Largent: Life has been 'a dream'

Steve Largent’s path to the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, OH began in Mobile, Alabama in the 1976 Senior Bowl. In 1995, he was inducted to the NFL Hall of Fame and since then he’s been a CEO and a U.S. Congressman. 

“I look back on my life and the things that have taken place in my life and I feel like I’m in a dream,” Largent said in an interview with the Reese’s Senior Bowl’s Patrick Woo.

When Largent retired in 1989, he held almost every major NFL receiving record that was later broken by Jerry Rice. In the first installment of a series of chats with prominent former Senior Bowl players, Largent discusses his life as a Hall of Famer, shares memories from the 1976 Senior Bowl, gives his take on players who focus on specialized training in the NFL Draft process and shares his thoughts on the Seattle Seahawks 2015 outlook. 

“The specialized training that (players today) need to show up for, for sure, is actual playing time in a game,” Largent said. “Any 40-yard dash you could run or how high you can jump – all that stuff doesn’t matter at all. What matters is how you perform on the field and that’s what the Senior Bowl gave me is the opportunity to perform on the field.”

Listen to the full interview with Steve Largent above or read the transcript below.

Senior Bowl: From the 1976 Senior Bowl, a 1995 NFL Hall of Fame inductee, of course in the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame as well, class of 1988. Steve, you hear all these accolades attached to your name now, how awesome has your life been?

Steve Largent: It’s been pretty awesome, I’ll tell you. I look back on my life and the things that have taken place in my life and I feel like I’m in a dream.

Senior Bowl: Where is the gold jacket now from the NFL Hall of Fame?

Steve Largent: I have it right here in my closet. We’re required to wear it or asked to wear it on certain functions that we go to so I have it right here.

Senior Bowl: Since your NFL career has ended, you’ve been doing a lot of different  things but most importantly, how has life treated you?

Steve Largent: It’s been great, it’s been fantastic. I think the one decision that I made that has been so great for me in my life is marrying my wife. She’s been my best friend for over 40 years. We will celebrate our 41^st anniversary this next January. That has been the best decision I ever made.

Senior Bowl: Congratulations on that, that’s remarkable. The rest of the family, all together in Tulsa now, is that correct?

Steve Largent: We actually have four kids and we have two of them in Tulsa, one in Dallas and one in D.C.

Senior Bowl: You spent your college career at Tulsa you spent some time in D.C. and then you moved back to Tulsa, what is it that makes Tulsa home?

Steve Largent: My wife and I have both always felt like that this is where we wanted to place our roots and had done that initially in college and then had moved back here at the end of my career playing football in the NFL and then serving Congress but still stayed in Tulsa. So we’re just coming back to Tulsa now after having worked at CTIA, the wireless association, for the past 11 years. It was kind of tough leaving D.C. because we really liked that community and we have a lot of friends there and our oldest son and three granddaughters live in D.C. so we had to leave them. But, this is home and long-term this is where we always saw ourselves. 

Senior Bowl: Let’s talk about Congress for a second, I don’t know if anyone told you but you look like a Senator. What was it that drew you into being a Congressman?

Steve Largent: It was really my wife. She was the one who came to me when we moved back to Tulsa finally to live year-round as opposed to just coming back in the offseason. She was the one that started talking to me about, “I really think this is what you’re made to do.” So, when your best friend and your wife tells you that, you listen to her. But I absolutely didn’t think it was the right thing for me so I resisted for a little bit but at one point there was an open seat race for Congress in the district that I lived in and I just said “you know I still don’t want to do this but it’s kind of lining up like maybe I should.” I had a six-way or seven-way primary and we were able to win that primary and then go into the general election and won by like 63 percent of the votes so at that point I just knew it was meant to be and I went with a willing heart and spirit and got to serve my country and the district that I represented.

Senior Bowl: After the political stuff in your life, you went out to become the CEO of the CTIA company in D.C. You look at some young people today and there are players that coaches will point to and say that guy is going to be a CEO of a company one day. And these teams want leaders, they want people that they think might be a CEO one day. Tell us about where you got your leadership from and what advice you would give to young people today about leadership.

