Ronnie Lott: A Football Life | RE-UPLOAD

I'm a little bit nervous no no the only nurses know the simplicity of it is that you're trying to drive your arm through the bag right and so just hitting the bag is a language yeah I don't think I speak the language right now I could learn it [Applause] [Music] we [Music] I'll be the best guy that ever played safety in this lake would you get it lower and I want you to swing this okay like you're gonna tackle get a smile on your face doh you can't hit anything really hard with a smile oh really the intention I don't think I can today is the best day [Music] you gotta deliver whoo hit when the crowd goes whoo have you ever seen the old football games the daddy played in yeah really cuz I don't think we've ever show up in it I am I don't we opened really played any for the kids yeah a little bit they don't know much about daddy's football career they know daddy yes daddy to most the world's I think people see my dad as a heavy hitter a tough guy I think most people see him as intimidating as maybe a little mean a little scary and that's just not how I see him I wasn't really that involved in his career and I think it was almost a way for him to respect our family is leaving work at work I wasn't watching his film when I was five when he was with us it was playful and fun and we were always laughing still today he just loves football so I'm hoping to start a podcast interviewing our grandparents interviewing our family interviewing some of his friends and hopefully be able to gather from them information about what he was like when he played and what made him the player that he was and why he loves football so much that's a good story to open up with that is a good story that's it doesn't liked PF Flyers when he was like six yes Wow yes you run faster and jump higher I think we may have some PF Flyers if you think that they would do you say so would make you run faster and jump higher hmm the story goes that I put him on went to the second story and I jumped out of the window and and the reason why is that I just thought that you could really fight that it could fly he's hanging on this ledge and he goes out the window and he goes boom and all the kids run you gotta see what he's doing you guys what are you doing my dad grew up in a military family bouncing from New Mexico to Washington DC and settling down in Rialto California Roy was a recruiter for the Air Force and I was a mailman I knew running from eight years old I had him through basketball and baseball but he was like hidden people they seemed coming and they just fall down or they take the ball and throw it away they keep it from being here with the do you guys remember um dad's first tackle so here come this guy out to the sidelines he was coming really hard right running comes out of nowhere right hit this kid and everybody went that didn't change when he grew up and he played in an era when the NFL's definition of a legal hit was a very different been to that they almost knocked a beautiful it was written by Ronnie line [Applause] what a hit by Ronnie but back to his childhood I heard a story about dad playing kickball supposedly some incident happened with a teacher Oh God it was fifth grade and it was mr. Preciado he kicked the ball to me uh-huh and when he kicked the ball in those days you could throw the ball throw the kickball to get him tag him out I threw it hard right to get him out I went to get him oh yeah but because I threw a really hard and it hurt he goes you got to get out of here because that was bad sportsmanship but I was like no I was doing ball to get you out what you have to do laughter I had but so I got punished and I came home and I had to write a book on sportsmanship sportsmanship is one of the important rules of football baseball and basketball and hockey if you have bad sportsmanship that will give you a warning and sometimes they'll kick you out of the game in high school my dad start at defensive back and wide receiver before each game he listened to the opening speech from Pattin americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser Americans play to win all the time hell for a man lost and laugh that's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war because the very thought of losing is hateful America when a kickball scholarship failed to materialise my dad went to USC and played in their secondary beloved Ronnie um when I was a defensive back at USC I was the freshman cornerback my sophomore year even though I moved to offense I still room with Ronnie now I go from really being an ally learning from Ronnie to a person trying to stay alive he practiced with such conviction I wanted to kill not because I hated him because I loved him because I had that much respect for him I loved it all my teammates but my way of showing love sometimes maybe they thought it was a little crazy but that was just my way Ronnie was not a good loser he wanted to win on every single play if there was an interception he wanted to run it back if there was a hit he was disappointed if he didn't cause a fumble he always uses expression about exhausting life he exhausted himself on the football field isn't one of those little cutout to you well one of those little cutouts is going to be you where do we start San Francisco 49ers first round selection defensive back ronnie Lott USC is this modeled after in a specific it's probably modeled after the fact that I'm like pointing at someone telling them you better get in the right spot by the end of the year in 1979 the 49ers had gone through 33 defensive backs it was like a turnstile I remember talking to Cedric Hardman he didn't even want to get to know anyone because every week he turned around there was a new face of the secondary the 49ers had just disintegrated as an