'Back in my day ...'

Apr. 25—By mid-January of 1973, Chuck Foreman had three new cars and a pretty darn good idea that he was going to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft.

After his senior year at the University of Miami, the Frederick native and Frederick High graduate kept getting invited to senior all-star games, where he kept kicking butt. The three cars were rewards for his performance in those events, which at that time were the primo platform for NFL hopefuls.

A Dodge Charger. A Toyota. Another Dodge Charger.

"It was a good run," Foreman said earlier this month from Minnesota, where he starred with the Vikings.

Over the phone, Foreman reminisced on how he set his own stage for nearly the next decade of his life as a groundbreaking back who would grace a Sports Illustrated cover and spin around NFL Films reels narrated by John Facenda. Foreman remembered gifting the Toyota to his father, giving one of the Chargers to his brother, Gary, and keeping the other — a black one — for himself.

But, after five decades, a haze (maybe a purple one) now shrouds some details of the pre-draft process that helped arguably the greatest athlete in Frederick history clear up doubts about his University of Miami career as a multi-position prospect.

"Back in my day ..." Foreman began several thoughts, trying to emphasize how different it was for him compared to the incredibly hyped prospects of 2023.

That was exactly my reason for contacting him. It was a chance for Foreman, 72, to explain how he used that all-star circuit to go from a guy who played a little halfback, a little receiver, a little defensive back with the Hurricanes to the guy the Vikings would build their offensive strategy around for an era that included three Super Bowl berths.

"If they didn't know me before I got there, they knew me when I left," said the man who still sounds about as cool as he was in the '70s, when he was inspiring football-toting kids to twirl past invisible defenders in the backyard.

Fifty years is the golden anniversary. Fifty years is also how long it's been since Frederick County had a first-round NFL draft pick. Foreman is the one and only.

As an anniversary gift, Frederick County might just give him some company.

'What? First round?'

Jordan Addison and Bryan Bresee have been in draft prep mode since their college football seasons ended about five months ago.

Addison, a willowy wide receiver from the University of Southern Cal via Tuscarora High, and Bresee, a destructive defensive tackle out of Clemson who is from Frederick, are — if you believe the sea of purported experts on the subject — projected to be selected in the first 32 picks of the NFL draft on Thursday.

Both have known for a while of their first-round potential.

Bresee, who transferred to Damascus High after his freshman year at Urbana, entered Clemson as the top-rated high school player in the country. Addison caught 60 balls in 10 games as a breakout freshman at the University of Pittsburgh.

They've been on this path for years — and known it. There's a cottage industry of draft analysts and insiders who have informed them, in some manner or another, without even meeting them.

Back in Foreman's day, he didn't have much of a clue where he stood as he entered his senior year — even after he'd rushed for a then school-record 951 yards and 10 touchdowns as a 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior at Miami. Those numbers, in a time when running the ball was foremost, portended something great for his final college season.

But during his senior year, Foreman got moved around to suit the coaching staff's needs. Like, maybe they needed someone to try and shut down an opponent's star receiver.

"... So I went out and covered him," Foreman said.

"We come to another game and, 'Oh, we're going to put you at wide receiver.'"

Said his older brother, Francis Foreman, who played offensive tackle at the University of Cincinnati: "He could've even played linebacker."

Point is, Chuck wasn't able to compile a résumé bursting with stats and accolades. A victim of his own versatility (a theme, you'll see later). As a 'Canes senior, he had modest totals of 484 yards rushing and 557 yards receiving.

"I played three different positions. Cornerback, running back, wide receiver. Never played one position all the way through," he said. "You might've had guys come in after me that had all the yardage, but they were just one-dimensional players.

"I could play any position you put me in. I may have had 400 yards here and 500 yards there, but if I had played one position, I might have tripled those yards. But it was never like that. That's what people don't understand, that I was moving around to all these positions."

But sometime during his senior season spent here and there in 1972, he got an inkling of his future from agents who wanted to represent him at the next level. And when Foreman heard what they had to say about what others were saying about him, he needed a beat to believe it.

"What?" Foreman said. "First round?"

'They can't play with me'

After his senior season, Foreman didn't head off to focus full-time on preparing for professional workouts. There were no NFL combine training facilities because the scouting combine wouldn't exist for another nine years, and it wouldn't blow up into a mega event for even longer.

