Rocky Bleier, Hardworking Hero
Classic Class Acts off the football field are not always those who feed the needy or start and head up charities. The men and women associated with football who put their lives on the line to protect us are definitely in the Class Act category as well. This issue of our series will go back to the Vietnam War era and an NFL running back from Appleton, Wisconsin named Robert Patrick ‘Rocky’ Bleier.
Bleier played and excelled at basketball and football at the local high school in Appleton, Xavier, and moved on to a much larger stage in the game when he attended and played at Notre Dame. Rocky graduated from the university where he played all four years for the Golden Domers. The Irish won the National Championship in his 1966 Junior year and Rock became a team captain in his senior year season.
In the 1968 NFL Draft the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted the halfback and he made the team and played the 1968 season. Uncle Sam came calling though right after Bleier’s rookie season and the star athlete turned in his football helmet for a U.S. Army hard hat after he was drafted and then voluntarily signed up to fight in South Vietnam.
During his tours in Vietnam, Bleir was assigned as a squad grenadier operating a grenade launcher. On one patrol in the conflict, Bleier was wounded in the left thigh by an enemy rifle bullet when his platoon was ambushed in a rice field. Soon after he was downed by the projectile, an enemy grenade landed nearby after bouncing off a fellow soldier, sending shrapnel into his lower right leg and he lost part of his right foot in the blast as well. He was later awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. At this point, Rocky’s football career seemed all but doomed. Doctors at the Tokyo hospital where he was recovering from his injuries told him that he could not play football again. Soon after, he received a postcard from Steelers owner Art Rooney which simply read "Rock - the team's not doing well. We need you. Art Rooney". That one note, Bleier later commented on as, “When you have somebody take the time and interest to send you a postcard, something that they didn't have to do, you have a special place for those kinds of people"
After undergoing the knife several times for his wounds in surgeries, Bleier was discharged from service in the Army in 1970. The halfback rejoined his Steeler teammates in 1970 but was placed on injured reserve as he could not walk without pain and was weighing in at a meager 180 pounds. The 1971 season found him back on the field, but only on special teams for the black and gold. He kept vying for playing time but endured being waived two times by the team but he kept on fighting for that starting spot on the squad. Bleir worked hard that off-season and in 1974 he weighed in at a strong 212 pounds and cracked the starting line up on offense.
Bleier played in the first four Steeler Super Bowl victories, and caught the touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw that gave Pittsburgh a lead it would never surrender in Super Bowl XIII. He also recovered Dallas's onside kick in the closing seconds, sealing the Steelers' victory. Bleier retired after the 1980 season with 3,865 rushing yards, 136 receptions for 1,294 yards. The man was gritty and put in 100 % effort in all he did. These along with his exceptional athleticism and drive made him not only a star on the field but a true National Hero and great role model for kids. Especially this kid from Western Pennsylvania, your writer of this article.
In 1980, in further tribute to Rocky’s accomplishments, a TV movie starring Hollywood talent Robert Urich, called Fighting Back: The Rocky Bleier Story, aptly named from his 1975 autobiography played on the airwaves.
Rocky Bleier is indeed a Class Act and well deserving of the credit for serving his country with honor, being wounded in the line of duty and to a lesser extent by showing us all that no matter how bad things appear to be you can fight your way back to the top with a strong desire and a lot of hard work. We at PigskinDispatch.com salute Rocky for his service, his sacrifice and his determined resolution to climb back to the top when he had all odds against him.
