#rocky bleier

[the-football-chick]

[bretmichaels]

Pittsburgh Native and Music Icon Bret Michaels and Vietnam Veteran Rocky Bleier to Honor Veterans on Monday Night Football

Pittsburgh Native and Music Icon Bret Michaels and Vietnam Veteran Rocky Bleier to Honor Veterans on Monday Night Football

Steelers Training Camp with Roy Gerela. Michele Sychak (Bret’s sister), Bret Michaels, Bret’s Grandpa Craig. Mean Joe Greene in the background.Bret Michaels as a kid decked out in Steelers gear. Bret Michaels with his Steelers Helmet.Bret Michaels – Lifelong Steelers Fan. Watch Monday Night Football to see Bret and the Pittsburgh Steelers honor our service members when the Steelers face the…

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[surly01]

Memory and the Great Forgetting

“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” -Milan Kundera

What is it that we remember? And what memories do we leave behind?

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to Rocky Bleier speak at a breakfast meeting. Bleier was a hero of my young adulthood, part of a backfield tandem with Franco Harris on Pittsburgh's best 70s Steeler teams. During that talk, he touched on the frangibility of memory as he quoted author William Least Heat-Moon in "River Horse:"

"Our physical components change every seven years, so our brains are continuously passing along memories to a stranger; who we have been is only a ghostly fellow traveler. Were human memory total and perfect, perhaps I'd be only one person from start to finish, but forgetfulness cuts me off from who I've been so that hourly I am reborn."

Since our bodies refurbish our cells every seven years, we have at least this excuse. Which I will use. I've been embarrassed by having friends ask me if I recall an event and coming up with nothing. Inexplicable lacunas appear everywhere. So episodes, places, people as part of a life, all of who played a greater or lesser role, disappear into the mists. Then the mind skips, thinking of the shards of impressions we leave with others as we pass through their lives, partial, imperfect. Have we left behind flowers or broken crockery?

My wife and I had the opportunity with members of our extended family this past week. We enjoyed a day of sharing stories and hearing others for the first time in a day filled with laughter. I surprised myself by how much I looked forward to it, enjoyed it while happening, and look back on it fondly now.  I don't think I realized how much we thirsted for family contact after 14 months of enforced isolation, thanks to Covid quarantine.

Bleier's story is well worth hearing. ESPN's Tom Rinaldi recorded a deeply moving recollection. Bleier went back to Vietnam to revisit the spot where he was ambushed and wounded.  He recalls his journey from a hospital bed in Tokyo to overcome injuries and ultimately play for the Steelers. This story has been told in the book and movie "Fighting Back" and needs no further embellishment.

But Bleier was poignant on that morning, and his words resonated with a group of mostly older men:

"As I think back on the words of Heat-Moon, I am not that 23-year-old kid any longer. Although the highlights of my life are vivid, the retelling of the story is now gospel. Who I was, the emotions I had then, unfortunately, have faded with time. The story here is what I have learned over these 40 years. Maybe that's the question we end up asking ourselves. What have we learned? What have we done? Have we made a difference?"

There is memory, and there is intentional forgetting.

The world was shocked at the discovery of the remains of more than 200 children at a former native school in Canada last week. The Kamloops Indian residential school was the largest of several such schools, whose mission was to take the next generation of Native American children away from family and tribe and indoctrinate them for "assimilation." The net result was to sever them irrevocably from their culture. Such schools existed in both Canada and the US generally dressed up in some sort of soggy, whitebread do-gooderism.  Today we call that "cultural genocide."

Charles Pierce notes:

The revelations in Canada came just as President Joe Biden flew to Tulsa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the destruction of the Greenwood section of the city and the race massacre that ensued. The standard response over much of the mainstream media was a surprise that these events had been disappeared from history. Of course, there was a concerted effort in Tulsa to cover up the crimes, up to and including removing stories from newspaper archives. But there was more to it than that. Imperial power, as somebody once said to Ron Suskind, creates its own reality, and imperial power can be exercised domestically as well as overseas… Events are made to disappear as a kind of historical getaway car.

