By Brett Crow
Don
Cockroft, both a punter and kicker for the Cleveland Browns from 1968
to 1980, was on the Sports Fix this past week to discuss his new book
“The 1980 Kardiac Kids, Our Untold Stories: A Season of Destiny, A
Moment of Despair, and a Lifetime of Memories.”
Don
almost immediately went into how he felt about the Cleveland fanbase,
saying “Cleveland is one of the greatest cities in the world and
especially the sports fans. When I started my book, I knew exactly who I
would dedicate this too, and that would be the Cleveland fans. It’s
just great to be part of the sports history of Cleveland.”
Throughout
the night, Don was always quick to talk about the love affair between
the Browns and the fans: “Let’s put it this way, the Cleveland Browns
fans who are listening, you deserve a winner. I’m hoping and praying
that you guys get this winner, you deserve it... The fans connected to
us, and we connected to the fans... Unlike anytime else in the history
of the Cleveland Browns.”
The
placekicker was also quick to lament that today’s athletes didn’t seem
to have that kind of connection with the fans, stating that “It’s
unfortunate today that our players don’t understand Cleveland fans...
We’d go and have lunch, people learned we were there and people just
came and we talked. It’ll never be that again.”
Despite
having many personal accomplishments, such as being elected to the
Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, becoming a Cleveland Browns
Legend in 2007, and his many accomplishments in leading the team in
scoring for twelve of his thirteen seasons, and having the record
longest kick in franchise history, Cockroft shied away from talking
about his personal accomplishments to highlight the success and
meaningfulness of the 1980 Cleveland Browns.
Of
course, it was only a matter of time before they talked about the
infamous “Red Right 88,” the pass play thrown by Cleveland Browns
Quarterback Brian Sipe in the closing moments of the 1980 AFC Divisional
Championship game. The pass was intercepted and sealed the fate of the
Browns, allowing the Raiders to advance to the AFC Championship game,
where they would lose to the San Diego Chargers.
“I
should just tell you to read the book,” joked Don, “But no, I probably
understood [Coach] Sam’s decision more than most. It was horrendous
conditions. Brian Sipe had something like 13 out of 44 passes completed
that day. My feeling was, it wasn’t ‘Can we make the field goal,’ it was
‘Can we get the ball in the air?’”
As
a member of the Cleveland Browns, Don Cockroft took up the mantle of
placekicker after Lou Groza retired from playing. Don is placed 3rd all
time in field goals made and in all-time scoring in the entire franchise
behind only Lou Groza and Phil Dawson.
With
his final words in the interview, Cockroft was also quick to praise the
current Cleveland Browns front office: “I’ve got that same hope that
people are carrying. You’ve got to have hope... I heard both Holmgren
and Shurmer speak in the last month and I was impressed. I’m just hoping
and praying that they can get things going, they can start winning and
let it become a habit, Lord knows the Brown’s fans deserve it.”
For anyone interested in checking out the Don Cockroft’s new book, you can check out his web page at www.thekardiackids.com You can listen to the whole interview by going to the Sports Fix Facebook
page or by clicking on the audio players below. And don’t forget you
can also listen to the Sports Fix every Saturday Night at 10pm on
Newstalk 1420 on an AM radio or by listening online at www.whkradio.com
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