Always Be Cool (ABC) Podcast - Bobby Kerr & Darren Copeland of SummitLendingUSA.com

#145 | OJ "Juice" McDuffie | Dan Marino's Favorite Miami Dolphins WR, 1993-2001 | Livin' La Vida Loca

May 27, 2023 Bobby Kerr & Darren Copeland Season 2 Episode 1
Always Be Cool (ABC) Podcast - Bobby Kerr & Darren Copeland of SummitLendingUSA.com
#145 | OJ "Juice" McDuffie | Dan Marino's Favorite Miami Dolphins WR, 1993-2001 | Livin' La Vida Loca
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Show Notes Transcript

OJ McDuffie | Miami Dolphins WR 1993-2001 | “Dan Marino’s Favorite Receiver

  • First round draft pick - Draft Day Experience?
  • Dolphins cruise - Takeaways? KARAOKE
  • Coach Shula - Known for being a tough, hard nosed leader.
    • Stories about Coach being tough on Juice
    • Was being asked to have a chat with Coach Shula like being called into the Principal’s office in elementary school? - Intimidating
  • Drafted to play Professional Baseball by California Angels in 1991
  • Dan Marino’s Favorite Receiver” - But didn’t get thrown the ball much the first few years on the team
  • The Fish Tank with Seth Levit - Part of the official Miami Dolphins Podcast Network
    • Emmanual Ogbah - Providing football camps to kids in Africa. Players like EO provide opportunities for kids not exposed to NFL. 
    • Catch 81 Foundation
  • My favorite quarterback of all-time is Dan Marino. You were responsible for his blindside. What was it like catching passes from Dan the Man?
  • Duo - OJ MCDuffie & Irving Fryar
  • Toughest game you’ve ever played in?
  • Dolphins VS Chiefs - Wild Card Game Christmas Eve 1994
    • Marino VS Montana | Schottenheimer VS Shula | 
    • OJ = 2 kick returns for almost 60 yards, 1 rushing ATT = 19 yards, 2 REC = 25 yards
    • Joe Montana’s FINAL game
    • OJ hitting Derrick Thomas hard
  • Any WR who had a lasting impact on helping you grow into your role?
  • Made a career out of being clutch on making first downs - How much of that was bc of the chemistry with Dan and your timing together?
  • What do you like to do in your free time these days, 20+ years after retiring from the NFL?
  • Coaches: Joe Paterno, Don Shula, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt - Best life lessons from these leaders?
  • Toughest opponent you’ve ever faced?
  • Best Dan Marino story? Best Bryian Cox (LB) story



Twitter & Instagram  @OJmcduffie81 | Catch81Foundation.org
Bobby Kerr Darren Copeland
theABCpod.com | SummitLendingUSA.com | theBobbyKerr.com




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[Bobby]:

All right, everybody. It's the Always Be Cool podcast, hanging out with your host, Bobby Kerr, Darren Copeland. What's up, everyone? Man, we are very excited today. We've got Miami Dolphins wide receiver from 93 to 2001. Mr. OJ juice McDuffie. All right, everyone. Here we go. Born December 2nd, 1969, Marion, Ohio, attended Hawken high school where he excelled at football, basketball, track and field and baseball, all American wide receiver at Penn state in 1992 as an MVP of the Fiesta Bowl. First round pick of the 1993 draft, led the league in receptions in 1998. He played eight seasons, Bobby, with your Miami Dolphins.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Thank

[Bobby]:

Inducted

[OJ McDuffie]:

you.

[Bobby]:

into the Dolphins Walk of Fame on December 29th, 2013. All-around awesome guy, OJ McDuffie. Welcome to the show, man. How are you doing?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Thank

[Bobby]:

Yes.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you. Man, that's a lot of stuff right there, man. I didn't realize it was that

[Bobby]:

I'm

[OJ McDuffie]:

extensive

[Bobby]:

the

[OJ McDuffie]:

at times.

[Bobby]:

right

[OJ McDuffie]:

But I

[Bobby]:

exactly.

[OJ McDuffie]:

will say this DC, it's actually officially nine years of my pension. So,

[Bobby]:

Oh,

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

there

[OJ McDuffie]:

know,

[Bobby]:

you

[OJ McDuffie]:

it's...

[Bobby]:

go. That's important. Hey, that extra year makes a big difference

[OJ McDuffie]:

You damn

[Bobby]:

on the

[OJ McDuffie]:

right

[Bobby]:

pension,

[OJ McDuffie]:

it does.

[Bobby]:

doesn't it? Does that's phenomenal. Hey, you know what, what we learned doing this show, OJ is just because the internet says something doesn't mean it's true.

[OJ McDuffie]:

There

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

you go. There you go, man.

[Bobby]:

We've made that mistake by pulling

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, you

[Bobby]:

off

[OJ McDuffie]:

guys

[Bobby]:

some bio.

[OJ McDuffie]:

don't research with Wikipedia, I'm sure. You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

Oh,

[OJ McDuffie]:

No way.

[Bobby]:

never, no, no, no, not at all. And also, we learned the hard way is Don't take Wikipedia's word for spouses names, because they might not be with them anymore.

[OJ McDuffie]:

That is funny, man. They don't

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

update it. They got to update that a little sooner, right?

[Bobby]:

Right? Exactly. No kidding, man. Well, this is a pretty cool special episode. Actually, it's really cool because just two episodes ago, we had Mr. Richmond Webb on the show. And so we were talking right before you came on that we've got two first round Miami Dolphin picks from 1990, 1993. That's pretty awesome and great company for sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, Richmond's one of my favorites of all time, man. You know, and you know, funny thing about Richmond is we drafted Richmond to handle Bruce Smith in Buffalo.

[Bobby]:

All right. Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know what I mean? He

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

did a hell of a job, man. And it's a shame that Richmond hasn't reached that plateau of the hall of fame yet, but it's coming. It has to, you know, and guys like Bruce are the ones that are best mouthpieces for a guy like Richmond. But the thing about Richmond is, as you know, Bobby, he's so quiet and so

[Bobby]:

Oh

[OJ McDuffie]:

cool and smooth. We call him big sexy. You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Because he always

[Bobby]:

Yes.

[OJ McDuffie]:

had the

[Bobby]:

Yes.

