Latest / Then and Now with Coach Z / Ep. 020 | Gus Otto & Johnny Roland | Then & Now

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Ep. 020 | Gus Otto & Johnny Roland | Then & Now · Then and Now with Coach Z

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Well, good afternoon. This is code Z and today we have
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the the then and the now program and the then you can look at
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this some Missouri University Tiger shirt.
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The then is going way, way back and I have two of the all time
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great Missouri University football players here in the
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studio. And this says Missouri Tiger
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Grandpa. And I bought this because I have
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a grandson down there and if I ever go to a game, I wear the
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damn thing. But anyway, my my 2 guests here,
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their grandpas. But let me tell you something
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right now, they could probably still play.
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They probably knock somebody's head off if he gave me a chance.
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These are two of the toughest, best football players at
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Missouri, Missouri University has ever had.
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Let me introduce both of them, Mr. Gus Auto right here, a great
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Missouri University football player, and Mr. Johnny Rowland,
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another great from the Missouri University days gone by.
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They were great days. Gus, you want to start off and
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tell us a little bit about your high school career and how it
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started and how you got started in this football program.
1:04
Everything. High school, well, you know,
1:07
it's just something you do when you go to high school.
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You're on the C team for about two weeks and then they move you
1:13
up to the B team and then you start playing and you practice
1:18
and you're out there. You say who's going out for
1:19
football and everybody in the school.
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I went to an all boys school, so we didn't have any girls on the
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team. You know, that might have
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encouraged us, you know, to get more players out.
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Unbelievable. John, your your career back in
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the Corpus Christi, TX. Right, Right.
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Correct. Yes.
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Roy Miller High School state champion of 1966, I believe
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616162. And let's not be so humble.
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Your high school was the first integrated high school in the
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state of Texas to win a state championship, right John?
1:59
That's correct. Yeah, Yeah.
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Do you remember much about that game?
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We won. But that made it a great game.
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It was a tough game because the team we played, it was they were
2:09
top drawer and so I guess we gave all we could give and they
2:17
gave all that they could give and don't exactly remember the
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score, but it was a it was a tough game, really good drawing
2:27
game and it was a tough game. Yes.
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Well, Gus, both you guys, you, you went down to Missouri
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University and you both had just stellar careers down there.
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I mean, it's unbelievable. What drew you to Missouri U?
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What was the attraction, Gus? I mean, for you to go to, you
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were at McBride High School, had a great high school career and
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then all of a sudden you're going to Missouri and I'm sure
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you had other offers. Well you know the first first
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game I went to actually at Mizzou was 1961 when I guess it
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was 1960 was a 60 team when they played KU and the disputed game.
3:07
Yes, that I I did we. Win.
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Well, I thought we lost when I was there, but I find out we won
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that game. That's what they're saying
3:14
today, right? That's what they're saying
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today, right? So I was there when Bert Cohen
3:19
was there and John Hagel and Kurt Mcclinton, you know, these
3:23
were, it was before Gale Sayers. Those are good players though,
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very good. Right, so we had, we had a, had
3:30
a had a fun. It was a fun weekend, but the
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game didn't turn out too well. So who were some of the other
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guys that you can remember that were recruited with you at that
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time Just we're going back what, 6162 well.
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Gary Lane, you remember. He was.
3:47
AI knew Gary well. Gary Powell and Jim Waller and,
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you know, there's quite a few guys.
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Yeah, and what brought you to Missouri from Corpus Christi,
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TX? Scholarship, Dandelion.
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Yeah, well, you don't go ahead. I'm sorry.
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No, I mean, that's basically was the the emphasis for me to go
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there because you couldn't go to Texas school because at that
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time Southwest Conference weren't recruiting black
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athletes. And so I ended up going to North
4:22
Texas State. I went to Nebraska.
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I had six. You had 6 visits.
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And so I went to Nebraska, I went to Indiana, I went to
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Illinois. No, you, you Cal, you went to
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Cal and then I went to Arizona. There's one more someplace than
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that someplace, but there was a you could only go at that time.
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You could only go to six schools.
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And, and who was the coach down there at Missouri?
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Who, who, Who recruited you at that time?
5:00
Probably Clay Cooper. Clay Cooper, Yeah.
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And Clay Cooper and Tom Fletcher.
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Well, you, you were while you were down at Missouri, you must
5:13
have had a very, very good relationship with Coach Devine
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because you, you followed him and work with him very much in
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the NFL, didn't you, John? Well, he had to tackle my mom
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and my mom said you better take care of my kid.
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He did everything he could to keep me in on campus.
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Is there anything, Gus, that you remember playing down at
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Missouri that that's memorable, that you can remember that you
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know, that you still think about a little bit good, bad or
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indifferent? Well, I, you know, I know
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facility wise, you know, we didn't have the facilities that
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they do now. It's amazing what's what's down
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there now. But no, none of the schools did.
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But we had Charlie Rash was was my my recruiter in Saint Louis
6:06
area and he was a really good guy.
6:08
Of course, he got killed later. On in that terrible wreck.