organization and as a football team our defensive backs couldn't be found on the tapes or the film they weren't there just a guy catching a pass so in the 1981 draft we drafted Carlton Williamson Eric Wright one of the greatest players of all time in Ronnie a lot oh my I had hair I had hair my dad started his career playing cornerback for 49ers defense that lacked a physical identity his team was manhandled by the Falcons we get our rear ends handed to us everything is going wrong I fumbled the ball on the kickoff bill Wallace comes in the locker room after the game and he says we're never going to get out hit again and that became the battle cry for our defense we played them later in the season and Alfred Jackson hit me Alfred Jackson blocked him in a way that required like ten stitches and Ronnie's lip Ronnie didn't like that we got an interception Ronnie turned around and it was Alfred Jackson you could see a light bulb go off in his head I was like you mother it was you [Applause] I think Ronnie Lott was just thrown out of the game why sometimes in life you don't want to get out hit 42 right there laughs he's out of the ballgame I've brought an attitude that maybe the Niners didn't have a nasty attitude but wanting to hit people [Music] but was it hurt it looks like it hurt yeah wanting to hit people I enjoyed that wanting to make plays I enjoyed that too he was definitely the heart of the defense but he was a madman he always said to me you gotta bring ass to get ass in his rookie season my dad intercepted seven passes and scored three touchdowns in the playoffs against the Giants he had two more interceptions and another touchdown [Applause] looks like one of those [Music] [Applause] and after a win against the Cowboys and the NFC Championship they were on their way to the late in the third quarter 49ers had the lead but the Bengals had the momentum and first and goal in the three yard line yeah well in that goal line Spanish yeah on each play each gap had to be sealed [Applause] all eleven guys had to do their job backwards if you can believe that [Applause] Alexander turns and right there and so shutting people down yes we gotta go again and that's what Horace Gregg has already said foot line following signals on fourth down as the ball and off [Applause] at that moment you could see that victory was in front of us [Music] life change for a lot of guys on my team how did that change for you the change was the pursuit of now wanting more everybody was a static then we did it and now we get to do it again they're all talking debate let's go back upstairs down a Pat Summerall a chunk [Music] also kid back in the 80s my dad started his career alongside a few famous people one of those relationships I remember from growing up was one that my dad had with five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson so you I think were rookie and seventy-nine and there was this up-and-coming basketball player I have a picture of them and I'd like you to flip it over and see if you recognize that guy no I could shoot free-throws but I could play a little D yeah and I get like addition and okay now what did this like you you guys did kind of know each other a little bit in the eighties did you guys watch each other and what did you guys learn from each other if you learned anything it's hard to first of all find two athletes in different sports who were as cool and be friends like we were and that we could learn from each other so we both admired each other we watched each other for life yeah it's interesting how many parallels you guys both have because you both won big championships your rookie year what's the difference in your mentality and how you show up you know you really don't enjoy winning and think about that what you just yeah because you don't really have time to enjoy it because you're you're so busy trying to do it again do you feel like that too oh yeah you only have one thought in mind you're not thinking that you're gonna win them you know the division it's all or nothing exactly after we won the first one in 81 the strike season was 82 a strike-shortened year we didn't make the playoffs lost the last game of the season when you were faced with loss how did you recover from that how did you move forward and well I can tell you the hardest loss is the loss and you know that that's the last games and we had the hardest loss and playing the Redskins in that championship game I remember they were down came back and busted we had to have Jose back we if we got the ball back to Joe two more times in the fourth quarter it's over [Applause] and gets the touchdown Ronnie just turned around and touched it [Music] to this day I still say that it was in a bowl big call and that's what got him down there to kick what would be the winning points it really bothered and it bothered everybody but he was he wanted to kill somebody toughest loss I've ever had being on the other side looking across the field knowing that what you work for since August is being taken away from you is the hardest thing to swallow and you got to chew on that taste of losing when you lose that game there's two things that you do one you're mad at yourself because you couldn't get it done but then you realize that you gotta get back in the gym and you realize that you got to get back to work yeah because I think that to his point is that when we lost to the Celtics in 84 especially against my rival a but I still hate him right now you carry that with you and you make sure though your teammates understand it too well okay you look at him celebrating but next year we're gonna be hoisting that trophy so you could just feel it every week every day you would just sit there and you would realize that you got to find a way to get back to them to the top of the mountain the