Not for nothing has Gore Vidal called this country "The United States of Amnesia." The Tulsa Black Wall Street massacre is just one of many that have been papered over in our Great Forgetting. Look up New Orleans in 1866, Wilmington in 1898, Wounded Knee, or just click this link here. Most "white" people in this country are sore aggrieved at being confronted with the US's blood-soaked history of slavery and genocide. See the recent backlash against the 1619 project and the teaching of "critical race theory," a construct its critics would be hard-pressed to explain. Except that they know that the long-deferred confrontation with its racist past will cause children to ask questions their parents would rather not answer.

American "personhood" is conditional. Anyone who doubts that has not been called "a god-damned dago” to his face, as I have. [It amuses me that so many Italian-Americans are hyper-partisan "patriots" of the red-white-and bluest sort. It's almost as if they intuit that the American Racial Contract recently conferring Italians full Personhood can be revoked at any time.] That Racial Contract means that nonwhite sub-personhood is enshrined alongside white personhood. The rules do not apply to nonwhites in the same way that they apply to whites, and promises made to "all citizens" are clearly negotiable depending on the claimant's race. In 1857, Rover Taney issued the worst Supreme Court decision of all time, the Dred Scott decision. He wrote that "[African Americans] had no rights which the white man was bound to respect..."

What has really changed in 164 years? Kundera was right about the power of memory against forgetting because, very often, it's the only power that victims hold, even from the grave. It's why we had trials at Nuremberg. And why our elites are busily rewriting history, from the January 6 Insurrection to last year's Covid response. Elites resist accountability with all they have, and memory is our last defense. So if memory disappears, we find ourselves once again living in Greenwood's ashes or in Kamloops as the bodies are buried, wondering once again how such a thing could have happened.

[dubsism]

Today’s Movie: Pride of the Marines

Year of Release: 1945

Stars: John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark

Director: Delmer Daves

This movie is not on my list of essential films.

NOTE: This installment of Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies is being done as part of something called the The Eleanor Parker Blog-A-Thon being hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films. Through the great topics she always selects, she has been exposed to so much of my nonsense she must be close to developing complete immunity to it 🙂

You can see all the contributors to this blog-a-thon here:

Days One and Two

The Story:

“Pride of the Marines” is a classic three-act film which is in a solid class of movies released near the end  of the Second World War and in it’s aftermath addressing the struggles of servicemen returning from combat to civilian life.

The first act is set in the days prior to the war. The central character is a Philadelphia steel worker with a decided swagger named Al Schmid (played by John Garfield).  Ai is determined to avoid marriage at all costs; he would rather be the essential “playing the field” bachelor.  That all changes when he crosses paths with a head-strong stunner named Ruth Hartley (played by Eleanor Parker).

Ruth’s “no non-sense” approach to life quickly breaks down Al’s disdain for marriage. They go on a hunting trip together during which it’s pretty obvious the seeds of love are being sown.

Then comes December 7th, 1941.  In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, like millions of other Americans Al enlists in the military. At the train station just as he is about to depart to join the Marine Corps, Al asks Ruth to marry him.

The plot then moves to the Battle of the Tenaru River on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal on August 21, 1942. Al is part of a Browning machine gun crew in “H” Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st First Marines along with Lee Diamond (played by Dane Clark) and Johnny Rivers (played by Anthony Caruso).

In what proves to be a brutal battle, Lee, Johnny, and Al kill over 200 enemy soldiers, but then face an onslaught all their own during which Johnny is killed by a gunshot to the head, Lee suffers an injury to his arm, and Al is rendered blind by a grenade explosion.