6:11
Yeah, at Tennessee there. Was about 6 guys in that car who
6:15
lost their lives. Yeah, some big train hit him.
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I think a. Train hit him.
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I Oh boy. And that was really a a sad
6:23
time. But yeah, Charlie was a really
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good friend and and pretty close.
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But Mizzou. Mizzou is ranked number one in
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the nation. That year that I was being
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recruited. So you know, I went up to Notre
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Dame and went to Illinois and number of schools.
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But of course, it was also during basketball season, so we
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didn't have a lot of time to travel on weekends because we
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always had basketball games. Right.
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So I I turned down a few trips. Well, you ended up in Missouri
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and Missouri was very lucky to have you and, and Mr. Rowland
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here, John, when you were at Missouri University, you were
7:02
running back, a great running back, right, Gus?
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Is he pretty good? He.
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Was excellent. Was he Tell me the truth?
7:10
Well, I mean, I got, I got the block.
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For him, I'm trying to get rid of him today, yeah.
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That's I had Gus as my lead blocker.
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He was your lead blocker. Now listen, let me ask you this.
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And then then you also being a great teammate, you are also
7:23
filled in a little bit on defense.
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Just a little bit, but in those days, if you could play defense,
7:31
you you really was in favor with that coach and stuff because
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that's one of the position that you know that you don't have to
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hunt pick and and and try to find another guy.
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There you go, there you go. And you got, We were talking
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before with the face mask in those days.
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How about the parents today? They don't want their kids to
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play football. Can you imagine if the parents
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today and their kids had to wear those helmets and face masks?
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You guys said we'd get no kids out for football, were we, Gus?
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Well, you know, I have a theory on that a little bit.
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You know, we had our helmets I thought were great for what we
8:06
did, you know, But maybe today, if you get more, a better
8:10
helmet, you might want to hit somebody harder with it.
8:13
I don't know, run into more brick walls, you know?
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Yes. And that might be more dangerous
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really than the old helmets. I guess the guys who played in
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leather helmets probably had the safest approach.
8:26
Yes. So you go to the NFL, Gus, and
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you go to the NFL. You guys both have great NFL
8:35
careers. Gus, you go to Oakland and talk
8:40
about that. Oakland, they were some.
8:41
There was some, there was a thing here.
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I read about that Oakland, they called him something 11 angry
8:45
men. Right, that was our defense.
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Yeah, tell me about that. It's unbelievable.
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Well, we played a lot of man coverage, which man is man to
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man coverage on, on the receivers.
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And we had some very good guys who were good at man to man
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coverage. So I gave our defensive line
9:05
time to get to the quarterback because you can't just zip a
9:08
ball immediately against man coverage.
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It's difficult. So usually gives your defense a
9:13
little bit of time. And we had like 67 sacks that
9:18
year. 67 sacks. It's pretty strong, isn't it,
9:22
John? And.
9:23
Particularly if you got a linebacker that could run like
9:26
Gus could. Well Gus, you know, I was
9:28
reading, you know, I, I did more research for this and I did all
9:31
the years I went to high school and college, you know.
9:34
But any Gus you you intercepted 3 passes in your first game I
9:39
think is that? Correct.
9:40
Not in the 1st. Game not the first one.
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No first year. First year three ran one of them
9:46
back for a touchdown. Yeah, I ran two of them back.
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No kidding. Well, tell me.
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Well, we did that in college too, you know.
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That's you know. We ran one back against KU,
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matter of fact, which was called back because Vince Vince Turner
10:03
clipped a guy because he wanted the record.
10:05
He he returned a fumble 102 yards that.
10:09
Game. Oh yeah, yeah, sure.
10:11
Absolutely. So he said, well, he said, I
10:13
want the glory. I'm going to clip this guy and
10:15
we'll call that one back. Yeah, Gus is not going to take
10:20
anything away from me. Yeah, right.
10:21
Hey, John, let me ask you, your relationship with Coach Devine,
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you went with him to Green Bay and then you also went with him
10:31
to to Notre Dame when he went there, is that correct?
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Yes, correct. Well, what can you tell me about
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Coach Devine? I met him one time and I got in
10:37
trouble. You can't believe you can't make
10:40
this up, but the Carl James was the commissioner of the Big
10:44
Eight. This is a stiff, you know what I
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mean, A stiff. So I'm refereeing a game in the
10:53
Big Eight tournament and I'm standing across the floor like
10:58
I'm supposed to as a referee and, and this man come running
11:01
across, not running, but, you know, kind of jogging across.
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And as he got closer, it was Coach Devine.
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And he puts his hand out. Well, what am I going to do?
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Not shake his hand. I mean, he said, I just want to
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thank you for the good job you do as an official.
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And he turned around and left at all.
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Carl James, how could you talk? You got a a game in the
11:21
tournament and you're shaking the hand of the athletic
11:23
director. But I said, really, I do it
11:27
again. But I I'm going to tell Dan
11:30
Devine, Hey, get away from me. I don't want to shake.