[OJ McDuffie]:

nicest clothes on. He's quiet, just went about his business, man. And there's nothing sexier than that, bro. Like you, you were, you were G'd up every day on the cruise, you know

[Bobby]:

I

[OJ McDuffie]:

what

[Bobby]:

was

[OJ McDuffie]:

I mean?

[Bobby]:

man. I know everybody. If everybody knew like in normal life back home, that's what I did on the cruise. It'd be like, man, what the hell

[OJ McDuffie]:

Hahaha!

[Bobby]:

are you doing every day in your dolphins pullover and hat ball cap every single day. But no, when I go on a cruise, it's, it's time to lay it out

[OJ McDuffie]:

That's right, that's right.

[Bobby]:

for sure, man. You know, it's funny to talk about Richmond. So, you know, he's like a huge teddy bear, right? So what, what was he like on game day? Did he just kind of flip a switch to Destroy defensive tackles. I mean was he one of those guys that just made that switch once he got on the field

[OJ McDuffie]:

I think he had the same demeanor. Do

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you see, you know what I mean? He had the same calm, relaxed demeanor. He knew he was good. You know, he didn't have to say it. We let him know how good he was. But he just had that same demeanor and his footwork and his hands were so incredible.

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know that he didn't have to worry about anything, you know, sometimes you gotta get a little help from a guy like, you know, Keith Sims inside. But

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

for the most part, he was always quiet. Never heard him yell. You see some of these other guys, you know, even Keith Sims and guys like that. Lot of guys in football, they yell a lot. They're

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

frustrated a lot. I never saw a big sexy, losers cool,

[Bobby]:

That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

man.

[Bobby]:

awesome. When you were on, well, how about you when you were on the field? Did you, uh, I mean, you're obviously really, really cool guy, really fun to talk to. Like everyone loves you on the field back in your playing days. Were you just, were you the exact same guy or were you like turn into a little bit of a monster on the field?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Man, look, you saw me in person, man. I'm not the biggest, strongest, fastest guy. So I had to do something different, you know what I mean? So that crazy had to come out. Not to mention I returned punts.

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Returning punts says I'm crazy already,

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

No

[OJ McDuffie]:

know

[Bobby]:

kidding.

[OJ McDuffie]:

what I mean? So that,

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

but yeah, man, it was like, it wasn't, here's how I approached the games, right? I respected all my teammates, of course, and I respect the opponents we're playing against. But if the opponents start talking trash, then it's gonna change my whole game plan. You know

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

what I mean? I'm trying

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

to respect them, trying to respect their careers and trying to make sure that you know, they you know, they get paid and they don't get hurt. But they start talking trash then the game gets a little muddy at times, you know, so

[Bobby]:

It's

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know,

[Bobby]:

game

[OJ McDuffie]:

backside

[Bobby]:

on.

[OJ McDuffie]:

blocks blindside box, you can't do anymore. Those become part of it. If you're over there on the other side, chatter and that means if you

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

if you're if you're talking trash is game one for me. I'm already going out to try to beat you, you know, with the you know, the mental part and all that other stuff. But after that, then it's got to become a physical part of the game. And that's what I use to my advantage.

[Bobby]:

Hey OJ, so that brings up a great question man. Who's like one or two guys, whether they're a corner or safety or whoever it was, who was one or two guys that would just always be chatterboxing out there?

[OJ McDuffie]:

man, let me see, this guy is Oda Smith. You know, he was kind of like the same thing with me. You know, he was a good corner, wasn't great, but he chopped it up a lot. He talked a lot. You know what I mean? And he was tough. Ty Law, he didn't say much. He was just that good that he didn't have to say much.

[Bobby]:

Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

One of those guys that, you know, you better not wake him up if he's sleeping that game. You know, just let him, you know, just let him be quiet. You know,

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

but for the most part, man, it was just mostly, you know, the guys that talked the most are the guys on my own team. You know Sam Madison and you know, pass their tan

[Bobby]:

right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

those guys every day in practice man. I couldn't shut him up. You know what I mean? So

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

that's an older guy when they were young in the game. It was I yeah, it was rough hanging out those guys all the time.

[Bobby]:

No doubt. You know, I heard a story that you've told about that Kansas City chiefs playoff game on New Year's Eve and one, you know, we're in Kansas City. Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Ha ha.

[Bobby]:

So growing up a lifetime Dolphins fan since I was seven years old in Kansas City, talk about that game. As I heard you tell a story once about lighten up, Derek Thomas.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Oh man, please. Thank, I mean, I've got

[Bobby]:

..

[OJ McDuffie]:

a breast and soul, man. Yeah, I caught DT, you know, and then we were running a curl flat combination at Playoff Games first quarter. I want to say I affected the game by, you know, knocking him out real quick. But anyhow, we're running a curl flat combination and Danny throws a flat rod to Keith Byers and I peel back and I catch DT. He wasn't ready for me, you know what I mean? And I decleded him. And he tells a story, or he told a story about how he was on one knee. He might, he might be in concussion protocol if it were

[Bobby]:

today.

[OJ McDuffie]:

today's game, you know? And I whisked because he still came out. I think he had like three or four sacks that game after that. So I didn't really affect him that much, you know? But so I caught him, I depleted him and I was towards the end of the quarter. And so he's looking at the clock. He's looking at me and he realized it was a little wide receiver that caught him. So he kind of, you know, slowly moved his way over to the sideline so he could get a little bit more of a break and then he took a knee over there. And he told me that he had to, he said his boys, his best friends that saw that gave him crap like forever about that, man. You know what I mean? He said that. And for me, you know, I was just, I was a little worried that because DT, he lived out here in South Florida.

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I was worried about seeing him out in public after that.

[Bobby]:

Oh, right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, I was like, man, if I go to publics, is DT gonna beat if I go to a club is DT. If I go to the beach, am I gonna run the Derek Thomas, man? Because I knew he wanted to get me back. He had to

[Bobby]:

Oh

[OJ McDuffie]:

want to get

[Bobby]:

man,

[OJ McDuffie]:

me back for

[Bobby]:

that's

[OJ McDuffie]:

that one,

[Bobby]:

good.

[OJ McDuffie]:

man. So.

[Bobby]:

Oh yeah, cause you know that that didn't happen too much to DT in his career.

[OJ McDuffie]:

No, and that's the only way you can catch him. The way I caught him, he didn't

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

see me coming. You know what I mean? It was considered a dirty shot right now, but it was part of football back then, you know? But

[Bobby]:

Mm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

the

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

only way I could get him was for him not to see me coming. I've had other instances where guys have seen me coming that of that size, and they knocked the crap out of me.

