Latest / NFL explained. / Steve Largent talk his unlikely Hall of Fame path, stint as U.S. Congressman, Mike Harden payback

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Steve Largent talk his unlikely Hall of Fame path, stint as U.S. Congressman, Mike Harden payback · NFL explained.

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I'm Peanut Tillman, and this is the NFL Player's Second
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Act podcast and with me, as always, my trusty co host,
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: mister Roman.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I talk too much, Harper, Well, thank you. I'm not
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: going to talk at all then.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: But I'm really excited about our next guest because this
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: is our first my first time ever meeting him and
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: uh he, I mean, the stats speak for himself.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Just introduce and let's jump into it.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: He's a first ballot Hall of Famer NFL Top one hundred,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: and he's the only Hall of Famer to ever serve
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: in Congress. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Stevelger to
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: show larger thank you, walding.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: To the pot. Mister world traveler.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Yes we figured that actually opposite. Yeah, he's uh DC, Seattle, No, Tulsa.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, he's from Oklahoma City. Yeah, No, Houston, Houston Draft. Yeah,
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: six weeks we we can't even come back to Tulsa, Washington, Tulsa.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah there it is all right, that's about it. Well,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Steve Man.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Tell me, first of all, what is it?
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: What does it mean to you to be named to
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: the NFL's All one hundred team.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: I just think. I pinched myself.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: It does it shock you?
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: Does it?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: How does it come across you?
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: How does that land for you?
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: It does? I I pinched myself all the time to
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: make sure it was really that's really real. Uh, And
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: that's that's what happened. When I was named to the
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: Hall of Fame. You know, I thought, Wow, I can't
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: believe that I'm I'm actually among all these great football
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: players that I've watched all my life, and uh, I'm
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: now in the same league with them, And so it was.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: It was really special and my whole life I feel
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: like it's been a dream.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Now now you say that, but I'm looking at you, like, dude,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: you got to be kidna. I mean, you retired, you
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: were the number one, You had all the stats when
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: you retired, so it couldn't have been too much of
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: a shock or you still just like you just don't
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: expect it because the way you came into the NFL,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: you know, is it because of that? Because the way
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: you got in, well, how Houston. You drafted in the
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: fourth round to Houston, but then they don't want you.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: They trade you for an eighth round pick to Seattle. Sorry,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: if I'm telling your whole story everything that right about.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Now you know all of these things happen. Does that
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: kind of what makes you even after you retire being
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: the all time leader and all the stats and receivers,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: you still just like shocked when you go to the
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, well, I hope. I hope that it's
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: because I've learned a lesson about humility and having humility,
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: and I think that I think my wife is a
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: big contributor to that as well as we've known each
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: other since we've been in high school. And so I
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: think that, you know, that's the way I try to
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: raise my kids is help them understand the value of humility.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: And I hope that I've displayed that for them. And
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: I didn't even have to talk to him about it
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: because I've been living it in front of him. But
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: I just think that's an important quality in life.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: So you talk about humility, great quality. We need it.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about payback.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: I know what you're talking about.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I don't know what week it was,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: but I'm gonna show you a picture right now, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I want you to kind of tell me what you think.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: So for those for our listeners.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: It's it's it's a picture of Steve and he has
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: given Mike Harden the business. Uh it was something was.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't even call this a cheap shot. He had
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: cheap shots you earlier in the season, he had forced
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: a f.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: That's what brings context into this story. Oh yeah, is
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: what he did to me when we played them in Denver.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Uh he hit me with a cheap shot. He was.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: He was penalized for it in the game, was fined
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: after the game five thousand dollars and uh so a
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: total cheap shot and and took me out of the game.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: I was, I was, I didn't know where I was
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: after he hit me. And he hit me in the head.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Uh broke my face mask. I kept that face mask,
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: by the way. Broke my face mask, and I was
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: out of the game. Uh so, Uh you know he
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: was given high fives to guys, oh wow and all
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: that kind of stuff. So, uh then fast forward to
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: we played Denver home and home because they're in our divisions.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: The Seahawks are still in still in the a f
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: C West, and uh that's when I got him back
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: in the Kingdome. And uh, people said, what did you
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: know it was going to be It was my carden absolutely,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: I know for a minute he touched the ball who
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: had it, and I went after him with everything I
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: had and hit him legally with my shoulder. I didn't,
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: you know, do any kind of penalty uh inducing plays,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: But I got him back good. And that was the
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: best tackle and best play I've ever made in the NFL.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Out of all the touchdowns, after all.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: The touchdowns, all the catches, that's the one that gave
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: me more satisfaction than any other play. Was this play,
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: this payback play.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: You should have been just you should have just came
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: over to the defense lay safe corner. If you like
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: the hitting that much like this, we love it.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Also, I also heard you say something in that you
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: said in the NFL it was your favorite play of
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: all time, because that would one that would minus that
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: one or maybe something in high school like like so
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: college like we always have like these plays that like
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: really stand out, and everybody has ever thought about that. Yeah,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: So I'm just like, I'm sure you had some great
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: plays and if we're like, no, that was my favorite
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: play in the NFL. So I was just you said NFL,
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: So I didn't know if that was all time as well.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: Well, that play that we talked about earlier with my
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: card and was my favorite play of my career. But
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: you know, I had a lot of you know, great
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: catches and where where I was even you know, surprised