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Are you kidding me? So but that's that's How I Met
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Dan Devine. Well, he was, he was a little
11:38
different, but he was a hell of a coach and a hell of a
11:42
motivator. So that's why I went to college
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and why I was playing football and and doing other things and
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in my years there at the at the university, so.
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Well, and you, you had the honor of being with Al Davis and Coach
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Madden. Tell me about both those guys.
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Well, Al was the head coach of my rookie year out there.
12:09
And then they back, back then the leagues were trying to merge
12:14
and, and they're having some trouble fighting it a little
12:17
bit. And and so they took Al after
12:21
the first year, made him the commissioner of the AFL and he
12:25
was in charge of trying to force a merger with the old NFL during
12:31
that time. Then we had Johnny Roush as a
12:34
head coach for one year and then John Madden was the linebacker
12:37
coach. So after that, the following
12:42
year, he became the head coach because Johnny Roush took a
12:45
position with the Buffalo Bills. He was trying to make OJ Simpson
12:50
a receiver coming out of the backfield.
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Yeah, good luck with that. And, and I think he gained 2000
12:59
yards. Well, before before we go
13:03
forward, I have some notes here that I didn't mention before.
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Both these guys that are sitting here, they were also captains
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down at Missouri University and that probably says as much about
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a person as anything. When when you're the captain of
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a any team, a high school team or collegiate team, it shows you
13:22
have great leadership and you got great respect from all your
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teammates. There's not going to be a
13:26
captain of a team. I don't think that the teammates
13:29
don't respect. Am I right in saying that?
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Gus, what do you think? I think that's probably correct.
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Yeah, and you guys were both captains.
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And I think, I think that Johnny Rowland, and I'm going to say
13:40
this right now, I believe you're the first minority to ever be a
13:44
captain at Missouri University at any sport.
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I think football for sure. I know.
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I think it might have been A1 basketball guy, and I can't
13:54
remember his name, but yeah, football, sure.
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Football for sure. Yeah.
13:59
Times have changed. Thank goodness.
14:00
Thank goodness. You know, everybody's getting a
14:03
chance now. You know, if you can play and
14:04
you're good and you're a good citizen, you got a chance.
14:08
And I I was supposed to say something before the program
14:11
started. I wanted to say this right now.
14:13
And then we'll go back to these two gentlemen.
14:15
But Donnie DJ Jones, he's a big freshman lineman for the
14:20
University of Missouri. For all you people who are
14:23
listening to this, he's a freshman kid.
14:26
He was a top recruiting lineman at Missouri, you and one of the
14:29
top recruiting lineman in the country.
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And he's at a hospital right now.
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They detected a serious heart problem and he's in a hospital
14:38
waiting for a heart transplant. In my prayers, and I'm sure
14:41
everybody's go out to this young man.
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Absolutely. That's just a tough thing for a
14:46
young kid. Just think, he played four years
14:48
of high school, one of the best in the country, and then you're
14:51
down there, you're a freshman and you find this out.
14:54
He was just going through a routine, physical, as I
14:56
understand it, and they found this thing and that's pretty,
15:01
you know, very serious. Very serious, but.
15:03
Without that physical, we don't know where he'd be today.
15:07
Exactly that he might be on the field and God forbid something
15:10
would happen. So thank goodness for that.
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So now let's talk to some more happy times. the Super Bowl
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sitting over here. Mr. Rowland, you're a coach on
15:23
the Super Bowl champion, with Mr. Mike Ditka leading the
15:26
charges. Yeah, we we had some fun.
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I'll bet you did. Yeah, we were.
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We were. We were good and our players
15:38
knew we were good. And but they also had a guy that
15:43
had good leadership in terms of Mike Ditka, he was a great guy
15:49
for me to work for. And we didn't go there in the
15:53
morning and then try to come back home at 10:00 at night, as
16:01
per Vermeil. But he only knew one way to go
16:07
about his job. And so if he, if he was there,
16:12
we were going to have to be there.
16:14
Didn't you? Did you have a lot to do with
16:18
the refrigerator carrying the football?
16:20
Well, yeah, kinda. I don't know how it got started,
16:31
but we had a fullback, Matsui, who just passed away a couple
16:38
weeks ago. Matt was the generally the guy
16:43
fullback along with Walter and then then of course we had some
16:47
other guys, but I don't know how how I got it.
16:54
The story got around that that Fridge was had played a little
16:59
fullback in his in his he was Clemson boy.
17:05
I think that they, they had tried him out at fullback at
17:08
there and to his behalf and to every else, everybody else's
17:14
behalf, he was pretty damn good. And so Mike, to his credit, he
17:21
says, won't you get the fridge over there and teach him some?
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It's going to be full back place.
17:32
I mean, or it's not going to be full back place.
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He's going to be blocking. And I said, OK, fine, we're
17:41
taking him over there and running through some ropes and
17:46
through some other drills that we had, and he was pretty good.
17:51
As I said to myself, yeah, we'll take a try and then a try we
18:00
did. And then of course.
18:01
They couldn't tackle him, could they?
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Heck no. People tackle 370 lbs.
18:07
Well, who could run? Who could run?
