Playing on Football's Highest Stage
What was your football progression at Brown?
I was kind of a late bloomer in high school. I was about 6-foot-3 and about 195 pounds. But I experienced a lot of personal growth at Brown, both mentally and physically. I honed the concepts of tenacity and made the best of every opportunity. I was mostly a JV player as a sophomore, but I became a full-time starter on the varsity as a junior. The coaching there was great. When I earned All-Ivy as a junior it was the first time I got all-anything.
You were taken in the seventh round of the 1982 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. Describe what it was like for an Ivy Leaguer in an NFL camp.
Before camp there was a stigma attached. I was clearly feeling inadequate, but my father told me that I should give it my best shot and that meant leave no stone unturned. I did an intense workout regimen before camp, and I was in the best shape of my life to that point. Then on one of my first days there we're doing a 1-on-1 blocking drill, and I'm up against Matt Blair. The whistle blows and Matt ran right through me. It was an eye-opening experience. And then there was the mental aspect of it, too. You had to know a combination of 3, 4 or 5 routes based on the defenses. In some ways the stigma helped because it got me some notoriety. Ahmad Rashad and Les Stoeckle gave me the nickname "Ivy." (Head coach) Bud Grant didn't keep many rookies back then, but I'd made enough of an impression on offense and special teams that I made the team.
When did your career start to take off?I had moved up to second-string tight end in my second season. We had some injuries that season and I luckily stayed healthy so they had to play me. By my third year, I became a starter. The Vikings' big acquisition that year was another tight end, Don Hasselback, and the word was that he was going to be the starter. I ended up having a great year and started every game for the next 10 years.
What is the league really like?
It's as crazy as you've heard. You had guys who used to literally try to take guys out. That mentaility is so anti what I'm all about ... when people try to maliciously take you out. But it's also very alluring. I remember as a rookie placing an order for a Porsche 944 when four or five months earlier I had no money. That same year, we went on strike but I was still buying into the hype. My mother and father sat me down and the next morning I humbly canceled the order. It's so easy to get caught up in it that the problems you see and hear about in the league don't surprise me.
At some point you then realized it was time to move on. Could you talk about that?
I thoroughly enjoyed football and I thoroughly enjoyed engineering and construction management, which I started to get involved in. I could see the damage that artificial turf had done to me for 13 years. Still, I was fortunate to have no major injuries. There was no way I was going to take drugs to play. I was in a cycle of whirlpools, massages, tape jobs like a mummy, playing with a neck brace, a knee brace. I did come back the year after I decided I wasn't going to play anymore. The Vikings had signed Warren Moon, and it was a thrill to play with a guy like that.
What was it like being an African-American student at Brown?
I did have some very good experiences at Brown. Athletics tends to break down the barriers because in the classroom or lab there were many times when you had to work together as a team. I'd been doing that all my life. I remember one of my great friends today, Lenny DiCostanzo, who was from Staten Island. We turned each other on to our own kind of music. He loved Pink Floyd, and he tried to show me that it wasn't that bad, and I'd play Parliament Funkadelic or Rick James. We ended up appreciating each other's music, and like I said we're still great friends. But like back then we're still working hard. In my time on the Board of Trustees at Brown I've seen a change in the diversity of the Board itself. I think the administration advocates diversity and they're helping to address those issues.
Who are some of the big influences in your life?
My mother and father are as key as it gets with regard to the sacrifices they made and the guidance they gave me. There's my wife, Anita, who was my high school sweetheart and our three children -- Geoffrey, Tyler and Stephanie. My relationship with God has been a guiding light. Les Stoeckle was a strong Christian and we had chapel services during my time with the Vikings. Our team chaplain, Tom Lanfier, also has helped me on my Christian walk.
***Please note, this story was written for a previous Ivy League Black History Month celebration. It is reproduced here for archival purposes and has not been updated.***