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: that I held onto the ball or caught it or whatever,
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: scored a touchdown into the end zone, tapped my feet
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: on the back of the end zone, that kind of thing.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: But you know, I think I think the the season
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: that really gave me the most satisfaction was our very
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: first year we ever made the playoffs. That was in
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: nineteen eighty three, and we made it as a wild
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: card team. We won the wildcard game, we went down
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: and played Miami in the divisional playoffs and and we
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: beat him. And so that that whole season eighty three
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: when we first made the playoffs and got to feel
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: what that was like, got all the way the AFC
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: Championship game, which we lost, but nonetheless we uh, we
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: really had a great season. I think we were finished
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: nine and seven or something like that, but then went
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: into the playoffs as a wild card team, and that
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: that run was just just seared in my mind as
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: being one of my favorite years. Played in the NFL.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: Well, you talked about tow tapping, and your one hundred
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: receiving touchdown was a toe tap and so I don't
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: know if they called.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: It that back then, but it totally was.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: But I want to know about your you have one
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: hundred and one.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was a one hundred touchdown. Was actually against
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati, Yes, and I remember that
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: played very well. And you know, it was kind of
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: weird because you know, I knew I had ninety nine
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: touchdowns and I thought, I can't I can't quit. I
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: can't quit on ninety nine. I got to get a
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: hundred somehow, and uh so I convinced Dave Craig to
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: throw me the ball. But he did, and and we
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: scored and and it was, uh it was very memorable.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: But uh yeah it was. It was uh you know,
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: uh my my like I said, my whole career was
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: like a dream come true. Uh in my life. And
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: uh I never took it for granted. I always felt
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: like I had to work hard and and uh play
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: well and and and so uh that that's how it developed.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Do you kill the ball the footballs? Do you have them?
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: No, you don't.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: I didn't.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I wish I would throw it up in the stands.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: No, I didn't throw the stand It was we were
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: in we were in Cincinnati. I don't throw in the stands.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: But uh no, I didn't.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: And so okay, so you got so you have.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Can you recall your only non receiving touchdown?
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: You know I had one. I think I got the
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: ball on a reverse and ran it in the end zone.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: Its like on the six yard line or something. I
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: can kind of. I vaguely remember the play, and the
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: only reason I remember is because I was just looking
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: at some pictures from that that play, just a couple
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: of weeks ago. But I think that's what it was.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna help you out there. It was ten yards.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: I knew it was close.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: You were close, and it was like it was a toss,
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: but it was like a reverse dy like like you
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: came back, like you.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Caught it off of that.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: I was in the slot.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, it was.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: Like a reverse toss.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: It's a great call. You're there.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: So just as the story comes back to you, more
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: people going to ask you this.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: So I just want to help you out.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: At some point, we were all humbled in this league.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I know, I was my Rookieary by veterans on my team.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: What was your welcome to the NFL moment for you?
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: I think I think it was Actually, uh, it was
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: a stark arrival as a Houston Oiler, Okay, and I
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: played six weeks. I was in in Houston for six weeks.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: That's all they gave me. I was a fourth round
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: draft pick. I was a second draft pick that they had.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: They had a second round draft choice, who was Mike
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: Barber tied in for Oilers for a long time, and
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: then I was the second pick that they had, and
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: so I thought, you know, I'm gonna make this team.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: And man, I went down there and I was competing,
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: but I wasn't producing, and they ended up bum Phillips
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: was in his second year with the Oilers and he
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: called me in his office and Steve, we appreciate your effort,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: but we got a lot of good receivers here, and
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: they did, and they said we're gonna let you go.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: I thought.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: I was a second pick. What are you talking about? Yeah,
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: you know, I didn't say that, but that's what I
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: was thinking. And so it was like a slap in
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: the face and so I got in my little car
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: and that I drove down to Houston from Tulsa and
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I got my car and drove back home, and my
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: wife met me, and I just thought, Kah, you know,
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: I don't know what happened. I can't explain it. And
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: about that time I got a call from Seattle. Actually
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: they called my wife before I got to Tulsa, and
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: they said, we'd like you to We'd like to give
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: you another chance if you want it. And the thing
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: was is that the offensive coordinator at the University of
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: Tulsa that I played for for three years that he
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: was there was Jerry Rome. And Jerry was an NFL
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: player and quarterback from Tulsa, and he had he had,
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: you know, he had left the University of Tulsa and
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: gone to Seattle to be a coach for the first
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: year of the franchise, and he had told the head
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: coach man, we need to draft large it and they
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: never did. And so then when I was came up
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: on the waiver wire, he was, he saw the waiver
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: wire and they said, uh, And Jerry went to the
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: head coach and he said, we really need to get
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: this guy. And so they gave up an eighth round
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: draft choice. They had eight rounds that they had more
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: than eight rounds twelve times and fourteen rounds then and
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: uh and so they gave up an eighth round draft
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: choice for me, and I went to Seattle. And the
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: thing about that was that a lot of people don't
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: understand is that Jerry Rome was the He wasn't the
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: offensive coordinator, but he was like the offensive coordinator. And
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: in Seattle all that the entire passing game was the
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: same passing game that we played that I had played
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: for three years in college. They were all the same.