18:09
Who could run? He was an.
18:10
Athlete. And that's exactly right.
18:13
He was an athlete. He was an athlete and you know,
18:16
he, he enjoyed it. And then all of a sudden he just
18:19
became the fridge and we had some fun with it.
18:23
Oh, I'll bet you guys had a lot of fun with it.
18:25
You've had, well, you beat the hell out of the team you played
18:27
in that Super Bowl, if I remember right.
18:29
Were you in the Patriots? Yeah.
18:31
Beat him bad. Beat him bad.
18:35
I forgot what the score was, but it was.
18:37
Do you remember after the game and you guys getting on the
18:41
airplane and going? Back.
18:43
No, we had to stay. You had to stay.
18:44
Oh yeah, we it was a night game. OK, So you stayed.
18:47
Well, that that OK. Well, the same question.
18:50
How did you celebrate that night?
18:53
I'll bet. Were there a lot of adult
18:57
beverages? You think that?
18:58
Night I think a few adult beverages yes of.
19:02
Course, I guess. I'm sure it was, yes.
19:05
Well, Gus, over in Oakland, eight years in the NFL and you
19:11
made the All Pro a couple times. And John, you also weren't all
19:14
All Pro a couple times. But when you played for Coach
19:19
Madden, what was his philosophy? How did he deal with the
19:22
football players? You know, you read a lot about
19:24
guys, but for somebody who has been in his presence as often as
19:28
you were. Well, John was pretty much
19:32
you're responsible for what you do type of coach, he said.
19:36
You know, you're a player and you know what to do.
19:38
We, we have meetings, we go over these things and now it's your
19:41
job to do what you have to do. And, and he let the players,
19:45
they could take charge. He didn't beat on people,
19:48
penalize them, you know what have you?
19:51
Yeah, so, well, John, you, you, you eluded a few minutes ago
19:55
about Coach Vermeil and about his work ethic.
19:58
You want to tell everybody here how it was working for Dick
20:00
Vermeil? Well, it's he was a taskmaster
20:08
for one thing. And if you get to work at 6:00
20:15
in the morning, maybe 2:00 the next morning before you surface,
20:19
he was just a workaholic. But that was, you knew that
20:23
going in and you could be there if you want.
20:27
If you get, get a little rough for you and then, you know, you
20:31
can always take a hike and go and find, to find another job.
20:38
But he was a, he was a, he was a player's coach #1 because he
20:44
loved the players. But he also, we were also work
20:48
our butts off in terms of getting things prepared to play
20:53
a football game. And, you know, but he, he was,
20:59
he was a test master of sort of sorts.
21:01
But you know, you knew that going in.
21:03
And if you didn't want to work, then go find another job.
21:07
That that's about how it works and you don't like it.
21:10
You know, there's a door. There's about how many Fifty
21:12
guys? Out there waiting and I left
21:14
your job and I left after three years.
21:17
After three years. Well, that's OK.
21:19
Listen, let's talk a little bit about Missouri University right
21:26
now and also the NIL and, and, and what you guys you, you guys
21:33
are veterans. You guys have been around, you
21:34
guys played down at Missouri, you on a football scholarship,
21:38
you got a little bit of meal money and what about your
21:42
business it's. All different now.
21:44
A little bit of it, a little bit of.
21:46
Money. Little bit of it.
21:47
A little, a tiny bit of it. Right.
21:48
Well, it was the only money we got really was they said it was
21:51
supposed to be for your laundry. Yeah, everybody wore dirty
21:56
clothes because they had $15.00 a month to spend and they
22:01
weren't going to use it on laundry.
22:04
So you had dirty clothes? That's right.
22:06
So you wear dirty. Wait, you wear what the athletic
22:09
department had. You had shorts, you had T-shirts
22:11
and whatever. Shirts and whatever you needed.
22:13
Well, what about today? What?
22:14
What do you guys think? Really.
22:16
I'm going to open this up to you 2 guys because I don't know a
22:18
damn thing about it and I haven't been anywhere near where
22:21
you guys were. Well, I think it's today is
22:24
modern day. This is what you do today and
22:27
you really can't go back and compare anything because it and
22:31
have sour grapes. It's just the way it is and just
22:34
be happy for the guys that are playing today.
22:37
But don't ever be a a true like you 2 guys are sitting right
22:41
here. You guys were Missouri
22:42
University football players with Missouri University football
22:46
teammates for 3-4 years. It's not that way anymore.
22:52
Oh, no, it's a. It's a.
22:55
Revolving door, right? Exactly right, Exactly.
22:58
So I I love Missouri, you and I, I was so happy watching them
23:02
last week against Florida and everything else.
23:04
But when you guys were playing down there and I used to watch
23:08
football, it, it meant it was just different.
23:10
It meant there was something more Missouri, put it that way,
23:18
than today. Well, the the I'm trying to
23:22
think we're 66. I guess it would have been.
23:26
We played Florida in the Sugar Bowl.
23:32
No, not that we didn't play them.
23:34
We played in Sugar Bowl. That's right.
