Former Steelers runningback and current ESPN analyst Merril Hoge encouraged Northwest students to "find a way" at a talk that he gave last Tuesday evening in Maryville. He said that he became successful by living up to his motto to "find a way" when one is struggling. He is a cancer survivor as well as a native of small-town Idaho who excelled at Idaho State and made it into the NFL. He played several productive years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and later the Chicago Bears.
When he was 8 years old, Hoge said that it became his dream to play in the NFL. He stuck with his plan despite what he called the Four Extinguishers -- people telling him to grow up, that it was impossible, that it was long odds, and that it was impossible. At the age of 12, he said he had what he called his "moment of truth" -- follow his wants or his fears.
In his room growing up, Hoge had a cork bulletin board filled with pictures of his idol, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears as well as goals that he had pinned up. The odds were indeed long -- only .02% of all kids ever make it in the NFL, let alone star in it. The odds are even longer for someone playing football in Pocatello, Idaho, where Hoge grew up. He said that at one point, he got too consumed with negativity; then, he learned the motto "find a way."
To find a way, for Hoge, meant action -- figuring out what it would take to become a player in the NFL. So he went to his local library and looked for microfilms about Payton. While looking, he found a quote by Aristotle -- "We are what we repeatedly do." In other words, being successful was not about luck or connections; it was about mindset. Excellence was not an act but a habit and we work at being excellent. Then, he found a video by Payton entitled, "Winning in Life." In it, Payton talked about his mindset -- his goal was to want to win more than the competition every day of the week, not just Sunday afternoon. "There is not a person in this room that can't do this," Hoge said to his audience.
Later, when he was playing for the Bears, Hoge was constantly asking other players and Bears employees for stories about Walter Payton, leading to him being roasted by his teammates for it. But one story that stuck with him was told by a teammate who was a rookie and who decided that the best way to succeed in the NFL was to emulate Payton. So he asked Payton if he could train with him and Payton graciously agreed. So they stretched, warmed up, and then the young rookie found out to his horror that Payton's training involved running up and down this huge dirt hill. By the time they did one and a half laps, the rookie was puking and he walked to his car and left while Payton was barely breathing. "That dude wanted it more than I did," he related to Hoge. Hoge said that the one difference between the ordinary-sized Payton and others was his mindset.
Hoge said that he was fortunate to be drafted by the Steelers, who were still coached by the legendary Chuck Noll. Fridays were "polish days," in which the goal was to run the plays without any mental errors on either side of the ball. One time, Hoge was blocking an outside linebacker on one side of the field while the play was being run to the other side. Hoge said that Noll never stopped practice on those days unless someone made an error. This time, he turned to Hoge, who was a rookie, and asked him, "Hoge, what are you doing?" "Nothing," replied Hoge. "That's the whole point," replied Noll. "You did nothing. I didn't keep you on this team to do nothing. I need you to be an uncommon athlete."
Hoge said that he took that lesson to heart and that it came through for him as he played for the Chicago Bears several years later. The Bears coach was doing 40 yard sprints and suddenly stopped the drill and asked a rookie what his 40 yard time was. "4.2," said the rookie. Then, he turned to Hoge and asked him what his 40 was; it was normally 4.7 although the fastest he ever ran was 4.57 once. Hoge was wondering where the coach was going with this and thought that he was being disrespected, especially since he had played 121 straight games without having to come out with an injury. "That means you played hurt and everyone respected that in the NFL," Hoge recounted.
Once Hoge stated his time, the coach switched back to the rookie and asked his time again. "4.2," replied the rookie. "Well, how come he beat you?" was the coach's reply. "When we cut you next week, I want you to know exactly why we cut you."
On February 14th, 2003, Hoge was diagnosed with a three pound cancerous tumor which the doctor couldn't guarantee chemotherapy would treat. He said that chemo and dying consumed him during that stretch. For Hoge, it was a difficult pill to swallow seeing that he had kept himself in shape all his life and there was still much to do after football; he was a father and an ESPN analyst. He talked about coaching his son's football team and learning to remember to coach from their perspective, not from his. He was in a funk until an epiphany moment when his daughter crawled into his lap and encouraged him to "find a way."
Hoge would be fighting a battle much more difficult than any battle he fought on the football field and he would need to use an uncommon approach. But when his daughter gave him encouragement, he said that he had a moment of truth like he did when he was 12 years old. He found five other cancer survivors and learned from them what he would be going through; at 7 a.m., he went to his chemo for the first time. He saw all these chairs and treatments. The actual chemo chemical was nicknamed the "red death" because it would cause third degree burns if it comes in contact with skin. He said that it ripped through his body from head to toe. When going to the bathroom at the facility after his treatments, he had to flush twice so that the fluid would not corrode the toilets.
Most people simply try to recuperate after a chemo treatment; in his case, he had to go to treatments every 21 days. But Hoge figured out that if he kept up his physical training, his body would flush out the chemo fluids out faster, he would give the tumors that much less time to grow back, and he could have more frequent treatments. The approach worked and he has been cancer-free for the last 10 years.
Hoge concluded that everyone in the room has goals and then run across difficulties. "Do thoughts and challenges control your mind, or does your mind control your thoughts and challenges," asked Hoge.
He took questions from students following the talk. Asked about the Chiefs, he said that they were the real deal and that they would meet the Broncos in the AFC Championship this year. He told a story about playing against Joe Montana's Chiefs when his team was set back third and 20 and they called a play that he thought had no chance to work, a middle screen to him. However, he took it for 48 yards to set up a score. "We lost to Montana, but it was a great experience."
Hoge said that he had met Walter Payton once. In a pre-season game at Soldier Field as a rookie, the Bears were beating the Steelers 50-0 when he looked up Payton after the game and was surprised at how small he was. He told Payton a story for five minutes and Payton was gracious and listened the whole time and gave him his sweatbands and elbow pads and Hoge celebrated all the way back to the Steeler's lockerroom. Coach Chuck Noll's comment was, "I hope nobody walked across the field and thanked them for kicking our a----."
While he was a Steeler, Hoge talked about meeting Mike Webster and John Stallworth, the last two living links to the Super Bowl teams of the 1970's. Webster, Hoge said, was like a grizzly bear who played with an old beat-up helmet that he would never let the Steelers replace. He taught a lot of life lessons to Hoge and the rest of the younger Steelers. Joe Greene was a coach on the Steelers and one time, he picked up Hoge like a rag doll after he made one good run that got them a critical first down in one game.
After a bad loss or the end of the season, Noll would always tell his players to prepare for their life's work after they were done with football. Hoge took that lesson to heart, getting a five-minute radio show while still in Pittsburgh. It blossomed into a broadcasting career after he left football. "The more you can do, the more valuable you are," Coach Noll would say.
Talking about teammates, Hoge said that Charles Woodson was a "freak athlete," while Dwight Stone was "quick and fast."
Comparing playing in the NFL to what he did today, he said that "nothing replaces playing inside the white lines." The period after his playing days were over was a difficult adjustment period for him. He was forced to retire prematurely when two concussions knocked him out of the game for good; the first was from a hit by the Chief's Derrick Thomas. After the second one, sustained against Buffalo, he went into cardiac arrest and it took him two years to fully recover. He said that he had to learn to read and relearn basic life skills all over again. "That's why I'm passionate about protecting our kids. Do the right thing and get them evaluated before they play again," he said.
Hoge still goes back to Idaho regularly, where he loves elk hunting, water skiing, and the outdoors. After surviving his cancer, he was encouraged by his friends to share his story, which he is actively doing when he is not breaking down the NFL teams on ESPN or being a father to his kids.
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