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 1982 was an unhappy year in the National Football League, and even moreso for the Seattle Seahawks. It was the year of the player strikes when the season was shortened and chaos reigned supreme in the league. It was a difficult year for Sam McCullum, the Seahawks' player representative, and for players who didn't want to picket, they just wanted to play football. A good deal of information is included in our Spirit of '76 site on Sam McCullum's web page, but I also think it's important to preserve both sides of the struggle, and to once again lend our hearts to the players in this game whose hands were forced. It wasn't fair to anyone, least of all Sam McCullum. Additional player opinions: Dan Doornink | Jim Zorn | Steve Largent Source: Norm Evans' Seahawk Report, Vol. 4, No. 11, Sept. 13-19, 1982 Patera blames McCullum
Jack Patera, head coach, Seattle Seahawks, on the release of
Sam McCullum (courtesy of KIRO Radio Sportsline): Sam’s statement that the whole team was up in arms after he got cut was false. We told the team after we made our final cuts that we want things to get back to the days when the players’ attitude was ‘well, It’s better that he got cut than me.’ Sam said all the players went to the meeting last night. I’ve heard varying reports; some say thirty players went, others say forty players went. The petition that went to the NFLPA was signed by an awful lot of players that didn’t want to sign It; I’m not saying that they were coerced into signing it, but I think that there was an awful lot of peer pressure. There is no way Mccullum is coming back to the Seahawks; he had an opportunity to go to the Vikings and he didn’t want to go. We have a rule that any player who is released and then has an opportunity to get picked up by another team doesn’t go, then he can’t come back to the team that released him. Sam opted for free agency. I do rely quite heavily on my assistants for decisions because obviously I can’t watch all of the players and if there is a disagreement on a player then the staff will sit down and make a decision, but the final decision is always mine. I’m very fortunate in that I don’t have any interference with the management or owners on who we keep or cut. Sam’s firing was strictly a coaching decision and I’ve tried to emphasize this, but unfortunately when a coach or management says something It is completely disregarded; but when a player says something it is taken as gospel. There has been an awful lot of talk about the Seahawks’ inability to develop a deep threat; people seem to disregard Largent’s ability to do that. We were talking to the Colts from the day that Roger Carr started to have disputes with their new coach Frank Kush.”
Patera on the firing of
Herrera and hiring of Norm Johnson:
Patera on the acquisition of Roger Carr: Sam McCullum “I want to thank the press for coming and hope that my word will be carried out to the people and let them know that I was treated unfairly. Second, I want to thank the labor community...Larry Kenney, Marvin Miller and Don Hofer and people from the machinist’s union and the meat packers who are all here in the background. It’s too bad they can’t be up here to be seen, I want to thank them for their support. Also, I want to thank the people in the street who have recognized me from the pictures in the paper and on TV and have stopped me and told me ‘don’t quit yet.’ And, believe me, I’m not quitting yet. Bob Newton, Art Keuhn, Jim Jodat, Doug Sutherland... It’s a real shame these veterans aren’t going to be with the team anymore. “I’ve been here since the start in 1976 and was one of the original Seahawks. I came here from Minnesota so I have been around long enough to know the patterns of this team, and to understand the workings of this team. And when I reported to camp this year in July the patterns toward me all changed. But in comparison, I would like to respond a little bit to what Jack Patera and John Thompson said. They say that one of the reasons I was released was because when they acquired Roger Carr I became the fourth wide receiver. Well, my question was that if I had become the fourth receiver and Paul Johns had beat me out, why did I start the pre-season games? Why did all the depth charts that were released as early as yesterday (Sept 6) have me listed as the No. 1 receiver. I’d like to see them respond to that question. And Patera made a big deal on the radio saying that my catches were down and averaged only 12.2 yards per catch, as compared to Byron Walker who averaged 25 yards. Well, never in the past have they made such a big deal about pre-season catches and never in the past have they made such a big deal about comparing me to a rookie. I’ve had eight years experience in pro football and you can’t compare me to a rookie. He’s untested out there right now. And I’d like to ask them why such a big deal about catches in pre-season. Never before has that been the case. “Also there’s been a comment made about my ability to get deep, because of my speed. The coaches will tell you that this year I was timed at 4.5. The fastest guy on the team is Paul Johns at 4.4 and I don’t think 1/10th of a second is that much. I don’t think that hinders anyone’s ability to get deep. So that’s another thing—you can just erase that myth as well, that I don’t have the ability to get deep. Another thing I heard this morning was about my inability to run after catching the bail. Your ability there is dictated by the patterns you catch, if I’m catching a lot of down-and-out patterns you get cornered on the sidelines and can’t go too many places. I can’t see where they think Paul Johns is better at turning up