llunch today w/a member of Canton OH NFL-HOF

[Fire-medic]

We had a United Way fundraiser today, at work, and I got a chance to have lunch across from this fellow, who is in the Canton OH NFL Hall of Fame. He played center for the Dolphins under Don Shula, anyone want to guess who it is?

I have met him multiple times previously when he was running permitting for his construction company's projects, and I was a plans examiner and inspector working for the county.

He told us a great story. He said that as offensive center, he had the job of providing Dan Marino w/the 3 or 4 seconds he needed to find a receiver downfield. Mark Duper was one of Dan's favorite targets, and Mark could usually run-by anyone to get-open, but Mark did not dive for balls. Marino had just re-signed for six million dollars, and at the time, was probably the highest-paid quarterback in the game.

In a game, Mark Duper missed a pass that was beyond his reach, and when he returned to the huddle, Dan told him, "Mark, ya gotta dive to make those receptions!"

Mark looked at Dan, and told him, "for six million **^&*^&^##!! dollars, you should be hitting me in the numbers, so I don't have to dive!" :rofl_200:

It was a good meal.

 

[Bill Kratzenberg]

Looks like Dwight Stephenson to me, is that correct?
if so he was one helluva center until his knee or leg got injured.
I know he has been to the super bowl once or twice but I don't think he has a ring :ummm:
that's pretty cool that you had lunch with him!

 

[Fire-medic]

Bill, yes, it is Dwight Stephenson. No, like Dan, he never won the Big One, but he learned how to be a winner playing for Paul Bryant before going to the Dolphins w/Don Shula.
http://www.profootballhof.com/mobile/hof/member.aspx?PLAYER_ID=204

I was out of business cards when he offered his, so I emailed him when I got back to the office. He sent me a nice email a bit later. That he recognized me as someone he had done business with before though he wasn't sure where, was kind of a cool thing.

 

[tothemax93]

I have an interesting story about some hall of famers. I work with a guy named big Ed Perkins a few years back. He was buddies and body guard with Jim Kelly from the bills. One day we were at work, and he said lets go to lunch. I got in his truck and he had a golf hand towel on the floor. He asked me if I thought it was worth anything. I picked it up and looked at it. It was signed by Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana, John Elway. They were all in town for a golf tournament. He wouldn't give it to me though.

 

[CaptainKyle]

I helped a special effects crew film in a made for cable movie back in 1996 called Hope. Goldi Hawn was directing it. I sat & had dinner with her & shot the bull. In the end there all just people nothing special & nothing more than me & you just people doing ther job. She picked who she wanted to sit at here table at dinner & I was one of them & it turns out it was pretty much because I ignored her most of the time & treated her like a normal person.

 

[Fire-medic]

I have an interesting story about some hall of famers. I work with a guy named big Ed Perkins a few years back. He was buddies and body guard with Jim Kelly from the bills. One day we were at work, and he said lets go to lunch. I got in his truck and he had a golf hand towel on the floor. He asked me if I thought it was worth anything. I picked it up and looked at it. It was signed by Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana, John Elway. They were all in town for a golf tournament. He wouldn't give it to me though.

Jim Kelly, of the U-Miami Hurricanes before he was playing for Marv Levy & the Bills. He is the godfather to one of my fellow fire/rescue retiree's children. He was probably considered the start of Quarterback U. Three Hurricane alumni came-out of our home-two E.E.'s and a computer science major. The 'Canes play in the Sweet 16 round against Marquette U, Thurs 7:15 pm, WA-D.C.

What I find 'special' about someone is when they excel in their chosen field of endeavor, and I specifically mean 'for the good.' The sociopaths who kill, people should ignore their bids for fame, and not grant them the notoriety, the infamous status they seek, killing others. Unfortunately, there is money to be made in tragedy. Look at either side of you at the supermarket counter to see that, all the trashy tabloids.

People in pro sports and entertainment have larger stages on-which to perform, so they are well-known. People like Robert Gallo, Charles Kettering, Robert Maynard Hutchins, Milton Mayer, John Fitch, these are people who have contributed to society in ways known to most if not all of us, just-not specifically for what they accomplished.

Robert Gallo, of the National Institute of Health, was an early AIDS researcher, credited by some with identifying the organism which is its cause. Just don't say that to a member of Paris, France's Pasteur Institute (see And the Band Played On).

Charles Kettering founded DELCO, part of General Motors and through DELCO Laboratories, developed tetraethyl lead, which we now-know is harmful in gas exhaust, but at the time, was the sought-for component which allowed the modern high-compression internal-combustion engine. He also developed what became universally-adopted as the automotive self-starter, battery-points ignition, and reliable generator systems for engines, among other things, which we all take for granted today.

Robert Maynard Hutchins of the University of Chicago is reviled by some for ending college football there, but is perhaps better-known as the founder of the Great Books program of education, which has provided generations of learners with a systematic exposure to the best writers in history.

Milton Mayer, an author, professor, and newspaperman, stood-up for his personal beliefs which were not always popular ones. He offered well-reasoned opinions for public consumption, which made him a frequent lightning-rod for criticism for those who opposed his ideas. He contributed a phrase to popular lexicon, which has been used by both sides of political debates in this country, which was "speaking truth to power." It arose from debates in the 1950's during the Cold War, and the gist is, "you may not like what I have to say, but you have to take heed of it, because to ignore it is to possibly suffer greatly." A word to summarize the dangers of ignoring someone who speaks truth to power is groupthink, where focusing on the intended results desired as a course of action causes one or a group of people to not fully-consider what may happen from what they do.

John Fitch was a post WW II American race car driver who invented those sand or water-filled sealed 'tubs' which protect barricades on the interstate road projects, allowing someone to drive full-speed into them, and survive, when the alternative would be certain death. The 'tub' dissipates the vehicle's kinetic energy by allowing the water or sand to release upward, which allows the car to stop in a very short distance where it is possible for the passengers to survive the impact. The air barriers now used in all forms of motorsports racing which operate under the same principle are a variant of Fitch's work. Think of him next-time you pass the end of a road barricade, and see one or more of those recently-deployed because some texting idiot or someone using their cell phone, or a drunk ran head-on into one of those arrays.

There are a lot of people who do things we take for granted, or never really think-about until something doesn't work, like your vehicle's ignition. People in sports and entertainment are just more-visible, and when it comes to turning a profit, those are two fields where peoples' willingness to pay is what drives those businesses in the first place. We are willing to pay to watch two professional sports teams' offensive and defensive members battle each-other, we are willing to pay for 90 or 120 minutes of escapism in a chilly, dark movie theater, following a story in a subject of personal individual interest to us, our wives, or our children, we are willing to pay for the results of technology which allows us to think little of using our personal modes of transportation to move us across state lines with little-more concern than to check that our tires have air, the engine has coolant and oil, the lights work, and the credit card has 'room' for the trip's expenses.

We may not know who made all those things possible, but we each thank them consciously or not, every day.

Me? I get a kick out of both amateur sports when I play them or watch them. Same goes for what pro sports I choose to see. And when my VMax fires-up, and I hear that UFO 4/1, I am glad someone or some group made that possible. If I get a chance to meet whoever made that possible, well, so-much the better. I'm still most-impressed by my wife and children, and their happiness, accomplishments and successes are what matter the most to me.