[AUDIO] Doug Plank played football during a simpler time. Not to say that those times were better, the lack of concern regarding concussions for example had him and his colleagues on the field when today they would take a break. In college, there were fewer rules and less restrictions imposed by the NCAA. By the end of his professional career though Doug got to experience the first NFL players strike a move clearly ending an epoch of simple times. After retiring from the NFL Doug became a businessman opening a series of Burger King franchises. In 2010 he became a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater Ohio State University.
Doug spoke with ProPlayerInsiders radio host Dave Zirin to tell stories about his experiences and how they help him form impressions of today’s issues.
In 1982, the year before Doug retired from the NFL, the Players made the hard decision to strike. The memory doesn’t sit well with him “I don’t think there was anything good about it” “I know there were things that players gained in terms of negotiating rights but I think if you were to ask both the ownership as well as the players I don’t think either of them were very happy about what took place.” The gains made at that point in the history of labor relations by introducing a more transparent salary scale was at the time a big step forward.
Of course the 1982 strike was a different dispute with different goals than the current dispute. This time, the dispute was initiated by the owners and the players are locked out, not striking. Through the lessons learned by his business experience Doug believes that “Usually things are never really settled until they have to be settled…and we’re getting near that period of time”
Doug had the opportunity in his career to experience both the ownership side and player side of the business. “Both sides, they’re not as antagonistic as everybody would like to think they are. They all realize hey they’re all in this thing together and for each party to be successful they going to both come to a meeting of the minds and an agreement and that sort of thing. I think there’s certainly going to be an agreement.” This pragmatic view helped him conjure an end to the lockout before too much time passes. “In my wildest imagination I can’t see it going past…where you lose more than two preseason games. Both sides have great things to lose and I think both sides realize that. This is bigger than just a sport. It’s part of America. It’s part of who we are.”
This rational approach was influenced by his legendary college coach Woody Hayes. Famous for his no nonsense approach to football Hayes’ philosophy was summed up with “nobody could win football games unless they regarded the game positively and would agree to pay the price that success demands of a team.” Coach Hayes had a lasting impact on Doug’s personality and decision making “Woody was such a strong figure that frankly I looked at Woody just like my father, I mean really he was such a strong willed person, there were not 1/10 the amount of rules and regulations in the NCAA back then governing what I could and couldn’t do but I knew one thing. I knew that man who was in front of me in those team meeting rooms, he was going to get so upset if I did something wrong I’m telling you quite frankly I had fear. You know I feared and respected him. There isn’t a day that goes by now I don’t think and remember something that he said to me or some philosophy that he was trying to…get across to us. Over half the talks he gave our football team had nothing to do with football. They were all about life and doing the right thing so he held us accountable constantly to be the best teammate we could, to be the best person we could off the field. You know I will never be able to thank Woody Hayes for that enough because he pounded the message into me, he became part of who I am.”
This endless drive to succeed didn’t always serve Doug though, it left him in dangerous situations where dangerous injuries went untended. “If you were injured in some fashion where you couldn’t function at a full go then obviously it was looked at like a weakness. If you had concussions that was a problem, your problem, not anybody else’s. I remember going through games sometimes where I would actually try to pick up my intensity as the game went on like in the 3rd and 4th quarter, not that I didn’t always want to hit people, I loved hitting people, but I didn’t want to hit somebody in the first quarter and get knocked out and can’t play the rest of the game so I would almost gauge my contact, my level of contact as well as my number of hits. So we get to the end of the 4th quarter then hey I’m good to go I’m hitting everybody I can, linemen, running backs, receivers, anybody who comes across my path. So I’m almost managing head trauma if you can believe it.”
The end result of Dave’s fearless attitude hasn’t been visible through traumatic brain injuries but in good old joint pain. Last year Doug had both shoulders and one knee replaced. He still though considers himself in better shape than most men his age and as we all know it isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.