"I wasn't quitting school," Foreman said. "I had to graduate. None of that was going on. ...

"You gotta remember: We were setting the precedent down south for Black athletes coming into all-white schools. We worked hard and all that, but we also understood we were setting the precedent for the guys after us. So we were no-nonsense."

The Miami training staff gave him a training regimen. He was on his own from there. But, like most other colleges, Miami held a Pro Day so he could perform drills in front of NFL scouts.

"I don't remember it being anything going on that was extravagant," Foreman said, in contrast to today, when workouts are televised or shared in video clips immediately on social media for ravenous fans to ingest and break down.

He tested well. He said he would've done "exceptional" at the NFL combine, if it had been around.

He was an explosive, lithe, nimble "ath-lete" — one word Foreman purposely almost turns into two when applying it to that long-ago version of himself.

"As far as an ath-lete, I don't think there was any better, some as good maybe," he said. "But I do know that none of them had the work ethic I had, because I was a workaholic."

By then, maybe more than ever, Foreman was figuring out where he stood among his peers.

It came into crisp focus during his trips to those postseason all-star games. The question marks in his response to those agents — "What? First round?" — got toppled or left in the dust as he asserted himself.

In practices, Foreman was able to see and challenge the players he'd heard about from other schools.

"The [public relations] wasn't like it is today at all. Generally, the [guys from] Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, USC, UCLA, they were getting the PR. But once I got to the all-star games, I'm like, 'Wait a minute,'" Foreman said. "Sometimes I'd say, 'I can play with any of these guys.' And then I'd start saying, 'Well, they can't play with me.' That's what I would be saying to myself when I watched them in practice.

"That's when I realized that a lot of it is just PR. That doesn't necessary make 'em great."

The buzz around Foreman grew as the new year was dawning in 1973. Underclassmen weren't free to enter the NFL draft until 1990 (not counting the supplemental draft, which was instituted in 1977), so the senior all-star games put Foreman among the year's top draft-eligible guys.

"You get to evaluate the people around you, too," he said.

On Christmas Day 1972, Francis watched his brother in the North-South Shrine game. The TV broadcast from Miami showed Chuck run down the field on punt coverage and level the returner, leading to a commentator touting his NFL ability. Chuck's team lost 17-10 and he fumbled twice, but he won offensive MVP (and one of those cars).

Next, Chuck went to Mobile, Alabama, for the Senior Bowl. He was on the South squad, guided by New York Jets (and former Baltimore Colts) coach Weeb Ewbank, who saw something in Foreman — including something that needed adjusting.

Since Foreman hadn't been a bell-cow runner at any point of his playing career (he left Frederick High for Miami as a tight end and defensive tackle), his ball-carrying technique was flawed.

"I was kicking the ball out of my hands and everything," Foreman said. "My legs were going every which way."

Ewbank took action.

Foreman recalled the future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach saying, "I'm going to show you how hold onto this ball, and I'm going to showcase your talent."

Foreman even remembers the names of the plays that helped him gouge the North repeatedly in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 6: 18 Straight and 19 Straight. Basic plays that allowed him to read the blocks and choose to rush inside or outside.

He ran for 167 yards and a TD that day in a 33-30 South win. He also snagged three passes for 59 yards, putting a charge into his team and making off with one of those Dodge Chargers as the game's MVP.

'Welcome aboard'

His excitement for the draft was increasing, but it wasn't dominating Foreman's thoughts.

"He knew that when the opportunity presented itself, he was gonna be successful," Francis said. "When it came to his athletic prowess, he was extremely confident."

On Tuesday, Jan. 30, the first day of the 1973 draft, Chuck Foreman wasn't decked out in a designer ensemble amid a collection of other football talent, awaiting his name to be called and a subsequent moment in the spotlight. Nor was he gathered with his family at a catered party in Frederick, local news cameras fixed on him, anxious for word of his selection.

"The NFL draft has now evolved into a holiday," said Francis, who was working as a physical education teacher at West Frederick Junior High when the 1973 draft kicked off. "Back then, it was just another event."

Chuck was in his Miami apartment, hanging with a few friends and hoping for a ring on his rotary phone that would tell him of his next destination. John Wooten, a former Pro Bowl guard with the Cleveland Browns, was his representative.