The plot jumps ahead again, this time to Al’s rehabilitation, which to say the least humbles the once cock-sure steel worker turned U.S. Marine.  Al struggles with his new-found dependence upon others. Originally, there is hope that his sight can be restored with surgery, but the attempt proves to be unsuccessful.  To conceal his blindness from Ruth, he breaks off their engagement.

However, during Al’s time in the hospital, he is reunited with Lee.  Along with hospital rehabilitation officer Virginia Pfeiffer (played by Rosemary DeCamp), they take on the difficult task aiding Al’s recovery.

In the meantime, Al discovers two things.  First, he is going to be awarded the Navy Cross.  He also learns he is going to be permanently transferred to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital…which puts him right back in his hometown, where he will no longer be able to avoid Ruth.

Once he finds out that his award ceremony will also take place in Philadelphia, Al becomes both angry and afraid he will be confronted by Ruth…and he’s not wrong.  What Al is really afraid is being pitied by Ruth; that’s a blow he can’t take coupled with his loss of independence. Instead, Al tries to convince himself he will regain his sight and until will not depend on others.

As al fears, Ruth re-enters the picture.  She goes to the hospital to enlist Lee’s assistance in a plot to get Al to come back home before he moves to his new hospital in Philadelphia. As such, Lee tells Al there’s a Navy car with a WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service — a division of the U.S. Naval Reserve) driver waiting for him.  But instead of taking him to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, the driver takes Al home where Ruth and his family are waiting. 

With no ability to escape, Al has no choice but to listen to Ruth and how she wants to be with him regardless of what has happened. The movie ends with Al telling Ruth he may never see again, to which she responds “Whichever way it is, we’ll do it together.”

The Hidden Sports Analogy:

Today’s analogy isn’t so much about a particular injury; it’s all about returning to life as one knew it before being wounded in combat. In the sports world, there’s no better example of that than Rocky Bleier.

The Robert Patrick “Rocky” Bleier story begins right about the time “Pride of the Marines” ends when he is born in 1946 in Appleton, Wisconsin. The story really begins in earnest at Xavier High School, where Bleier established himself as a star in three sports being a team captain in football, basketball, and track.  But it would be the gridiron game which would pave the way for Bleier’s next steps. On the football field, Bleier was a three-time all-state selection as a running back. and won all-conference honors on the other side of the ball at both linebacker and defensive back.

Upon graduating from Xavier in 1964, Bleier went on to play college football for Notre Dame. During his junior season in 1966, the Fighting Irish won the national championship. Bleier was named a team captain as a senior in 1967, and graduated the following spring with a degree in business management.

Rocky Bleier running the rock for the Fighting Irish.

1968 turns out to have more than one reason to be a transformative time in the life of Rocky Bleier. Not only did he become a college graduate, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 16th round of the 1968 NFL/AFL Draft, the 417th overall player selected. However, the Steelers weren’t the only organization wanting Bleier.  On December 4th, 1968, Bleier was drafted into the U.S. Army.

Now SPC4 Bleier, he was trained as squad grenadier operating a 40mm M79 grenade launcher. He volunteered for duty in South Vietnam and was assigned to the 196th Light Infantry Brigade. Arriving in Vietnam in May 1969 assumed the duties of a typical soldier.

While on patrol in the Hiep Duc Valley on August 20, 1969, Bleier’s platoon was ambushed. Forced to take cover in a rice paddy, Bleier was shot in the in the left thigh, and while he was down, a grenade sent shrapnel into his lower right leg and blew off part of his right foot.

Doctors told Bleier he would never play football again. But not long after that. he received a postcard from Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney which read “Rock – the team’s not doing well. We need you. Art Rooney.” Bleier later credited that postcard as being an inspiration to return to football.  After many surgeries, Bleier was discharged from the Army in July 1970, at which time he returned to Pittsburgh and began having informal workout sessions with several Steeler teammates.

Fresh out of the Army in 1970, Bleier couldn’t even walk without pain and had dropped from his playing weight of 210 pounds down to 180.  The Steelers placed him on injured reserve for the 1970 season, which meant he could stay on the team’s roster, but could not play in any games.