next season Ronnie watt played like a man possessed every time he went on to the peeled [Music] [Music] it consumes you to the point where people don't understand why you want this so bad see we both played the game with passion we're hunting with a big hit a big interception he was into it our teammates followed us it was no way they were gonna say how they're driving us too much because that's who we are see when you signed up for the 49ers you sign up to be led by this man you sign up for the Lakers you know that leadership brought the 49ers to another Super Bowl where they faced the league's MVP Dan Marino Danny had had an unbelievable season he said touchdown record and I think the challenge that Ronny saw was being aggressive we felt that we could be physical with them we were able to shut him down that defense in 1984 was probably the best defense I've ever been associated with in the biggest game we literally shut down the best quarterback in the National Football League and Ronny the mindset was aggression on the wide receivers which was really who Ronnie was at his core anyway no matter what that receiver was if that was his approach hit him in the mouth [Music] I love everything about your father because winners play the game the right way fierce fierce competitors and that's why people love them and admire them but also feared your father he set the standard for DB Safety's I mean there never be nobody like him up next my dad shows his propensity for delivering big hits early in the game you tried to establish physical superiority over the receivers you'll be covering do I try to establish physical superior oh man where did you get these questions from y'all I'm I walk out there and I measure myself up to him physically and I look at this gentleman I say gee you're such a stud but I'm not in Tombstone when somebody asked Val Kilmer Wyatt he's going for revenge he said no make no mistake it's not revenge he's after it's about the record people say why do you talk Mike Tyson you could see him hit somebody and everybody would go WOW because you could feel it you could feel all his energy go do somebody that's how I feel I wanted to come from my toes all the way up through my soul I mean everything you're going to the hip [Music] he really sacrificed his whole body I mean he I mean he was a kamikaze [Music] ricochets off ride a lot in one game against the Packers my dad fractured his tibia in the first quarter and kept playing Ronnie lot broke before the ball was even thrown touchdown second interception of the ballgame it's no secret that if you played the game the way my dad did you dealt with a lot of pain this is the man who helped him do just that the greatest tool it's overcoming pain there's mental pain there's physical pain part of where your father excelled was such mental toughness that he looked past the pain which is amazing because once you can break through it then what happens is when you start feeling pain come in from other areas since you've gone through that pain barrier so many times pain is no longer a barrier Jorge Chun but my brothers and me through one of my dad's old workouts ready go right yeah nice so we're just training the football move we're training it like a karate or a boxing move and as you're sitting around and you're trying to go your father's cases might have two or three people around him and we would just start bombarding and then we would start speeding it up like this we would start speeding it and then we'd go until we get to a hundred move around that's okay you're doing great move around that would normally go in three minutes three minutes so that was about 30 seconds Oh Mike at least ten minutes growing up I heard story after story about the crazy length my dad went through to play after suffering a serious finger injury he didn't want to come out of the game at that time and he just just pulled it off they put tape on and he went back in the game I thought unbelievable yeah he went over to the sideline and you know the the pink he was literally broken in half and they're gonna take him into the locker room take him out of the game he said to hell with that just to snip it off I'm finishing this game it was hanging there and so yeah that's it here take it this is the true story behind the legend they wanna lock his left hand on that play oh yeah they caught it right he effectively jammed his small finger into the facemask and the helmet of the opposing player so the helmet got underneath his fingernail and really ripped his fingernail off of the finger broke the finger Ronnie Lott will not be back so when we saw Ronnie in the office there was a piece of bone that was missing some of the skin was missing and the fingernail was absent his main concern was when he could get back to play the next weekend he said I got a play and he was like it's gonna be hard to play with your the front of your finger he hope God and I was like um I know I could do it I've seen other guys when I was growing up I would read about Jack Youngblood playing in the Super Bowl and breaking his leg I would they I ever was in opposition I could do it we put him in a splint and then depending upon what the outcome would be we would consider what the treatment path would be from there on and how did it feel to play with like just something that was different it was so awkward and it was so tough [Applause] he just can't play out there one-handed trying to make those plays that he can the 49ers lost ended their season for my dad began an offseason of complications so we had him in a splint over the ensuing few months the bone didn't heal as we would have wished and it continued to show a gap we could do an operation to add some bone to the break to stimulate the healing depending upon how quickly things healed this injury