[Bobby]:

Hahaha

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know what I mean? It was like this little dude, it was like, they ran through me like I didn't even exist, man. So yeah, the fact that he didn't see me coming was a benefit to me for sure.

[Bobby]:

Absolutely. So even, uh, sorry, but Richmond was even talking about DT, you know, I mean, he's kind of, he's been gone a long time now in Kansas city, but everyone still loves hearing those stories about him and Neil Smith on the other side.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Oh yeah,

[Bobby]:

And so, man,

[OJ McDuffie]:

they

[Bobby]:

those

[OJ McDuffie]:

were

[Bobby]:

were

[OJ McDuffie]:

unbelievable

[Bobby]:

guys,

[OJ McDuffie]:

man.

[Bobby]:

they

[OJ McDuffie]:

They

[Bobby]:

were

[OJ McDuffie]:

were

[Bobby]:

special.

[OJ McDuffie]:

unbelievable.

[Bobby]:

That's for sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

They were scary to deal with, you know? I know Richmond had to deal with them more than I did, you

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, so I can only imagine game plan and try to figure. I remember we played against Derrick Thomas and colleagues too at Penn State

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm. Oh,

[OJ McDuffie]:

when

[Bobby]:

that's

[OJ McDuffie]:

he was

[Bobby]:

right

[OJ McDuffie]:

at Alabama. And he had eight sacks against us in one game, right? And so

[Bobby]:

Cheers.

[OJ McDuffie]:

he beat every single person in the line of scrimmage. They moved him along the whole line of scrimmage, right? He beat every single person in the line of scrimmage. Not only that, with eight sacks, he forced safety on one of them, and they ended up beating us eight to three. We had

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

a

[Bobby]:

Oh,

[OJ McDuffie]:

field goal, they

[Bobby]:

wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

had

[Bobby]:

Jeez.

[OJ McDuffie]:

two field goals, and that's Sahtes from DT. So I knew about him well before I got into the NFL, that's for damn sure.

[Bobby]:

Right. Right. Hey, speaking of back in the day, OJ, you know, we always joke on this show that Bobby and I, we study more now than what we ever did in high school and college, right? We actually do the research now. So in doing so, man, I had looked at some of your stats in high school. And is this right? That you had Over 7,300 all purpose shards in high school

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

in

[OJ McDuffie]:

in three

[Bobby]:

football

[OJ McDuffie]:

years. Yeah, it

[Bobby]:

in

[OJ McDuffie]:

was

[Bobby]:

three

[OJ McDuffie]:

fun.

[Bobby]:

years.

[OJ McDuffie]:

High school was a lot

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

of fun, man.

[Bobby]:

Dude.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And we had a coach that was dynamic and he found different ways to get me going. Pump return, kickoff return.

[Bobby]:

Yeah

[OJ McDuffie]:

I played wide out my first year, and then I played running. See, I grew up as a running back.

[Bobby]:

Okay.

[OJ McDuffie]:

My whole life I was a running back. Until I went to high school that sophomore year, I was a wide receiver for one year, and then I went back to running back the next two years.

[Bobby]:

Okay.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And then I didn't switch to serious wide receiver until I got to Penn State. But yeah, so my coach found different ways to get me involved and we had a really, really good team. I mean, our team was so good and we made it to the state semi finals twice and state championship once.

[Bobby]:

Uh-huh.

[OJ McDuffie]:

We lost three games on my whole career.

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

So when you get opportunities like that, you got a lot of great guys around you. It was just like, it was fun. And we had some, see, we had so many teams that we played against that were a lot bigger than us, but none of them were faster than us and definitely half of them weren't smarter than us. So. It worked out pretty well for us to accumulate a lot of good numbers. And so yeah, man, it was fun. It was a lot of fun. Obviously we didn't get what we wanted to achieve, which is a state championship, but along the way we won a lot of games.

[Bobby]:

Yeah, that number just stuck out at me because that's like video game numbers. I mean, that's just sick type of stuff. I'm like, holy smet smoke.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, you know

[Bobby]:

Is that

[OJ McDuffie]:

what's so

[Bobby]:

even the

[OJ McDuffie]:

funny

[Bobby]:

impossible?

[OJ McDuffie]:

too is that all these guys, you know, they had these game plans to try to stop me, you know, and it just, it just our scheme and game plan and you know, some of the things I could do on the football field. You know, you look at all the guys in NFL, all of them are high school superstars.

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know,

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I mean, at that point, you know, all of them are at some point they were high school superstars. And, you know, for me, it's just like having such a great team around me and then just the whole work ethic for myself. I mean, That's what it was all about. I didn't even want to go to this high school. My mom made me go to this high school.

[Bobby]:

It's

[OJ McDuffie]:

You

[Bobby]:

a really.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, she made me go to this a private school. You talk about Hawkins school outside of Cleveland, Ohio. She

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

made me go to school. And I, the reason I play wide receiver is because I, I didn't go to training camp until a week before the season started the first year she made me transfer to school and so

[Bobby]:

Okay.

[OJ McDuffie]:

the easiest position for me to learn was the wide receiver.

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

So that's why I play wide receiver for one year. And then once I had that first year was over and I loved it. I absolutely

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

loved it, you know, and so that's when I moved back to my original position. He moved me back to my original position and

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, the rest was history, you know, I had two back to back, um, 30 years in my division in the state of Ohio. And just, uh, you know, our team was just incredible.

[Bobby]:

So did you tell your mom eventually that she was right? Did

[OJ McDuffie]:

Nah,

[Bobby]:

you give

[OJ McDuffie]:

hell

[Bobby]:

her props

[OJ McDuffie]:

nah,

[Bobby]:

on that?

[OJ McDuffie]:

hell nah.

[Bobby]:

Hell no! That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

Nah,

[Bobby]:

great.

[OJ McDuffie]:

nah, nah, she knew she was right. She just shake her head, you know, especially once you start getting these scholarship offers and things like that, she knew she was right.

[Bobby]:

Yeah, exactly. Well, I think one thing a lot of people don't realize about you, OJ, is you were quite a baseball player as well.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, I got drafted by the Angels actually

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

at Penn State. And that was one of the reasons I chose Penn State. The four schools I was looking at, five schools I was looking at the end, Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State. Four of them said I could play baseball as well as football.

