SUNDAY, AUGUST8, 2010
KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Grimm shares Hall moment with fellow ‘Hogs’
Former Redskins lineman is inducted along with six others
BY MARKMASKE
canton, ohio—Russ Grimm was inductedintotheProFootball Hall of Fame here Saturday and told the other members of the Washington Redskins’ famed “Hogs” offensive lines that hewas sharing themomentwith them. Grimm, a guardwhowas a key
member of those blocking units that helped the Redskins to win three Super Bowls in the 1980s and early ’90s and brought atten- tion to offensive line play in the NFL, was enshrined among the sport’s all-time greats in an eve- ning ceremony that included ca- reer rushing leaderEmmitt Smith and career receiving leader Jerry Rice. Many of his fellow Hogs were
seatedinthe crowdasGrimmwas introduced by former Redskins offensive line coachJoeBugel and gave his acceptance speech, and Grimmsaid he recognized that he was entering theHall ofFame as a representative of the group. “Offensive linemen usually
have no stats,” Grimm said. “Of- fensive linemen go unnoticed. I knowI didn’t get here bymyself.” Grimm addressed his fellow
Hogs directly at one point during his speech, and said: “Your names are gonna be embroidered on the inside of this jacket so I always remember the things we went through, the tough times we had and good timeswe celebrated.” Grimm was elected in Febru-
ary, in his 14th year of eligibility, by themediamemberswho serve
as Hall of Fame selectors. He was officially inducted here Saturday as part of a seven-member class thatalsoincludedRickeyJackson, John Randle, Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau. Bugel, in pre-recorded com-
ments that were shown on the video boards at the stadium, called Grimm“the head Hog—on the field, off the field.” Said Bugel: “Nobodymade ad-
justments like Russ Grimm. He was our coach on the football field. That’s howmuch trust I had in him. He was a guy that could drop you on your back. . . . That group was rare. That groupmade me a better football coach. I loved themandworked themto death.”
MIKE WISE Recalling the glorious start of it all wise from D1
push back. “We’re getting ready to ice
the game,” Joe Theismann remembered that day against Dallas at RFK Stadium, Jan. 22, 1983. “We’re linin’ up. And Russ and RandyWhite [the Cowboys’Hall of Fame defensive tackle] had been at it all day. Imean this is a war. This is a physical, UFC, battle royal. “So all of a sudden I get in
the huddle and I call ‘60 Outside.’ And Russ looks atme and he says, ‘No.’ ” Whichmade Theismann do
a double-take. “I said, ‘What do youmean
no? Joe [Gibbs] wants to run 60 Outside.’ “He says, ‘I want to run ‘50
Gut’ right at Randy.’ “Well now I gottamake an
executive decision, you know, I’mmiddlemanagement.” They ran the play Grimm,
not Gibbs, wanted.White was run over and the Redskins gained four yards. Theismann looked back toward Joe Gibbs, two weeks before he guided the franchise to their first of three Super Bowls. The coach wanted his play run. “Joe signals in 60 Outside,”
Theismann said. “I step in the huddle. I go,
‘Spread right, shortmotion, 60 Outside.’ “Russ goes: ‘Didn’t you hear
me? No!’ “I said, ‘Okay, fine.’We run
50 Gut again.” AndWhite goes to the
ground again. First down. “Next play, I don’t even look
at the sidelines anymore,” Theismann said. “We ran like 11 consecutive 50 Guts. It was just Russ Grimmagainst Randy White and we were going to absolutely pummel himto the ground.When I think of Russ Grimmand all thememories, this was hismoment.” “I always felt the huddle
wasn’t a democracy,” Theismann added, “until that particular time.” Former Redskins tackle
George Starke reminisced by telephone Thursday night as he was awaited his storm-delayed flight fromWashington to Canton. “Nine of those times we ran it right up Randy’s [behind],” he said. Before every play, Starke
recalled, ornery center Jeff Bostic looked atWhite across the line. “He said, ‘Randy, you better dig in, we’re coming again right at you,’ ” Starke said of Bostic. “He had a nasty . . . attitude. I loved Jeff. “Then after every play,Mark
May would kick RandyWhite in the butt because he didn’t like him,” Starke recalled. “Randy would punch Russ, who
would get angry. Then we’d do it all over again.” After the Redskins scored to
