Jerome Bettis - A great player enters the Hall of Fame

Article and Photos by Gordon Dedman

 

Jerome Bettis began life in the depressing streets of a declining city. Bettis was born in Detroit, a city that it sank into a miserable abyss and enter bankruptcy while he rose above it all to have a successful football career finishing the NFL’s sixth all-time rushing leader.

His early life was so tough that Bettis has admitted to selling crack cocaine with his brother to support his mother and father who “were working their butts off,” but struggling to make ends meet.

His brother John introduced him to football and which he started at High School, but Bettis credits the free football camp put on each summer by ex-Buffalo Bills Reggie McKenzie for changing his life. McKenzie, who started his camp in 1974, used football as the vehicle to teach life skills while stressing academic achievement and self-esteem.

 

It was at those camps that Bettis learned the values he put into his life; determination, belief in himself and caring for the community.

The Detroit Free Press rated Bettis the top player in the state when he left high school to take up a scholarship to Notre Dame where he played under Lou Holtz. During his second year he he set the Notre Dame touchdown record at 20; 16 rushing and 4 receiving.

Jerome Bettis was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the 1993 draft. During his rookie season he finished second in the NFL rushing leaders after gaining 1,429 yards. Included in that total were his first career 100-yard and 200-yard rushing games, both of which came against the New Orleans Saints. His 212-yard day that season was a career-high.

At the time he was only the eighth rookie in NFL history to rush for 200 yards in a game. His output that year marked the first of eight 1,000-yard seasons in his first nine years. His second season, he rushed for 1,025 yards and took another trip to the Pro Bowl.

His third season saw him slump to 637 yards, but he was slowed by injury and was trying to run behind a patchwork line. His attitude was questioned. “I felt like I was banging my head against a wall figuratively and literally,” he said at the time. “I was going through some rough times. I knew there were going to be problems. I knew I was a better player than that, knew I could still play. Fortunately, I was traded.”

In Pittsburgh, with doubts surrounding the availability of running back Bam Morris after he was arrested for a marijuana offense, the Steelers found themselves in the summer of ‘96 looking for a replacement. At the same time, the Rams saw their future in drafting Lawrence Phillips to lead their offense and even moved up to select him.

The Steelers saw the potential with Bettis fitting into their smash mouth style football their fans just love, so on draft day a deal was done that took Bettis three hundred miles east.

Slotting into the Steelers offense that first season saw him back to his powerful style of pounding out the yards. His 1,421 yards rushing saw him return to the Pro Bowl, but this time in the red of an AFC shirt.

 

He proceeded to build a solid career with Bill Cowher and the Steelers. He had six straight 1000+ yards seasons in his first nine seasons helping the team to three AFC Championships.

Three times he came away a loser and with the final defeat in 2004 he thought long and hard about putting his weary bones through another season. In a recent conference call, Bettis explained how close he came to retiring at that point.

“I was very close to retiring. In fact I talked to the team and told the team that I was retiring. I was pretty much done, but in the twelfth hour I was convinced to come back and give it one more shot and boy I’m glad I did because that was the year we won.”

I was lucky to attend my second Super Bowl in Detroit to see Jerome Bettis win his championship. It certainly meant everything to him, especially playing in his home city.

Bettis observed, “Had I not won (Super Bowl XL), I would have been one of those guys… he’s really good, “but”. You always have that “but” there. He was a great player, but he never won a championship. To be able to win a championship, it takes that “but” away and all you focus on is he was a great player.”

And a great player Bettis was. He overcame adversity and the plight of asthma to become a superstar in the world’s most competitive sport. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame by his brother. It will be a family affair and with Steeler Nation in attendance, it will be a sea of black and gold in appreciation of the outstanding service he gave to the Steelers.