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: You know, seventy nine was the same route that I
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: ran in college. So to come into the to the
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: to Seattle and to know as a rookie, as a
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: rookie and everybody else is still trying to learn what
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Jerry's talking about when he talks about, you know, run
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: seventy six. And so that was a real, real advantage
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: for me. And Jerry was just such a pivotal turning
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: point in my life and in my playing career for sure,
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: And you know, I owe him a lot.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I want to know what was it like to be
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: on the top of the mountain of greatness. So when
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: you retired.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Most receptions you got eight nineteen, most receiving yards thirteen thousand,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: most touchdowns hunted, most consecutive games with the catch, most
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: seasons with at least fifty catches, most seasons with at
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: least one thousand yards.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Like, what was that? Like? You was him? You was
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the man.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: Well, you know what's interesting about those statistics is is
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: that I never looked at statistics my entire career. In fact,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: I don't think I even saw those statistics until two
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: or three years after I retired and started looking at Canton,
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: and I thought, well, I'm gonna look at what my
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: statistics were.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I think I got a chance.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think I got a chance because uh,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: you know, I mean, that's it's amazing, And it was
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: amazing to me when I saw the statistics.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: So it's funny that you say you think you have
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: a chance, though, but you were a first ballot guy.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Well it's also funny that you know, I know you're humble,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: and you talked about humility you know a couple of
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: times already, but like you may be the only the
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: first receiver I've ever met that was like, Yeah, I.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Don't really look at my own stats.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: You know, it's just so opposite of Yeah, every receiver
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: that I've known that since that I've been around playing for.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Me, you don't strike me as a diva though. You don't.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: You don't strike me as like a diva receiver, right
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: like you don't. There's one hundred okay, cool, Yeah, I
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: didn't know.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Only one hundred and seventy seven games straight with the Cats.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Probably didn't complain a lot or did you complain?
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, you didn't.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Like you just go with like, I's kind of open
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm open door to me, all right, Cool,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: give me a damn ball.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: You don't seem like give me a damn ball right now?
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Like like, no, I didn't say that, but uh did you?
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: I was. I was a team.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Guy, yeah all the way. Uh.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: And I love playing in Seattle.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: You know there was a new franchise when I went there,
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: and uh I got to see it develop into a
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: playoff team, uh for several years after I was through,
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: and so that was really fun too. But uh yeah,
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: it was uh, it was it was. It was like
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: I said, it was a dream come true for me.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: All Right.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: I know you're humble, all right, but I want you
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: to put that on the backboarding for this one answer. Okay,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: did you feel how validated did you feel about your
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: career and being on top of the mountain after the
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: way you came into the league, you know, being at
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Houston for six weeks to be in their second pick,
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: fourth round, and like, how validated did you feel like,
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: all right, put the thing only on the back burner,
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: then we'll give it back to you.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: After that end.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: Well, it wasn't a validation, but it was really it
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: was like, wow, I can't believe that. Look at these statistics, Terry.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, I tell my wife, look at these statistics.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: I'm nobody's ever done this before. Uh. And I was
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: able to do that? Is that amazing? And we would
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: just laugh about it, you know. So I think I
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: think there was a real advantage of not not being
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: aware of what the statistics were. And I wasn't like
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: I said, but you know, I think it also I
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: hope that it also kept me as a humble person
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: and a better team player and a guy that was
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: more concerned with winning the game than how many catches.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: You Yeah, you've being who you are.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Did you ever like compare yourself to other receivers, because
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: you know, you passed the lands all Worth when you
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: when you passed all the stats. But like we're like,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: how do you continue to work on your game? Like
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: who were you compared?
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Did you? Did you do any of that or did you?
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: I didn't, That's what I'm saying. I didn't. I didn't
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: look at the statistics. I didn't look at who'd gone
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: before me and what their statistics, how many passes they
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: caught or touchdowns they had or any I didn't. I didn't.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: I didn't know because I didn't bother to look at it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: Maybe I should have, but uh, I think I was.
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: I was looking more at what's happening on the field
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: today and what we want to do tomorrow as opposed
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: to what guys had done before me and how I
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: stack up against them.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Did you model your game after a safety? Who was
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: your which guy was your person?
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: I tried to, Like I was always try and like
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: see things.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Ooh, I would love to be able to do that.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: I don't think I could.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: But in my mind I always thought I was trying to,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: you know, emulate or try and get a little bit
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: of you know, a little like I wish I could
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: have had some like just the instincts of a Troy Palamolo,
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: which like I don't think he was supposed to jump
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: over the offensive line, right, I do that, but like
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: had to have the audacity to do those things and
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: something that I like, Oh I wish I could be
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: that free. But like I'm like, oh, but what if
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: I get caught and then like my whole half, the
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: half of the field is just wide open.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I didn't do that. Yeah, yeah, I wish
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I could have.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Though, So I wore I wore thirty three. Crazy story,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: how I picked that number?
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: You were like forty one, which is heavy as hell? No,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the one is very slimming. Actually one is slimmy. Yeah,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: it works, it works for you.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: But it looks heavy. It looks very heavy. We all
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: pick our numbers for whatever reason. Why did you pick
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: the number eighty?
