By Jim Gehman
A two-year veteran kicker, you found yourself out of the NFL in 1972. It was the same story the following year. That, however, changed in 1974. How?
“I had written and called every team in the league over those two years just trying to get somebody to take a look at me. [Washington coach George Allen] remembered that I kicked four field goals against the Redskins in a driving rainstorm at RFK Stadium [while with the Houston Oilers in 1971]. So he had his camera guy go back and find out who that kicker was. [Allen] called and asked if I wanted to play again.
“I showed up for training camp and competed against 12 other guys for the job and ended up getting it. I think more than anything, I just never wavered. I always had a lot of confidence in my ability.”
During the strike-shortened 1982 season, you connected on 21 field goal attempts, added 16 PATs, and helped the Redskins win Super Bowl XVII. And for the first and only time in the history of the NFL for a kicker, you were named as the league’s Most Valuable Player.
“I’m very proud of that year. I’m proud of almost my entire career because I don’t think I ever slacked. I was one of those guys that worked my hardest all the time to be the best that I can be and give everything that I had to my team to help them win. That’s probably what I’m most proud of.
“But I think that year of ’82, because of what it meant to our team, had I not been kicking as well as I was, we would not have ever even made the playoffs that year. But as it was, it got us to the playoffs, and then our offense kicked into gear after that, and we just breezed through the playoffs and got to the Super Bowl and won it.”
After 16 seasons in the league with Philadelphia, Houston, Washington and Cleveland, you joined a different team in 2002 – Five Guys Burgers and Fries. How did you become the popular restaurant chain’s Director of Franchise Sales?
“At that time the Murrell family had five stores. I convinced them that we could take the Five Guys operation to the public and franchise it. And now we have almost 1,200 stores open and we’ve got over 3,500 sold. We actually have stores open in the U.K. now.”
Why has Five Guys been so successful?
“Well, I think primarily it’s because we have a product that people like. I don’t know why else they’d come in other than that. We serve hamburgers, hot dogs and fries, but it’s the best. It’s great food, high quality. We don’t have anything that’s not fresh.
“So it’s a great product and everybody that eats there knows it. You can taste it. We keep our stores extremely clean. We have great service. We go out of our way to make sure people have a great experience when they come to Five Guys.”
What’s next?
“We’re going international with it. I’m on my way in about two weeks to the Middle East to close some deals over there that we’re going to do. We’ve already got three stores open in London, and we’ve got seven more that are scheduled to open in the London area in the next two months.
“It’s been a real successful run. I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been fun being a part of building something great. Just kind of like it was when I was playing football and going to the Super Bowls. You start off with nothing at the beginning and you end up with something great at the end. That’s what we’ve been able to do with Five Guys.”
###
The NFLPE "Where Are They Now?" series honors and celebrates our NFL Legends in their post-football success. Check back every two weeks for a new Q&A and learn more about our players in life after football.