson for a company called Smoky Mountain Snuff. It's an herbal chew. Oh, nice. No, I've worked with them and still do promotional stuff. I've been involved in some different businesses.

Right now, I'm just kind of cruising, and I may get involved with a wind energy company. so, you know, I don't never know. Yeah. Do you miss football? I mean, would you go back and play if you could right now? I mean, do you miss it like that? Or you're kind of glad it's you did that, you did everything you could, achieved everything you could.

They called me this afternoon. I'd go put a uniform on and try to play. I know, and I love football. Once a competitor, always a competitor. No, I love the game of football. I mean, I did. I loved it. I enjoy playing it.

That's what I did, you know. And if I had it to do over again, And, you know, I'd do it again. Yeah. And if I had an opportunity to go back, I could play one play. Yeah. I may get a sack. You never know.

Well, you're still built like a football player. I'm sure you probably could get a sack. No. No, I'm just kidding. No, it don't work. Stuff don't work the way it used to, trust me. Yeah. Well, Randy, it was a pleasure meeting you,

and thank you so much for giving me your time for the interview. No, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Hopefully people enjoy hearing this stuff. Absolutely. All right, man. Spetting is sweeping across the country faster than the coronavirus,

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