23:36
Yeah, Sugar Bowl. I guess we played in the Sugar
23:38
Bowl and Steve Sperry was the quarterback they had.
23:44
They were good, but I think we were just a little better and on
23:50
that particular day because once we got the lead and Coast Coast
23:58
Divine he very conservative, we win.
24:04
What do we win by 14/21 to 18/21/18, yes, 20 to 18. 2018
24:11
missed one extra point and he said on the ball and he he had a
24:17
lead he. Hit the clock.
24:19
He tried to run the clock. Tried to run the clock and damn
24:22
it, we almost lost the game because of his stubbornness, I
24:27
guess you would say. But to his his credit, he knew
24:33
that what kind of team he had and so we just grit it and and
24:40
came out with a victory. So it was, so I'm, I'm thinking
24:45
in my mind, I'm saying, Oh my God, he's the coach.
24:48
He's supposed to be the ringleader.
24:51
Well, he was the ringleader, but he we won the game.
24:55
So it was. But they were pretty good too.
25:00
So this kid that Missouri has right now, we were talking about
25:02
him, just quarterback, it's Austin Simmons.
25:06
He's pretty good. He's pretty good.
25:08
He's he's been great so far. No, no interceptions and that's
25:12
amazing. Out of 200 and what, 30 passes,
25:15
he's attempted something like that.
25:18
You know, I, I watched the Florida game the week before
25:21
when Florida just took Mississippi apart and I, I told
25:24
my wife, I said, boy, I said, and that that's the day that
25:27
Missouri lost that game to Mississippi State.
25:30
I said, I said, boy, Missouri's going to be in for some real,
25:33
real problems next week. You know, I mean, and by golly
25:36
real problems. They beat the hell out of
25:38
Florida. It just destroyed them.
25:40
So you you don't I'm glad. That's why I never gambled.
25:42
But I don't I don't lost every penny I have bet.
25:46
Against Missouri. It's going to be interesting
25:50
this week after a big win like that coming back against A&M.
25:54
They can beat A&M, though. Can't take us.
25:56
Oh. Yeah, I think so.
25:56
And we're playing them at home. That helps you know.
26:00
That helps a lot. And A&M has got a pretty good
26:04
quarterback as well. Yeah, and he runs it.
26:06
Well, and he runs it well, but I think he, I don't know if he's,
26:12
he's been off a little bit and I don't know what the he's all,
26:17
but basically got the same team that he had last year.
26:20
I'm talking about A&M. But you know, each week is
26:24
different. Yeah.
26:25
Our defense was awful awesome last week.
26:29
They were really awesome. See, I thought that quarterback
26:31
the week before, he can look like a world beater.
26:36
He didn't have a chance last Saturday.
26:38
I mean, they were all over. Well, they got the running back
26:41
that was leading the nation in rushing before that game, but he
26:45
only gained 13 yards and 12 carries.
26:48
Unbelievable. That's amazing.
26:49
It is amazing effort. Well, let me ask you this the
26:52
the young kid who got shot, the running back, the great running
26:56
back. What what do you guys here?
26:58
You know, you hear everything that he'll be back at this game
27:00
in the 5th game. I think the kid just what the
27:04
hell do I know? But I if I was his parents, I'd
27:07
want him out the whole year. And really.
27:09
Yeah, well, if you can, if you. Can, yeah.
27:13
But I don't think he's going to play ever before this year's
27:16
ever. Well, maybe ever.
27:17
I don't know with the bone hit his femur, that's a pretty
27:22
serious bone to be messing with. You know that, You know if if he
27:28
could ever play it, how, how, how bad it was injured.
27:32
We don't know that. Yeah.
27:34
What? What is he?
27:35
Do you guys know what he's doing down there right now?
27:37
What are they doing with him? Oh, I don't know.
27:39
I mean. I guess he's, I guess he's
27:41
rehabbing and he's going in the weight room and strengthening
27:44
and doing all that, I guess. Yeah, strengthening the muscles
27:47
around. It and I guess no football.
27:48
What, you can't do too much to a bone when you're going to go in
27:52
there and grab some bone on it? Yeah, That, that that's an awful
27:57
thing that happened to that kid and it happened late at night,
28:03
very late at night. I.
28:04
Think Obviously a pretty stupid thing.
28:07
You know there's an old saying. I my, my mom and dad told me
28:09
this. I didn't listen all the time
28:10
guys, but bad things happen after midnight.
28:15
Same, same, same as my mom and dad.
28:19
Same thing, Jack. Same.
28:20
Thing did we listen? No, I asked him.
28:24
How did you know? You never, ever stayed up, did
28:26
you? It's that late.
28:28
Hey, listen, Gus, while we're talking, how's your buddy doing?
28:31
The lawyer? You know whose son was a good
28:35
Walter Rocky? Oh, as far as I know, Rocky's
28:42
doing great. What a guy.
28:44
Yeah, I love to play golf with Rocky.
28:47
Rocky's awesome, you know? He's he can't play golf anymore.
28:50
I guess he's he's got hurt. Oh, did he?
28:53
I forget what it is, a back problem or something.
