Ex-footballers often lead fascinating lives,
and that certainly includes the members of one of the best Pittsburgh Steelers teams of all time.
Is Mean Joe Greene really all that mean? Keep watching to find out.
In 1975, quarterback Terry Bradshaw was on top of the world, but that didn't last forever,
and by 1983, he was sidelined by an arm injury. He couldn't even bring himself to attend games
with someone else in his place, which led to a public feud with head coach Chuck Noll,
and a re-injury. He retired at the end of the '83 season at the age of 35.
In 1984, Bradshaw started his broadcasting career as a CBS game analyst. Then in 1994,
he became one of the founding members of FOX NFL Sunday, and in 2019, the show was
inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
He's also enjoyed an acting career, appearing in the likes of Smokey and the Bandit II
and Father Figures, and he was even a contestant on The Masked Singer.
"What is more difficult? Playing football, or doing this?"
"Oh, this, by far."
Wide receiver Lynn Swann retired with a whopping four Super Bowl wins,
along with more than 5,000 yards receiving, 336 receptions, and 51 touchdowns. Post-retirement,
he waded into broadcasting with ABC Sports. Then in 2002, George W. Bush
selected him as a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports,
which was followed by a bid for governor of Pennsylvania as the Republican candidate.
In 2016, Swann returned to his old love of football when he stepped in as the University
of Southern California's athletic director, but he resigned in 2019 amid controversy. In 2021,
he sat down with the National Football Foundation to talk about how things had
and hadn't changed for Black players. He shared a story about how he, his brothers,
and cousin went out to dinner in San Francisco to celebrate the day he was drafted by the Steelers.
It ended with them all in jail, although they would eventually win
$40,000 each in a civil lawsuit. He explained how he moved past that by noting,
"I let who I was as a person speak."
"That was not me. I was not that person. I was falsely arrested and continued to move forward."
Rocky Bleier was drafted by the Steelers in 1968, and then he was drafted again in 1969,
this time by the Army. He served a tour in Vietnam,
sustained injuries that included shrapnel in his leg and the loss of part of his right foot,
and received both a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He went through hell again in the form of
physical rehabilitation before stepping back into his position as Steelers running back.
In 1974, Bleier was ready to quit. But he returned and inspired football fans across the nation.
After his final season in 1980, he embarked on a career as a motivational speaker,
spreading the word about how ordinary people can overcome extraordinary things.
Then in August 2019, for the 50th anniversary of his combat injury, Bleier returned to the valley
in Vietnam where he'd been injured. This was filmed for an ESPN special called The Return,
in which Bleier talks about how he was determined not to let that day dictate his life's path.
"Maybe for me, it accomplished what it needed to accomplish, as a closure in that part of my life."
During Jack Ham's 12 seasons in the NFL, he went to the Pro Bowl eight consecutive times,
all while working a regular job on the side. As an outside linebacker,
he formed an important link in the chain of the Steelers' nearly impenetrable defense.
Since his retirement in 1982, Ham has kept his toe in the game. The 2020 season saw him
and co-broadcaster Steve Jones start their 21st season calling football games for Penn State.
He's also a minority owner of the junior ice hockey team the Johnstown Tomahawks.
Most recently, he's lent business acumen to another venture: medical marijuana.
For Ham, this effort has been his way of fighting the opioid crisis. He's known countless players
who were addicted to opiate-based painkillers, and he believed that there must be a better
way. So he put his money where his mouth was and invested in the medical marijuana company Agrimed.
"If anyone knows anything about pain, it's gotta be a Super Bowl player
not once, but four times." "Well, ex-football players, yeah."
Linebacker Jack Lambert once said,
"We're the Pittsburgh Steelers. We're supposed to be the intimidators."
And intimidate he did. With his missing front teeth and angry snarl,
he was the guy that nobody wanted to line up against.
He was so fearsome that he once body-slammed an opponent for taunting one of his teammates.
Lambert retired in 1984 after suffering a major injury,
and he's spent his post-playing days with his wife and children on their 125-acre
piece of property not far from where Three Rivers Stadium once stood.
Initially spending his time as a volunteer deputy wildlife officer, he became known around town as
the go-to coach for youth sports and the guy who made sure all the playing fields were always in
tip-top shape. For the most part, he shuns the public spotlight and prefers the quiet life.
Running back Franco Harris danced his way right into football history
as part of perhaps the most famous play in NFL history.
Known as the Immaculate Reception, Harris caught a touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw right before
it hit the ground after it bounced off either a helmet or someone's hands. Harris' career
with the Steelers lasted 12 seasons, and since his retirement, he's remained incredibly busy.
After retiring, Harris jumped feet-first into business pursuits, starting with a bakery
venture called Super Bakery and the development of a nutritious doughnut. A few other ventures failed
to really get off the ground, like licensing player-name shirts, as well as an abortive attempt
to save a popular Baltimore sausage business. He didn't give up, though, and in 2014 he was
getting his newest company of Silversport off the ground, as he sold antimicrobial sports gear.
Then in 2017, he got involved with a company growing and processing medical marijuana.