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: I didn't pick it. They gave it to me. Oh yeah,
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: I got a good number. I got to Seattle and
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: somebody else that they had cut had worn it before me,
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: and they said, hey, you get you're eighty. I didn't care.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: I didn't get any choices at all in your It
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: was just like, look, have your you're going to Seattle.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: This is your coach. You're wearn't eighty. You're not asking
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: for the ball, like take it.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Or leave it?
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. I was glad to be there,
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: glad to have a number.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: So what was it like?
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: So what went into the decision because most people forget
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: that Jerry Rice actually played at Seattle, and we went
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: into the decision of you unretiring your jersey because the
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: number eighty was retired at the time. You're like, you
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: know what, Jerry Rice can wear number eighty?
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well it was. Ah, I'm not exactly sure that
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: they called me before they gave him my jersey.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, but.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: If they did, I think I I was sort of
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: in an awkward position, okay, yeah, because I thought, you know,
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: well they re tired of my jersey. Yeah, then they
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: unretired jersey. How many times does this you go back
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: and forth?
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: And do you know?
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: So you know, I don't know. I think that I was.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: I tried to be humble about that and uh.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: It's okay to put this thing on the back burden. Yeah,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Give me If Jerry was where my joy that's great?
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, it's okay. Okay.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: So I'm glad we got that out. Yeah, okay, I'm good. Okay,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: we're opening up here a little.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: You know, after after fifty years, you can be more humble.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're going to take a short break and we'll
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: be right back.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I want to talk about I want to talk about
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: a second act. So you had you won four terms
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: in office. You are served in House Representatives from ninety
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: four to two thousand and two, the first Conguession congressional district.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: What do you think it means from when you here.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: You're the only Hall of Famer to serve in Congress.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that there's a lot of smart players
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: that never ran for Congress. Really, I didn't know that.
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: You know, Jack Kemp was a guy that I really
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: modeled my career beyond football after Uh he was Jeff
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Kemp's father and a great quarterback at Buffalo, and he
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: was in Congress for a number of years, and so
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: I was kind of second after Jack Kemp being in Congress.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: But he, uh, you know, he really set an example
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: for me. In fact, I talked to him before I
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: ran for Congress and just got some advice from him,
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: and so, uh, you know, I didn't really think about,
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: you know, how many guys had been in Congress or not.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: But you know, I was really I felt like that
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: I had a message and I delivered it well to
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: the constituents and they were sold. And so they re
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: elected me three times after I was elected the first time,
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: and it was a it was a good marriage. And
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: actually my time in Congress, I loved it. It was
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: it was a funny thing happened in nineteen let's se
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: it had been nineteen ninety four when I ran for Congress,
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: and that was that the House flipped. It had always been,
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, for forty years or so, it had been
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Democrat controlled Congress, and when in nineteen ninety four it flipped,
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: so I got to serve in the majority. I was
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: a Republican and I was serving the majority for almost
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: eight years, and it was it was a unbelievable experience. Really,
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: what you find out is is that when you're in
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: the minority, you don't get to do very much because
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: you're not you're not you just you just aren't aren't
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: in control. And so the majority parties in control in Congress.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: In the House, for sure, it's a little bit less
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: so in the in the Senate. But so it was
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: really a unique experience to be in Congress and be
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: a Republican and be in majority for the first time
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: for forty or fifty years, and it was it was
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: really special, and I loved it. I loved working there
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: and feel like I'm doing something for my constituents and
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: for the country and trying to and be a voice
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: for people who for a long time didn't feel like
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: that they were heard. And and so it was, it was.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: It was one of the great experiences of my life.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: And I loved it. Uh, but I'd never go back.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: So I got why, no, no, no, why you don't
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: get to just leave off with that great We're going
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: to save you off the time.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: I'll tell you, Okay, I'll tell you why it is
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: is because every week that Congress was in session, and
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: they were in session for you know, ninety percent of
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: the time. Uh, You're I'm flying I'm living in Tulsa
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: and flying to d C and then getting on a
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: planning flying from d C back to Tulsa every week.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: So I left on Monday or Tuesday and I came
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: home on Friday. And it was just that was just hard. Yeah,
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: to fly that much and to be so much and
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: and you know where am I living and I've gotten
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: raised trying to raise four kids, yeah, and get them
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: into college, and you know, and so it was it
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: was just hard. It was hard on my wife. It
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: was harder on my wife probably than on me, but
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: it was hard on me too, just all that travel
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: every week. Uh, it was it was. It was I
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: felt like I kind of made my point and I
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: can go home. And I actually went home and ran
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: for Congress. It ran for governor and and got beat
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: by a few thousand votes, and that was very disappointing too.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: But uh, at that point, you know, I was I
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: was through with my my political career. I'd finished my
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: football career and I'd finished my political career.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Was there ever.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: A moment when you were in Congress like you were
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: a rookie? You know, I asked you the question of
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: what the NFL what was your welcome to Congress moment?
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: If there was like, oh, I mean Congress.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: I I just totally messed up.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I tell you, Uh, what I often thought about
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: was the the the beauty of the people that I
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: chose to work for me in my office, so in Congress,
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: you have two off You typically have two offices. You'll
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: have your Washington d C. Office and you'll have your
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: district office. And so your district office takes fair of
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: all all of the complaints or whatever people have about
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: Congress or the bills they want to see passed or
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: not passed or whatever, and so they deal with them,
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: or I'll talk with them after they've dealt with them.