put away the game, amid the vibrating stands and bellowing roars,many of the Cowboys left the field before the game was over. It is almost 30 years later,
and the people who were either there or watched on television still ooze with the same basted- onmemories and utter reverence. RFK, circa 1980s, was their Iowa cornfield, where they’ve been waiting to play catch with their father since. If he showed, he would
probably look like Gibbs or Joe Bugel, before the crevices in that squinting, smilingmug came and Buges was just a young, position coach trying to hold onto his job. And Buges would see the young, slovenly guard in training camp, rolling in themud during a blocking drill, and remark: “Russ, get up. You look like a hog layin’ on the ground.” And his teammates would
show up the next day with the word “Hog” written on their practice jerseys.When Buges asked for an explanation, “We said, ‘We’re in solidarity with Russ, sir,’ ” Starke said. “You hurt his feelings when you called hima hog.” A nickname for an offensive
unit was born that day for a teamand a proud football town, which just happened to be the nation’s capital. Grimmie and theHogs. With a cooler loaded with
Coors and Bud Lights and other assorted beverages— “They wouldn’t discriminate if something else was brought in,” Starke said— they bonded in a shed that housed the grass- cutting equipment by the practice field every day at a certain time. The 5 O’clock Club, they
called them. It’s where Riggo and friends
could down a brew, Russ could chew his Copenhagen and Joe Jacoby could bring back his favorite sandwich from Merino’s in Fairfax, two pieces of Sicilian pizza pressed together with chopped beef and white, runny cheese spilling over the sides— theHog Cheesesteak, named for him. “You ever hear the story of
the day they asked John Madden and Pat Summerall to come over and see the shed?” Starke asked. “Four or five hours later, they both walked out totally drunk. They had to go interview TomLandry because of a Cowboys game that week. I heard Landry saw themand was so angry he wouldn’t let theminterview his players. So the telecast that week was all about the Redskins. True story.”
Fittingly, none of these tales
are solely about Grimm. Because while he probably doesn’t get into Canton if nemeses such asWhite and MattMillen don’t give testimonial interviews on his behalf, while the grit and gross- out antics have taken on a real- men lore of their own and Grimmwas indeed as smart and athletic— once the team’s third-string quarterback— as he was tough and nasty, he was just one. They all planned to be there
Saturday, fromdifferentHog eras. Starke, theHeadHog. Bostic. JimLachey.MarkMay. Rick “Doc”Walker. Jacoby, DonnieWarren,Mark Schlereth, RaleighMcKenzie. JimHanifan. Fred Dean. Grimm’s day is their day. During his induction speech,
Grimmnever became emotional, but instead gave heartfelt thanks to the people who helped put himinto Canton. The greatest revelation was
that he never wanted to play offensive line in college, but was told tomove from linebacker to center by Pittsburgh Coach Jackie Sherrill.His position coach told Grimm, “There’s no greater feeling than being able tomove aman fromPoint A to Point B against his will.” “I tried it. I liked it. I played
offensive line,” Grimmsaid. He finished his induction
speech with a tribute to fans, especially the ones who blew ‘Diesel’ horns for John Riggins and turned every Sunday at RFK into “Friday Night Lights.” The names of his teammates
on the Redskins offensive line, he said, would be embroidered inside his yellowHall of Fame jacket. Lachey proposed a novel
idea in February when Grimm became the first of his linemates to get into Canton, 14 years after Grimmwas eligible, 16 years afterWhite, theman whose behind he kicked, was inducted. Why not have a wing in the
Pro FootballHall of Fame dedicated to the units ofmen who were better together than by themselves— the Steel Curtain, the Doomsday Defense, the Purple People Eaters, the Silver and Black Attack and, of course, the Hogs? TheHogs’ display would
feature theirmud-caked jerseys, their old coolers, empty beer cans and a black-and- white photo of Russ Grimmand his teammates trapped in time in that shed, reminiscing about the day they whooped Randy White and the Cowboys—the day the journey began.
