Interview with Football Diner

The other day I had the pleasure of speaking with Brian Davis, a 49ers fan over in England (can you believe it!) and he wrote up this great piece.

http://www.footballdiner.com/rogercraig1.html

The Football Diner Big Interview: Roger Craig
Interviewed by Brian Davis
20/10/2009

Four-time Pro Bowler Roger Craig was the offensive focal point of a dominant 49ers team that won three Super Bowls between 1984 and 1989. Playing for legendary coach Bill Walsh alongside Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, Craig was a do-it-all threat whose versatility continues to set the standard for dual-threat backs to this day. The 1988 Offensive Player of the Year retired in 1993 having amassed an incredible 13,143 total yards and 73 touchdowns.

As the Diner staff were wrapping up their working day here in the UK, Craig was getting his own morning started on the West Coast of America. But before he nipped out for a spot of heavy duty a.m. exercise, there was just time for our own Brian Davis to ask him all about his extraordinary career, legendary teammates and awesome Super Bowl performances in our exclusive interview.
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Football Diner:
Roger, what was it like to win your first Super Bowl, scoring three touchdowns in the process (being the first person ever to do so)? It must have been like all your Christmases and birthdays had come at once?

Roger Craig:
It was a great game, I was young – in my second year – and I wasn't quite sure what to expect in the build up, so I spoke to some vets on the team and Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds gave me some great advice, he just said: "Play every down as if it's your last, don't blow your chances, remain intense and focused," and I had the game of my life. It was real cool to score three touchdowns in a game and be the first person to do so in a Super Bowl.

Football Diner:
What was it like getting your hands on the Lombardi trophy?

Roger Craig:
When I got my hands on it, it was amazing, and the ring as well. That's what you play for and it was awesome to achieve a goal that lots of other teams and players don't get to.

Football Diner:
It must have been even more special to win it in the Bay Area at Stanford?

Roger Craig:
It was like playing in our own back yard and it felt like we had home-field advantage. It was our environment and especially when the fog rolled in, we were like: "Oh Man, we are at home!"

Football Diner:
The following season, you became the first player to both run for and receive 1000 yards. That must have been pretty special as well?

Roger Craig:
I knew that, after the three touchdowns in the Super Bowl, teams would be gunning for me, people knew who I was now and the Super Bowl really propelled me into the national spotlight of a superstar. So during the following off-season, I trained so hard for it. Bill Walsh talked to me after the Ring Ceremony and he said: "Roger, I expect 1000 yards from you next season," and I'm like: "Wow, I'm a full back." But my attitude was: "Alright, I'll do it," so I covered my ass and I did it on the ground and receiving!

Football Diner:
Who do you think can be next to join the 1000/1000 club?

Roger Craig:
Well, Marshall Faulk's already there, but there are 2-3 guys who right now I think can get there and they would be Reggie Bush, Leon Washington and Brian Westbrook, but Westbrook really needs to stay healthy to manage it.

Football Diner:
Just how cold was the 1988 NFC Championship game in Chicago and what is it like to play in conditions that cold?

Roger Craig:
That was so cold. It was 30 below, big wind chill factor, the field was frozen. We couldn't even wear spikes. We were all in tennis or turf shoes.

Football Diner:
A lot of people had written the 49ers off and said this was 'Bears' football weather'...

Roger Craig:
Yeah, they were calling us West Coast soft boys and sissies, but we played harder, we were more prepared and we won 23-0. I asked Coach Ditka after the game, I said: "Damn, Mike, how do you prepare your team for games in this weather?" He looked at me and he said: "Roger, nobody gets used to this weather. I was counting down the seconds just like you were!"

Football Diner:
In Super Bowl XXIII, the 49ers are 16-13 down, faced with a 92-yard drive to win the game. You played an integral part in that drive. Was there any doubt in your mind that you would win the game at this point?

Roger Craig:
No way, none at all. Bill Walsh prepared us well for the two-minute offense. We'd strategized way before the game and we knew exactly what to do. As a result we didn't panic, whereas their defense did; we were calm and Joe worked his magic. We were down their throats, big play after big play – we made it happen – and I had a few crucial plays in that drive. It was perfect. That's how all Super Bowls should end, that's what you pay your money for!

Football Diner:
Bill Walsh was rightly deemed 'The Genius'. His attention to detail was second to none – what was it like to have him has a coach?

Roger Craig:
Bill knew talent and how to orchestrate a team and spot players that fitted his system. I was the prototype running back for his West Coast offense and the player to take the 49ers to the next level. He was a great strategist – at half time, if things weren't going our way, Bill would always have new ideas, plans for the situation, and he made us all feel special, like we were all an extension of each other. Everybody had a role on every play and that's how we won games, each as an extension of each other.

Football Diner:
Are you still in contact with any of the 49ers from your time there? And do you still get to 'The Stick' to see games?

