Rocky Bleier’s story is one of determination, inspiration and, ultimately, hope.
Now in his late 80s, Bleier told his amazing life story to over 200 rapt listeners during a 75th anniversary celebration for Cornwall Manor held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lebanon on Thursday, May 23.
Bleier shared many of the same stories he told LebTown in an exclusive pre-event interview in April. His presentation lasted about an hour and he spent another 15 minutes answering questions, mostly about his playing career.
Read More: Former Pittsburgh Steeler says human connections guide him through life
On Thursday, those same captivating stories were told with a sense of humor and interwoven with the many lessons he’s learned over the course of his lifetime to an audience of young and old alike.
Three of Lebanon County’s six public school districts had football players in the audience who accepted the Cornwall Manor staff’s invitation to listen to Bleier’s inspirational message.
A professional football player with a Pittsburgh Steelers franchise that won four Super Bowl titles during the 1970s, Bleier’s career almost never got off the ground. Shortly after being drafted by the NFL, he received another “draft” – from “Uncle Sam.”
Drafted into the military, he was sent to Vietnam and suffered what one doctor told him were career-ending injuries to his feet and legs when a grenade exploded beneath him.
“You’re going to have a normal life. You’re going to be able to do the things that normal people do. Just don’t expect to get back on the gridiron,” Bleier recalled the doctor telling him after chuckling when asked if he would ever play football again.
“You’re just not going to have the strength nor the flexibility to do the things that are necessary to get back in the NFL,” the doctor told him. “You see, what he had formulated from his point of information was a perception about my ability. But as my authority figure, he just sucked that hope right out (of me).”
Two days later while recuperating in a hospital in Tokyo, Bleier received a postcard from Steeler team owner Art Rooney that meant the world to him. Later in his presentation, Bleier would highlight the importance of having support systems in our lives.
“Simple postcard, it’s got two lines on it. It says this: ‘Rock. Team’s not doing well. We need you,’” he recalled. “Well, nobody needed me. No, they didn’t need me, but somebody took the time to care. And being the family that they were and are today, I went back.”
Two surgeries and two seasons of only playing special teams during the regular season led Bleier to contemplate quitting football. The third season left doubt in his mind about his future prospects in the NFL.
“To make the team again I was going to have to fight with every free agent and draft choice and rookie to do so once again, and I just didn’t think it was fair, not that life’s fair. I thought maybe my life’s going in another direction,” said Bleier. “I mean, I did come back. I did make the team. I got a chance to play but not to the level I thought. So after the ’73 season I left the Steelers to find my life’s work.”
His “life’s work” was to become an insurance salesman in Chicago. That gig was short-lived after someone reached out to him to show he cared about Bleier’s future. Teammate Andy Russell asked Bleier why he was quitting the team.
“He said, ‘You can’t quit.’ He said, ‘If you quit, what you have already done is you’ve already made a decision for that coaching staff. Do you like them well enough to make decisions for them?’” related Bleier. “Then he said, ‘No, your responsibility, is if this is what you want to do, you come back and you make them make a decision, you back them in the corner, you give them every reason to either keep you or release you, but God, you don’t cut yourself.’”
This story was the perfect example of a lesson Bleier shared earlier in the evening. He said we live in a “culture of opportunities and not necessarily a culture of entitlement.”
“That is based on the simple premise that as long as we have choices within our lives, and basically we are a free people, but with choice comes a responsibility. And that responsibility is, one, to be informed,” said Bleier. “To know more about what is taking place within our society and our communities, and then secondly, having the courage to act on that information.”
Bleier believes people have two choices in life.
“One is to be less than we’re capable of being, to do less, be less involved, less knowledgeable. Or secondly, to do more,” said Bleier, whose biggest personal achievement as a Steeler was rushing for over 1,000 yards in 1976, three seasons after he nearly quit the game. “So if we have choices, then really we only have one choice. And that is simply to be the best that we can be.”
Bleier said that fact raised a myriad of questions in his mind when he came to that realization.
“Why do some people succeed within their quest when others seem to fail? Why in the world of sports do some teams consistently win when others seem to lose? What then are those ingredients that allow us individually, thus collectively, to reach that potential?” he asked.
The answer can be found when one understands that football is a microcosm of life.
“There’s a beginning. There’s a middle. There’s an end. There’s birth, there’s life, there’s death,” said Bleier in making the analogy between football and life. “And depending on how your team has performed, there may be a mourning period.”
The mourning period comment led to laughter from the audience before Bleier continued.
“And then there’s a renewal. And you repeat that process week after week and season after season,” he said. “It creates one word, football does, much like life. And that one word is ‘hope.’”
