Sport is littered with athletes who have defied the odds, and many have written accounts of their lives, and some have had them made into movies. This Inspirational athlete has done all three.
Robert Bleier was born in Appleton, Wisconsin in March 1946. He was the first born of four. His mum and dad, Bob and Ellen ran a tavern in Appleton, and the family lived above the bar.
It was thanks to the regulars of the bar that Robert received a nickname that would live with him the whole of his life, “Rocky.” This came about when the regulars would enter the bar and ask his dad how the new born baby was. According to Rocky his dad would reply ‘Aw, you should see him, guys, looks like a little rock sitting in that crib. He’s got all these muscles.’ So they’d come back in the bar and they’d say, ‘Hey Bob, how’s that little rock of yours?’ So after that, that’s how I got it. It stuck.”
As soon as Bleier went to Xavier High school he put those muscles to good use and was an outstanding athlete. He starred in their American football side and also in basketball. In football, he won three-time all-state selections as a running back, and also won all-conference honours at both linebacker and defensive back. He was also the team captain in football, basketball, and athletics.
Not surprisingly he then went onto the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and once again excelled in sport. During his junior season in 1966, the Fighting Irish, – as the football team is known, – won the national championship and he was team captain as a senior in 1967. He graduated in 1968 with a degree in business management.
At the end of his university days he went into the NFL/AFL draft and in 16th round was picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After his rookie season, in December 1968, Bleier was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He volunteered for duty in South Vietnam and shipped out for active servic in May 1969.
On August 20 1969 while on patrol in Hiep Duc, Bleier and his platoon were ambushed in a rice field. He was wounded in the left thigh by an enemy rifle bullet. While lying injured, he saw an enemy grenade coming through the air. It bounced off his commanding officer’s back without exploding and landed near his feet. His immediate instinct was to try and jump away, but he couldn’t. When it exploded it tore through his lower right leg. In the explosion he lost part of his right foot.
He lay there for four hours expecting this to be his last day. Eventually at midnight he was carried back to base, where they had already reported that he had been killed. It was 12 hours since he had first been hit that he first received morphine to ease the pain.
He was sent to a hospital in Tokyo for treatment, and it was there that the doctors gave him the news that he would never play football again. Although he admitted later that the thought of playing was the only thing that drove him on through this period.
While in that hospital he received a postcard that would change his attitude and probably his life.
The postcard was from Art Rooney the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The wording was simple, it said “Rock – the team’s not doing well. We need you. Art Rooney.”
Later in life Bleier said, “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”. He underwent several surgeries, and after nine months was eventually discharged from the military in July 1970.
He returned to the Steelers and began joining in informally with some of the training alongside his former teammates.
It was not to be the fairy tale return. Bleier couldn’t walk without being in pain, and had understandably lost weight; he was 82 kg. He ran 40 yards in five seconds, which was slow for a running back; but impressive for one almost running on one leg!
The club listed him as an injured reserve for the season. Coach Chuck Noll was not sure that he would make it back, and sent him home and told him to concentrate on getting himself into the best health he could and come back next year.
In 1971 he came back fitter and stronger and played in an exhibition match, but pulled a muscle in his right leg. The club doctor suggested that he retire, as he believed that the leg and the muscle would constantly give him trouble.
He ignored the doctor’s advice and simply worked harder. Despite missing part of the season with Tonsillitis he took part in six games that year.
In 1973 he was in the speciality team that won the first Championship in Pittsburgh history. He played in every game of that season, but it was not the senior side. That success spurred him to once again work even harder in the off season.
Bleier was never going to be one to give up. He has been quoted as saying that he worked hard so that “some time in the future you didn’t have to ask yourself ‘what if?'” He built his weight up to 96 kg and in the summer of 1974 he earned a spot in the Steelers’ starting lineup.
In 1976 he and Franco Harris rushed for over 1,000 yards, making this the second NFL team to accomplish the feat; Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka having achieved the feat in 1972 for the Miami Dolphins.
Bleier would go on to play in the first four Super Bowl victories for the Pittsburgh Steelers in ’74, ’75, ’78 and ’79. In 1978 he caught the touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw that gave Pittsburgh a lead that it would never surrender in Super Bowl XIII.
He retired after the 1980 season, and at the time was the Steelers’ fourth all-time leading rusher.
He wrote his autobiography in retirement and in 1980 a Television movie was made of his life with Robert Ulrich player Bleier.
In 2007 the football stadium at Xavier High School was renamed Rocky Bleier Field in his honour and his number 23 shirt was retired. The only time this has ever happened at the school. At the same time the mayor of Appleton, Tim Hanna unveiled a street named in his honour. Oneida Court as it was formerly known was renamed Rocky Bleier Run.
Sometimes in the bleakest of times we all need something to focus on, as Bleier did lying in that paddy field in Vietnam. Then the important thing is not to lose that focus. Many times Bleier was told that what he was trying to achieve was never going to happen. All that did was make him work harder. Eventually he was rewarded with four Super Bowl medals!
