Rolland

Rolland Lawrence's name came up today in an email exchange with some friends of mine. It also came up in a terrific New York Times blog entry in January.

Here are three things I've read about Rolland Lawrence:

--He had 13 siblings, including a brother, Roland.

-- He dedicated the 1977 season to his mom, who had died, and then led the NFC in interceptions.

-- His 1979 football card said that he never dreamed he’d get a sack and that, therefore, once sacking Bears quarterback Bob Avelinni had been the highlight of his career.

The 1970 draft, the Steelers and the Falcons

On the eve of the 1969 NFL draft, the Steelers heeded Don Shula's and others' recommendations and hired Chuck Noll as head coach.

"Noll arrived in Pittsburgh, and we went right to our draft boards," Art Rooney Jr., the Steelers' director of player personnel and vice president from 1964 through 1986, says in an interview with Tom Danyluk published in Vol. 28, No. 3 of The Coffin Corner, The Official Newsletter-Magazine of the Professional Football Researchers Association. "We reviewed every single guy on there. All that was listed was the player's name, rating, height, weight, speed and school."

Rooney compared thoughts with Noll, and "there was immediate agreement over whom to take in the first round."

Joe Greene.

After a 1-13 season, Pittsburgh was at the top of the 1970 draft and fielded a variety of trade offers for the choice. Noll was willing to listen, Rooney says, as was his dad, the team's owner. One of the most compelling proposals was a package of players and draft picks from Atlanta, but the Falcons, Danyluk reported, were unwilling to include defensive end Claude Humphrey, whom the Steelers hoped to play next to Greene.

Instead, the Steelers picked Terry Bradshaw. Selecting 12th in the first round, the Falcons chose John Small, a linebacker from the Citadel whom Coach Norm Van Brocklin converted to defensive tackle. Small lasted three seasons in Atlanta, then finished his career in 1974 after playing 14 games over two seasons with the Detroit Lions.

Good day

On. Sept. 11, 2005, the Miami Dolphins clobbered the Denver Broncos, 34-10, to open the first regular season of Nick Saban’s coaching reign. Knowing that it turned out to be the first of only two seasons before two more resets for the team makes the following bittersweet reading. But being a Dolphins fan my whole life has taught me to enjoy the victories whenever they come. I try my best not to appreciate them only in context of living up to the past or building toward a brighter future but to remember that a good day is a good day and that is enough and a lot.

Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 10:09 AM
Subject: Re: dolphins' radio team

of course, they're incurable homers, but i love the dolphins' new broadcast team: Jimmy Cefalo for play-by-play, Joe Rose for commentary and Nat Moore on the sidelines. all three of these guys played on the same early and mid '80s dolphins teams, and, toward the end of the first half yesterday, as they considered denver's options of what to do on offense, they veered into this conversation about the hook-and-ladder play. "i still don't know how that worked for us." they never referenced the game to which they were referring. also, they had Don Shula in studio for a little while, and he gushed about how much he has always loved Zach Thomas. he actually used the word “love.”

also, before the game, Cefalo and Rose pointed out that all the former dolphins call Larry Little, "Chicken." Cefalo didn't know the origin of the nickname, but he knew that some guys figured it was based on the character "Chicken Little." others thought it was because Little's legs are as skinny as a chicken's. Rose, though, said, no, no, no, it's because Little can eat so many chicken wings in one setting.

i can't wait to hear what they say next week about Larry Csonka.

it was a very happy day to be a long-time dolphins fan.

Everything about Carl Eller is just bigger, more severe

There will never be a movie made of my life; there could be a dozen made from Carl Eller’s:

-- I’ve enjoyed playing but more often watching football since I was a boy. Eller was a college and professional football star.

-- At 5-foot-11, I'm the biggest member of my family. Eller’s a giant man (6-feet-6, according to his 1970s Topps football cards). Here's part of what Dan Dierdorf said about Eller in his 2004 "Welcoming Committee" address at the Pro Football Hall of Fame: "... I'm sure that when I get to know you, you're a nice man and very gentle soul. But, I'm sorry, when I lined up against you as young player in the NFL, you were about the scariest-looking guy I've ever been around. ..."

-- The neighborhood I grew up in, in the racially mingled outskirts of Paducah, Ky., appears to have never been any too prosperous. The neighborhood Eller grew up in, in formerly segregated urban Winston-Salem, N.C., appears to once have been that town’s most affluent black neighborhood.

-- The houses in my old neighborhood are about as OK as they were when I was growing up there; the very small community of businesses, about as vibrant. When I visited there in 2005, the homes in Eller’s old neighborhood were alternately well-kept-and-charming grandparents' homes or falling-apart, abandoned eyesores. It appears to have once had a full spectrum of businesses that you'd need to exist within your own neighborhood (grocery, gas station, bank, etc.) By 2005, though, most were boarded-over and plastered with handbills; there appeared to be only two operational businesses: a beauty salon and a convenience store.

-- The high school I attended is going to close in a few years as part of a county-consolidation plan. There's a historical marker in front of Eller’s former Atkins High School, now a community center: "Constructed with the assistance of the Rosenwald Fund, a philanthropic organization devoted to building schools for African Americans. First use of Rosenwald Fund in North Carolina."

-- I have a drink or two a week. Eller has reportedly admitted to abusing alcohol and cocaine in the past.

-- I’ve participated in various anti-drug events through school, church and work. Eller operated a rehab facility and helped spur the NFL's anti-drug policies.

-- I've gotten speeding tickets and parking violations. As of last week, Eller's locked up in the Hennepin County, Minn., workhouse, serving a 60-day sentence after conviction on charges of fourth-degree assault of a police officer and second-degree refusal to submit to chemical testing.

Everything about Eller is just bigger, more severe. Bigger things—good and bad—happen to him, and he does bigger things—good and bad. And so, while I very much hope this latest episode in his life ultimately comes out well (and actually believe it could because unlikely redemption is the sort of thing that happens to a remarkable individual like Eller), there’s no experience in my life I can use to imagine what that outcome might be. My softer circumstances, choices and consequences are irrelevant in forecasting his. I hope and pray for the best.