[Bobby]:

Mm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And so in baseball, which is so funny, is that I did both. I did both baseball and track in the same season. So I played football in the fall,

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

basketball in the winter, and then in the spring I played. football and ran a little track. So baseball was my love. She wanted me to play baseball. As you guys know, I talk about my mom a lot.

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

She didn't want me out there getting hit, taking those hits,

[Bobby]:

Sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know what I mean? So she thought that baseball was my best avenue, you know, to get to the major leagues or any type of professional sport. And so I actually, I didn't like baseball as much at the end of the day, because once I got to Penn State, we're playing in March. You guys mean Kansas City weather, Penn State. It's kind of the same.

[Bobby]:

Yeah. Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

It was cold

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

as hell. It was snowing one time I was in center field and I said, you know, this is, I'm done with this.

[Bobby]:

I'm done

[OJ McDuffie]:

I'm

[Bobby]:

with this. Heck no.

[OJ McDuffie]:

done with this. And then I got drafted by the angels in the 41st round. They came to Penn State. I asked them what my signing bonus is gonna be. And they said, oh, we'll give you $10,000. And we're like, you know what? I'm done. I want to focus on football. I know I can make more money playing

[Bobby]:

Mm hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

football than I can playing baseball. Plus, I can still

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

be in the minor leagues. At 53 years old right now, I can still be in the minor leagues. You never know, you know?

[Bobby]:

No, no doubt. We've we've had a lot of a lot of professional athletes on the show and a lot of Kansas City Royals players, and they talk about, you know, getting scouted and then drafted and then whether whatever round it was. And some of those guys had early, you know, offers like 10, $20,000, you know, and it worked out for some of them. But most people. It doesn't, you're stuck. If you're getting drafted in the 20th through 40th rounds, you might be a career minor leaguer, so I think you made, I think you made the right decision. Good call.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I'm watching this kid now for the Marlins, Jonathan Davis,

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

who spent 11 years in the minors, and

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

he's got his call up, and now he's battling the last three games, he's battled like 900 or something, you know what

[Bobby]:

He's got his chance.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I mean? So, that hanging there like

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

that, that's impressive, it

[Bobby]:

For

[OJ McDuffie]:

really

[Bobby]:

sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

is.

[Bobby]:

Well, everybody that we've had on the show, especially NFL stars, we asked them the question to kind of describe draft day and what that was like for you, especially being a first round draft pick. Richmond gave his. We've had, gosh, Doron Cherry, Trent Green, all these guys on the show. They share their experiences. And we love hearing about. Kind of what that was for you. Take us through the emotion, the family, the phone call with what I assume is Coach Shula. Just talk us through that day.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, it was very interesting because nowadays, the draft is Thursday night, it's prime time, it's incredible. Thursday night, Friday night, what the NFL has done with the draft is just monopolizing prime time TV. Don't put a basketball game or baseball game or anything on that night because your ratings are gonna be gonna suffer to the NFL draft. And that's how incredible and how powerful the NFL and the shield is right now. So for me though, our first round draft started at noon on Sunday. You know, so for me, I was up at Penn State. They had their spring game. I was up at Penn State kicking my last time really kicking it at Penn State before real life

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

kind of started for me, you know, real

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

life as an NFL.

[Bobby]:

Sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And, um, so I was up there all weekend. I got up Sunday morning and drove back to Cleveland, Ohio. Um, I was so tired. DC and Bobby, I was so tired, man. That laid on the couch, man. I knew that I wasn't going anywhere before 20 from what I had seen all my projections, I wasn't going before 20. for the 20th pick and so I told my mom, I'm gonna take a nap because I'm exhausted. And my mom was so worried that I was gonna sleep through the phone call. And think about this now, it's a house call. It's a house

[Bobby]:

It's

[OJ McDuffie]:

phone.

[Bobby]:

a landline, yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

It wasn't like a cell phone where you could be anywhere. I had to be at home, I

[Bobby]:

Right,

[OJ McDuffie]:

give them the number that

[Bobby]:

right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I'm gonna be at, you know what I mean? So I was at home

[Bobby]:

Yeah, and

[OJ McDuffie]:

and

[Bobby]:

no

[OJ McDuffie]:

so my

[Bobby]:

one

[OJ McDuffie]:

mom

[Bobby]:

be on

[OJ McDuffie]:

was

[Bobby]:

the other

[OJ McDuffie]:

so

[Bobby]:

line,

[OJ McDuffie]:

worried

[Bobby]:

right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

that I was gonna sleep through the call, right? And so. We get to the 20th pick and she wakes me up, you know, so I'm sitting there watching 21. I thought I was going 22 to San Diego. That's where I was projected to go. 22 comes, they pick a guy, Darian Gordon, who's a hell of a player,

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, for that came out of I think Stanford. He played DB for them. So then 23 goes, 24 goes, and 25 hits, and I get a phone call. The only phone call I got, and it was Coach Shula. And he asked me, he said, to be a Miami Dolphin, I said, I wanna say that's the dumbest question ever. I'm like, hell yeah. Hell

[Bobby]:

That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

yeah

[Bobby]:

awesome.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I wanna be a Miami Dolphin. You know what I mean? But it was just, it was exciting. For me, I wanted to go close to home, which is either Cleveland Browns or Cincinnati Bengals,

[Bobby]:

Hmm

[OJ McDuffie]:

close to school, Philadelphia Eagles or Pittsburgh Steelers,

[Bobby]:

Mm

[OJ McDuffie]:

or go warm. I got warm, I

[Bobby]:

hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

got

[Bobby]:

Yup.

[OJ McDuffie]:

damn Reno, and I got Don Sula, man. I hit the jackpot.

[Bobby]:

That's phenomenal. That's phenomenal. That's a great way to put it. So what, uh, what does that phone call like? Is it just like a 32nd call? Hey, would you like to be a Miami dolphin or did you actually have a conversation with coach?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Nah, there was no conversation.

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

He had other things to do, man.

[Bobby]:

He had a whole nother draft.

[OJ McDuffie]:

They had to get back on the clock or something, you know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

But it was just like, I just couldn't believe it, man. And you know, for me, I lived in Cleveland growing up. I moved up there when I was 12. Another decision my mom made me do, which I hated, but ended up

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

being the best decision ever.