wisem@washpost.com
throughout his speech but called those who played alongside him on the Redskins’ offensive lines the equivalentof familymembers, and recalled the franchise’s glory days at RFK Stadium when the fans would rock the stands and chant about wanting to play the DallasCowboys. “Growing up, I dreamed of
playing college football,” said Grimm, a former offensive line coach for the Redskins and now the offensive line coach and assis- tant head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. “In college, I dreamed of playing professional football. WhenIwas intheNFL, Idreamed of winning Super Bowls. But I
never dreamed that I’d be stand- ing here today.” Grimmbecame the firstmem-
Former Redskins coach Joe
Gibbswas among theHall ofFam- ers seated on the stage. Bubba Tyer, the team’s longtime head athletic trainer, handed out hats tomembers of the Redskins’ con- tingent to commemorate the oc- casion. The hats had Grimm’s name andNo. 68 onthe front, and onthebackwaswritten: “AHog in theHall of Fame.” Tyer handed one of the caps to
former Redskins offensive tackle Joe Jacoby as Jacoby sat down to watch the ceremony. Jacoby played alongside Grimm on the left side of theRedskins’ offensive line, and some observers say he deserves tojoinGrimmintheHall ofFameat somepoint.Jacobysaid he was pleased to see his friend honored and the Hogs represent- ed inCanton. “It’s just neat to finally see it
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
FormerWashington greatRuss Grimm, left, and his offensive line coach Joe Bugel, right, ride in the Grand Parade through Canton, Ohio. Grimm remained composed
ber of theHogs to be enshrined in Canton. “I was hoping they would put
them in as a unit,” former Red- skins general manager Bobby Beathard said about a half-hour before the ceremony as he sat in front of the stage that was set up on the field. “They said they don’t do that. But I’mthrilled. It’s great for all of us. I’ve been with Russ’s old teammates thisweekend, and they’re thrilled for him. He was a great player, and he was one of those guys where the other play- ers loved to play with him. That group, they stuck together.”
Grimmplayedfor theRedskins
between the 1981 and ’91 seasons. Hewas selected to four Pro Bowls and was named to the NFL’s all- decade team of the ’80s. Grimm played in five NFC championship games and four SuperBowls. “I remember when we drafted
him, we had Russ rated ahead of Mark May,” Beathard said. “But with all the rumors going around duringthedraft,wethoughtMark mightget taken.Sowetookhimin the first round. I didn’t thinkwe’d be able to get Russ, too. But there he was in the third round and we got him. He’s never forgiven me for themoneydifference there.He got the short end onthat deal.But itworked out okay.”
happen for someone from that group,” Jacoby said. “It has finally come, and it’s great. It’s neat for me because of the relationship that Russ and I had, being room- mates and coming in together. It’s been kind of chaotic the last cou- ple days, but I’mso happy to see it happen and I’m really going to enjoy sitting here and watching it.”
Grimm was enshrined with a
former college teammate at Pitts- burgh, Jackson, and a former fel- lowSteelers assistant coach, LeB- eau.The entireSteelers teamtrav- eled from training camp in La- trobe,Pa., toseeLeBeau, the club’s defensive coordinator, go into the Hall of Fame. “I told several of thembefore I
left, ‘I wouldn’t want to be here without you,’ ” LeBeau said, ad- dressing his players in the stands directly at one point during his speech.
maskem@washpost.com
Fondly remembering the era when the Redskins dominated
Grimm’s Hall of Fame induction makes fans nostalgic for the 1980s
BY DAN STEINBERG
canton, ohio—The firstWash- ington Redskins season Jeff Clarke can remember was 1981, Russ Grimm’s rookie year. Drew Tong’s first footballmemorycame the following season, during Grimm’s first trip to the Super Bowl. Ditto for Brian Robins, whose license plate still reads “70 Chip,” the famous play call on John Riggins’s game-turning Su- per Bowl XVII run that was blocked in part by Grimm. The three fans, all in their
mid-30s, traveled separately to Canton this weekend to celebrate Grimm’s enshrinement in the Pro FootballHall ofFame.They did so as lifelong Redskins supporters backing their team, but they also did so out of a sense of nostalgia forchildhoodswhentheRedskins dominated both opponents and life inWashington. “We’re kind of living in the
past,” Robins said of his genera- tion. “I rememberwhat it was like back then to be a fan. It was exciting, phenomenal. I think you kind of took it for granted.” Grimm’s career almost per-
fectly mirrored the Redskins’ glo- ry years. During the guard’s 11 seasons inWashington, from 1981 to 1991, the Redskins played in 19 playoff games and went 15-4 in the postseason, playing in four Super Bowls and winning three. In the 18 seasons since his retire- ment,theRedskinshaveplayedin just seven playoff games, going 3-4.
