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R.I.P. Conrad Dobler


Chandler#81

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6 hours ago, Beast said:

Had a good season and a half here. I won’t forget the Monday night game in Dallas in 1981 where it unraveled for him.

 

RIP, Conrad. Thanks for the memories.

 

This is what football did to Conrad Dobler. Take a look at his legs.

2F8CA3F8-DE21-4F2D-906B-2E7F48354D53.jpeg

 

The man had nine knee replacement surgeries. Nine.

 

Medical advancements have come a looooong way since then.

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Remember reading about his exploits with Phil Vilapiano(sp?) here. 

 

Back in late 70s I worked at a Denny"s and they had a  company-wide newsletter . Back then , he and Dan Dierdorf went into a Dennys in the St. Louis area and ordered one of everything on the menu and then ate it.  The newsletter had photos of them with all the food on the table, them eating it and the empty plates. 

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In 1976, the Cardinals and Chargers played a preseason game in Japan (the first-ever overseas game).

 

The Japanese had never seen American Football and were understandably confused.

 

Before the game, one of the Japanese reporters interviewed Dobler to help them understand football.

 

One Japanese reporter asked Dobler to explain the difference between offense and defense.

 

Dobler thought about and said, "Well, when you guys attacked Pearl Harbor, you were on offense and we were on defense. And when we bombed Hiroshima, we were on offense and you were on defense."

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Earlier this year went through boxes of SI's that me and my brother saved when we were kids that have been at my Dad's house for 50 yrs - I always remember this one 

 

43472---cover-thumbnail-image.webp

 

Here's the cover story https://vault.si.com/vault/1977/07/25/ill-do-anything-i-can-get-away-with

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Some of you are undoubtedly too young to remember the Chuck Knox years. Even though there were the usual heart-breaking playoff disappointments, the ‘80 and ‘81 teams were sooo much fun. The roster was made up of a bunch of castoff veterans like Dobler, Villapiano, Robertson, et al.
The rookies and first year guys were my age, and they were a real cast of characters led by Smerlas and Haslett.  So, me and my buddies were still single and partying our asses off at games and watch parties. We did the whole airport greet thing (at 3am, after several cases of Labatt’s and still tripping). 
Part of the reason it was so enjoyable was that there was great hope with a top notch coach like Knox, and a personnel dept that seemed to know what it was doing. There had been only a single playoff appearance since 1966. Almost as bad as ‘the drought’. 
But then came the 1982 strike and everything changed. Owner Ralph Wilson repeated his all-too-familiar modus operandi and characteristically refused to pay market price for top talent and was rewarded with a frustrated Chuck Knox’s turning in his resignation.
Back to the drawing board and a few more coaching failures. 
But for those of us who were around to experience the team that included Dobler, there are many fond memories. Great times!  

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