Bill McGrane is retiring from the Bears for the second time as director of administration, which means he gets to tell encore stories about life in the NFL.
He would like to write a book about Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the most influential sports figure of the 20th Century. McGrane once worked in Rozelle’s NFL office as assistant to the NFC president, who happened to be George Halas.
One day, the people in charge of assembling the league schedule informed Rozelle it was ready for publication after the usual arduous process of juggling dates, checking stadium availability and balancing all competitive considerations. They were justifiably proud of accomplishing their annual task.
“Pete pulled up a chair, vanilla milkshake in one hand, cheeseburger in the other,” McGrane said. “He was slurping on the milkshake while he studied the board. Then he said, `Looks like a good schedule. But the Eagles sure have a challenge in Week 7. You’ve got them at home against Buffalo and on the road at Pittsburgh.'”
McGrane left sportswriting to become public relations director for the Minnesota Vikings because he found Jim Finks, then the Vikings’ general manager, too fascinating to turn down. He followed Finks to Chicago in 1975 and stayed after Finks left, retiring in 1989 before returning in 1999.
Working behind the scenes, McGrane has seen pro football from angles that allowed him to write the aptly named “Insights” column for NFL game-day programs that no longer exist, one of many changes evident as the league moves away from its public relations roots to a more profit-centered business model.
Not long before McGrane, Rozelle and many others with PR backgrounds arrived, Halas himself used to scribble out press releases and deliver them to the local papers to drum up interest in his bold idea of pro football.
Now the constant, year-round glare of the spotlight is causing NFL teams to retreat into bunkers. The New York Jets put out a press release last week stating: “The general manager will not field phone calls made by the media directly to his office and will not be available following preseason and regular-season games or at team practice.” Quick, name the general manager of the New York Jets.
Other teams, including the Bears, are following similar procedures to combat what they perceive as too much publicity. The surprising thing about the Jets’ posture is they don’t have their proposed new stadium built yet, while so many other teams already are basking in new cash cows funded by “public-private partnerships.” It would seem the Jets still need the media to help them sell the concept of such joint civic ventures.
“It’s become a real impersonal league,” McGrane said without knowing anything about the Jets’ position.
The first coach McGrane worked with in Minnesota was Norm Van Brocklin.
“He was watching film in the dark of his office one day chuckling,” McGrane said. “I went in and he said, `This guy could play for me.’ It was that play in Los Angeles when two guys ran out onto the field and [Mike] Ditka whacks a guy.”
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McGrane ended his first stint with the Bears working with Ditka.
“Fewer people around like that,” McGrane said.
McGrane, who wrote books about Bud Grant and Walter Payton, said his favorite players were two fullbacks, Bill Brown and Matt Suhey. Halas traded Brown to the Vikings.
“Ditka walked into Halas’ office and said, `This probably isn’t any of my business, but if you trade Brown to Minnesota, you’re making a mistake,'” McGrane recalled. “Halas didn’t even look up. Said: `You’re right about one thing. It isn’t any of your business.’
“Brown and Suhey are just really solid guys,” McGrane said. “Matt is real loyal. He was such a perfect match for Walter because Walter was like a drop of water in a hot skillet. He was everywhere. Matt was just trudging along, the opposite of Walter. They were like a married couple.”
On Grant: “Finks told me to go pick him up at the airport when we hired him. I said, `I don’t know what he looks like.’ Finks said, `He’ll be the only guy getting off the plane who looks like the town marshal.'”
More Grant: “He cut John Beasley, a tight end, and told him to come into his office. Beasley walked in and Bud was cleaning a shotgun. Beasley said, `I didn’t know if he was going to cut me or shoot me.'”
On Payton: “Walter was definitely the most unforgettable character. My daughter Katy called one day. Walter used to take the switchboard from [receptionist] Louise Johnson. My daughter asked, `Who’s on the switchboard? It’s some guy who sounded like Michael Jackson.’ I said, `Probably Walter; it’s Wednesday.'”
Payton was “the best player, all things gathered, I ever saw,” McGrane said.
Although Payton set the NFL’s career rushing record, McGrane’s most vivid memories were of him blocking:
“Out at San Francisco, ball on the 4- or 5-yard line. Roland Harper ran and Walter led and he hit [linebacker] Frank Nunley, I’m not kidding, he knocked him out of the back of the end zone. Then that Thursday night game in Minnesota [1985] when Jim McMahon came in and threw his first pass. Walter hit Joey Browner, who was blitzing. Walter came up like a jack-in-the-box and flipped him.”
The best runner: “Maybe Gale Sayers. He was so dangerous you just held your breath every time he touched it.”
On the game: “I don’t know that much about the other sports. I agree with whoever said baseball is America’s pastime, football is its passion. It’s such an emotional game. There’s not that many games. You have the whole week to get all steamed up about it, though I must tell you when I watch our games, I find myself enjoying watching good college games. It seems like in pro football we’re afraid to get beat. We have this great drive downfield, and all of a sudden we’re kicking a field goal.”
On the future: “I think short term. I don’t see something coming along to overtake it. I don’t know what it would be other than soccer. That has a world following, but for whatever reasons it hasn’t made it here.”