Lessons on Persistence and Encouragement from the Great Rocky Bleier

My recent interview with Rocky Bleier on Off the Rak revealed two major themes in his amazing life, and I found our conversation a great reminder that neither of these factors should ever overshadow the other.

First, there’s the hard work, humility and grit that helped Rocky go from a marginal professional football prospect and wounded Vietnam veteran to a four-time Super Bowl champion. His persistence in the face of extreme adversities should inspire us to rise to the challenges in our lives.

Second, and perhaps less obvious, there’s the role other people played by encouraging and supporting him along the way. Rocky did his part, but he didn’t do it alone.

Rocky’s high school team in Appleton, Wisc., never lost a game, and he was a star running back for Notre Dame. They won a national championship during his junior year, and he was a team captain as a senior.

The Pittsburgh Steelers made him a late-round draft choice in 1968, but he played sparingly as a rookie, was drafted into the army, and left football for the war in Vietnam. When the enemy ambushed his platoon on Aug. 20, 1969, Rocky took a bullet in his left thigh and shrapnel from a grenade in his lower right leg.

“My first reaction was, ‘Well, I didn’t lose an arm. I didn’t lose a leg. And I have been injured before,’” Rocky told me.

But his optimism took hit in a hospital in Tokyo when he asked his doctor what he thought about the possibilities of him playing again in the NFL.

“Well, don’t worry about it,” the doctor told 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. You just won’t have the strength or the flexibility to do the things that are necessary to be a running back in the NFL.”

That prediction “sucked the hope right out” of Rocky, he said, and for the first time in his life he considered giving up football. Two days later, however, he got a simple postcard in the mail. It had two lines on it: “Rock, team’s not doing well. We need you.” The card, signed by Steelers Owner Art Rooney, was all the encouragement Rocky needed to attempt a comeback.

Ultimately, the doctor’s diagnosis wasn’t that far off. When Rocky returned, he was nowhere near the same player he had been out of college – and that player was a 16^th round pick who had struggled to make the team.

Rocky rejoined the Steelers after serving in Vietnam, but he was soon cut from the team. The next day, however, Dan Rooney, Art’s son, told him they would keep him on injured reserve. And when he didn’t make the team the next year, the Rooneys kept him on the practice squad.

“You give them every reason to either keep you or release you, but you don’t cut yourself.”

Andy Russell, Steelers captain, to Rocky Bleier in 1973

“They bought me two years,” Rocky said.

With hard work, he grew stronger and faster than he’d ever been, but he still labored behind younger, more athletic running backs and mostly played only on special teams. So after the 1973 season, he moved to Chicago and took a job selling insurance. For the second time in his life, he believed his football career was over.

During that off season, however, Rocky had lunch with Andy Russell, a linebacker and team captain for the Steelers, and let it slip that he wasn’t coming back to the Steelers. Andy was mortified. He bluntly told Rocky to come back and force the coaches to make the decision about whether he would play football or sell insurance.

“You give them every reason to either keep you or release you,” Andy said, “but you don’t cut yourself.”

Never miss a post about leadership, transparency, and trust by signing up for my weekly mailing list, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here.

Rocky returned and made the team but remained buried on the depth chart. Injuries to other players, however, led to a chance for him to play. And when he played, the team won. By the end of the year, he was starting alongside the great Franco Harris and the Steelers would go on to win the Super Bowl.

When Rocky retired after the 1980 season, he had four Super Bowl rings. He was known primarily as a bruising blocking back, but his 3,865 career rushing yards ranked fourth-most in franchise history.

Rocky overcame the odds because he believed in himself and because he put in the hard work that put him in the position to get opportunities and then take advantage of them. But he also knows that he might have let go of the rope and missed those opportunities if not for people like Art Rooney, Dan Rooney, and Andy Russell.

The twofold lesson for me is this: Give people reasons to believe in you and encourage the people you believe in. Then see what you can achieve together.