42 Years old here ... (but inside, I'll always be 24.) :lol:
My family and I moved up to North Central Washington in 1977 and I quickly just fell in to the love that is the Seahawks from there. I have so many memories obviously that it would be impossible to relate them all.
I remember being at my grandmother's house in Seattle, hanging around with my aunts and uncles, talking Seahawks (that would be been the late 70's) -- Zorn, Largent, Sims, etc. One of the coolest things for me as a kid was those Seahawks trading cards that we used to get inside the Snyder’s bread packages that my grandmother bought. I used to get really excited to have peanut butter sandwiches because I knew I was going to get those Seahawks cards and add to my collection. Those were the coolest.
Speaking of cards I own a card of every single Steve Largent card ever produced (to my knowledge I have all of them). No amount of money could get me to part with my Steve Largent rookie card, which Largent autographed when I met him in 1990.
One other cool thing I remember from back in the day was the Hawk Block. Remember that blue foam Seahawks brick that you could throw at the TV (and often would) if the Hawks were playing crappy. What a great idea.
I certainly could have used that block during that 1992 season, let me tell ya. I suffered through each and every game and proudly touted my Seahawks gear despite the snickers of a lot of folks.
I remember many times being a young kid sitting around watching the Seahawks with my aunts and uncles as well. I watched that 1983 AFC Championship game against the Raiders with my Uncle Mike (I was 12 at the time) and having him proudly tell me that the Hawks had one of the best defenses in the NFL. We were bummed out beyond belief at the result ... and what made matters worse was that my God parents and their kids were all die hard Raiders fans. When we visited them later, they had to rub it in and go on and on about the great Marcus Allen. Ugh!
And I remember watching Seahawks football for countless Sundays on end growing up with my dad. After church we would always hurry up, have lunch, and park ourselves in front of the tube to cheer on (or sometimes yell at) the Hawks. To this day, my dad and I still talk Seahawks football whenever we get together, my dad always asking for my assessments of the offense, defense, and what’s going on.
Speaking of Joe Nash and the Trick Knee Play … my dad STILL gets a laugh out of that to this day. For those who don’t remember or don’t know what we’re talking about, Joe Nash would (from time to time) conveniently have a knee injury late in the game when the Hawks would be down and usually out of time outs. He’d be helped off limping … and then miraculously be healed a few minutes later. I remember once when the Hawks were playing the Bengals he pulled that, writhing around in “pain” on the ground (we were out of time outs) – I think he did that a couple of times in that game. We actually pulled that one out IIRC in part because of that bit of master acting
I remember back in the summer of 1989 being in Chelan with a couple of my friends and meeting Fredd Young just walking down the street there by the park. He actually stopped and talked to us for a bit. Bozworth had just been drafted and one of my friends asked Young for an assessment. Young was pretty blatantly honest in saying he thought he (Young) was a better MLB. He was right. Nice guy.
I fondly remember many games listening to that golden voice of Pete Gross broadcasting games. Who could ever forget the excitement – the overall enthusiasm he brought to Seahawks football. Pete Gross SHOULD be here to witness what this Seahawks team has become. That said, he undoubtedly is.
I will always have a great fondness of John L. Williams, Kenny Easley, Jacob Green, Joe Nash, Jeff Bryant, Fredd Young, Curt Warner, Dave Krieg, and Paul Skansi. MAN could we ever use John L. right now or what? That guy had some of the biggest mits you ever saw -- what a great blocker and weapon out of the backfield.
But of course my fondest memories of Hawk football growing up are of the immortal Steve Largent. I used to sit transfixed watching #80 zig zag across the field, spinning opposing DB’s around like a top, and somehow snatching every ball thrown his way within a 10 yard radius. Unbelievable for a supposedly too short, too small, too slow WR. Watching that comeback against the Bengals when Largent got his career 100th TD – OH! That still gives me chills to this day. Largent always has been (and probably always will be) my favorite Seahawk of all time. The way that he approached the game and life – I personally always looked up to him as an example of how to be an athlete, father, community leader, etc. I’d LOVE to have a real extended sit down meeting with him over coffee, dinner, or whatever someday. That would be unreal.
Those are just a few things that spring to mind for me.
