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ROCKY BLEIER
Legendary NFL Player
Fighting Back
Super Bowl 1979. The game was tied.Under pressure, Bradshaw throws a pass into the end zone -- too soon, too high -- a pass intended for Rocky Bleier. Any football fan will tell you the rest: how Rocky Bleier leaped into the air, snagged the ball for a completion and nailed down the Pittsburgh Steelers third Super Bowl. And anyone who knows Rocky Bleier will tell you he's been making spectacular plays all his life.
Doing the Impossible
Rocky Bleier was a not-very-big, not-too-fast but incredibly determined athlete when the Steelers picked him up in the next-to-last round of the 1968 draft. Before Bleier could prove himself as a rookie, he was drafted again-this time, for combat duty in Vietnam. A few months later, crippled by enemy rifle and grenade wounds in both legs, Rocky Bleier faced his biggest challenge. He could barely walk. He certainly couldn't run. To ever play professional football seemed impossible. But Rocky Bleier did the impossible. The story of Rocky Bleier's agonizing two-year battle to overcome his injuries and return to the Pittsburgh Steelers is described in the book Fighting Back, and recreated in the 1980 ABC-TV movie of the same name. The rest of Bleier exciting 12-year career is history... how he pressed on to become the Steelers' fourth leading ground gainer... how he passed the 1,000-yard rushing mark in one season... how he contributed to four Super Bowl victories... how Rocky Bleier consistently made the big play during important games with uncanny predictability.
Inspirational
Rocky Bleier's ability to inspire effort and commitment from others continues. As one of the country's most socially concerned professional athletes, Rocky Bleier is active in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and serves on the International Board of the Special Olympics. As a board member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Rocky Bleier helped make possible the erection of the Washington, DC Memorial. Rocky Bleier's special qualities have been recognized by colleagues as well as others who have honored him with awards too numerous to list in detail. Among them are the Whizzer White Humanitarian Award, the Vince Lombardi Award and the Most Courageous Athlete of the Decade Award.
A Story Too Good to Miss
Rocky Bleier has appeared in TV commercials for such companies as Uniroyal Tires, Sports Illustrated, Bradford-White, Swanson Dinners and others. Rocky Bleier is in demand as a speaker, motivating audiences in a wide variety of organizations, corporations and universities.
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