He found his way on to the the field in the 1971 season, albeit his duties were limited to the kick coverage team. After this, Bleier spent three more seasons trying to get more playing time with no success.  In fact, he was released by the Steelers twice.  But he never quit, and by 1974 his intense training regimen got him back up to 212 pounds. This would also be the year Bleier finally earned as spot as the team’s starting fullback.

In no time, the man missing part of his right foot became one of the best fullbacks in the National Football League.  First and foremost, he may very well have been the best lead blocker coming out of the backfield in the game.  He was also a gifted pass receiver, and he certainly could carry the ball for those hard yards between the tackles.  In fact, he and primary running back Franco Harris both rushed for over 1,000 yards in 1976, which made them only the second backfield duo to do so along with Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins.

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You can’t tell the story of the Pittsburgh Steelers without telling the story of Rocky Bleier.  He was a key cog in the Steeler machine which defined dominant as it churned out four Super Bowl victories in six seasons in the 1970s.  Bleier’s brightest moments likely came in Super Bowl XIII when he caught a touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw that gave Pittsburgh a lead it would never surrender and recovered the Dallas Cowboys’ on-side kick attempt in the closing seconds which sealed the Steelers’ victory.

Rocky Bleier retired from football after the 1980 season.  All tolled, Bleier ended with 3,865 rushing yards, 136 receptions for 1,294 yards, and 25 touchdowns. At the time he retired, Bleier ranked as the Steelers’ fourth all-time leading rusher. But what can’t be measured in the numbers is how many of Hall-of-Famer Franco Harris’ 12,120 rushing yards or 91 career touchdowns had their trail blazed by Bleier.

The Moral of the Story:

The root word in “disability” is “ability.”

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Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies – Volume 93: “Pride of the Marines” Today's Movie: Pride of the Marines Year of Release: 1945 Stars: John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark…

[speakspeak]

Timeless Cool: Rocky Bleier

[allthings18]

Mean errr Bad Ass Monday: Rocky Bleier, Pittsburgh Steelers, #veteransday Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and 4 rings

[communitythriftcenter]

"FIGHTING BACK", TUESDAY AT 8!

[communitythriftcenter]

THERE WOULD BE NO HOLLYWOOD WITHOUT PITTSBURGH.

Pittsburgh, how have we let this fact become obscured??? Where was the first public movie theater built? Pittsburgh. Where were the major studios Warner and MGM founded? Pittsburgh. Where did the Selznick family start their Hollywood legacy? Pittsburgh. It's a fact Thriftsburgh, before California got in on the action, Pittsburgh was quite literally the center of the cinematic universe. Go ahead, try to argue, it's a cold hard fact. So what the heck does this have to do with thrifting??? Um, cause we just received this fantastic movie script? Well, it's not the best seque but it is a seque. YES, movie buffs and Steelers fans alike will want to take a look at this original "pitch" script we just received from the film "Fighting Back" (The Rocky Bleier story). Now, for those of you who didn't grow up dreaming of 35mm splicing machines this is particularly cool because it is practically a "spec" script, written before a studio had picked up the script for production, or even an agent had agreed to shop the script in the first place. The screenwriter, Maurice Gable is a Pittsburgh native and had worked with Steelers luminary Rocky Bleier on the first draft of this script, adapting his autobiography for the screen. The film would eventually be produced by Mary Tyler Moore and released four years later as an ABC movie of the week in 1982, but it all started here. Before any back and forth, before any production or executive involvement you had this first, unadulterated screenwriter's copy. Very, very cool. Since there are only a finite number of copies that would have been made, a genuine copy such as this becomes even more desirable to both film fans and Steelers fans alike. Only one previous copy appears to have been sold publicly so this may be your only chance thrifters, our Greentree store has it for sale for only $99.99 so stop by and take a look today!