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

But I grew up in a small town near Central Ohio, near Columbus called Marion, Ohio.

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And once I got drafted, we got in my car and we drove down to Marion and the... place was bananas. Nobody

[Bobby]:

Was

[OJ McDuffie]:

had ever been

[Bobby]:

it?

[OJ McDuffie]:

drafted out of my hometown NFL. We had some baseball players that went kind of like when I got drafted in baseball, but

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

nobody in the first round. My whole town was nuts. We went to my aunt's house, my mom's sister's house, and people just start coming and coming and

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

coming. There must have been like 300 people. The house was probably 1200 square feet, you know, but there was just people

[Bobby]:

the

[OJ McDuffie]:

everywhere. And the next thing you know, the police show up. they know what the hell was going on. They thought it was like, I don't know what they thought it was, man. And they started blocking off the streets, you know,

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

and people started going around it, man. It was just the most amazing experience. I wish

[Bobby]:

That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

we had

[Bobby]:

phenomenal.

[OJ McDuffie]:

video and stuff back then because

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

the

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

spectacle was like unbelievable. And yeah, so it was really, really cool, man. And then the Dolphins sent in like some trucks, some TV trucks in from Columbus to do a live feed for Marion. And

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I was just surrounded by just family and friends, man. It was pretty cool.

[Bobby]:

Gosh, you got your own ticker tape parade, basically.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

You're

[OJ McDuffie]:

right?

[Bobby]:

running through Marion, Ohio. That's phenomenal. Well, let's stay there a little bit for Coach Shula, because we can't talk about the Miami Dolphins. We can't talk about great Miami Dolphins players without talking about Shula. You know, you and I were on that cruise ship a couple of months ago, and to hear so many stories about Coach Shula and someone who never got to meet him, it was really incredible. Now, getting to hang out with his widow. That was really special, you know, and to see her so humbled with so many, not only fans, but, but former players from Coach Shula over four decades speak such in such high regard for him. Can you just give us a couple of stories about Coach Shula and what he meant to you and how he really transformed your career

[OJ McDuffie]:

Well,

[Bobby]:

in

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

your

[OJ McDuffie]:

know,

[Bobby]:

life?

[OJ McDuffie]:

coach was, it was like, I probably have anybody on that team or the teams probably had the easiest transition from coach to coach Shula. Because I went from Joe Paterno to, you know,

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm, right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

to Don Shula and they're cuffing the same cloth. The only difference between the two is one cusses and one doesn't. Joe doesn't cuss and

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Don Shula definitely cusses. But the respect that he has in the, you know, in the whole world, not just in the football world, but just in general. And also what he commands and demands from his players is second to none. You know, he treated us like men. He was always a stickler on details. I mean, we were, there wasn't a game that we weren't prepared to go in and play. But the thing about it that I loved about coach was that, you know, he, he was a guy that, you know, that loved his players. You know, he, he really did. He, he loved his players, man. And you can tell about, you can tell by how tough he was on guys. that he gave a damn. If he wasn't tough, somebody, you know how it goes. If somebody's not tough on you, the coach isn't tough on you, they don't think you're worth crap.

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

He was tough on all of us. But once we did, got the great results and he was one of those guys that just loved it, man, hugged on you, loved on you, man. And that was one thing that was hard to, to imagine from a guy like Coach Shuler, cause he was such a tough guy.

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

But for me, I mean, the day he drafted me, man, he became, like one of my all time favorites. I wasn't a doll fan growing up.

[Bobby]:

Sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know, I was a Cleveland Browns fan growing up.

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

But once that, you know, once that day hit on April 25th, 1993, they all, hey, the

[Bobby]:

I

[OJ McDuffie]:

hell

[Bobby]:

love

[OJ McDuffie]:

with the

[Bobby]:

it.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Browns. You know, the

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Browns, they didn't pay one of my bills after that, you know what I mean? And so it was all about what Coach Shuler did for me, man. I think that, I think that respect, you know, that he, you know, he got from all of us and that he gave us was, was, is incredible, man. And there are a couple of games, I mean, my first practice, where I finally got a chance to work with the, you know, with the number ones, which was shocking to me. We had so many good receivers on our team. Duper was still on the team,

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Irvin Fryer, Mark Ingram, Tony Martin, you know, Keith Jackson was our tight end. And

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I finally got one little rep with the number ones and they called a play that I'd never, that we hadn't even put in yet. You know what I mean? And I called timeout like a dumb ass. I don't know why I said call timeout like a dumb ass. And Tulip, you know, what the F are you doing? You know? I said, coach, we never put that play in. He said, well, is it in your playbook? He said, yeah. He said, well, you're responsible

[Bobby]:

Yeah, you said. You

[OJ McDuffie]:

for

[Bobby]:

were a muscle

[OJ McDuffie]:

it then.

[Bobby]:

boy,

[OJ McDuffie]:

I'm

[Bobby]:

man. I

[OJ McDuffie]:

like,

[Bobby]:

was like, hey, I didn't lie

[OJ McDuffie]:

damn,

[Bobby]:

to you. I was like,

[OJ McDuffie]:

I

[Bobby]:

hey,

[OJ McDuffie]:

didn't

[Bobby]:

I didn't

[OJ McDuffie]:

know I had to read the whole playbook before

[Bobby]:

lie to

[OJ McDuffie]:

we

[Bobby]:

you.

[OJ McDuffie]:

even did the install. We didn't even do the install on that one, you know what I mean? So, needs to say, that was my last rep during that mini camp with the number ones.

[Bobby]:

Hahaha

[OJ McDuffie]:

But at that point, you should have seen my ass diggin' in in that playbook,

[Bobby]:

I

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

bet.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know what

[Bobby]:

Yup.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I mean? I was ahead of the game on the install, man. There's something comin' up, I was already ready for it, man. And that was one thing that he... He was he was a stickler about detail like I talked about. But for me, it was important for me to learn every single thing, every single position on that thing. So I never had that situation happen with him again. I was never going to be the

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

guy that gets called out for you know, running the wrong route or not know what the hell I'm doing. Because that day coach had me ready for everything. I should have been ready anyways, but I didn't. Hell, I didn't know the playbook at that point.

[Bobby]:

It's

[OJ McDuffie]:

It

[Bobby]:

a

[OJ McDuffie]:

was

[Bobby]:

lesson

[OJ McDuffie]:

my second

[Bobby]:

to

[OJ McDuffie]:

day

[Bobby]:

learn.

