Bleier offers message to the Valley

The former Steelers star said ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Rocky Bleier joked about his four Super Bowl rings. He wears the one from Super Bowl XIII, he said, "because it is the biggest and the gaudiest."
Most of all, it is a constant reminder of all the highs and lows of his life, where he's been and how he got there.
More than 350 people turned out at Mr. Anthony's on Thursday for the "Champions Among Us" dinner and auction to benefit the Youngstown/Mahoning Valley United Way.
Bleier shared his inspirational journey from being wounded on the battlefield in Vietnam to being a star running back on Pittsburgh Steeler teams that won four Super Bowls. Today, Bleier gives 90 to 100 speeches a year about how ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
His history
Bleier won four Super Bowl rings with the Steelers, a national championship at Notre Dame and two state championships on high school football teams.
He jokes, however, that his career was all down hill after the best game of his career at age 9. He and a neighbor had backyard football seasons, with "home" and "away" games in each other's back yards.
Against his boyhood friend in one of those backyard games, Bleier said he gained over 500 yards rushing and scored 51 touchdowns. The rest of his career, he joked, pales by comparison.
The Steelers drafted Bleier in 1968 just a few months before he was drafted by the U.S. Army. He went to Vietnam in May 1969. Three months later, he was seriously wounded in the legs by rifle fire and grenade fragments. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Doctors told him he would be lucky to every walk normally again. Running and playing football was out of the question.
Bleier refused to accept the doctor's prognosis and worked hard to regain his strength. He said while in the hospital, he received a postcard with this short note:
"Rock, the team is not doing very well. We need you." Art Rooney.
The postcard from the Steelers' owner gave Bleier hope that he could return to the team and contribute. What made the difference, he said, was that he was wanted.
He returned home and was on the Steelers injured reserve list in 1970. By 1974, Bleier had worked himself up to "the backup to the backup halfback." Then Franco Harris was injured and Bleier started a few games.
Bleier thought he was through when Harris recovered, but Coach Chuck Knoll then started him and Harris in the backfield. He said he was given a starting job because he was a good blocker.
In 1976, Bleier and teammate Franco Harris became the second backfield tandem in NFL history to both gain more than 1,000 yards in a season. He retired from football in 1980.