Rocky Bleier And Me At The Warrior Games
Posted on | May 16, 2010 | 2 Comments
(Click on the image for a much larger version)
When I heard Rocky Bleier was coming to the Warrior Games, I knew I had to meet him, although I had no idea how to make that happen.
If you don’t know who Rocky is or his story….well, you should. Go look it up right now – I’ll wait.
I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 60s and early 70s and was already in the Air Force by the time Rocky and the Steelers won their first Super Bowl in 1975. Matter of fact, I was actually home from DC for the Martin Luther King Day weekend and went to the parade that Monday on the way back to the airport. (Yes, for those who aren’t old enough to remember, there was actually a time they played the Super Bowl in the middle of January and not February. But I digress…)
When they won the next one a year later in Jan 1976 I was in Thailand, and watched it in the middle of the night on one of the first live satellite TV broadcasts the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service did – in fact, might’ve been the first. By the time they made it back in Jan 1979, I’d been to language school in the States again and was back overseas, this time in the Philippines, but again watching them live on TV in the middle of the night as they beat the Cowboys in a game that my Dallas fan friends still get tight jaws about to this day (and which still gives me great pleasure to see them get). For the last of the first four in Jan 1980 I was back in Omaha.
I don’t think any of that is unusual or makes me special – there are thousands of men and women who could tell the same story, only with the locations changed. And I didn’t ask him, but I bet Rocky hears those stories all the time. I think he really likes to still hear them, but then again he could just be the nice guy I truly think he is and he’s just humoring all of us.
Rocky was probably always my favorite Steeler, and my reasons are what I really think are the obvious ones. Doing his time when he probably coulda gotten out of it, coming back from being so badly wounded, and going on to win four Super Bowls.
What I always liked most, though, was even when the Steelers were at the top, Rocky seemed to be the guy that got overlooked by other teams, didn’t get the credit for being the fantastic player he was, and he was always happy to burn the teams that did that. They’d be looking for Franco, or Stallworth, or Swann, and – bang – Bradshaw hands the ball off to “little” Rocky and he either eludes a buncha guys, or pounds down the middle with a few of them – almost always much bigger than he was – hanging on for dear life.
So, when I was standing at the end of the Olympic Training Center pool Friday afternoon about quarter to 5 just as the final event of the games had ended, and I looked up and about an arm’s length away, there was Rocky… Well, once I got past that momentary delay your mind does as it realizes “Yeah, that’s really who that is”, I knew I had to say hello.
We took that great picture you see, and then talked for several minutes – no crowds, “posses’, anybody – just us. (And, yes, he does look that good. I didn’t realize he was 64 until I looked it up later – I should look that good now, much less then, and had I thought about it, I’d have asked him what the secret was.)
Perfect ending to what has been one of the most wonderful – and emotional – coupla weeks of my life.
Oh, yeah…
Since the focus of this site is service dogs, in particular dogs for veterans and from Canine Companions for Independence, you may be wondering what this post has to do with that. Well, we were there with our current puppy in program, Ophelia, and Rocky, just like everybody else I meet, got to hear about that subject in some detail from me (actually, he asked ME about it).
Rocky, thanks again.
Comments
2 Responses to “Rocky Bleier And Me At The Warrior Games”
Leave a Reply
About Me
I'm very active with Canine Companions for Independence as a former member of the Veterans Task Force and puppy raiser. Retired US Air Force Chief Master Sergeant with my last assignments at the Air Force Academy as the Fourth Group Sergeant Major and Dean of Faculty Superintendent.
I'm actively looking for a paid position doing what I already do full-time as a volunteer.
Read More About MeSubscribe via RSS
May 16th, 2010 @ 9:04 pm
I am so glad you got to meet him. He is a truly amazing man and his heart is truly with the troops!
May 27th, 2010 @ 6:08 am
Rocky has been involved with people with disabilities since his time with the Steelers. He was (and I believe still is) a volunteer with Special Olympics since the early 80s. (I met him the first time back then when I was executive director of West Virginia Special Olympics, working closely with Pennsylvania Special Olympics.) Rocky was a tireless promoter of Special Olympics and loved being around the athletes. He is a real character with a great sense of humor.