The Unknown Seahawk (1976)

[Hawkstorian]

Back when I took on my current monikor i did research on the Seahawks all-time roster, trying to get the complete picture of all players, what games they played in, uniform numbers and transaction history. Getting some of that data from the '70s and into the early '90s could be a challenge up until the dawn of the internet when now we just assume any little tidbit of data will be available to us.

25 years ago or so I was going through news clippings and I saw that the Seahawks claimed a safety named Bryant Salter off waivers from Miami on 12/3/76. Two days later the Seahawks lost to the Bears at home. Salter didn't play and the 'gamebook' from that day shows him as DNP and no uniform #. The next day he was waived again, and claimed by Baltimore (that's the Colts for you kiddos).

No Seahawks source acknowledges that he ever existed beyond that gamebook. No website or media guide. Profootball reference never shows him as a Seahawk. It shouldn't matter that he never played, if you're on the roster you got a paycheck so you count as being on the team. Plenty of guys on the Seahawks official roster never played a game. It's just how it works, and matters to roster geeks such as myself.

For 25 years this bugged me that he was the one player I knew was on the team but I could never figure out a roster number......

Until.....

A couple of days ago I got the itch again so I tried to find out about him and saw he had a Linkedin page . So I figured I'd give it a shot and find out what happened in the 4 days the guy was a Seahawk. Fortunately the guy responded to me!

He said "I spent the weekend in Seattle but the coach cut me because I wouldn't shave my beard."

That would be coach Jack Patera.

So I asked if he ever got a jersey, and he said "No, just a paycheck and weekend visit to Seattle."

So ends the story of Bryant Salter's Seahawks career. The only Seahawk in history who never got a jersey. Only the truest of roster geeks read this far and I commend you.

 

[Seahawker]

Cool story.
The Jack Patera that wouldn't allow water on the practice field and made the team "practice" standing at attention for the national anthem wanted Salter to shave his beard.

 

[projectorfreak]

I commend you on relentless pursuit , seahawks stalker is available if ya ever wanna change your profile name lol JK

 

[Hawkstorian]

Cool story.
The Jack Patera that wouldn't allow water on the practice field and made the team "practice" standing at attention for the national anthem wanted Salter to shave his beard.
View attachment 69368

Yeah, his beard was pretty bad-ass. I'm sure if the Seahawks weren't a crappy expansion team he might have stuck around.

 

[oldhawkfan]

That’s a fun story! Persistence pays off. Even if it takes over a quarter of a century.

 

[ronnieboycefanclub]

In one of the MAD books, there is a Baseball Hall of Shame. One of the members is in there for fidgeting and making marks in the dirt with his feet, during the National Anthem.

I wonder what, Jack Patera would have thought of that.

 

[hugecanoli]

Back when I took on my current monikor i did research on the Seahawks all-time roster, trying to get the complete picture of all players, what games they played in, uniform numbers and transaction history. Getting some of that data from the '70s and into the early '90s could be a challenge up until the dawn of the internet when now we just assume any little tidbit of data will be available to us.

25 years ago or so I was going through news clippings and I saw that the Seahawks claimed a safety named Bryant Salter off waivers from Miami on 12/3/76. Two days later the Seahawks lost to the Bears at home. Salter didn't play and the 'gamebook' from that day shows him as DNP and no uniform #. The next day he was waived again, and claimed by Baltimore (that's the Colts for you kiddos).

No Seahawks source acknowledges that he ever existed beyond that gamebook. No website or media guide. Profootball reference never shows him as a Seahawk. It shouldn't matter that he never played, if you're on the roster you got a paycheck so you count as being on the team. Plenty of guys on the Seahawks official roster never played a game. It's just how it works, and matters to roster geeks such as myself.

For 25 years this bugged me that he was the one player I knew was on the team but I could never figure out a roster number......

Until.....

A couple of days ago I got the itch again so I tried to find out about him and saw he had a Linkedin page . So I figured I'd give it a shot and find out what happened in the 4 days the guy was a Seahawk. Fortunately the guy responded to me!

He said "I spent the weekend in Seattle but the coach cut me because I wouldn't shave my beard."

That would be coach Jack Patera.

So I asked if he ever got a jersey, and he said "No, just a paycheck and weekend visit to Seattle."

So ends the story of Bryant Salter's Seahawks career. The only Seahawk in history who never got a jersey. Only the truest of roster geeks read this far and I commend you.

This right here is quality content.
People should focus more on quality instead of quantity.

Excellent post @Hawkstorian

 

[kidhawk]

Back when I took on my current monikor i did research on the Seahawks all-time roster, trying to get the complete picture of all players, what games they played in, uniform numbers and transaction history. Getting some of that data from the '70s and into the early '90s could be a challenge up until the dawn of the internet when now we just assume any little tidbit of data will be available to us.

25 years ago or so I was going through news clippings and I saw that the Seahawks claimed a safety named Bryant Salter off waivers from Miami on 12/3/76. Two days later the Seahawks lost to the Bears at home. Salter didn't play and the 'gamebook' from that day shows him as DNP and no uniform #. The next day he was waived again, and claimed by Baltimore (that's the Colts for you kiddos).

No Seahawks source acknowledges that he ever existed beyond that gamebook. No website or media guide. Profootball reference never shows him as a Seahawk. It shouldn't matter that he never played, if you're on the roster you got a paycheck so you count as being on the team. Plenty of guys on the Seahawks official roster never played a game. It's just how it works, and matters to roster geeks such as myself.

For 25 years this bugged me that he was the one player I knew was on the team but I could never figure out a roster number......

Until.....

