skymike

Thats right. He's in Houston, and apparently is a friend of one of my
station's sales reps. My sales rep friend was a backup DB for the Steelers; I think he was Mel Blount's backup. Im not clear on how he
came to know Tommy Myers, but anyway, its on.

I'm allowed a guest, and while I love all you Hou-Dat brothers & sisters, I think our old guys will best appreciate this, and also I chose based on longsuffering status -- so I picked Ed, (SuperDome) and somebody else here to join us.

Tulane Stadium fans, would love to hear a Tommy M. story here, if you have one!

CheramieIII

I watched him play but that's about as far as I go with the stories. Can't remember yesterday. Have a great lunch Mike.

HouYat

Hey Mike, many thanks for the invite...you know it's not every day you get to meet a Saints legend, let alone have lunch with him. Had a great time talking about the games at Tulane Stadium and all the guys he played with. Most of my memories of him were that he was a huge hitter in the mold of a Jack Tatum, but when you looked at his size you never would think that he could hit like that. Looks were very deceiving. Thanks again Mike. Also enjoyed meeting JB. We may see him again at the Bon Ton Louisiane next month.

skymike

I was really glad you made it, Bruz. Between Tommy Myers, John B-my sales friend, and you, I am proud to have been the least interesting person at a table, and I say that happily. Johns a lot older than I realized, and he's had a really interesting life, and you had some good war stories yourself. Its crazy how every one of you guys who grew up around N.O. all know the same people. I think there's only 3 degress of separation in South La. I really enjoy listening to yall.



Background for those of you too young, or with abused brain cells:
Tommy Myers is in the Saints Hall of Fame, and for good reason. (please make sure Im right below)
-Drafted by the Saints in '72
-became a starter in his first season
-36 career interceptions -- it looks to me like only Johnny Poe and Sharper are even in his class, if you look at the pace of his production.
-All Pro '79 season (first Saints safety ever in Pro Bowl) -- his 7 picks put him aside johnny poe in the single season books, behind Whitsel, Sharper, & Waymer only.
- First team All-NFL
- He was in his day among the NFL's fiercest hitters. One of our first players to be fined by the League for on field nastiness.
-- and get this: his playing weight was around 180 lbs! He was not a big guy (by NFL standards) -- but he hit like a monster.
Basically, a lot of guys who've been around will tell you he was the saints greatest DB.

Now we all know the Saints had a bad history, but any blackandgold fan knows we've had victories-- big wins/ big days/ great achievements.
Myers was on a team in '79 that beat that year's NFC Super Bowl Rams. The same year, his defense wrecked the Redskins, who had the ball 18 times inside the 10, and didnt score.

Every year, when you're a Saints fan, you remember those games where our team supposedly didnt belong on the field with the other team-- but our guys went out and knocked them out of their jocks-- and for at least one Sunday, we were king of the mountain.

One such day was in '73. OJ Simpson was running out his historic 2003 yard season. No one had ever ran for 2,000, especially when there were only 14 games. OJ was on fire, but Tommy Myers & the Saints D put him out November 4th, and stopped the Bills Offense cold - a guts out 13-0 shutout.

While I need you old guys to help me with specifics, Myers would have been playing against guys like Fran Tarkenton, Roger Staubach, John Hadl, Barktkowski, John Brodie?, Roman Gabriel, Jim Hart, Greg Landry, Joe Theismann, Billy Kilmer (with the Redskins), Jim Plunkett, Stabler, Griese, Norm Snead, Joe Montana, and I'll bet he's picked off Dan Pastorini at least twice. Thats just the QB's. I'll bet Tommy M. himself doesnt know
how many NFL receivers he's made up-close-and-personal contact with.

---I GOT YOUR LUNCH STORY COMING. but first some trivia:
If you look at Tom Myers stats, you will see a line for "1 for 2 passing with 1 TD." --- PASSING! (he's a safety) Would anyone like to take a stab at how this stat came to be? (I asked him at lunch yesterday)

foreverfan

I remember the years of 78 & 79 when we had the best offense in the league but no defense. Tommy Myers was the defense. It was unusual for him to be cleaning up every play from the FS position.