28:55
Well, two of the two of the worst times in in in my career
29:02
as an official, Rocky was at both of them.
29:05
He was he was down in San Juan when I ruptured my Achilles in
29:12
the San Juan shootout. Rocky was there, you know, and
29:17
he had a few choice things to say, like are you hurt, you
29:22
know, but I you know, and listen, his son when he went
29:25
down to Missouri. Isn't that a great thing with
29:27
Chip? Did this kid goes down to
29:28
Missouri? John, you might not know this,
29:30
but his son was a was a three sport athlete over at the John
29:34
Burroughs football, basketball and baseball little guy about
29:38
51059 a chip and he was a great athlete and he was offered
29:44
multiple scholarships to Division two and Division Three
29:47
schools. His dream was to go down to
29:51
Missouri U and play basketball for Norm Stewart.
29:55
So Stewart told me the story. He said this little you know,
29:59
I'm going to tell you what he called them.
30:00
He said this little asshole walks in the gym and says, hey,
30:03
I'm going to walk on and Stewart says here what walk on?
30:07
Who the hell are you? So he stays with them and in his
30:12
sophomore year, he's on this traveling squad and I was
30:19
refereeing this NCAA tournament out in Boise, ID.
30:22
That's the worst Missouri loss of all time when they lost to
30:25
UCLA. But the two nights before
30:31
Missouri's play in Indiana and Stewart puts Chip Walther in,
30:36
it's a close game and he puts his kid in the game.
30:39
He hit 3 threes in a row to win that damn game and Stewart gave
30:43
him a full ride the rest of the way so far.
30:47
You're. Darn right.
30:48
And all you young kids, you know, if you have a dream and
30:50
you really believe in yourself and there's a great, great
30:53
story. Yeah.
30:55
And what a great kid. And then his son Chips, son
30:58
Rocky's grandson, was a hell of a shooter over the Burroughs
31:02
basketball. Really good.
31:04
Yeah. Owen, it's a good family.
31:06
Yeah, that's great. Yeah.
31:08
Rocky Walter. Yeah.
31:09
I was with Skip Burkmeier the other day and of course, Skip,
31:12
you know, his son was a great golfer too, you know, and.
31:15
Oh yes. And, and Rick was a really good
31:19
friend of Rocky's. Yeah, and I, I think that
31:22
Rocky's daughter, a granddaughter, I think that
31:26
she's a pretty good athlete. I don't remember what sport she
31:28
did. She might have been a golfer,
31:29
maybe. I'm not sure.
31:31
But anyway, so let's, let's talk about life after football.
31:37
And you know, when you retired, Gus, you know, and I would
31:40
imagine anybody who's played at the highest level that you guys
31:43
played at and, and have been around it.
31:45
And all of a sudden one day we're, we're well, hey, it's
31:49
over. All the high school, all the
31:52
college, all the pro, you know, getting ready and you know, the,
31:56
the adrenaline pumping every Saturday or Sunday and then all
32:00
of a sudden you're not doing that anymore.
32:01
How? How hard was that?
32:04
Well, it's always tough to fight because you're you're starting a
32:06
career at 30 versus started a career at 21.
32:10
Makes a big difference. But I got mainly got into
32:14
investments and what have you and it worked out fine for me.
32:18
Great. And it kind of had my own little
32:19
company. Good for you and and John you,
32:23
of course you got to stay in it a little longer because you were
32:25
coaching and everything after you played.
32:27
Yeah, yeah, that was. Well, with, with Danny, he hired
32:32
me and Green Bay at the time and well, he had promised my mom
32:37
that she would, she wouldn't have to worry about it me in
32:45
terms of what I was going to do after football, because he had
32:50
kind of promised her that, yeah, he'd take care of her only child
32:56
coach. Devine honored that, didn't he?
32:58
Oh yeah. Absolutely, absolutely.
33:00
And so I I ended up choosing a career in terms of what's I got
33:09
done playing. He hired me at the at the Green
33:15
Bay and I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew that I
33:19
didn't want to coach. But then I'm saying I've got to
33:23
eat. So I ended up going to Green Bay
33:28
with him for the first year. Enjoyed it.
33:32
We had some, we were decent, but we we were lacking.
33:42
So he got fired. And so, as it turns out, he goes
33:46
to Notre Dame. I go to Notre Dame with him.
33:50
And after Notre Dame, Dick Vermeil was the head coach at
33:58
UCUCLA and my recruiting area at UCLA was Southern California.
34:08
And it turns out that we have we as coaches, you know, we get
34:17
huddled around and we talk about what do you like about this guy?
34:21
Because we're all looking at the same guy and trying to find the
34:24
same player that that going to help us try to win football
34:27
games. And so I ended up going to
34:32
Philadelphia with him for for three years.
34:35
And after those three years, I moved back to Saint Louis by the
34:42
radio station. So similar to some of this
34:47
stuff. And as it turns out, the after,
34:55
let's see, I had to the itch got back to me and I ended up going
35:02
to where did I go, guys? Well, you went to Chicago Bears.