"They'd call you. It wasn't even on TV," Chuck said. "But I sat in my apartment, and my agent at the time called and touched base with me about what's going on."

He said there were rumors that other teams — with moribund reputations — wanted to take him.

"Thank God they didn't," Foreman said.

Minnesota had the 12th pick in the draft.

"The next phone call I got was from a gentleman by the name of Jim Finks," Foreman said of the team's general manager, a man who built the Vikings into a championship contender in a Hall of Fame career.

"Welcome aboard," Finks told Foreman. "There will be a plane ticket waiting for you."

He didn't get to don a purple hat designed just for the occasion or wrap commissioner Pete Rozelle in a bear hug on a stage before a horde of fans. No nationally televised interviews followed.

That was it.

As he recalled, Francis found out who drafted Chuck through a call from one of his parents, who found out from a call from News-Post sport reporter Bucky Summers.

The next day's Minnesota newspapers touted Foreman as a "man of many positions," but mostly as a weapon that could spark the Vikings' offense, which ranked 12th in '72 and lacked a big-play element.

Coach Bud Grant talked of Foreman's ability to run with power or by utilizing his 4.5 40-yard-dash speed on the outside. It was reported that New England had offered veteran running back Carl Garrett for the Vikings' 12th pick, but they declined before snapping up Foreman.

"A running back who is a good receiver is an important part of pro football as it is played today," Grant was quoted as saying in the Minneapolis Star. "The fact that he was a wide receiver last fall proves that he can handle the pass."

Foreman was part of a draft that lasted 17 rounds and 442 picks. Now, it goes seven rounds and about 260 picks.

A few days later, Foreman set off from the warmth of Miami for famously frigid Minneapolis.

"They took me to the office, and I met all the coaches, and then they asked me what position I wanted to play," Foreman said.

'I did it all'

Over the next few years, Grant and offensive coordinator Jerry Burns made Foreman the most versatile fullback the NFL had known.

Eight years later, he finished his career with more than 9,000 yards from scrimmage and 76 touchdowns, setting receiving marks that are still being chased or surpassed by today's backs.

For instance, in 2022, Kansas City running back Jerick McKinnon had nine receiving TDs, besting by one a record shared by Foreman with Marshall Faulk and Leroy Hoard. Granted, McKinnon needed 17 games. Faulk and Hoard required 16. Foreman did it in 14.

There are three Hall of Famers from Foreman's draft class, all fellow first-rounders: guard John Hannah (No. 4 pick), punter Ray Guy (23) and guard Joe DeLamielleure (26). Many believe Foreman should be added to that list.

"With my pro career, I did it all," said Foreman, a former Rookie of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Pro. "But the receiving part of it, they throw that out the door. And then, being a fullback. People think I was a two-back running back ... but I was a fullback, but I kind of changed the way the fullback position was played. I could block, I could run and I could catch it.

"When they told me they were going to create that offense to use my talent, they told me, 'You ain't gonna get credit, but you're going to be the best.' And they weren't wrong, either — on either side of it. I see guys doing things [today] that I'd been doing years ago."

There's always a hint of disgust in Foreman's voice on this tangent. It's his subtle way of banging on the table for himself, hoping the Pro Football Hall of Fame Senior Committee eventually notices the racket and puts him up for induction.

"History speaks for itself in what he has accomplished in his pro career," Francis said. "He's not in the Hall of Fame — and he should be."

Regardless, he's a revered football figure — in Minnesota and Frederick. His name hangs in the Vikings' Ring of Honor at U.S. Bank Stadium. It adorns a turf field at Ballenger Creek Park in his home county — which this week might finally gain its second NFL first-round draft pick — and maybe a third, too.

This possibility pleased Foreman, who knows exactly what it takes to get to this point, then parlay the opportunity into an indelible career.

He capped our chat by addressing Addison and Bresee, like a voice from the vinyl era advising the digital age with a scratchy tune that hasn't changed over time.

"Here's what my advice would be to them," Foreman said. "Make sure you know how to be a professional. Because a pro, everybody's a pro. Being a professional will take you to a whole different level.

"They'll understand what that means. That's putting the work in and understanding the game — and understanding it is a business."