John Stallworth arrived in Pittsburgh in 1974, and quickly became one of the team's
most invaluable wide receivers. He'd come a long way to get to that point,
as he'd contracted a viral infection as a child that left him paralyzed, which led to him having
a late start in football. He played in high school but was ignored by college teams. That, however,
really motivated him to prove his worth, and that motivation has continued post-retirement.
Stallworth is putting his business degree from Alabama A&M University to good work,
and as of 2022, he's one of the members of the Steelers' ownership group.
He's also been successful developing his own business ventures, including founding
the Madison Research Corporation in 1986. He's since sold the company for a cool $69 million,
and he currently focuses on his work through the John Stallworth Foundation.
In addition to supporting various business ventures and providing scholarships to
Alabama college students, he serves on the board of directors of various organizations.
When Steelers owner Art Rooney called Jon Kolb to congratulate him on being drafted by the team,
Kolb thought it was a joke. He laughed, and Rooney hung up, and it was only later that night that he
saw the news, and realized that he really had been drafted. 14 years later, he was still apologizing,
and Rooney was still laughing, after he'd stopped playing and started coaching.
Kolb retired after the 1981 season with a fistful of Super Bowl rings,
and then he headed back to school. Getting his master's in kinesiology and exercise science,
he went on to found a non-profit organization called Adventures in Training with a Purpose,
which offers physical training and psychological support.
As of 2022, Kolb still serves as the Director of Physical Training. He's also published papers on
his research into the impact of exercise on illnesses like diabetes. And outside of work,
he's pretty hardcore, as he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2020 at the age of 73.
Mel Blount was basically the ideal cornerback. He went undrafted, but he rose to become one
of the best to ever play the position, even though he was also the reason for a new rule
that made contact between receivers and defensive backs illegal after 5 yards.
"I know of very few players in the history of the NFL where the league
changed the rules because one guy was too good at one thing."
Blount retired in 1983, and that same year he'd already laid the groundwork for
his post-NFL life with the founding of the Mel Blount Youth Home in Vidalia, Georgia.
Over the years, Blount has continued to expand the Mel Blount Youth Leadership Initiative,
and it hasn't always been easy. When he first announced that he was going to establish a youth
center in Pennsylvania, he got the attention of the Ku Klux Klan, though the center was still
officially opened a year later. The camp has partnered with the Steelers for events
like hosting an all-day training camp, and in 2012, they launched a girls' equestrian program.
Donnie Shell went from an undrafted rookie to one of the first class of players inaugurated into the
Steelers Hall of Honor, as he was a starter for 11 seasons. He retired in 1987, and afterwards,
he started giving back to other players who were in the same situation that he was. He spent 15
years as the Carolina Panthers' director of player development, a position that allowed him to help
prepare players for moving on in the "real" world after their careers in the NFL came to an end.
Shell retired from that position in 2009, and then went on to partner with Johnson C.
Smith University to become an advisor for their Center for Spiritual Life and to help develop
programs for their crisis response facilities. In 2020, he added another line to his long resume,
when it was announced that he would be joining Dedication To Community
as an executive advisor. The group acts to bridge the gap between communities and law enforcement
and partners with multiple cities and professional sports teams across the country.
"Mean" Joe Greene got his nickname well before his NFL career began,
and it wasn't until that iconic Coca-Cola commercial that the world realized he was
only mean on the field. He's often lauded as one of the best players to ever play
the game for his tenure as a tackle on the Steelers' infamous Steel Curtain defense.
Decades after his retirement, he's still recognized for that commercial. People who
had once been afraid of him now come up to him on the street to offer him a Coke and a hug.
Greene went on to hold a handful of coaching jobs, including defensive line
coach for the Cardinals and the Dolphins. The 2003 season was his last as a coach,
as he then returned to the Steelers for the next nine years as a special assistant.
Tragically, his post-retirement life has also been marked by loss. In 2015, his wife Agnes passed
away from breast cancer. To honor her memory, he established a memorial scholarship for students
who had either been diagnosed with breast cancer or had a parent or guardian with the disease.
"Being part of and living through what cancer does to a family … what can you do?"
This one's a little different, as "Iron" Mike Webster passed away in 2002.
This legendary Steelers center is still being talked about today, though. His post-retirement
years were sadly a slow, downward spiral, and by the time he died at the age of 50,
things were so bad that he needed to use a taser on himself to fall asleep. At the
time of his autopsy, pathologist Bennet Omalu suspected that he was going to find something
that had been previously called "punch-drunk syndrome," which referred to a condition seen
in boxers who had suffered the symptoms of severe dementia after being hit so many times.
When Omalu analyzed slices of Webster's brain, he found proof of just this sort of brain damage,
and it was the kind that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. It was only diagnosed by a pathologist
intrigued by Webster's bizarre behavior leading up to his death. This behavior includes super-gluing
his teeth back in, wrapping his hands with duct tape, and tasing himself into unconsciousness.
Today, the condition is called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. In 2021, The New York Times
reported that since Webster's autopsy, more than 315 players have been diagnosed with CTE,
and it's led to a major reckoning about the NFL and traumatic brain injuries.
"If Webster's brain had not been examined,
I don't honestly think that we would be where we're at today."