A couple of days ago I got the itch again so I tried to find out about him and saw he had a Linkedin page . So I figured I'd give it a shot and find out what happened in the 4 days the guy was a Seahawk. Fortunately the guy responded to me!

He said "I spent the weekend in Seattle but the coach cut me because I wouldn't shave my beard."

That would be coach Jack Patera.

So I asked if he ever got a jersey, and he said "No, just a paycheck and weekend visit to Seattle."

So ends the story of Bryant Salter's Seahawks career. The only Seahawk in history who never got a jersey. Only the truest of roster geeks read this far and I commend you.

Great story. Thanks for sharing it with us. I doubt anyone outside this forum and that team and those close to him would even know this story.

 

[rjdriver]

Back when I took on my current monikor i did research on the Seahawks all-time roster, trying to get the complete picture of all players, what games they played in, uniform numbers and transaction history. Getting some of that data from the '70s and into the early '90s could be a challenge up until the dawn of the internet when now we just assume any little tidbit of data will be available to us.

25 years ago or so I was going through news clippings and I saw that the Seahawks claimed a safety named Bryant Salter off waivers from Miami on 12/3/76. Two days later the Seahawks lost to the Bears at home. Salter didn't play and the 'gamebook' from that day shows him as DNP and no uniform #. The next day he was waived again, and claimed by Baltimore (that's the Colts for you kiddos).

No Seahawks source acknowledges that he ever existed beyond that gamebook. No website or media guide. Profootball reference never shows him as a Seahawk. It shouldn't matter that he never played, if you're on the roster you got a paycheck so you count as being on the team. Plenty of guys on the Seahawks official roster never played a game. It's just how it works, and matters to roster geeks such as myself.

For 25 years this bugged me that he was the one player I knew was on the team but I could never figure out a roster number......

Until.....

A couple of days ago I got the itch again so I tried to find out about him and saw he had a Linkedin page . So I figured I'd give it a shot and find out what happened in the 4 days the guy was a Seahawk. Fortunately the guy responded to me!

He said "I spent the weekend in Seattle but the coach cut me because I wouldn't shave my beard."

That would be coach Jack Patera.

So I asked if he ever got a jersey, and he said "No, just a paycheck and weekend visit to Seattle."

So ends the story of Bryant Salter's Seahawks career. The only Seahawk in history who never got a jersey. Only the truest of roster geeks read this far and I commend you.

This should shut down any future, “I’m more of a real fan than you” type threads.

 

[seabowl]

Back when I took on my current monikor i did research on the Seahawks all-time roster, trying to get the complete picture of all players, what games they played in, uniform numbers and transaction history. Getting some of that data from the '70s and into the early '90s could be a challenge up until the dawn of the internet when now we just assume any little tidbit of data will be available to us.

25 years ago or so I was going through news clippings and I saw that the Seahawks claimed a safety named Bryant Salter off waivers from Miami on 12/3/76. Two days later the Seahawks lost to the Bears at home. Salter didn't play and the 'gamebook' from that day shows him as DNP and no uniform #. The next day he was waived again, and claimed by Baltimore (that's the Colts for you kiddos).

No Seahawks source acknowledges that he ever existed beyond that gamebook. No website or media guide. Profootball reference never shows him as a Seahawk. It shouldn't matter that he never played, if you're on the roster you got a paycheck so you count as being on the team. Plenty of guys on the Seahawks official roster never played a game. It's just how it works, and matters to roster geeks such as myself.

For 25 years this bugged me that he was the one player I knew was on the team but I could never figure out a roster number......

Until.....

A couple of days ago I got the itch again so I tried to find out about him and saw he had a Linkedin page . So I figured I'd give it a shot and find out what happened in the 4 days the guy was a Seahawk. Fortunately the guy responded to me!

He said "I spent the weekend in Seattle but the coach cut me because I wouldn't shave my beard."

That would be coach Jack Patera.

So I asked if he ever got a jersey, and he said "No, just a paycheck and weekend visit to Seattle."

So ends the story of Bryant Salter's Seahawks career. The only Seahawk in history who never got a jersey. Only the truest of roster geeks read this far and I commend you.

Seahawks version of Moonlight Graham

 

[Seahawkfan80]

Thanks for the information and it is greatly appreciated. Tidbits of data keep the world going around.

 

[ivotuk]

Didn't know who Jack Pat was, bu5 I'm sure there were a lot of misguided, asshole coaches back then. They didn't have the background to know how to build a team, so that grabbed for phony discipline, and I'm sure lost a lot of games that way.

 

[RiverDog]

The thing about Patera not allowing water breaks was true, but it was by no means typical even back in those days. I played organized football, jr. high, high school, and one year of college from 1967-1973, and all my coaches at all levels not only gave us water breaks, but they insisted on our drinking plenty of water.

Even back in the late 70's when I first heard about Patera not giving water breaks, I couldn't believe how stupid he was as anyone with half a brain knew that you had to drink plenty of fluids. Back then, they had their training camps in mid-summer in Cheney where the outdoor temps occasionally topped 100 degrees. He's lucky someone didn't die of heat stroke ala Corey Stringer.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

Bounce to last summer. I am out in the hot weather digging trenches for watering trees. I think it will only take me about 5 more minutes to finish this one trench and it takes 30. I did not get water. It is easily available. Led me down the path to serious pain and a small hospital visit. More water. Take care of the body, it is the only one you have. I am still doing the exercises to rebuild my muscles around my right hip. Do them daily now.

 

[MORGULON]

Cool story.
The Jack Patera that wouldn't allow water on the practice field and made the team "practice" standing at attention for the national anthem wanted Salter to shave his beard.
View attachment 69368

It's not like Parera cut Dave Brown