Roger Craig:
I speak with Ronnie Lott, he's a great guy in and out of football. I also speak with Frank Gore regularly and yeah, I still go to games to cheer them on.

Football Diner:
Shortly before this interview I got in touch with Randy Cross and asked him what it was like to be a teammate of Roger Craig's. He said: "Roger was an incredible RB whose legacy is not only as one of the great all around runenrs but as the man who taught Jerry Rice how to work his butt off." Is he on the money?

Roger Craig:
Haha! Yeah! It wasn't just Jerry though, I got together with Barry Sanders as well and we innovated new types of training that we were doing at that time; we were in it for the long haul and we took great pride in that. These days I also run marathons and just like the training then, I take great pride in that.

Football Diner:
As a Hall of Fame semi-finalist last year, do you think you'll ever make it to Canton?

Roger Craig:
I think I'll get in one day. I can't make the calls and it's not my place to talk about the media guys who do the voting, so I'm numb about it really, I can't feel anything. It would be great to get in and if and when I do it'd certainly be the icing on the cake. If I don't then, hey, I still made it on to the All Decade 80s team, won three Super Bowls and went to four Pro Bowls. It hasn't changed my life and I won't let it, nor will it change my life if and when I get in. It would make my friends and family very happy, but if I don't, I'll just move on – you can't let it rule your life.

Football Diner:
You were known for your 'Catfish eyes' and high stepping. Do you still get teased about Catfish?
Roger Craig:
Haha! Freddie Solomon gave me that nickname, because my eyes really expanded when I was running into the holes, I just wanted to make sure I used all of my eyes to see where I was going. He used to say I swam through holes!

Bill Walsh once drew a picture of it and presented it to me in front of the team the night before a game. The team were screaming with laughter, but that was Bill. Bill would do things like that to lighten the mood before a game. He also drew a picture of Joe Montana as a stick man, holding a football wearing the Number 16, teasing him about his skinny legs!

Football Diner:
I'm a big fan of middle linebacker 'Hacksaw' Reynolds (another player with great attention to detail - he once taught then-rookie Ronnie Lott a lesson by refusing to let him borrow one of his one hundred pencils in a team meeting) – do you have any stories about your time in the team with him?

Roger Craig:
He helped a lot. He helped me study and was my mentor. He respected me as a player. Keith Fahnhorst once said to me when I was a rookie: "Roger, you're a lucky guy, because Hacksaw likes you and your attitude and normally he hates rookies." Hacksaw's attitude was: you don't go onto the football field without your helmet, so you don't come to team meetings without a pen or a pencil. Of course Lott went on to become a great leader in and out of football and is a real good guy.

Football Diner:
Tom Rathman was a key reason for your success after his arrival, but is his position and your old position of fullback slowly becoming a dying art within the NFL?

Roger Craig:
I actually helped get Tom to San Francisco, Bill Walsh asked me about him and I told him he was a great blocker. I helped to develop his hands and we worked out together too. He gave us a great 1-2 punch and it meant opposition defenses couldn't tee off on either of us. These days you have running back committees back there that rotate – and of course the Wild Cat – so you see less of the FB out there.

Football Diner:
You currently work for a company called TIBCO Software, what are you doing with yourself there?

Roger Craig:
We're a big infrastructure software company, help companies communicate in real time. We're in 40 different countries with over 3500 customers and we're in every major city in the US, not to mention an office in Maidenhead in the UK. I do business development, figuring out exactly what businesses need. I do a spot of HR, hiring, work with the marketing team, sales, I'll open and close doors, just do whatever it takes to win. In corporate business, you can't take a quarter off and still win games like you can in football, you've got to win in every phase. Sport prepared me for work and I take the same attitude to work as I did to the football field. We're taking on a lot of the giants of the computer world so it's a little bit like the David and Goliath story. We're winning deals by determining: "We are not going to lose, we're going to win."

Football Diner:
You must turn heads when you arrive at new businesses and walk through the offices?
Roger Craig:
Yeah, people turn their heads. It's kind of funny, but you get used to it.

Football Diner:
What else are you doing with your spare time these days?

Roger Craig:
I play a bit of golf, I run marathons, I love spending time with my family, travelling, seeing a little of the world. I've also started doing my own blogs, including one on fantasy. The fantasy game over here is huge now, so I try to break down each matchup using the TIBCO Spotfire Fantasy Football tool (See link at bottom of this page)

Football Diner:
Do you have a message for all the NFL and 49ers fans here in the UK?

Roger Craig:
We really appreciate the fans in the UK and Europe that follow American Football. Your own football is so big and we're also big fans of that here in the US; it's still growing here, but it's cool to see how football brings the world together at the World Cup. We really respect you guys following us and I say: keep on following, keep on learning, get on the blogs and get involved.

Football Diner:
Well, thanks ever so much for your time Roger and enjoy the rest of your day...

Roger Craig:
I'm going to hit the gym now, do a 10 mile run so I start the day off right! You take care Brian – it was great chatting to you.