Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Here are a couple of football stories that may warm your heart.
Rocky Bleier played four years for Notre Dame, including the 1966 national champion Fighting Irish. He was the 417th pick in the 1968 NFL Draft by the Steelers. Then came the real draft, and he escaped death in two years of active duty in Vietnam, requiring multiple surgeries to save a machine gun-ravaged foot and leg.
The Steelers gave him a chance to rehab, and Bleier slowly made it back from a depleted 165 pounds to 200 on their taxi squad, special teams and as a starting running back from 1970 to 1980. He was a four-time Super Bowl champion, finishing with 3,865 yards rushing for a 4-yard average and 23 touchdowns.
Bleier made the Steelers all-time team, was inducted into the International Hall of Fame in 2019 and received the 2020 NCAA Inspiration Award. He is 79 and happily retired with several pensions.
More than 50 years later, Peyton Manning left a gala in a tuxedo — just to sit on the floor with a crying kid in the hallway.
It was a black-tie charity event. A fancy hotel ballroom. Crystal glasses. Chandeliers. Auction paddles raised by the wealthy and well-known.
Manning was the guest of honor, scheduled to speak. Everyone waited.
But backstage — outside the ballroom — a 9-year-old boy was sobbing. His name was Dylan.
He was a huge football fan and had won a contest to attend with his family and introduce Manning, his hero. But the moment overwhelmed him. The noise. The cameras. The pressure.
He had a speech prepared to introduce Peyton but could not do it.
He was curled up on the floor in a little suit, hands over his face, whispering, “I’m gonna mess it up. I can’t do it.”
Then the door opened, and Manning stepped out. He didn’t say anything at first. He just sat down. Right on the floor beside Dylan. Cross-legged. Eye-level.
Then he said, “You want to hear something crazy?”
Dylan sniffled and nodded.
“The first time I ever gave a speech I forgot my own name. Froze. Just stood there like a scarecrow in cleats.”
Dylan looked up. Wide-eyed. Half a smile.
Peyton grinned.
“But it’s not about perfect words. It’s about heart. And I heard you’ve got a big one.”
Manning gave Dylan his tie. “Wear this for luck. It’s been on some good stages.”
They stood up together.
And when Dylan walked out to that microphone — tie too long for his small frame, but chest held high — the entire ballroom went silent. He introduced Peyton with a quiet strength that made grown men tear up.
After the speech, Peyton said, “I thought I was the guest of honor. But I think we just found the real star of the night.”
Dylan kept that tie framed on his wall. And every time he got nervous, he remembered: “Peyton sat on the floor with me — when no one else would.”
chapelboroaudio.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/2025/05%20-%20May/09/Art%27s%20Notebook%20050925%20-%20FINAL.mp3 Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Chansky’s Notebook: Signs of Strength Chapelboro.com.
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