could sideline him for the next season one they would have had put a fake nail and then two if I put a pin in it that pin could possibly break he felt that in my best interest was to have it amputated so we remove this part of the bone it gets taken out and thrown away and then we smooth off the part of the bone that's remaining we take this good skin and we bring it up and around and we stitch that skin up to the top I remember walking in you know that morning thinking that you know I'm John Wayne and I'm gonna you know bite some wood and they're just gonna cut and cut it off and and it that was not the case when I heard when I heard the saw you heard it saw yeah I heard the saw and so that's when they gave me some more medicine so when we took the cast off Ronnie got a little bit lightheaded at the sight of the finger so we laid Ronnie down let him relax a little bit so he didn't faint on us and it was at that point in time that Ronnie verbalized to me putting this all together that football was eating away at his body now you're in pain and when you're in pain you you deal with it I was looking for that moment saying to myself you know what it's okay when I was young my siblings and I didn't know about the amputation or what was going on with my dad's career my kids look at it and they say what happened and you can't really describe it other than the fact that I got hurt playing football makes you think it makes you wonder yeah emotionally and it's a it's kind of a touch-and-go thing and it's built up to being like a Paul Bunyan story they'll just hear the glory of it somewhat fabricated and and and I hope one day they do understand it their dad maybe maybe should have thought about it after it had happened he said he had these emotions of I shouldn't have done that he told me also that I didn't like the idea that it was on this hand because that's where my wedding ring would go at times there was a feeling of his finger still being there and he called it a phantom finger meaning that he still felt that it was there it still itched and he'd go to itch it scratch it and it wasn't there and he said it took a while to reckon with the fact that he didn't have the end of his finger I did it because I do believe that I wanted to get out there for the right reasons I wanted to play to help my team something about that that I think is always the right thing to do sometimes I feel like that was the best part of my life of giving up everything you can for your teammates the finger and it's part of you giving up something of yourself to the greater cause of trying to be the best you can be this was like right in the middle of my career and so for the rest of my career it was all around the idea that you wanted to finish strong those are the things that I felt like I needed to do to be whole [Music] if they exhaust every moment how do you measure success in your profession I think the way you measured is respect I've always said this and I've always believed in is that when you walk off that football field does your opponent respect you right lot it's a later attempt so Phil Simms is like one of the most competitive guys ever and men imagine Monday Night Football him lighting us up for five hundred yards passing so I was a little worried about Phil it was brought to my attention through Jim Burke I I wasn't respected anymore by Phil Simms I had to maybe embellish a little some of the stuff that you know with Bahrani to get him going Sims nation of this and thanks to that now he really got me riled up I sprained both my knees I could barely stand he's limping I was gonna call off that field to make sure that it feels they respected me watch Ronnie Lott [Applause] I wanted to tell him to his face respect this I went over to upside dry I was just I was just kidding about that was too late I had lost and he was startled because he didn't know what the heck was going on my dad was never afraid to challenge opponents for respect or his head coach Bill Walsh do you remember this this this set up no you don't I didn't spend a lot of time and they in the teachers room I realized that when I was in this setting that usually something was wrong he's the only player I've ever had that just challenged me and took me on right in front of the rest of team we had a player strike and then when the players rejoined the team Ronny proceeded to tell me what I had done wrong why I had failed a lot of the team and I proceeded it explained him exactly why and then he challenged me that much more then I explained even further when it broke up we were great friends again but you can count on one thing he speaks his mind I had my moments where I would say things that needed to be said even though it might not have been the right thing at the right time but I would say him because life is about being authentic my dad played cornerback for the first four years of his career and made the Pro Bowl every season Bill Walsh thought that his physical style had taken a toll on his speed he's been beaten a number of times this year playing the corner spot the first three games of the season in 1985 they nicknamed me one again because I was given up a touchdown a game and he also got a new position safety are you happy at safety he didn't like that that was a personal attack when you're slow you should be happy at safety it was saying that hey yeah you just can't cut it out there anymore what Bill was great at was sometimes motivating you in really different ways I realized that I needed to get get better those were challenging time for Ronnie but those were times where I think we got better and obviously for Ronnie you know he was all-pro at both so it didn't get in the way he was a cornerback how he's playing free safety leads the NFL in interceptions he's also the leading tackler on the 