[OJ McDuffie]:

in camp. But hey,

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I learned a lesson that day.

[Bobby]:

Hey, it only took once, right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

That's

[Bobby]:

That

[OJ McDuffie]:

it. That's it.

[Bobby]:

was it. That was it. And talking about legendary coaches, I mean, you know, I don't want to skip over the Joe Paterno thing. So maybe take a couple of minutes and you know, you mentioned five amazing football powerhouse schools previously. So what was it about Penn State? Why did you go to Penn State? And what was it like playing for, uh, for coach Paterno?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, you know, being a Buckeye, born in the Buckeye State, it was Ohio State. We grew up Ohio State. Everything was Ohio State. You know, we watched Ohio State on Saturday. I watched the game again on Sunday and I just couldn't wait to one day possibly play for the Ohio State Buckeyes. And so when I was up in Cleveland, Ohio, you know, that was my goal. My goal was to play for Ohio State and I was locked and loaded to go to Ohio State. And they had a coach there, Earl Bruce, who was incredible. I mean, he was just an incredible football coach and I just couldn't wait to play for Coach Earl Bruce. My senior year they fired Earl Bruce.

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know, and so this is in the winter, like December of my senior year they fired Earl Bruce. And they're bringing a guy named John Cooper. John Cooper, he came over from Arizona State. And he came to visit me up in Cleveland. He was at, came to my basketball game, he came to my house and talked to me and my mom. And me and my mom just didn't get a good vibe from him.

[Bobby]:

Hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know, we actually got a terrible vibe from him.

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And that was the reason I was like, well damn, all right. So my second two choices, like 2A and 2B, were Penn State and Notre Dame. So once I crossed Ohio State off, it was either Penn State or Notre Dame. My mom wanted me to go to Ohio State. I mean, wanted me to go to Penn State. I mean, wanted me to go to Notre Dame because a lot of kids that went to my high school were dying to get into Notre Dame. You know

[Bobby]:

Mm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

what I mean? Their parents said, we gotta get you a Notre Dame. I didn't go to a Catholic school, but they still, all these kids and their parents wanted them to go to Notre Dame. And she said, they're giving you money. They're trying to get you to go there. And these other people are trying to get there. I didn't like Lou Holtz though. You know, it

[Bobby]:

There

[OJ McDuffie]:

was

[Bobby]:

we

[OJ McDuffie]:

not.

[Bobby]:

go.

[OJ McDuffie]:

It was

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

not, I didn't like Lou Holt's. I, my visit, I didn't like my visit to Notre Dame. It felt like the guys that were there didn't really want me there. You know what I mean? It's hard when you've got a running back, you got running backs that are recruiting you or that are hosting you, and then you're potentially coming to take their job. You know what I mean? So it was like, so they didn't show me much love. I went to Tim Brown's Heisman Trophy party. It was a dud. You know what I mean? So I'm like, this is how they do it here. I mean, this is not gonna work for me here. You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

That's right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

But my trip to Penn State was a bunch of guys, really good guys that I felt like I could hang out with away from football and away from school. And that was one of the things. Not to mention, Joe said I could play baseball.

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

There were a few other factors. And then my last trip, I went to UCLA and I came back, I had a long handwritten letter Turner had written on spiral notebook paper. I don't even know if kids even know what spiral notebook papers are. On

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

spiral notebook

[Bobby]:

I still

[OJ McDuffie]:

paper,

[Bobby]:

use them.

[OJ McDuffie]:

listing the pros and cons, seven pages of the pros and cons of me going to Penn State. And that

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

kind of solidified it for me, man. You know, it was not,

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

everything wasn't all great. Everything is gonna be amazing here at Penn State. He told me everything, you know? And that did it for me. That did it for me. And that's why I chose to go to Penn State. And you know, I'm still so super close with all my guys. It's amazing. Because I play with a lot of guys that went to a lot of different schools. And I've never seen any other school be as passionate about this Saturdays and our Penn State football team playing in Penn State, you know, I'm on a group text with 20 guys that I play with that played on different teams around the country, you know, and they're all sit there and they don't, they don't hear the pride that they had that we had with Penn State, you know, and,

[Bobby]:

I'm

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, my wife, she's like, wait a minute, Penn State, you know, volleyball's on

[Bobby]:

going

[OJ McDuffie]:

and you're watching it. Penn State

[Bobby]:

to go ahead

[OJ McDuffie]:

soccer

[Bobby]:

and turn

[OJ McDuffie]:

is

[Bobby]:

it

[OJ McDuffie]:

on

[Bobby]:

off.

[OJ McDuffie]:

and you're watching it. Penn State, the cross is on you, whatever it is. You know, Penn State, if it's

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

on, I'm watching it, man.

[Bobby]:

Heck

[OJ McDuffie]:

And so

[Bobby]:

yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

[Bobby]:

That's phenomenal. Well, I know for the younger listeners, there's a couple of points in today's podcast, one, there used to be phones called landlines that you

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

had to listen to number two was spiral notebooks.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

That was the thing back in the day. Oh, Jay, did you keep, do you still have that letter from coach?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Absolutely, I do it's it's here. It's here in the vault.

[Bobby]:

Wow,

[OJ McDuffie]:

It's

[Bobby]:

that's

[OJ McDuffie]:

here in the

[Bobby]:

amazing.

[OJ McDuffie]:

vault,

[Bobby]:

That's awesome.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know,

[Bobby]:

That

[OJ McDuffie]:

it's so

[Bobby]:

is so

[OJ McDuffie]:

funny because

[Bobby]:

cool.

[OJ McDuffie]:

we moved From our for one house to another and that was one of the things I was looking for more than anything Where the hell's my letter? So make sure

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

make

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

sure my letter makes to move to be downsized So I want to get you know, make sure we threw away certain things We had some we had like 20 years of documents I want to make sure we just got rid of and shredded and stuff But make sure I got my letter make sure it's secured and we found

[Bobby]:

That's phenomenal. Man. So we we've had the same kind of conversation. This is a good segue. Had the same conversation with Richmond, but I'm going to read off the coaches that you've had in your college in your pro career. Correct me if I'm wrong at all. Got Joe Paterno, Don Shula, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wanstead.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

Am I missing anybody?