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: And then you've got your DC people who really are
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: looking at the bills that are going to be proposed
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: and how we want to vote on those, and do
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: we want to offer amendments and stuff like that. And
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: so I really had a great, great team of people
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: that worked for me both in my office in Washington,
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: d C. And in my office in Oklahoma in Tulsa
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: in the first Congressional district. And so they really carried
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: a lot of the load for me. And that was
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: one of the things that I really feel like that
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: I did well, was choosing people to work for me.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: How special was the month of January nineteen ninety five
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: you were sworn into Congress and January the fourth, you
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: were selected to the NFL Hall of Fame. On January
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: the twenty eighth, and you were also sworn You were
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: sworn in on your twentieth wedding anniversary on January the
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: twenty January the twenty or no, fifth and fifth?
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the same. There we go.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: You gotta get I still mess that up. I'm trying
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: to get better myself. So yes, I'm glad you corrected me.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: How special was all that in the same month? How
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: are you handling all these emotions and just trying to
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: get it right?
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: You know what? I feel like I was, I was
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: walking on water because it was every experience was unique,
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: but every experience was like awesome, I mean just really awesome.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: To be married to my wife for twenty years now
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: it's fifty years and we we still love each other
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: more than we ever have before. And our four kids
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: are doing well. I've got ten grandkids. We just had
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: all ten of them at our house. We took them
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: on a vacation with us, just the ten kids and
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: my wife. We rented a big van to carry them all.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: With the ages, we've got a second year in college
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: down to a seven year old.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: Six boys and no, we have six girls and four boys. Yeah,
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: so that's awesome.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: How much how much more. Why do grandparents love the
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: grandkids so much?
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, because you know, I tell you exactly.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Detail. Grandparent denies any Oh, yeah, more than my kids.
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: Let me tell you why grandparents love grandkids because they
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: can say, you guys, your your parents are heard of PI,
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: they're going home, said.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: You don't take your kids. Good, it's time to leave.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I love that. I love that.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: I got one more political question for you. While the House,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: why the House of Representatives, that's good, That is the Senate.
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good question. And I've never been asked
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: that question before. But we actually had two senators, uh
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: that were fairly long term senators. Uh, they weren't leaving, uh,
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: and they weren't challenged that particular year.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: But we had a member of Congress who actually actually
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: the man that held my seat in the first congressional
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: district ran for the Senate. He ran for the Senate,
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: and so I ran for his seat and uh and
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: and was fortunate enough to win. But uh, it was
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: it was I don't think I knew that much about
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: Congress as to that's why I ran for the House.
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: I didn't know really that much about government. I never
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: was in I wasn't a political science major. I was
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: a biology major, so I didn't know that much about it,
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: but uh I learned quickly, and uh, it was it was.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: It was one of the greatest experience I've ever had
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: in my life.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: Did you were you like one of the cool kids
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: in Congress because you just got elected to the NFL
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame as well? Did that like make you
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: more popular? Like dude, like Steve Large he's on our committee,
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: you know, like, did you get better assignments?
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: The lad is out of order, the gentleman is out
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: of order, Steve, He's always in order?
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Like did that ever happen?
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: How did that hit home?
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: Well? Uh? I think most of the people that I
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: served in Congress with, in that senator or or in
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: the House, Uh, they were aware of my political career.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: I mean they were not in my own political they
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: were aware of my uh football career. They knew about that.
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: But being elected into the Hall of Fame, Uh was
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: pretty cool after just getting elected to Congress, did you.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Get like a day of standing ovation?
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: They should have gave you at least a standing ovation
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: where okay, good, okay, good, okay good that I mean
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: everybody should stand up and sell like that.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: That's good stuff right there. So we had.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Stephen already Mama calling Colin excuse me. He served, he
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: took a seat for the for for Texas. And there's
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: this skit to sketch comedy artist comedians Key and Pill
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: and they do this scene where they act like Obama
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: and Obama shakes, he shakes the hand. He's like with
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: the white person, like, hey, how you going, how's going?
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: That's going? How you doing? How you doing?
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: And then he sees a black guy brother and he
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: was like, hey, my man, what's going on?
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: And he brings it up high.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Was there ever anything like that in Congress with shaking
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: a white guy's hand versus shaking a black guy's hand?
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Was there?
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: That was never like oh, we go in and go
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: for the hood? Was there ever anything like that?
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: Because we we've started to see a little bit of
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: a trend like that with certain with certain politicians. Would
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: you agree with that it's happened before, it's happened before.
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: So I can tell you that in my in my
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: experience that if I'm shaking a guy's hand that I
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: played football with against or with with either one, it's
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: always like yeah, it's always like that, no matter what color,
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: right right right right like this. But when I'm shaking,
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: the Speaker of the House's hand is like this. And
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: I don't know why that is, but.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: You never tried to go in high like that. The
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: high the high angle, high angle of the time, he's
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: not going to get it.
