Advertisements leading up to Super Bowl XL advised: “Follow the Road.” That journey began with an initial step – the one taken in January 1967 at the Los Angeles Coliseum by the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs in the first NFL-AFL championship game. One of the stars of that victorious Packers team was defensive end Willie Davis. A former journeyman with the Cleveland Browns, Davis, now 71, was traded to Green Bay in 1960 and became a star, one inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981. Upon retirement from football, Davis became just as successful as a businessman, excelling in beer distribution and radio and becoming a member of the board of directors for numerous companies. Recently, as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks dealt with the buildup to the sport’s ultimate game, one of the NFL’s ultimate performers took a look back at his own special path.
Anthony Cotton: How often does the name A.D. Williams come up with you?
Willie Davis: It takes someone making a deep dive to find out who I was traded for; A.D. was an excellent college receiver, but he just didn’t quite find his niche in the NFL. He just never matured into the talent that everyone seemed to think he possessed.
AC: And at the time, you felt betrayed by the Browns for trading you?
WD: Yeah. I would say, when I hear players today talk about being upset when they’re traded, I can understand. For me, I immediately said, “I’m going to show them that they made a mistake.”
AC: It’s funny how life works out.
WD: Yes, it is. I can say that I went from a very happy situation in Cleveland, to an unhappy situation in being traded to Green Bay, to what turned out to be the best 10 years of my life.
AC: What were your first thoughts of the Super Bowl?
WD: What I remember most is that by the time we walked out onto that field on Sunday, the teams that we’d had all these bitter rivalries with were calling us and telling us, “It’s up to you to protect the NFL for all of us. You gotta win it for the Packers and for all of us as well.”
AC: So when the Jets beat the Colts a couple of years later in Super Bowl III, was that just the most horrible thing imaginable?
WD: We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. As well as we beat Kansas City and Oakland in those first two games, they were still pretty good games. And (Packers) Coach (Vince) Lombardi was very concerned that we not take Kansas City lightly. I remember he told us that the Chiefs were as loaded with as many college All-Americans and big-name players as we had. So we had to take them seriously.
AC: After you retired, it took 11 years before you were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Was that something you were worried about as the years went by?
WD: What was really strange was that you would hear a lot of things. One of the first things I heard was there was a real concern about the number of Packers going in, that if they somehow didn’t watch it, the Hall would be overloaded with Packers. I was saying, “That’s fine, manage it, but don’t punish me because of it.” So I wasn’t totally surprised it took 11 years. It’s sad to say, but there’s plenty of politics. I look at Jerry Kramer. He gets voted the offensive guard of the century and everything else, and lo and behold, he still hasn’t been elected. You look at that and know nothing’s automatic. I’ve enjoyed living a Hall of Fame life. The pay is minimal, but the excitement is pretty good.
AC: When you quit playing, it’s not like there were abundant opportunities for black men in the business world. How did you manage to make that transition so successfully?
WD: I think that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t go into coaching – there were very few black assistants and no black head coaches. I always thought that I’d have to go another way, and when I was in Cleveland, a lot of the first black players were leaving the game, guys like Marion Motley. These guys were heroes, but all I kept hearing about were the problems they were having finding jobs and new careers. So I said when I play my last game, I’m not going to be running around saying, “Please hire me – you have to remember me as a football player.” I decided to go back to school in 1968. I went to the University of Chicago and got an MBA, and it was all predicated on the idea of when I was finished playing, I wanted to have a talent I could take into the business world.
AC: It was virtually unheard of then for an athlete to get an MBA, let alone a black one.
WD: I can tell you about trying to earn that degree during the offseason. It was just about the most challenging thing I’d ever experienced in my life. At that time, I always appreciated having Lombardi as a coach. It was because of him that I had the fortitude to hang in there. But it was best decision I ever made. It opened up a whole new avenue of opportunities.
AC: Was there a time when you knew you were no longer Willie Davis, the ex-football player, but rather, Willie Davis, the businessman?
WD: There was one time when I was in beer distribution; it must have been one of my first clients. You had to talk about everything, and this guy couldn’t tell me enough about my career. He looked at me once and said, “Willie, let me tell ya, there’s no question in my mind that you were one of the best football players that I’ve ever seen. But they say you don’t deliver my beer on time, you’re only going to be an SOB to me.”
AC: Are you still on many boards?
WD: It’s kind of interesting. I’m on six boards right now, but I’m phasing out of Dow Chemical and Sara Lee this year. That’s one of the ways you kind of realize you’ve grown older; I’m leaving them because you reach the term limits or retirement age. It’s very humbling.
AC: I have a feeling you’ll keep busy.
WD: I’ll say this – it will be very hard for me on the day that I have to walk away from everything. This has all been a dream. Growing up in Tex- arkana, there was no reason to believe any of this would have happened for me.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