the field than I am. Fact is, he hasn’t run with the ball this year at all. I don’t remember seeing Steve Largent run with the ball during pre-season, or anybody else run with the ball during pre-season. “So, it’s nothing more than just a smoke screen to cover up the actual reason I was released, and that’s my union activities. I firmly believe that they are Inconsistent in all areas about why I was released. They told me yesterday that I was released because my career is on the way down and Byron Walker is on the way up. Well, I’m sure the players would disagree with that, because of my respect around the league. I got countless calls from people around the league who offered their support. Players who are defensive backs are in total disbelief they’d let me go, not to mention the outrage from a lot of people. They (Seahawk management) said they’d try to trade me, which was the reason I was not put on waivers ‘till yesterday afternoon, later than all the other players around the league. So they said they tried to trade me. When I asked who they tried to trade me to they’d only come up with two teams: St. Louis and Houston. I called a team on the West Coast and they had no idea that the Seahawks were trying to trade me at all. So my question Is how sincerely were they trying to trade me, or were they just trying to get me out of the organization? I have to think that the latter was the case. If you try to trade a player with my value and merit you try to go through all avenues and exhaust all channels you have to try to get something for the player. I’ve averaged over 50 catches a year for the last four years and that rates me very high among wide receivers in the league. I think my worth is more than just letting me go in the streets. And to say they put me on non-recall waivers, which means they can’t call me back off waivers, is like a slap in my face in the sense that they did not expect me to be traded. The normal procedure is that they put a player on waivers, if a team claims him they can pull him off waivers and try to work a deal for him as in the case of most players they have got here in the past. And so this time just putting me on waivers, saying ‘hey, we don’t want you,’ is really saying ‘hey, we don’t want you here, we’re through with you.’ Or by telling the rest of the league that this guy is just finished up and therefore he is just out the door. “Well, that definitely is not the case. I plan on pursuing my career in pro football and am just sad that It’s not here in Seattle where I’ve made my home. I plan on staying In the Seattle area even if I do go play someplace else; I’ll make this my home because I’ve come to like Seattle very much. It’s a sad case that I don’t get to finish my career here in Seattle. Patera made a point last night on the radio that they are not in the practice of keeping players that aren’t starters, which is kind of a blow to me to hear him say that. So now I have to ask him, why keep Jim Zorn if he’s not starting? So whatever he says he’s being terribly inconsistent. It’s all a big smoke screen to cover up the actual facts. “We’re seeking action with the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) at this time. A case was filed in Washington and New York yesterday as well as one being filed herein Seattle on my behalf, seeking reinstatement by the Seahawks and seeking damages filed against the management council and the NFL and the Seahawks and Jack Patera. So we’re pursuing that right now and trying to push it through as last as possible and get results as fast as possible. As I said before, there’s been a tremendous amount of support from around the league. There’s also been support of players in different teams thinking of work stoppages or selective walk-outs this week in some of the games. There’s a possibility of that at this time If action isn’t taken by NFL management, the NLRB and the management council. There’s a possibility that some of the games won’t be played this weekend (Sept. 12). We’ve also heard talk that management’s going to put an offer on the table at our collective bargaining session scheduled today in Washington D.C., simultaneously giving an offer to all players in all the individual cities. In other words, they’re by-passing our collective bargaining wing to go directly to the players, which is an unfair labor practice in itself. The same thing happened in 1974. What they’re hoping is to get some of the teams to vote on this proposal and have some of the teams say ‘hey, it’s okay,’ to weaken our position at the bargaining table... But we’ve gotten wind of it and we’ve alerted the players to what can possibly happen. “The last thing, I think, is that my public image in this community has been one of honesty. I’ve been very honest with people and I’ve worked hard. They’ve seen my position off the field as well as on the field and I think that contributes to the people that are here today. I think that my image is such that I will not ruin it by getting in a pitching match. So I’m going to leave it at that. But I’m hoping to go on with my career and pursue it a little bit farther. I think I can play football a few more years. I feel good being 29 years of age and think I can go on. I still wish that the comparison would stop between myseif and a rookie because that is an insult to me. Just compare me to Roger Carr, who is an established veteran and the same age as I am.” Sam, would you want to go back to play for the Seahawks under the circumstances? Do you have any precedent for your establishing this thing through the NLRB to get your job back through legal methods? Getting Your job back that way?
 
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