His induction into the Hall of
Fame allowed fans to revisit that golden era for the second time in three years. In 2008, when Darrell Green
andArtMonkwereboth inducted and the Redskins played in the next day’s Hall of Fame game, Washington fans invaded this town in remarkable numbers. There was nothing close to that this year, but therewasstillasolid ribbon of burgundy-and-gold nostalgia snaking through the weekend. Many of Grimm’s teammates
filed intoCanton’sMemorialCivic Center on Friday night for the Enshrinement Dinner, including offensive linemen Fred Dean, Jeff Bostic, George Starke, Joe Jacoby and Donnie Warren. They sat with Bobby Beathard—the archi- tect ofWashington’s glory days— and watched as Grimm was fitted with his jacket by longtime offen- sive line coach Joe Bugel. Asked about their enduring popularity in Washington, the men pointed both to their success and the
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JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Redskins fan AnthonyMcNeill of Caroline County, wearing an Art Monk jersey, cheersNFLHall of Fame inducteeRuss Grimm.
drought that followed. “Until something happens,
that’s the best era of Redskins football that city’s ever known,” Bostic said. “No one’s replaced the lore,”
Starke agreed. “There’s no recent lore,soyouhaveto live inthepast. Every time the Redskins lose, we become more famous. Every time theyhaveafourthandoneandget stuffed, people think about John Riggins and the Hogs. You create your own history. We created it, and no one’s replaced it.” Of course, the induction week-
end prompts nostalgia for many fan bases. There were hundreds or thousands of Dallas fans wear- ingEmmittSmithjerseysandSan Francisco fans in Jerry Rice ap- parel. But Redskins fans, in many
cases, seemed to be celebrating the entire offensive line from the 1980s,nicknamed“theHogs,”and even that entire era of football. Clarke and his childhood
friend George Stebbing, both 34, were wearing jerseys of Grimm’s teammates, Jacoby and Riggins. “Whenmy buddies go out and
buy jerseys, they buy throwback jerseys,” Clarke said. “I wouldn’t buy the jersey of anyone who’s on the team right now.” Many more fans came wearing
the jersey of Joe Theismann, Monk and Green. Mike Burton, who used to work Redskins games at RFK stadium as a teen- ager, brought a Grimm jersey he’s owned for more than 20 years. Joe Gibbs did an autograph ses- sion. Both Washington sports- talk radio stations were on-site, with programs hosted by Gibbs- era stars: Rick “Doc” Walker on WTEM (980 AM) and Brian Mitchell onWJFK (106.7 FM). TheHogettes— the fan group
formedin1983topayhonorto the Hogs — brought eight members to Canton, including two of the founders, who were busy signing autographs and posing for pho- tos.
“Did I think we’d still be doing
this in2010?No, no,” saidMichael Torbert, the 65-year-old nuclear energy engineerfromFairfaxwho came up with the Hogettes idea. “I’ve heard some people say we want to return to the ’80s. That’s not it. We’re in 2010. We want to return to winning ways.” Still, the franchise has explicit-
ly pointed to the past in recent months, since Bruce Allen — the son of legendary coach George Allen—washiredasgeneralman- ager. Promotional mailings use his father’s “The Future is Now” slogan; the team’s new Virginia instant lottery ticket is called “Redskins Legacy”; Redskins alumni have been invited to prac- tices and events; and Allen fre- quently refers to the glory years during his meetings with fans. “We are so proud of our histo-
ry,” Allen told the crowd that de- scendedontrainingcampfor Sat- urday’s Fan Appreciation Day at Redskins Park. “And this year we are trying to create our own.” When — or whether — there
will be another celebration like this is unclear. Fans and team- mates have said more Gibbs-era Redskins deserve Hall of Fame consideration, commonly men- tioning Jacoby,Mitchell and wide receiver Gary Clark, who was at Redskins practice on Saturday. In the meantime, fans in
search of positive memories still hearken back to the 1980s, using words like “old-school,” “blue-col- lar” and “snot-nosed” to describe the style Grimm represented. “The Redskins, they’re about
history,” saidTong, 35. “We’ve got- ten to the point where we like to look back to when they were real- ly dominant.” “Look at the stats of the Hogs,
how impressive they were, and then look at the last 10 years or so,” said Mark McPherson of Hopewell, Va. “There’s no com- parison.”
StaffWriter Jorge Castillo contributed to this report from Ashburn.
steinbergd@washpost.com
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