By Paul Casey Gotham
****Remember, try this without research. Release your inner James Joyce and show us your stream of consciousness as you try to decipher the answer.
I probably have no right being here. Not many people pay attention to fullbacks. My NFL career consisted of a little more than 370 rush attempts for 1,400+ yards and a dozen touchdowns. Not exactly stellar numbers huh? Seems strange for a guy that was recruited by USC, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Purdue, Notre Dame and Alabama. Yeah, Bear Bryant told me I didn’t want to go to ND. He said Parseghian wasn’t going to stay too much longer. The old codger was right. Parseghian stepped down before I graduated. I guess I made the right decision. Truth is, I wasn’t always a fullback. Yeah, when I left college, I was the all-time leading rusher in school’s history. No lie. I’m not trying to pull your leg. My senior year we lost in the Rose Bowl. The tailback from the other team finished second in the Heisman voting. I was third. I scored my team’s only touchdown in that game. I was taken in the second round of the NFL draft. As a rookie, I played in the Super Bowl. In fact, I scored my team’s only touchdown again. It was also a losing effort. Here’s something else. The guy who won the Heisman? He played on the Super Bowl winner. He was the first guy to win the national title one year and the Super Bowl the next year. Me? I was the first guy to score a touchdown in the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl.
Who am I?
This is gonna take A LOT of thinking. I’m not optimistic. To the showers!
Super bowl, rookie fullback who scored a TD but lost, mid ’70s time frame. Hmmm. Only TD in the game for the losing team. Sounds like a Minn Viking. Who blocked for Chuck Foreman?
Off to the car and on to work!
Feel free to chime in here, guys.
OK, skipping over Wally’s comments for a second…you didn’t go to Notre Dame, but you didn’t go to Alabama either, despite Bear Bryant’s advice. So, based on the schools who recruited you, and the fact you played in the Rose Bowl, it was for USC, Ohio State or Purdue.
You were a Heisman candidate in college, but ended up as a fullback in the pros, so you were obviously a pretty big tailback. For some reason, I’m leaning towards Ohio State, but drawing a blank…
OK, I looked at Wally’s comments for hints. Chuck Foreman’s fullback? Not coming to me.
I’m more interested in the Heisman winner who is the only one to win a national championship and Super Bowl in consecutive years. If it is 70s and we can get some of the Heisman winners named, we might narrow it down even more.
Chas – How do you know it is one of those 3 schools?
Tony Dorsett is the guy who won the National Championship one year and the Super Bowl the next.
I don’t know for sure it was one of those schools, but since Casey listed the schools that recruited him, and his shining moment was in the Rose Bowl, I assumed it had to be a Big Ten or Pac Ten school. Or, do the ’70s pre-date the Big Ten-Pac Ten Rose Bowl contract?
Oh…so that means it’s not Chuck Foreman’s fullback! Who lost the Super Bowl to the Cowboys in Dorsett’s rookie year? Pittsburgh? Is it Rocky Bleier?
Never mind…Bleier is way older than Dorsett.
Where did Dorsett go to college?
Obviously, Rocky Bleier also had more than 1400 yards in his career too.
Dorsett went to Pitt.
Wait a minute…the Cowboys beat Denver in that Super Bowl. Who was their fullback? Jon Lytle?
Pitt won the national championship? Wow. I’m assuming Dave Wanstedtt wasn’t the coach at the time 🙂
Oh, ok. That explains it then.
Will I get the assist on this one? My questions helped Chas in some way, no?
Wait … Chas … genius … not Jon Lytle, but Rob Lytle! He was a star running back at Michigan under Bo Schembechler during that Dorsett era. So this fits with all the clues …. Rose Bowl … Denver Broncos Super Bowl, etc. ROB LYTLE! Goal for Wally, HUGE assist from Chas! I think … gotta wait for confirmation from Casey. 🙂
Yeah, that may have been a cross between Rob Lytle and Jon Keyworth. 🙂
Rey gets an assist too. His questions lead me to Tony Dorsett (whose accomplishment I remembered from the Ricky Bell WAI) to Dallas to Denver. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that angle in the first place.
I think this one was more like a pass from Rey to Chas, shot on goal from Chas, great save by the goalie, and cheap put-back by Wally. 😉 Although, I realize, in that case, neither of us officially gets credited with an assist.
Rob Lytle just died of a heart attack this past November. 🙁
I look at it more like this …. hockey analogy … Rey, on defense, steals the puck from Sydney Crosby and hits Chas with a laser pass at center ice. Chas weaves around and stickhandles through the defense like a young Bobby Orr. He approaches the net and draws the goalie out with a deft move, then spins and plants a pass right on Wally’s stick … he’s totally unguarded in the crease ala Phil Esposito … for an easy tap in. GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAL!
You guys did all the work … and certainly both get assists … I was in the right place at a fortunate time 🙂
Alright, I’ll accept that.
taking a stab here; pete johnson, osu.
misplaced stab there, based on other posts
Pete —
Pete Johnson was my very first initial thought on this, but then i quickly considered that he played with and actually blocked for Archie Griffin and wouldn’t have gotten the Heismann votes, they both played with the Bengals, and I was pretty sure Johnson had a lot more than 1,400 yds and a dozen TDs in his NFL career.
In my mind, it was a Minnesota Viking b/c of their low-scoring Super Bowl losses … but I couldn’t think of a name. But then Chas said “Lytle” and the lightbulb flickered on.
OUTSTANDING EFFORT!
Helmet stickers all around.
That was great stuff. At the risk of being picky, Wally I gotta edit the metaphor a little. Rey has to be Bobby Orr. Rey’s re-direct made something out of almost nothing like only #4 could do. Then Rey sent the pass to Chas who was like Kenny Hodge breaking through the defense. It was like a young Brad Park (Ranger days) was there trying to slow Hodge with a cross-check to a fleshy and unprotected part of the upper arm. Somehow, Hodge got off a shot that sent Eddie Giacomin sprawling on the frozen pond to make the save. And there you were Wally – Espo – the garbage man, wally on the spot – putting the puck in the net and lighting the lamp. What a team effort.
More props for Rey – it could have been easy for Rey to give up because all of this happened before he was born. Instead, his natural curiosity got things going in the right direction. I cannot tell you the number of people that have told me they did not know THE answer, so they chose to not comment. Way to work it through.
Great job!
Thanks, Coach!
And i agree … Rey’s got HUGE potential as a WAI Go-to-Guy if he keeps up this good work.
🙂
Yeah, that was one of the funnest WAI’s so far.
Wasn’t Eddie Giacomin Carla’s husband on Cheers? 🙂
Rey’s that young? I’ll never take him seriously again. 😉
Chas – careful, you don’t want to confuse anyone. 🙂
Casey – Who’s Bobby Orr? Can I be Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time?
Chas – I guess I am the young one of the main guys who ride the Pine here, but that isn’t the reason why you shouldn’t take me seriously 🙂