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: I don't Yeah, I didn't want to confuse.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, So that's a good question. Why we ask This is.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Why we asked. Yeah, I love these political questions. We
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: actually know the guy that he was like, I don't know.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: I just the guy goes like this, I go like that,
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: when he goes up like this, ill like that, he.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Says, and told so it's the hangle of attack. I just, oh, yeah,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: So, Steve, you know, we call this the second Second
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: Acts Podcast because we'd love to know about your second act.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: That's why we're so asked.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: You all these not really political questions, but just more
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: about your time in Congress. What did you do in
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: that five year window of retirement and then all of
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: a sudden running for Congress because you had a little
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: window in there.
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: So I let's see, it was nineteen ninety four, I
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: retired in eighty nine. That was my last season, so
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: really nineteen ninety and then I ran for Congress in
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: nineteen ninety four, and so I was I was I
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: was speaking going around talking about you know, my football career,
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: talking about my faith, and just talking about you know,
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: what I thought was good for the country. And then
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: so I had done that for four or five years,
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: and we had moved back to Tulsa because you know,
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: I lived in Seattle obviously during the season, and then
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: we moved back to Tulsa permanently, and that's when I
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: ran for Congress. But before that, I was just you know,
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: going around the country doing autograph shows and speaking engagements
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: and stuff like that.
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: Did you ever did you ever have like a down
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: struggle time, like like like a struggle period or like
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: this time of like it's just you know, we have
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: these times where guys struggle in between retirement and actually
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: like the transition, the transition, that's the word I got
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: you for. What was that like for you? Like, I mean,
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: you're Steve larger.
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I would. I'm laughing as I say this, because
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: I I think that a lot of guys go through
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: the struggle like you. Yeah, I didn't struggle at all.
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: I'd finished my career and I was busy. Uh and
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: I was. I still worked out and uh uh take
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: trying to take care of my body and stay in shape.
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: Uh not not like I felt like I was going
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: to play again. Because I chose to retire. I didn't
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: have to retire, which is unique, uh for for football players.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: But uh yeah, I was. I was going and blowing.
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: I learned how to fly. I've got my pilot's license,
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: and I still I don't fly now because I don't
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: trust myself. But uh, you know, I flew my own
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: plane that I had, and I flew for probably ten
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: years before I ran for Congress. And so it was,
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: it was, it was. I had a blast. I loved it,
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: and uh so I I never had to I never
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: was worried about it. But yeah, the choice to go
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: from that life and move into a political career was
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: a big step for me. Uh but you know, I
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: think it was still positive, still good. Uh. I think
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: the Lord blessed it, and so it was, it was
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: all good.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: So we're not gonna go.
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: I've been trying to get him to go to uh back.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: To back to school. That ain't gonna work.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Not happen what if we ran for Congress.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: No, I kind of just like my life, like right now,
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: you know when when when the temperature gets down, I
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: want them to just lower the temperature a little bit,
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: you feel me, Steve, I need to like lower the temperature,
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: like go back to nineties temperature. Nineties temperature doesn't seem
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: anywhere close.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Is warm in the room as it is now.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolute, you know what I mean. I could go
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: across the island wap up everybody in the nineties like
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: it was cool, like we were actually just you know, we.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Could we could change that.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: I don't know, man, we can't like our personalities, our
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: sense of humor.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: That means one of them we can start. We can
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: start dapping.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: People up, maybe attack both of us on another side,
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: and then we could both win, and then we could
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: be like bridge the gap.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: We got to flip a coin and see what I'm
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: saying that we got it running opposite.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: He could be our mentor dude, Steve left twenty years ago, dude,
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: like some of these people are.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: This is wisdom at its finest. This is wisdom.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: And I see Thomas over there making the face like
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know about this one.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: So I want to I want to talk to you
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: about your time as the president and CEO for the
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: wireless communications.
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: Was that man, that was one of the most awesome jobs. Yeah,
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: you can imagine.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: The cell phone minutes all the time.
• 38:06
  Speaker 4: The cell phone industry was just going and blowing.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: It still is Uh what year what year was that.
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: That was in? Uh, it was right after I lost
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: the race for governor. Okay, so that would have been
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: ninety five ninety six.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: So they were still doing like nights and weekends and
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: you had to like actually work your minutes. And when
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: you have her paying for like legit minutes and they
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: call me after five, that's what we're Text messages wasn't
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: even a thing yet.
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: And well I think text messages were, but they weren't
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: big at all.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because they cost more than phone call.
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, So uh it was it was It
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: was an industry that was, you know, going like this, yeah,
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: yeah and so and and you know the thing that
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: I loved about it most was the CEOs of the
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: various companies that we had, and we had we had
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: all the you know, the at and Ts and Verizons,
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: all those guys were in the association, but also all
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: that handset manufacturers were in our association too, So it
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: was really an important job to get it right. And
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: so I would say those companies got it right ninety
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: nine percent of the time. Sometimes they screwed up, but
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: they got it right most of the time. And and
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: we wanted to display that before the people and for
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: the members of Congress who wanted to try to legislate it,
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: because you know, they're always trying to legislate. So and
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: I thought that it was It was one of the
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: most fun, educational, engaging jobs that a guy could have.
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: I loved my work at CTIA. I had a team
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: of people, one hundred people that worked for me in Washington,
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: d C. And we just did I think we did
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: a bang up job for the industry. And it's it's
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: continued on now. You know.