35:05
Don't forget about that. Well, yeah, that was that was
35:10
doing the rainstorm. Yeah, man, yeah.
35:14
So anyway, I I bounced around a little bit about the radio
35:18
station, came back to Saint Louis and ended up Mike Decker
35:24
was the being named a head coach in Chicago and Bill Tobin, who
35:29
was personnel director and Vince Tobin.
35:32
He was a Missouri guy, Vince, wasn't he?
35:34
Well, Bill and Bill, both of them.
35:37
Both of them. Both.
35:38
Bill was there freshman year. He was two years ahead of US 2.
35:44
Years ahead of us and then Vince was in our class and Vince was
35:49
now the head coach at the Green Bay at the Arizona Cardinals.
35:54
And so I latch on to them. So I just a rat.
36:01
Well, you don't get hired by so many different organizations and
36:06
so many different people unless you're damn good.
36:10
Am I right, Gus? That's right.
36:12
I mean, you know, damn good at what you do and both you guys
36:16
are, are phenomenal. Hey, you played one of your one
36:19
of your buddies. I, I saw here again doing a
36:23
little research, you know what I mean?
36:26
Warren Powers, he was one of your teammates in Oakland.
36:28
Right. Yeah, he was my roommate.
36:30
And your roommate? They were both single at the
36:32
time and. Well, how did that work out?
36:37
Pretty good. It worked out great, you know,
36:39
and then then I met my wife after four years with with
36:44
Warren and he had to get married.
36:47
He said well he said I'm losing my roommate, which he met me to
36:53
Suzanne, my wife. And then and then powers ends
36:56
up. And then she introduced him to
36:58
Linda, Linda Horry, who was became his wife.
37:02
No kidding. Yeah.
37:04
Wow. Well, that's kind of like I
37:05
course. We were talking before I course.
37:08
Al Ferrari's wife was a nurse and she, she introduced I course
37:17
to Barb. She was a nurse, you know.
37:19
And then there were two barbs at this party and ICAR said he
37:22
wasn't going to go to the party. We always need a good referral,
37:25
you know, so so. So, So finally they called ICAR.
37:29
The party was going on, it was on a Sunday and Al Ferrari
37:32
called him. He said where the hell are you?
37:34
You're supposed to be here to meet Barb.
37:38
So Icor says, you put me on, you know, what does she look like?
37:41
And Ferrari says, well, you're going to have to come here and
37:44
see what she looks like. You know what I mean?
37:46
So Icorse goes to this party and he had a a sheet over his face
37:51
with two eyes cut out. To go under this and.
37:54
That's how he met her, you know, And they've had a long.
37:57
That way he could leave, but she wouldn't know.
37:59
It he could duck out, yeah. But yeah, well, all three, three
38:05
of us and icorse, we're all members of the 123 Three club
38:08
here in Saint Louis for those people who are going to watch
38:11
this and listen, it's a great club.
38:13
And Gus, why don't you, you know, you've been a member a
38:16
long time and we we all been a pretty long time.
38:18
But give us a little background on that 123.
38:22
Club, Well this was a club with a lot of the press people
38:26
involved in it going way back. It was the restaurant that they
38:31
used to have lunch at. Was Caddy cornered across from
38:34
the Globe? Democrat, I think, or post
38:36
dispatch building. And they'd go have lunch there
38:39
from 1:00 to 3:00. Hence that became the name of
38:44
the club, the 123. So what'd you do from 1:00 to
38:47
3:00? Well, we were over at the
38:48
restaurant, you know, talking sports and that's pretty much
38:53
what we do at our lunches from 1:00 to 3:00.
38:57
It it's we do it from from noon or was it 11:30, noon to noon to
39:03
well, it's supposed to be noon to 1:00.
39:06
It's a one hour. We've all been in the club long
39:09
enough to know some of the guys that we've lost in that club.
39:13
Who? Were just.
39:14
You know, we we've lost Ray Cliff.
39:16
We talked about Ray before and Gee whiz, we lost Hannafin.
39:19
You probably know Hannafin really well.
39:21
Tell me about Hannafin a little. Bit while he he was a piece of
39:24
work. Pretty damn good line.
39:27
Coach a great lad. Coach, yeah, he was.
39:30
And a good individual as well. A great guy, you guys here that
39:34
day on Delmar when Hannifin got sick and, and they, and they
39:38
kind of took him out, see, and you know, they, they were
39:42
worried. I mean, it was bad.
39:43
And whoever walked them out and they're almost carrying them
39:46
out, two or three guys. And did Dan O'Neill, you know
39:48
how sarcastic he is. So Dan O'Neill, he comes in
39:54
right when they're taking Hannifin out, and O'Neill comes
39:57
in without breaking a a sweat. He says what the hell did he eat
40:01
for lunch today, You know? But the Hannifin was great.
40:05
And then when Costa shows up and talks and Whitey all the guys.
40:12
Well, Jay Randolph, you know, he's not doing very well right
40:15
now. He's I used to give him a ride
40:18
every once in a while, but he can't get in the car hardly
40:22
anymore so. His voice is still strong.
