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Sullivan: Nearly Two Decades After His Playing Days; Haley Still Has Story to Tell
Friday, November 04, 2016 10:56 AM CDT
By Jeff Sullivan
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/2...r-his-playing-days-haley-still-has-story-tell
Growing up, watching sports on television, the only two athletes I remember being intimidated by were Charles Haley and Charles Oakley. Even in the comfort of my home, those two kind of scared me.
I first spoke to Haley in 2010, and even though it was on the phone, I was immensely nervous. Like as much as any interview I’ve ever done. By that point, the majority of the stories from his playing days had surfaced and his dislike of the media was well known. We spoke for 20 minutes and he couldn’t have been any better. At the end of the call, he even asked me a question about his chances of being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
I would see Haley here and there, around Valley Ranch, at training camp, we’d say hi on occasion. He was still intimidating, even with a slight limp, even in his 40s and now his 50s.
Haley should have been a first-ballot inductee into Canton, and every year I would write about the injustice of him not being honored. Not only was he the first to win five Super Bowls, but it’s been 20 years now and no one has equaled it. More than any sport, legacies in the NFL are about winning more than numbers. So why wasn’t Haley the most obvious of choices?
Finally, in 2015, his time came. A month or so before his induction in late-July, I sat with Haley at Valley Ranch for a little more than hour, talking about his life and career for a lengthy feature story which ran in this magazine and on the team’s website. As we were leaving the office where we spoke, I said how I was again nervous about the interview. Charles said, “Why would you be nervous? I’m just a country boy trying to make it in this world.”
Then he gave me a big hug. I remember walking down the hallway thinking about how we really don’t know people until we know them...
Friday, November 04, 2016 10:56 AM CDT
By Jeff Sullivan
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/2...r-his-playing-days-haley-still-has-story-tell
Growing up, watching sports on television, the only two athletes I remember being intimidated by were Charles Haley and Charles Oakley. Even in the comfort of my home, those two kind of scared me.
I first spoke to Haley in 2010, and even though it was on the phone, I was immensely nervous. Like as much as any interview I’ve ever done. By that point, the majority of the stories from his playing days had surfaced and his dislike of the media was well known. We spoke for 20 minutes and he couldn’t have been any better. At the end of the call, he even asked me a question about his chances of being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
I would see Haley here and there, around Valley Ranch, at training camp, we’d say hi on occasion. He was still intimidating, even with a slight limp, even in his 40s and now his 50s.
Haley should have been a first-ballot inductee into Canton, and every year I would write about the injustice of him not being honored. Not only was he the first to win five Super Bowls, but it’s been 20 years now and no one has equaled it. More than any sport, legacies in the NFL are about winning more than numbers. So why wasn’t Haley the most obvious of choices?
Finally, in 2015, his time came. A month or so before his induction in late-July, I sat with Haley at Valley Ranch for a little more than hour, talking about his life and career for a lengthy feature story which ran in this magazine and on the team’s website. As we were leaving the office where we spoke, I said how I was again nervous about the interview. Charles said, “Why would you be nervous? I’m just a country boy trying to make it in this world.”
Then he gave me a big hug. I remember walking down the hallway thinking about how we really don’t know people until we know them...