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: Just listening to you right there, I just want to
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: let you know you are true professional Steve Largent, all right.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: Instead of trying to say you know because to me
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: it words matter, PEN say that all the time.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Words matter.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: And instead of trying to say control, regulate.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: You said legislate. Yeah, they're always trying to legislate like that.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: That's important.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: What do you what do have you learned between the
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: difference as far as wording of control versus legislate.
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: Well, uh, I mean I was Republican and I was
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: just one of those guys that didn't believe that you
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: had to regulate everything. Yeah, and that you didn't need
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: to regulate everything. And so my my caution that I
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: thought felt like I brought to Congress, and I was
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: one of many who brought to Congress the idea that hey,
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: let's let's think about this before we regulate it, uh
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: to try to control it. We don't need to control
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: anything else. We don't need to regulate anything else, uh
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: unless we absolutely have to. And so that's what I
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: that was my message to Congress when I was the
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: president of the c t i A, the Wireless Association,
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: was let's think about this before we just jump into
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: this deal and regulate the industry. And so that was always,
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: uh the cautionary flag that I was trying to wave
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: before Congress when I was there.
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna take that back home with me. I'm
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: gonna try and legislate my kids. Yeah, you know, not
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: gonna regulate as much. I mean, it's just like just
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: just getting you down the road. Yet we got barriers.
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: Make a broad.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Legislate. We're not gonna regulate.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I like that.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, you got it. I know when you talk with
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: your words, your handy in my face, I'm legislating. I'm
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: about to relate.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: You're about regularly me please, Oh my goodness. Anyway, anyway,
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: I got something that he ain't gut. So you and
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: I we have something in common. Nineteen eighty eight, you
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: won the Watch or I don't think it was called
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: the Watch Paytonment of the Year, but you won the
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: NFL Man of the Year award.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: What does that?
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: Where does that award sit with all of your football accolades.
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: I think it's pretty cool just because you know, I
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: think the people that vote on that are players, and
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: so I think that's pretty cool that you could win
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: an award from the players, not necessarily from the you know,
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: the coaches or from the press or anybody like that.
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: And I think that says something about you know, your
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: playing career and your demeanor that you take on the field.
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: R I want to know about the idea of service
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: to you and what it means to you, You've served
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: a lot. You know, you you served in Congress, you
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: served as a leader of the wireless situation, you served
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: your your.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: Community to be able to win Man of the Year.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: And I was also told, like the best leaders, sometimes
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: you got to learn how to serve before you lead.
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: And so maybe it's a reflects on how great of
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: a leader you are. But what does service mean to you?
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean to me, I would always drop it
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: back to my faith in the Lord. And I think
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: the idea of being a Christian is about serving, serving
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: your family, serving your friends, serving people in general. And
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: so it wasn't it wasn't a real leap for me
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: to serve in Congress because it's sort of an example
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: of what you're trying, how you're trying to lead your life.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Makes sense. I want to read something to you real quick.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: Something you said, uh, oh, this, this is this is
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: a good one. This is this ain't one of those
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying you are for nothing bad.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: This this is a good one. I was trusted.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: I was a biology major at the University of Tulsa.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: Had a three point two grade point average, and that
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: is probably one of the crowning achievements of my life.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: It's not sports.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: It's not being in the Hall of Fame, and it's
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: not it's not all the other stuff. It's getting my
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: degree in four years.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Why do you feel that way?
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: You know, I'm still proud of that. You know, it's
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: been maybe forty years or whatever since I graduated from
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: the University of Tulsa. But to have a biology degree,
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: that means you didn't you know, nobody allowed you to
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: just escape college with you know any Yeah, yeah, don't.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Call him out right, yeah.
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: But you know, to do that and to do it
• 44:51
  Speaker 4: in four years time. And I have a three point
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: two grade point average, which is pretty good for football player.
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: And you know, I just I just was really, really
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: still am really proud of what I've done. Uh, And
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: I try to encourage other players. You know, if you
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: didn't get your college degree when you were in college,
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: get it now in the off season, you can go
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: to college. And and so it was, you know, it
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: was it was something that I was really very proud of,
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: still am very proud of graduating from the University of Tulsa.
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: And I think that it's a real accomplishment.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, see, get your degree in the off season and
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: we can go back.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: Let's get it, dude. I did that.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: I went and got my degree, high degree, high degree,
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: words matter, higher learning. No, all right, I need you
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: not to be humble right now, I'm going to ask
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: you a question.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: Do not be humble? Good? Look, you have to not
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: go to work. Pick people.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: You only get four picks of people that have helped
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: you become the man you are today. And if it's
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: sure mount rushmore of success, well who.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Would those four?
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: First? Would be my grandfather, my mom's dad, Stan Sorenson
• 46:11
  Speaker 4: was his name, and he was a guy. I lived
• 46:14
  Speaker 4: with my grandparents for a year while my mom and
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: stepfather and three brothers moved around the country with my
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: stepfather's job as a mechanic on airplanes. And uh, so
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: I lived. They wanted to put me in one place
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: because I was already getting into high school, and I
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: lived with my grandparents, and so I got to learn
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: from my grandparents and particularly my grandfather, and I can
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: remember times that he would always come to my football
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: games and baseball games and take me hunting and fishing,
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: and I just love that. I love spending time with him.
