EMQB Interview: Darrell Green
Photo courtesy Pro Football Hall of Fame
Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL
Darrell Green is one of the best cornerbacks to ever play in the National Football League. He was voted to seven Pro Bowls. He’s a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1990s. And he played in four NFC championship games and three Super Bowls, including Washington Redskins (the only team he ever played for) victories in SBXXII and SBXXVI. He was one of the fastest athletes to play the game and his career spanned an incredible 20 years. Darrell also won the NFL’s Man-of-the-Year award in 1996, solidifying his place as not only a stellar football player, but a great person off-the-field. He’s part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008 and I had the opportunity to talk with him on a national conference call. When I spoke with Darrell, it was like talking to an old friend. I could’ve asked him questions all day, but our time was very limited and I had to share that time with other writers. So, I’ll admit — I’m looking forward to Darrell’s enshrinement ceremony acceptance speech a bit more than the others. And hopefully I’ll get to talk with him one-on-one someday, when his hectic schedule has settled down a bit. Here’s our brief conversation.
DAVID: I enjoyed reading your blog and how you described your emotions when you found out you had been elected into the Hall of Fame — almost like an out-of-body experience. And how nervous you were leading up to that announcement.
DARRELL: Yeah, I told the story. I was talking about how we woke up Saturday morning and my son, I guess he had just had enough of it. He said, “Man, why are you so nervous? You know you’re a shoe‑in.” I said, “Man, are you crazy?” We got into this conversation, he says, “Ever since I was a kid, I heard this and I heard that and then I saw it for myself. You’re first ballot.” And I said, “You know what, it just hit me. You’re seeing my career from your perspective. I’m seeing it from mine.” I was JV (junior varsity) in 11th grade, walked-on in college, dropped out of school, went back and they always told me I was too small, blah, blah, blah. And so we kind of realized — you know what — you can respect what I’m feeling and I can respect what you’re feeling. But now you understand why I’m not a shoe‑in when I’m looking from my vantage point and where I am from your vantage point as my son, from a kid who has heard it all his life, seen it, everybody told you. So it was really interesting. But I think I am in my own heart ‑‑ you know? As a matter of fact, when I received the NFL’s Man-of-the-Year award, I got up there and actually started crying and said, “I don’t feel like I deserve this.” I said to myself, “Well, if you feel like you deserve it, you’ll probably act like you deserve it; and if you act like you deserve it, you won’t deserve it and they won’t give it to you.” So I think the real heart and real character of a man does present itself in moments like that, and I’m grateful for the character that’s in me that has a genuine humility about those type of things, and with that, when you do get it, I think it brings with it an incredible amount of appreciation.
DAVID: How did you get past people telling you that you were too small to play football? Because I think your story is inspirational.
DARRELL: In the eighth grade, I came up with a plan and I said, when I get to high school, which at that time was tenth grade, I’m going to go on the track team. I was running with all of the track kids in P.E. (physical eduation). Anyway, so I knew I could run. So I said to myself, I’m going to go and get on the track team and become an athlete. In the State of Texas, football is huge. If you’re coming in competing with three high schools and one middle school, those coaches know everybody. But I was a nobody and didn’t do anything in middle school. So I thought I’d better go and run track and at least get on the athletic radar, and that’s what I did. I had a plan to go out there in the 11th grade and ironically enough by about two or three games they said: Well, we’ll put you on the Junior Varsity and we’ll go with that. So I said thank you, at least I get to play, so I did. So I can’t say that ‑‑ I think I overcame it with wisdom and just maturity and growing confidence in time and age, and again, that voice in my head from my dad saying, “You can really play.” Not saying, “You’re going to be great” or whatever, but at least he was a voice saying, “You know, I believe in you. I think you can play.”
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POSTED IN: Interviews, Pro Football HOF, Washington Redskins
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