Steve Largent: I think that it really came from two sources for me. One was my relationship with the Lord and just trying to do the right thing and move in the right direction. And the other really came from football I think. I think that was where I’d learned or I exhibited leadership capability with the Seahawks, with the University of Tulsa. I was a team captain in both places and I took that responsibility seriously. And I learned a lot about what it takes to be a leader and be a leader that has the respect of your teammates. So I just took some of those things that I learned about not just being a guy that’s barking out orders to people but is willing to get into the fray and do your part and lead by example. That’s something I talked about a lot at CTIA and in Congress and playing football. I really believe in that principle.

Senior Bowl: I know Tulsa is home, but you mention the Seahawks. Isn’t Seattle a little bit of home for you too. You got to spend your entire career with one team in one city after getting traded out there. What was it like to be able have a career like that in one place with one team and one fan base.

Steve Largent: Absolutely, it’s like my home away from home and I love going back to Seattle and seeing a lot of old friends and former teammates there, I just love that. It is really a special thing to go back to Seattle and be recognized for whatever contributions I made to the community and to the team and I love it. And I’m going back at the end of this month as a matter of fact and I’m really looking forward to that.

Senior Bowl: How do you go 13 years and only miss four games in your first 13 years?

Steve Largent: I don’t know. I think I was very fortunate that I was able to escape a lot of injuries. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have any injuries – I did – but I didn’t have any season-ending injuries that you see too often take place. Even this training camp you’ve seen a number of receiver like Jordy Nelson go down for the year and I just was able to avoid those kind of injuries. I really think it was that the Lord was protecting me and I knew when to get out of bounds.

Senior Bowl: I wasn’t around to see you play but I read that the Houston Oilers sent you away to Seattle because they thought that you were too small and too slow to play. What do you have to say about that now?

Steve Largent: I think the records speak for themselves. I obviously was devastated when Bum Phillips called me into his office and said “we don’t have room for you on our team and we’re going to let you go.” And I went back and packed up all the stuff that I had at camp, which wasn’t much, and put it in my car and drove back home. And it wasn’t until a couple of days later that the Seahawks called and said, “Hey we worked out a trade and we want you to come up here if you want another chance.” And so for whatever reason it wasn’t meant to be for me in Houston and it was a devastating experience but it was one that really served me well for the rest of my career in the NFL because I knew what it was like to be one of the guys that’s called into the coach’s office and said, “Hey we don’t think you’re good enough to make this team.” So, I can really sympathize with a lot of guys on our team who got that same message from our coach and I tried to be as sympathetic as I possibly could with those guys because I had literally been in their shoes at the start of my career.

Senior Bowl: Too small, too slow, too short, not good enough is something that players still get told today. Is there a player in today’s football world that resembles the way you played?

Steve Largent: Well let me say just about that, that that was one of the things that really stoked my fire was having somebody say that you’re not good enough. That always lit a fire in me and made me work twice as hard and twice as long than anybody else would and I think was one of the reasons – that and my competitive spirit – that really enabled me to be successful at the next level. But I think I like a lot of players. I mentioned Jordy Nelson and it’s too bad he’s not going to play this year because he tore his knee up in the preseason. I really like the way he plays the game and catches the ball and is such a reliable receiver and I like the way he plays but there’s a lot of good receivers in the league. And I have to tell you I’m one of the biggest fans of the NFL today that they have. I love watching the game. I love everything about it. I love throwing the ball a lot and seeing guys make those great catches, it’s really fun.

Senior Bowl: Well, there was one place that told you yes, you were good enough and that was the Senior Bowl out of Mobile, Alabama in 1976 when you came out of Tulsa.