I used to always say "Thank God for Tommy Myers"

HouYat

Thanks Mike, I really had an awesome time with you guys yesterday. Some of those stories I haven't even thought about in years just started coming out with all the different things we were talking about. I was just thinking that all this was before your conversion to Saints fandom, so you couldn't have remembered much of what we were talking about. Didn't really dawn on me yesterday. That's ok, you have more than made up for lost time.

skymike

Tommy Myers either still goes to training camp, or he just doesnt like to eat. He still looks like he could play. You'd still recognize him too,
looks like the same guy just older, distinguished. He is a successful businessman, and I believe he was already an entrepreneur when he played. He was helping fellow players with financial planning. Wow, they need him now! Even had a partnership once with Cowboy Cliff Harris, which I find surprising.

Im keeping some of the stories to myself, out of respect. It wasnt anything that would scandalize anybody. You would still like him. Most of that stuff would be common knowledge anyway.

This post is just to give you an idea how darn interesting the talk was.

I told my friend I would do my best not to be FanBoy Pest, and figured I would just go with the flow. But to my surprise and delight, he and John did indeed tell some of the kind of stories I wanted to hear. (bear in mind, John B.s a player too, and had a darn lot of interesting stuff. John B's mom once punched a Cowboy fan, for instance.)

Some scoopage:

He liked Buddy D. Thought he was a good guy, and didnt mind the criticism. Just saw him as a guy who called it like he saw it.

I asked if team rivalries carried the same animosity as with the fans. For instance our bitter dislike of Atlanta. Of course he said thats mostly with the fans. Bear in mind this is a guy who knocked people into next week, so I dont think he took it easy between whistles. But I think it was over when the game is over, usually. Im sure there were exceptions. I mentioned how in most games, there is at least one pair of opponents from one school. Then Bruz asked why Falcon Jeff Van Note always visited our locker room, and it turns out -- he went to the same school with Joe Federspiel. (for some trivia, I researched this easily- answer at the bottom. )

Played in some kind of all star game in Chicago, then reported to camp in Hattiesburg-- weather from one extreme to the other. He seemed to still feel the heat from Mississippi, & Nichols, but said he liked Dodgertown.

I told him I never booed our players, except for kickers... He said, "I booed kickers." hahahaha

Painted a vivid picture of make-shift artificial lighting around a practice field in Thibodaux, with a wall of bug zappers going crazy, in the swamp that was their training camp. I cant remember his exact description, but apparently looked like some kind of laser light show. funny now. Im sure it was misery then.

I mentioned how former players had to have offseason jobs. Said he had numerous, including a gig in California working with troubled youth.

Apparently, the Doug Atkins shooting story is legendary among players also. (Atkins at a training camp dorm one night was not enjoying the music upstairs, played by most likely younger players. Atkins shot a gun thru the floor, and heard feet rushing every which direction. But the music stopped. )

The injuries are even more widespread than we imagine. Dislocated a wrist once, and trying not to land on the wrist, did something to a "bursa sac?" (did I get that right?) in his elbow. Filling a claim form once, that required him to list all injuries, he couldnt possibly remember them all. Numerous and widespread surgeries, and a number of his injuries - he still feels.

speaking of injuries, he has great respect for ?Dean Klinesmith? Team Doctor? am I getting this right? Of course he was a regular.

Remembers cheerfully the day the Saints stopped O.J. Simpson cold. He didnt talk about his own heroics, nothing like that -- just I could read the smile. I wish I would have mentioned some other games he can smile about.

Oh, check this out: He said his own kids told him the bust of him in the Saints Hall of Fame didnt look like him. Well? It should because they actually put the ?Plastery stuff? on his face, and he had to sit there for half an hour, while it dried.

Good tales about colorful characters from Edwin Edwards, to interesting equipment managers. And a lot of common guy talk. Super nice guy,
and down to earth.

A big THANKS to John B. for arranging this, and to Saints Legend Tommy Myers for sharing interesting stories with us.

trivia: Jeff Van Note and Joe Federspiel both attended...

... Kentucky

AND THE OTHER TRIVIA FROM ABOVE: Im gonna leave you hanging tonight-- I asked Tommy Myers how he came to have a statistic for "1 of 2" passing for 1 TD." Anybody know this story & the opponent?

st thomas

myers was one of my all time favs because he was the only defensive player that had guts in those bad years .and the only other safety that made me let myers out of my mind was sammy wammy night

Srgt. Hulka

Cool Mike!! Really...that's so cool! Thanks for sharing that with us.

But...in amongst all that conversation, did you have an opportunity to invite him to join us here on BlackandGold.com?

skymike

John B, our common friend, and former NSU player asked for the site address, and Im
inviting them both to the Hou-Dats Draft Party next week at Ragin Cajun. Maybe this time I'll remember to take some pictures.