40:25
You know he's still I call him every now and then.
40:27
We and we just lost Mr. Suntrip. Wonderful man.
40:31
That was a great guy. And yeah, just recently.
40:34
Well, Speaking of Mr. Suntrip, this gal here, she, she's got AI
40:39
put her into a little Ford Focus after I was done with it.
40:41
And then that car just started having all kind of trouble.
40:44
We bought it from Suntrip. I'd call him.
40:48
Boom, he'd have some guy down there working on that car within
40:51
an hour. And.
40:54
How much do I owe? How much do I owe you?
40:57
Go get going. What a what a man.
41:00
Yeah, yeah, well, his family, the.
41:01
Whole the whole family, they're wonderful people, wonderful
41:04
people. Well, I think it's about time to
41:06
wrap it up. I, I, I got these guys started
41:08
late today and I might have messed up because Matt thought
41:12
that I was going to start moving the show till 4:30 and quite
41:16
frankly, I, I'm not going to say that that I didn't screw up
41:19
today. I could have.
41:19
I could have told him that we're.
41:22
Going to oh, you're the boss, so you get to do.
41:23
That Well, yeah, but he here's a guy that without the studio, I
41:28
can't do it out of my car. But you guys have been a delight
41:32
to be here today. I'm honored.
41:33
I really am. I I say that and I was sincerely
41:35
honored to be with two of the greatest Missouri University
41:38
football players that ever walked on that field down there
41:41
at Furrowed field. I refereed one game down there,
41:46
high school football final, and it was Sumner High School out of
41:52
Saint Louis against Columbia Hickman, Leo Lewis.
41:58
Leo Lewis. Leo Lewis OK, so the Sumner
42:02
kids, they were damn good until that day.
42:07
State final 56 to 6 What? Oh yeah, Leo knows that a day.
42:13
You never seen a team they but they were so much bigger in
42:15
summer and and it it snowed, so they had cleared the field, but
42:20
still it wasn't it wasn't an ideal field for guys who could
42:24
run like Sumner and they just beat the crap out of those kids.
42:27
It was brutal. I mean, they were bigger,
42:29
stronger, but Leo Lewis was a hell of an athlete.
42:33
Small as he was. As small as he was, yes.
42:36
Well, his dad. His dad was the player too.
42:39
Good player at Lincoln. His dad was a great player at
42:42
Lincoln. Was he?
42:42
Yeah. Well, Jana, of course, we love
42:44
Mizzou, so that's great. Absolutely.
42:46
We're looking forward to the rest of this year.
42:49
They got their work cut out for him.
42:51
Yeah, starting with A&M this week and Arkansas, then Texas, I
42:56
mean. Nothing, nothing would make me
42:59
feel better than them beating Texas.
43:02
Honestly, I, I, I, I I have a real problem with Texas for two
43:06
reasons. One.
43:07
They got the most money. For sure.
43:09
And they, they're the reason the Southwest Conference went to
43:12
hell, right, John? And I don't know.
43:15
That well. From what I've heard, I.
43:16
Agree. You know, that's when all those
43:18
Texas schools came over to the Big Eight.
43:22
It became the Big 12. And then they're in the Big 12.
43:27
They're not they're not happy being in the Big 12 anymore,
43:30
Texas. So they move on, you know, again
43:34
and. They bring along your buddies,
43:37
Texas A&M. Thank you.
43:39
Yes, you know, so you know. They didn't want Oklahoma
43:44
anymore. So, and I'll let you guys go.
43:46
So I get a phone call from a guy named Paul Galvan.
43:49
He was a supervisor of basketball officials in the
43:54
Southwest Conference, and he had the three leagues in Southwest
43:58
Conference and the Sunbelt and one other league, OK, the
44:02
Southland. He had those 3.
44:03
So he calls me out of nowhere. I'm living in Saint Louis, and I
44:06
had referee with Paul before he had retired and become a
44:09
supervisor. Would you like to come work in
44:12
the Southwest Conference? And this will go back to John.
44:16
You'll appreciate this. So I said, what the hell?
44:18
Why do you want me in the Southwest Conference?
44:20
He says, well, Nolan Richardson, he's going to be coming into the
44:24
Southwest Conference from Arkansas and you're the only guy
44:29
that he knows because I refereed for him in the Valley and he
44:33
said I have to hire you. He says I don't want no one on
44:37
my ass. He says he's going to be tough
44:39
as it is, and that's the truth. And I think no one was the only
44:42
African American coach in that conference in the Southwest
44:46
Conference. Great coach.
44:48
You're a great person, absolutely.
44:51
Tough, tough. He'd give me that and look from
44:55
across the floor. So first he used to scare me a
44:57
little, you know, and then years later I he'd give me that and
45:00
look and I walk. I said, Nolan, I'm used to it.
45:02
It's not working anymore. I'm not scaring you.
45:06
I used to be scared of you. But anyway, thanks guys for
45:09
being here today and I'll close this with the one true statement
45:14
for sure. Today is the youngest will ever
45:17
be. Absolutely.
45:19
Thank you.