[OJ McDuffie]:

No, and those two

[Bobby]:

Holy

[OJ McDuffie]:

levels,

[Bobby]:

cow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

that's it.

[Bobby]:

That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

That's

[Bobby]:

amazing.

[OJ McDuffie]:

it, man. That's it. I would add my high school coach, Cliff Walton, as another legendary coach, man, everybody's talking about, you know, and I hate to even get into part of this because you know, it's probably but for me, they always talk about we play for three legendary coaches, and they talk about Joe Paterno, Don Shula and Jimmy Johnson. I'm not a Jimmy Johnson fan. He's not a fan of mine. So

[Bobby]:

Mm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

my three legendary coaches are Cliff Walton. Joe Paterno and Don Shula and I love Dave Wanstead. But Jimmy, yeah, the hell with Jimmy Johnson.

[Bobby]:

All right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Bottom line,

[Bobby]:

Right on.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know,

[Bobby]:

Right

[OJ McDuffie]:

he was

[Bobby]:

on.

[OJ McDuffie]:

one of the worst coaches I ever played for in my opinion. So

[Bobby]:

Interesting.

[OJ McDuffie]:

with that being said, yeah, I mean, I had a hell of a list. I mean, he's a Hall of Famer though, right? So I gotta give him that,

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know.

[Bobby]:

Sure. That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

Shula's a Hall

[Bobby]:

a,

[OJ McDuffie]:

of

[Bobby]:

well.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Famer, Paterno's a Hall of Famer, so I've got some Hall of Fame coaches in there, my high school coaches in the high school Hall of Fame. So I'm good, I have some really good coaches.

[Bobby]:

Well, and I would venture to say, OJ, you know, I think most people would agree that your high school coach is probably one of the most important people in your life because it's such a formative years coming to high school and you alluded to earlier, like he came up with game plans to scheme you because everyone was trying to stop OJ McDuffie, right? So that right there is such a huge role model and mentor. Uh, so feel free if you want to talk about your high school coach, man, go, go ahead as

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

coach

[OJ McDuffie]:

man,

[Bobby]:

Cliff

[OJ McDuffie]:

Cliff

[Bobby]:

Walton

[OJ McDuffie]:

Walton,

[Bobby]:

still,

[OJ McDuffie]:

man.

[Bobby]:

is he still alive?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, he is. He

[Bobby]:

Awesome.

[OJ McDuffie]:

is.

[Bobby]:

Phenomenal.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And Cliff Walton, he's been going through some health issues, obviously, because we're all getting up there a little bit. But Cliff Walton is just amazing. Amazing coach at Hawkins. And you know what he taught me? He taught me a lot about teamwork. Because a lot of these guys we talked about before, they were the man. All I really wanted was the ball. You

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, and I just give me an opportunity to show what I can do, you know, and he taught me how to count on guys next to me and depend on them. And like my teammates are really good, so I should have done it in the first place. But, you know, he always was that guy that, you know, put everything in perspective for me, you know, and was was just a hell of a leader. I didn't hear any coach cursing me until I got to the pros. Coach Walden

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

didn't curse at me. Coach Paterno and his whole staff didn't curse. Joe got mad if he heard any four-letter words he called.

[Bobby]:

Right,

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, no

[Bobby]:

no

[OJ McDuffie]:

four

[Bobby]:

one was

[OJ McDuffie]:

letter

[Bobby]:

allowed

[OJ McDuffie]:

words,

[Bobby]:

to coach.

[OJ McDuffie]:

LJ. You know, so

[Bobby]:

No

[OJ McDuffie]:

it was

[Bobby]:

one

[OJ McDuffie]:

like

[Bobby]:

was allowed,

[OJ McDuffie]:

he was, yeah. So

[Bobby]:

I'm

[OJ McDuffie]:

it

[Bobby]:

sorry.

[OJ McDuffie]:

was like no cursing whatsoever on both of those staffs, you know. So I got

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

to NFL and then I hear Shula and Gary Stephens and Marino, all those guys cursing. It was like, man, some grown man stuff going on here. You know, but,

[Bobby]:

You got a whole new vocabulary.

[OJ McDuffie]:

exactly right, man. But he got his point across the right way, you know. You know, a God-fearing man, you know, always in church. treat us like, you know, even though we were kids, like men, and just, and just had every single game and just had us motivated and ready to play. You talk about X and O's, we're talking about a little bit, but also just the speeches before games. And, you know, he just was just like he had us, like I said, we were always undersized team. We're undersized

[Bobby]:

Mm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

team. We only have like 40 guys on our team, we play against teams that 70 80 guys on the team, big guys, but we always found a way to out scheme them and run around them and run past them, you know. We didn't fear anybody because of Coach Walton, and we still don't.

[Bobby]:

That's great. That's great. Man, I hope our dolphins do that this year. They just run around everybody since we got

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

a track

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

team.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, I heard wildo talking about, you know, putting on muscle to run through guys don't run through guys, man

[Bobby]:

I know,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

run

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

around

[OJ McDuffie]:

know I

[Bobby]:

him,

[OJ McDuffie]:

tried

[Bobby]:

bro.

[OJ McDuffie]:

that one time right? early in my career and urban fire said yeah young buck, um Live to play another down man. You know

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

what I mean? Live to play

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

another down. You can't they say high school is a college Man, you can't run through these big dudes man. Get your butt down

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

live to play another down man. So I hope wildo doesn't

[Bobby]:

Waddle

[OJ McDuffie]:

yet

[Bobby]:

does look, he looks bigger, but

[OJ McDuffie]:

He does

[Bobby]:

bro,

[OJ McDuffie]:

man,

[Bobby]:

don't

[OJ McDuffie]:

but

[Bobby]:

you put on 15 pounds of muscle doesn't mean you can truck Micah Parsons. Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Right, Mike is still sitting at 250. You know what I mean? Leave Mike alone. Don't

[Bobby]:

Seriously.

[OJ McDuffie]:

go there.

