About a decade later, after my career was over, I was in Canton for Jerome Bettis’s Hall of Fame induction. It was an amazing reunion with guys I hadn’t seen in a long time. I even got to see the Big Fella again. And at that time, Mr. Rooney was nearing the end of his life. He was having some health problems. He was kind of hunched over. So when I saw him walking with his wife, I snuck up behind him and I kind of surprised him.
I said, “Hey, big fella! What you doing down there?”
He said, “Who’s that?”
“It’s your favorite player, Mr. Rooney! It’s your old buddy!”
He turned around and his eyes just lit up, man. He says, “Holy
smokes! Kordell!! Slash!!! How you doing?”
“I’m good, Mr. Rooney, I’m
good.”
“Hey look, I’m wearing one of those ties you gave me!”
“You’re looking
slick, buddy. What you doing here?”
“Oh, just hanging out. Here to see our old friend The Bus. Can you believe it? Where did the time go?”
As a quarterback, I wasn’t perfect. But I was 46–29.
We talked for a minute and then he had to go. And as he was walking away, arm-in-arm with his wife, he stopped in his tracks and turned around.
He said, “Hey, Slash.”
I said, “What’s up, big fella?”
He winked and he said, “I told you, buddy, you should’ve stayed a wide receiver. We’d be here celebrating you, too.
