Not to put a damper on your Fridays, but PNA has just learned that Ernie Holmes died last night in Texas. He was 59.
I never got the oppportunity to see "Fats" play, except of course, on all the highlight shows and DVDs I've watched over the years, but from what I understand, he was a helluva lineman. He was often overshadowed by the likes of Joe Green, Dwight White and L.C. Greenwood, but he was a big part of the first 2 Super Bowls during the 70's.
The thing I can appreciate the most about Ernie was that he was a madman. He was seen with an arrowhead shaved into his noggin, and he was said to be just as good as Mean Joe but without any kind of discipline...It woulda been nice to have seen him play, but I'll always have those Super Bowl Champs DVDs. Anyone who wants to say something about Fats can just post it in the comments section of this post. I'm sure you old timers got some good memories of him...
Rest in peace, big guy....
On a lighter note, we may or may not get another post up today - We're celebrating loyal readers White Marcus and Mike "Shiver me Timbers" Pricer's bday tonight in the South Side, so we got a lot of stuff to do...Happy Bday boys, and remember, "anything that doesn't run away from us" in 2008...
7 comments:
What a bad day... Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will be out for an indefinite period of time with a high right ankle sprain after suffering the injury in the team's 3-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning Friday night.
What else can possibly go wrong???
its early brah take a few deep breaths and it will all be ok
Sidney will be out for 6 weeks, but the team will rally.
First, let me raise my mug to the sky and give Fats a last toast. The dude played football like a Tasmanian devil. He may have not have gotten the props he deserved because of the talent around him, butthere wasn't a guard in the league that could move his wide butt outta a hole.
Sid the Kid goin' down can't be a good thing. The Pen's didn't have a second line even when he was skating. Maybe Staal, Armstrong, Sykora and Malone will pick up the pieces now that their security blanket is out for a month or two. It'll be interesting.
I think we need a suicide watch for anonymous brah.
I did get to see Fats play, and it was always a treat. Back in the 70's when I was about 13 or 14, my brother and I had a chance to order a Steeler game jersey with any name/number we wanted. This was a big deal, because we didn't live in Pittsburgh, so all you could get were the "big names" Bradshaw, Franco, Lambert or Mean Joe. Well I ordered me an Ernie Holmes jersey... Nobody was rockin the big 6-3 in those days.
One of my all time favorite Super Bowl highlights, (after Lambert throwing Cliff Harris on his ass) was a hit Fats laid on Roger Staubach. NFL Films shows it in excruciating slow motion as he comes in on Roger with his big taped arms raised and crashes them down over the top of his helmet and face mask. (back when you could do things like that and not get flagged.) I actually felt sorry for old Staubach... they beat the living shit out of him that day, but he never slowed down. Anyway, I join you in raising a toast to Fats... Keep pointing the way, brother!
Fats was the mother lode for sportswriters in the '70s. Just his arrowhead cut and shooting at a state trooper helicopter would be plenty.
But much like Mel Blount had the bump and run rule put in place in his honor, Fats was the reason the headslap became illegal. His arm was wrapped like a mummy's (although people swear nothing was underneath the tape except for one huge honking forearm) and on every snap it bounced off the guard's head. Guys would go back to the huddle looking through the earhole of their helmet. It's no wonder o-linemen of that era were brain damaged. Some say the headslap was banned because of Deacon Jones, but he was long retired before it took effect. It was for Fats, and his career ended shortly after the ban. The suits took away his best weapon.
One last story. A beat writer named David Fink asked Holmes about the shotgun, a new fangled formation back in the day. Fats said it was a schoolyard play, and that ended up on the opponent's bulletin board. The next time Fats saw Fink, he hoisted him in the air for a full minute - some say he actually hung him on a dressing room hook - and let him know that what's said in the locker room should stay in the locker room.
He let Fink down gently. He never did hurt or threaten him. Fats was just making a point. But poor Fink said everyone else he interviewed that day tried to see if they could hold him up as long as Holmes did, hehe. Bradshaw, oddly enough, was the only one strong enough to duplicate the feat.
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