Rocky Bleier: With freedom comes responsibility; former NFL player, veteran speaks at military luncheon
Temple Daily Telegram
Published: September 24, 2009
Jim Granfor, left, emcee of the Temple Chamber of Commerce Military Appreciation Luncheon, hands former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier a Dallas Cowboys uniform with Bleier's name on it. Granfor told the almost 600 people attending the event that they had gotten permission to make Bleier “an honorary Cowboy” for a day. (Carroll Wilson/Telegram)
Bringing a Pittsburgh Steelers running back into Cowboys country may have seemed like a hostile mission.
But Rocky Bleier has seen tougher missions, even before he proudly showed his four Super Bowl championship rings - noting two came in victories over the Cowboys - to almost 600 people at the Temple Chamber of Commerce Military Appreciation Luncheon on Wednesday.
Bleier, drafted by the U.S. Army after being drafted by the Steelers in 1968, was wounded in a 1969 battle in Vietnam to the extent he could barely walk. But he worked his way back into being able to rejoin the Steelers more than two years later.
Bleier told soldiers they are better off, no matter what they do, for their service to our country. America is a country of opportunity, Bleier said, not of entitlement. As long as we have choices we have freedom, but with choices come responsibility, he said.
He noted that the training soldiers have received, the passion they put into their work and the leadership they have shown become integral parts of not only what they do today but in the future.
Bleier brought some business perspective. He has served with the Small Business Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to help veteran-owned companies get federal contracts. One of every seven small businesses is veteran-owned, Bleier said.
He also told some football stories, noting how Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw wasn't known for being all that bright, but that he was proud that he called his own plays. Bleier recalled a key third-down play late in a season when the Steelers were hoping to become a playoff team where Bradshaw got into the huddle late. He asked the line what they should run.
Bleier wondered why he would ask the line, who couldn't be all that bright because they're the ones who get hit every play, instead of asking Bleier, a Notre Dame graduate, or running back Franco Harris, a Penn State graduate.
"It was like years of repression had been lifted," Bleier said of the line's reaction. They made the first down, and the line now was part of the solution rather than just being a participant in the game.
Sgt. Undra Martin, who attended the luncheon, said he liked how Bleier said that everybody can contribute something to the team.
Maj. Jeffery Hulen of the 126th Forward Surgical Team, recently returned from Afghanistan, called Bleier's speech "very inspirational."
Having helped wounded soldiers like Bleier is the reward that Hulen gets. "When you know that you saved them, it's the most awesome feeling in the world," he said.
Hulen said he appreciated that Bleier's comments made a point to younger soldiers to make a commitment to something - whether the Army, business or something else - and stick with it.
And serving the country is something all of the speakers noted the soldiers should be proud of.
Emcee Jim Granfor called on the community to continue to "honor our soldiers on a day-to-day basis."
The ways they did it at the luncheon ranged from cards from children at the Ralph Wilson Youth Club, to singing by the Temple High School Polyfoniks, posting of the colors by the THS Air Force ROTC Color Guard, the invocation by wounded warrior the Rev. Larry Granfor - Jim's brother and the pastor of Grace Baptist Church - and sponsorships by companies of the event.
Current and former veterans provided more than their share of the service, including tunes from the 1st Cav Band jazz combo.
One of the soldiers attending the barbecue, Maj. Steve Smith, said that he enjoyed the comedy Bleier brought - such as a "chrome dome" reference to current football analyst Bradshaw's head - and the football references he made. "We use team analogies a lot in the military," said Smith, who serves with 13th ESC.
In the comedic vein, Jim Granfor, a 20-year Air Force veteran, presented Bleier with a jersey making him an "honorary" Dallas Cowboy.