49er defensive unit in his first four years at safety he intercepted 26 passes made the Pro Bowl three times and helped propel the team to another Super Bowl so I want to know your favorite memory from the Super Bowl that year I always find it in big moments in life we all have to have our ways of how we approach it if you would at that time was having an incredible year was phenomenal we had to slow this guy down hickey woods hadn't had a guy hit him and he got up saying yeah that guy hit me how many gunslingers you know that they got that defining moment and they got to go up against Jesse James and it was the sound that it's just undescribable it changed the game it took them from being a running team door boomer has the throat of all he put fear in people heart but when you want to hit a guy like ickey woods the ultimate thing to do is the lamb right on his back and to give respect look at each other after this game and look at her hearts everybody sold out this week everybody theme is great isn't coming up the Bobo scowl [Music] recording there we go I like that let's go here we go so I feel like a lot of people know dad on the field and I feel like a lot of times I was really separated from like your football life to your life at home and and for me I didn't really get it yeah I mean I wasn't aware of it it was just like hey by the way you know yeah dad was really good at football football's on TV people watched the TV's people are gonna give you a weird look we definitely did I will say that we definitely did experience the Bobo stare it was one of those Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry kind of stares is pretty intense that intensity he brought my dad to another Super Bowl winning two in a row in 1988 and 1989 that was Ronnie he had that that that look he had that scowl like he just he just looked through people he brought the Bobo's scowl to a few more teams before retiring in 1995 we still saw that look even after he left the field you did yeah I didn't know what it was I didn't know there was a whole name for it I want the kids to show daddy's mean face whoo he had stuff it's tough where did that come from remember that you know you got it sometimes you could act apart yeah the first time we saw the culmination of all my dad's efforts on the football field was at his Hall of Fame induction I would like to introduce to you my son Ronald Mandel life I do remember the moment where they should film I think it was the first time you'd ever seen footage of your dad we hadn't done them I remember seeing you on stage and all of these people cheering her my dad a lot of my were more like well you can feel that loudness you can feel the energy and just being like yeah whoa no you must be pretty cool I don't know if you guys have heard the General Patton speech but I'd lay there every night in the dark thinking about what it's like to be an American and how we don't tolerate losers I took that to heart and I tried to be the best thank you [Applause] otherwise that's the other way my dad never brought football home with him but he's always brought the same passion and dedication on the fields to our family so get a little bit closer dad inhale reach and this time you'll hold your hands up to the sky right hand grabs your left wrist nice often here a little bit soften your shoulders right here I feel like a lot of people know dad on the field is this really tough football player this hard hitter and we saw a really soft side of him everyone's like oh my goodness like that's funny lot and I'm just in my head like if you leave me I mean my favorite part is that yeah he's intense but he also can laugh he can run around this house dancing and I think it gets hard out and he's everything you know you know I've watched him play and I loved watching him play because I loved that passion you know people see that on the field but they don't know that he has that at home too he is having tents at home to put the block underneath your tailbone I like to do medium but you could do lower I'll go home oh okay that's all comfy dad [Music] that's yep that's him there on the field he's gonna give you 100% as a wife he gives me 100% as a daddy you know he's given you 100% throughout the journey of this podcast my dad has shared the massive impact football has had on his life with me it's great to see you sitting here when it could have been somebody else interviewing us that's who your father is when they call and say Ron Elias I'm here the one thing that stands out above all else is that whoever he comes into contact with whether it's his opponents his teammates and especially his family he always gives you absolutely everything he's got Ronnie I've talked about exhausting himself he did in football but he's doing it now in life off the field oh I saw it good job you're ready for a team chat men I'm in what is it we got lots don't play do you guys okay one two three on your journey of life of you know playing football or living light you have moments of love moment of happiness moments of joy moment of challenges right but more importantly you have the commitment of making sure you exhaust every moment of your life you

Channel: NFL Fanzone

Views: 274,036

Rating: 4.8431988 out of 5

Keywords: NFLFanzone, NFL, Fanzone, Ronnie Lott, Magic Johnson, Raiders, Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, John Taylor, Pat Summerall, John Madden, Joe Theismann, Larry Bird, Edward J. DeBartolo Jr, Dan Marino, Dwight Hicks, Marcus Allen, George Chung, Hailey Lott, University of Southern California, USC, Trojans, Anthony Lynn, Jon Gruden, Ron Rivera, Jack Youngblood, Joe Morris, Jim Burt, Phil Simms, Keena Turner, Ickey Woods, Jerry Rice

Id: Y0P7wvkM27w

Length: 42min 33sec (2553 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 13 2019