As the sports world continues to mourn the passing of the great Deacon Jones at the age of 74, it leaves the great Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier as the lone remaining survivor of the Los Angeles Rams’ Fearsome Foursome. The others, Merlin Olsen and Lamar Lundy have already moved on.
Tonight, Grier went on NFL Network’s Total Access to discuss his teammate and friend who was nicknamed “The Secretary of Defense” for good reason.
Rosey Grier – Teammate of Deacon Jones with the Los Angeles Rams
On the passing of Deacon Jones:
“I was shocked. Not that I thought a man couldn’t die; you just thought that Deacon Jones was not going to, as well as Merlin Olsen and Lamar Lundy. These guys were very close friends of mine and I love those guys very much. We were like a family. If Merlin said, ‘Let’s do it’ we would do it. If Deacon said, ‘Let’s do it’ we would do it. We would all do it because it we all believed in one another.”On being a teammate of Deacon Jones:
“When I first got to the Los Angeles Rams, the Rams were totally disorganized. Black ballplayers didn’t like black ballplayers, white ballplayers didn’t like white ballplayers. The four of us got together and they began to rally around us because we didn’t go for that stuff. We wanted to come and play and to win and the only way you can win is as a team. The only way you can be a team is if you care and love one another and that is what we did. The team began to work together, we began to be leaders and we had great talent. Those guys were incredible. We were intimidating; we would stand on the line, we wouldn’t go in the huddle. We would stand on the line waiting for the offense to come out and we would look at the quarterbacks and say, ‘Don’t come this way.’”On Deacon Jones really not liking people who played quarterback:
“Deacon was a funny dude. I really love Deacon because he was very honest and I think a lot of Deacon’s feelings have to go back to the place of where he came from. I think he believed people genuinely didn’t like him because of his race and he wanted to prove how good he was on the football field and anyplace. It doesn’t matter what color you are or where you are; it is your skill and talent should always be the things that make you.”On Deacon Jones having to deal with racial issues:
“I love Deacon because he was very outspoken about a lot of things that he thought. He would say it out loud and sometimes I’d say, ‘Deacon keep quiet.’ But Deacon was a great ballplayer. A great, great ballplayer.”On how he would describe Deacon Jones to a person that has never seen him play:
“Deacon Jones was a man who grew up who had natural ability and took his skills and talents that God had given him and he developed them to the best he could. Listening to his coaches, playing as hard as he could, getting in great shape, eating right and living right. Thereby when the game started, he played his hardest, and thereby you got one of the greatest all-time defensive players to ever play the game.”On being the last living member of the Fearsome Foursome:
“There is always going to be the last. I know that one day God is going to call my name. All I would hope I lived the life that he would say ‘Well done.’”
And here in its entirety is the NFL Network documentary, “The Fearsome Foursome: A Football Life” produced and narrated by Jennifer Allen, the daughter of Rams coach George Allen. It’s very good. Watch it before the NFL takes it off YouTube for good.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUxuVb7xUao&rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Mr. Jones will be missed. And you had better have called him Mr. Jones.