“I hope they get it together this year. Jeez, I hope we got the right people. I hope we got the right quarterback. I hope we got the right coach. Oh God, I hope we can win the division. I hope we can get to the playoffs. I hope we can go to a championship game. I hope my kids have a great time. I hope nobody gets hurt. I hope we can get to the playoffs. I hope we can get to the Super Bowl.”
For Bleier, football is like life and the “team” you have around you. He stated all “teams” need four qualities to succeed: leadership, talented people, creating a vision of what you want to become and getting everybody to buy into that vision.
“It really takes leadership to be able to define what that talent is. Because you have to understand, we all have a talent of one nature or another,” he said. “We have strengths and we have weaknesses. And in a changing society, we don’t have time to change people.
So the best we can do is identify what their strengths are and support them. Identify their weaknesses and manage them as best we possibly can.”
Steeler head coach Chuck Noll was one of many “leaders” in Bleier’s life whose influence made him the man he is today. Having leaders to guide us is a critical component to leading a successful life, added Bleier, because no man is an island.
“If you think about it, no man is an island. We didn’t get to where we are today by ourselves,” he noted. “We got here because of someone, something, an opportunity. We got here because of a parent, a teacher, a mentor. We got here because of a coach, a drill sergeant. We got here because somebody took an interest, kicked us in, pulled us by the ears, shoved us through the door, gave us encouragement, helped us along the way.”
Not only was Noll an excellent leader, but an individual who knew how to bring out the strengths in his player. For Bleier, that meant he was destined to be a blocking halfback on one of the greatest football franchises of all time.
“One talent – and all of a sudden that fine line of one that connected my life came full circle,” said Bleier. “Much like the fine line of one that connects each and every one of our lives to where we are at this moment in time.”
It’s those moments in life that we choose to exert our talents and embrace the opportunities that are afforded us that give us our “power” as individuals.
“The power to make a difference. The power to change. The power to have an influence,” said Bleier. “Because as William Jennings Bryan said, ‘Destiny is not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice. It’s not a thing to be waited for, but it’s a thing to be achieved.’ And each and every one of our own destinies lies right here, in our own hands. We can become what we want to become.”
Bleier closed his presentation with a phrase that’s been with him “for many, many years.”
“If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you cannot, you don’t. If you like to win, think you can’t, it’s almost a cinch you won’t,” he said. “Life’s battles won’t always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later, the one who wins is the one who thinks he can. And you’re all winners out there.”
Read More: Lebanon High School football team finds inspiration in former Steeler’s life journey
Bleier has quite a sense of humor when weaving his stories and sharing his life lessons. Here are some examples of his funnier moments.
On the greatest football game he ever played: As a 9-year-old child, Bleier scored 51 touchdowns and skunked his “opponent” in what was an “away” game.
“So of course I had to go across the street, pick up Dickie and play on his side lawn. I won the game. I scored 51 touchdowns. And then I shut him out. I mean, think about it. It’s 357 to nothing. I thought, ‘Oh, it was a game of skill and will.’ Not because, in fact, Dickie was 5. I mean, that shouldn’t take anything away from my personal achievement. You didn’t know that Dickie was a tough kid. He was a big kid – for a 5-year-old.”
On former Steeler quarterback and Fox Sports analyst Terry Bradshaw talking about modern-day quarterbacks and how the pro game has changed since he played:
Bradshaw: “Guys are huge in this league. They’re big. They’re fast. Defenses are more complex than I’ve ever seen. But I’ll tell you one thing … young quarterbacks today do not call their own plays. Call me old, call me a dinosaur, make fun of me, I don’t care. At least I called my own plays. Roger Staubach (legendary Dallas Cowboys QB), as smart as he may be, did not call his own plays. I called my own plays.”
Bleier: “Now what he does not tell you was that we only had four plays, two running and two passing. He did a wonderful job of mixing them up.”
On hated rival Cleveland Browns: “We had a game against Cleveland before I had to report (for military duty). And I thought to myself, ‘Hey, what if you got hurt in that game? You might not have to report.’ So in the game against Cleveland, let me say this. I put my body into every Browns jersey I could find. Stupid Browns, they couldn’t even hurt me when I wanted them to.”
On reminding people who may have forgotten or don’t know he played pro football: “It’s not that I have forgotten who I am or what took place in my life, but it’s usually the good people that I have an opportunity to speak to that have forgotten who I am and how I single-handedly won those four Super Bowls for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
On the third season of playing as a back-up: “I was the fifth running back out of four at the beginning of the season.”
On aging and our memories: “Three things happen as we grow older. The first one is our memory goes. (Pauses for a beat) And I don’t remember the other two.”
On rooting for teams you despise in the Super Bowl: “Even if your team doesn’t get to the Super Bowl, you hope the team you like the least beats the team you hate the most.”
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