• 46:55
  Speaker 4: Uh And he really taught me a lot about what
• 46:58
  Speaker 4: it was to be a man and to be a
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: giver as opposed to a taker. And so I think
• 47:06
  Speaker 4: that he would be number one on my list of
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: top five other guys. I would say, well, Jerry Rome
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: would be another guy that I've put in that because
• 47:21
  Speaker 4: of his coaching ability and what he saw in me
• 47:25
  Speaker 4: that I didn't even see in me in college for
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: three years, and then the fact that he went out
• 47:31
  Speaker 4: on the limb to try to get me drafted by
• 47:34
  Speaker 4: the Seahawks and not the Oilers, but then picked me
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: out of the list of cut players and brought me
• 47:43
  Speaker 4: to Seattle and then plugged me in as a receiver
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: running the same offense I'd run for three years in college.
• 47:52
  Speaker 4: So Jerry would be another guy on my list. I'm
• 47:58
  Speaker 4: trying to think. You know another guy that I I
• 48:00
  Speaker 4: think is a is a real Uh he's a great
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: friend and a great brother. Is Jim Zorn, my quarterback
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: at Seattle. Uh. He was a He was a guy
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: that he kind of was. He kind of came out
• 48:13
  Speaker 4: of college same way I did. I don't think he
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: wasn't even draft He was a free agent, and he
• 48:18
  Speaker 4: was a free agent with Dallas and then Seattle picked
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: him up when they became a franchise and he became
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: the starting quarterback for the Seahawks and just really had
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: to fight and scrap and uh then became the quarterback
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: and was kind of a I think he's kind of
• 48:37
  Speaker 4: a legend just because he was a quarterback for so
• 48:39
  Speaker 4: many years on Seattle and a team that we didn't
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: win him in a lot of games the first six
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: or seven years we played. But Jim was always a
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: leader and always a guy that, uh that knew what
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: he was doing and where he should be and where
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: he's where he's going to throw the ball. And so
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: I think I think I would pick Jim as one
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: of my guys that's a leader both on the field
• 49:01
  Speaker 4: and off the field. I think uh other guys that
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: kind of Uh. I'm trying to think of the guy's name.
• 49:10
  Speaker 4: He was a he was a representative here in Ohio.
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: Uh and then I uh he ran for governor and
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: became governor of Ohio. I can't think of his name now.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: Anyway, he was. He was really a good leader too,
• 49:26
  Speaker 4: And I was a leader in Congress and I really
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: tried to implement what he did in my life in
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: Congress as well. But anyway, I don't know if I
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: can think of There'll be some others that will pop up,
• 49:40
  Speaker 4: and I'll talk him to I'll talk to you about that.
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just just googled just to try and see
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: if he may pop up. John John Cassick Cossick yea
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: from nineteen to two thousand. John, there we go. I
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: mean it's you.
• 50:02
  Speaker 4: Know what I mean, John kas was that guy. He
• 50:07
  Speaker 4: uh he kind of took me under his shoulder, under
• 50:09
  Speaker 4: under his arm and and uh, you know, pointing me
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: in the right direction. And it was really just a
• 50:15
  Speaker 4: great friend and a good guy. And uh, like I said,
• 50:18
  Speaker 4: he later has became governor of Ohio for two terms,
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: I think, but uh, just an all round good guy.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: You're off the hot seat.
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: See, we appreciate you coming in, man, just blessing us
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: with some wisdom and your humility and just yeah, I've yeah, man,
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: thank you.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you. Steve Man. This has been awesome.
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: Number one, uh, blessing us to your first Congress Hall
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: of Fame. Congressman also shout out the first pro bowler
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: for the Seattle Seahawks that you also accomplished that in
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: your career.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: So the list continues to go.
• 50:57
  Speaker 4: On in First Hall of Famer from Seattle.
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: First Hall of Fame, AM for Seattle there. Thank you
• 51:02
  Speaker 3: for finally dropping that ability.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: There we go.
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: We've been waiting for it all the conversations.
• 51:06
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: He's probably the first biologist.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like, hey, it's a lot of first going on.
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: And look, man, just as much as you've accomplished to
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: keep your steady smile, your spirit, you look awesome. You
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: can still tell you take care of great care of yourself.
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: I don't see a whole bunch of.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: You very nice. You're looking good man. It's halshtag goals,
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: and so I appreciate it.
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: You did not disappoint.
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: You lived up to everything that we had heard about you,
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: and you are exactly the great human being and man
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: that I hope to be when I met you. So
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: uh shout out to Joe Vitt who said all the
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: great things about you, and he was not lying. So
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: we appreciate it.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Man. Thank you for joining us.
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: All right, Thank you, no doubt man.
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: All of our viewers of listening out there, wherever you
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: pick up your podcast, whether it's Apple Podcasts, all right,
• 52:03
  Speaker 3: Heart Radio app make sure you give us a like, subscribe, follow.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: Leave a couple of commiments. Uh, we'll put.
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: Jay and UH and everybody to work on responding to them.
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: So appreciate it, and UH make the YouTube channel.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: I was going there on YouTube.
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: You appreciate it, man, Thank you, appreciate it checking our
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: YouTube channel.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: I'm peanut. That's wrong, that's Steve.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: And this is the NFL Player's Second Act podcast and
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: we are out