Steve Largent: Let me tell you that your question is exactly the right question and that’s exactly what the Senior Bowl did for me. Because I was coming out of the University of Tulsa which was a small division one school. We weren’t playing Alabama or LSU or teams like that but there I was competing against guys from Alabama, LSU, Boston College and Penn State and the bigger schools that were in the NCAA at the time. So, it was really a testing ground for me whether this kid coming out of the University of Tulsa, a small school, could compete with guys at another level. Richard Todd was my quarterback of note in that game and we really hooked up and had a great game that year and it really gave me a lot of self-confidence to say I can play with these guys and I can play at the next level.

Senior Bowl: What are some of your memories from Senior Bowl week?

Steve Largent: I remember a lot of the guys that I played with. I remember the game and I remember who we played against and some of the guys that played on the other team. I remember just the whole esprit de corps in the locker room that we had and I remember the great fanbase that they have there in Mobile and how they support the whole event. And they really made it a happening and a thing that you enjoyed. But I also remember getting paid. The Senior Bowl was the only game that was played at that time that the players were compensated at all. Of course now they’re paying the whole NCAA players but that was the first time I ever was paid to play football. And I can’t remember how big the check was but to me it was like a million dollars because we were used to getting 15 dollars a month for laundry money in school.

Senior Bowl: When you look at today’s NFL Draft process, it’s a long process. A lot of these players are doing specialized training and focus on that. What’s your message to them these days and what do you see in all of this specialized training that’s going on?

Steve Largent: I’ll tell you the specialized training that they need to show up for, for sure, is actual playing time in a game. And that’s what the Senior Bowl did for me. It gave me an opportunity to expose my talents, whatever I had, on the field playing against real competition. I don’t think there’s any 40-yard dash you could run or how high you can jump – all that stuff doesn’t matter at all. What matters is how you perform on the field. And that’s what the Senior Bowl gave me is the opportunity to perform on the field and show what I could and let people know that I could play at the next level against the best talent.

Senior Bowl: Your jersey No. 80 is retired in Seattle but they also have what they call the “Steve Largent Award.” Tell us a little bit about that.

Steve Largent: That was something they started after I retired and it’s an award that they give to players that’s voted on by the payers, not by anybody else, the players from the team. And they vote for the guy whose performance on the field and his performance off the field, meaning his involvement in the community, the guy that’s done the most of that that year. I like it because it kind of goes hand-in-hand with what I was about as a player. I wanted to perform at the highest level on the field and then in the down times when you’re not on the field you’re giving back to your community because you recognize all that they’ve done for you. So that’s what this award does and I’m really proud of it and proud of the guys that have won it.

Senior Bowl: A lot of recent success for the Seattle Seahawks, what’s your outlook for them this year?

Steve Largent: I think it’s going to be an interesting year. They have a lot of talent coming back, they got Russell Wilson signed, they’re really stacked in a lot of areas but the real concern is probably the most important aspect of an offense – is your offensive line. And they’ve got a lot of new guys and young guys starting on that offensive line and I think it’s going to take them a while to get comfortable in the saddle so to speak so that’s going to be the question mark for me. I think their defense is going back just as strong as they were last year. They’ve got most of their defensive secondary back and their linebackers, they’ll be strong in their defense but their offensive line is going to be a question mark.

Senior Bowl: Steve, we appreciate your time. Everyone here on behalf of the Senior Bowl, Phil Savage our Executive Director as well, we all send our best to you and we’re glad that you’re doing well but I have to leave you with this question, which might be better suited for your wife: In 1996, People Magazine named you one of the most beautiful people. If they did that again in 2015, what would the result be?

Steve Largent: I don’t know. That’s a good question. I’ve never thought about that. It was an honor to be named in 1996 but that’s something that I don’t have any control over and I don’t care to.

Senior Bowl: Steve, we send the best to you, your wife, your four children and your grandchildren, we congratulate you on a Hall of Fame career and we’re so thankful that you were able to jumpstart your professional career down here in Mobile, Alabama and we’re so glad that life’s treated you well ever since. Thanks for catching up with us.

Steve Largent: Thank you, Patrick and thanks to all the good folks that sponsor the senior bowl. It was a great thing for me.