Norm Evans was there!

Where Are They Now: Norm Evans

Original Seahawk ultimately made the Emerald City home

By DAN RALEY, P-I REPORTER
Updated 10:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 21, 2008

ISSAQUAH -- Norm Evans stood in his driveway, shivering in temperatures hovering around 38 degrees, soaking in the pounding rain and wondering why he had picked such a miserable February day to resume his offseason workouts. He did what any self-respecting 14-year NFL veteran would have done at that point. He went back inside and retired.

Thirty years ago, the Seahawks' original starting right offensive tackle, most-decorated expansion draft acquisition and co-captain ended his football career with an impulsive call to general manager John Thompson.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Evans told the front-office executive. "I'm not working out. I'm done."

The Texan played three seasons for the Seahawks, two more than he initially envisioned. He figured to help launch the new franchise, quit and reside in Miami, which had been his NFL home for 10 years and given him some of the game's greatest achievements.

Evans, 66, was a member of the NFL's winningest team, the 17-0 Dolphins in 1972; participated in the NFL's longest game, two overtimes covering 22 minutes and 40 seconds in a 1971 AFC division playoff encounter in Kansas City, won by the Dolphins 27-24; and appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls, winning the last two, and a pair of Pro Bowls in 1973 and 1975.

Seattle was supposed to be only a temporary assignment, and, considering his credentials, almost a goodwill mission on his behalf.

"Truth was, we weren't very good," Evans said. "But it was fun to play here."

He shared the Seahawks' always interesting huddle with quarterback Jim Zorn, now the Washington Redskins coach, and wide receiver Steve Largent, a Hall of Fame inductee. He learned to dislike the Oakland Raiders, who became a natural and bitter rival. He liked being the leader of this team, often its spokesman.

At the same time, Evans had come from one of the NFL's most elite franchises to a starter team, from veteran Dolphins coach Don Shula to rookie Seahawks coach Jack Patera, from winning to losing, and that took a bit of an adjustment.

"I was used to Don Shula foaming at the mouth in a pregame tirade," he said. "In our first league game, Jack Patera calls the team together by the door of the Kingdome, I lean in and he says, 'Wow, guys, I know just how you feel. This is my first game, too.' That was it. We clapped hands and it was 'Go get 'em.'

"I couldn't believe what I just heard. I spent the whole first quarter giggling and laughing to myself."

Football had taken Evans from his hometown of Donna, Texas, on the southernmost tip of the state, to college at Texas Christian, where he was twice an all-conference selection, to 14th-round draft pick by the Houston Oilers, who kept him for just one year.

His TCU coach, Abe Martin, said he would never make it in the NFL, and to show he was serious offered the offensive lineman an assistant coaching job with the Horned Frogs.

"My whole career, every play, was a surprise to me," Evans said.

As he pushed ahead with his pro pursuits, he went to Miami in the 1966 expansion draft and six years later became one of the best players on the NFL's greatest team. He wears a Super Bowl ring that honors the 1972 entry and sports a Dolphin caricature, diamond, his name and the words "Perfect Season." Last winter, he watched the New England Patriots also try to go unbeaten, only to lose to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, which was the preferred outcome for Evans, who didn't want to share the distinction.

"Absolutely, I'm as selfish as the next guy," he said. "I'm a closet Giants fan."

Evans wasn't a conventional nasty lineman by any means. He became an openly devout Christian that first season with the Dolphins after he and his wife, Bobbe, heard a Florida evangelist speak. This left him open to teammate hazing, but he stayed true to his newfound beliefs and played on.

For more than four decades, Evans hasn't wavered in that faith. He is president of Pro Athletes Outreach, a nonprofit organization that holds yearly conventions to teach players and coaches how to manage their marriages, money and fame using religious principles. He's one of nine employees who work out of a second-story office in downtown Issaquah.

Before taking over Pro Athletes Outreach, he dabbled in a couple of post-retirement media ventures, offering "Norm Evans' Seahawk Report," a popular four-year publication that was put out of business by the 1982 NFL players' strike, and co-hosting Patera's radio show.

Evans and his wife have downsized from their five-acre Issaquah home to a Cougar Mountain townhouse. They have two children, Deanna, 46, and Ron, 41, realtors, married and living in Ocean Shores and Pacific Palisades, Calif., respectively. Their son, a former UCLA football player, also is a high school assistant coach.

"I always thought we'd go back to Florida, but Bobbe said, 'Let's go anywhere that doesn't have bugs and air conditioning,' " Evans said. "That eliminated Texas and Florida."

The former lineman has some post-career neck and back problems and a thumb that still bothers him, but he left the pro game healthier than most, primarily by avoiding major knee surgery. He weighs 256 pounds, just four more than his playing weight.

He walked away from football with only one regret, in hindsight thinking maybe the rain and chill that aborted that long-ago February workout clouded his judgment.

"It really killed me," Evans said. "For years, I felt I had made a mistake, that I should have played one more year."

Read more: Seattle PI

Readers want to know

Hello Becky,

I met him when I was around 7 or 8 years of age in Clear Lake City, Texas, just south of Houston. He talked to younger kids about God and being Christians. He was so super nice when he met me and my siblings. He is one of the reasons why I still like the Dolphins. He was an AWESOME football player. Can you give him my email address & phone number? I would like to correspond with him. Also, I want to know if he knew Joe Dale Selman, who also played for TCU around the 60's or 70's. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Little Lisa Holden