[Bobby]:

So, so we've heard that, um, you were Dan Marino's favorite receiver during, especially, I mean, just those reformable years with you as a dolphin, take us through obviously the, the specialty of Mr. Dan Marino. And I'll say this to just today, a little bit ago before the podcast, um, our very own Patrick Mahomes here in Kansas city. He was interviewed and he listed his top five, top six quarterbacks of all time, of course. Mr. Marino's in that list for him. So now that we've got somebody that his whole career basically caught past us from Dan Marino, talk us through that relationship off the field, on the field and how special it was to play with him.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Well, yeah, you know, I mentioned earlier how, you know, now that I get South Florida and the weather and Coach Shula, but I got Dan Marino, you know, what wide receiver doesn't want to go and play for Dan Marino? Still in his prime, still flinging that thing around to feel like that. But at the beginning though, it was a little tough relationship for us because, you know, he's a pit guy, I'm a Penn State guy.

[Bobby]:

I know

[OJ McDuffie]:

You

[Bobby]:

I wrote

[OJ McDuffie]:

know,

[Bobby]:

this down.

[OJ McDuffie]:

so

[Bobby]:

I wrote that down.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I had to let him know a couple of times that Dan, you got to let that college stuff go, bro. You know, we're on the same team now, man. We're

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

on the same team now, man. Let it go, bro. Let it go.

[Bobby]:

Hmph.

[OJ McDuffie]:

But I'm gonna tell you man, it was so much fun playing for Danny. I mean, the dude was such a, such a commander this offense that he'd been in for a long time. And I think that's part of the reason I probably got in trouble for that one play because all those guys have been in that offense. I think Danny might've called that, he might've called that on, now that I think about it, I'm gonna have to give

[Bobby]:

He

[OJ McDuffie]:

him

[Bobby]:

probably

[OJ McDuffie]:

a call.

[Bobby]:

did.

[OJ McDuffie]:

He might've called that on purpose to get me in trouble, man. You

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know what I mean? Get this

[Bobby]:

Pick

[OJ McDuffie]:

young

[Bobby]:

on

[OJ McDuffie]:

guy

[Bobby]:

the rookie.

[OJ McDuffie]:

out of here from Penn State and see if he knows this play that we never

[Bobby]:

I'm

[OJ McDuffie]:

put

[Bobby]:

glad

[OJ McDuffie]:

in.

[Bobby]:

we can turn up some old some

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

bad memories.

[OJ McDuffie]:

he's. Yeah, he set me up. He set me up a bit. But uh, but I'm gonna tell you though, man, it took a little while for us to actually vibe. So I didn't really get a lot of run with the first team for a little while I was doing was returning kicks, you know, returning punts returning kickoffs, then towards the second half of my first year, I started doing more third down work. You know, then my second year, I got more burn and then towards the end, like he talked about, you know, I was Danny's guy, you know, me and Danny were on such a we're on such the same page with everything. When it came to play calls, when it came to checks, when it came to blitzing, you know, making sure Danny didn't get hit by a free blitzer, you know, that was super important for me to be where I'm supposed to be and when I'm supposed to be there. And that's why Danny threw the ball to me so much. You know, Jimmy Johnson, the guy we referenced earlier, Jimmy got mad. He actually told Danny he throws the ball to me too much. And he said,

[Bobby]:

You

[OJ McDuffie]:

how

[Bobby]:

know,

[OJ McDuffie]:

the hell

[Bobby]:

I

[OJ McDuffie]:

is

[Bobby]:

read

[OJ McDuffie]:

that

[Bobby]:

that.

[OJ McDuffie]:

possible?

[Bobby]:

Okay, so I read that last week, and now it's starting to make sense. I thought he was almost like tongue in cheek saying that,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

but he wasn't.

[OJ McDuffie]:

no, no, he said he threw the ball to me too much. And I'm gonna tell you what, when you got a guy that's converting, 70 plus percent of his catches in the first downs, how can

[Bobby]:

That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

incredible.

[OJ McDuffie]:

throw it to him too much?

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

And

[Bobby]:

All

[OJ McDuffie]:

Jimmy

[Bobby]:

right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

was just that type of hater, man. He hated

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

me, he hated Danny. He hated anybody pretty much that played for Shula when he came in. He cleared out the whole roster except for a couple of guys and me and Danny were the lucky ones that got the hang

[Bobby]:

No

[OJ McDuffie]:

around. The love that Danny and I had for each other, towards the end of his career, and the love that we have for each other now was incredible. I'll tell you a quick story. When Danny was retiring, he retired two years before I did. When he was retiring, I was on vacation in Cancun with a bunch of my buddies, and he called me, and he said, Juice, I wanna let you know that I'm retiring tomorrow. And I was in my room by myself, and I was crying like a baby, bro. I was

[Bobby]:

I bet.

[OJ McDuffie]:

crying like a baby

[Bobby]:

I bet.

[OJ McDuffie]:

when he went up in that speech and he said the toughest guy I played was OG McDuffie. I was crying like a baby bro. You know and I'm

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

so glad I was by myself. You know

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

what I mean?

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Because it wouldn't look too manly if I was you know have my

[Bobby]:

That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

girl

[Bobby]:

special.

[OJ McDuffie]:

or anything with me man. And

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

we've been really cool ever since bro. I mean it's just like he's one of those guys man who I you know you saw him on the cruise Bobby it's hard to be damn arena.

[Bobby]:

Oh my gosh.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, anywhere you go, it's just it's tough being Dan Marino, man. I feel bad for him. I feel bad for a lot of people that come around. He's you know, he's got to keep it moving. But

[Bobby]:

Mm

[OJ McDuffie]:

damn he has to

[Bobby]:

hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, he really has to keep it moving man, because otherwise Danny's a guy besides one under autograph. He won't he has

[Bobby]:

Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

to sign them all, you

[Bobby]:

he'll

[OJ McDuffie]:

know,

[Bobby]:

be there all day long.

[OJ McDuffie]:

yeah, and it just can't, you know, I get maybe 10 people the rest of them. I always you know,

[Bobby]:

Right

[OJ McDuffie]:

keep it moving, but just a great guy, man. Really, really, that's my guy right there, man. One of the greatest

[Bobby]:

That's awesome.

[OJ McDuffie]:

ever to throw the rock on the football field.

[Bobby]:

So OJ, when he called and you had a few tears about the retirement, were you sad that he was retiring or were you just scared who was going to be your next quarterback throwing you the football? A

[OJ McDuffie]:

That's a great question. We

[Bobby]:

little

[OJ McDuffie]:

had

[Bobby]:

bit

[OJ McDuffie]:

some

[Bobby]:

of

[OJ McDuffie]:

good

[Bobby]:

both.

[OJ McDuffie]:

guys in the pipeline, the Damon Hewards, and then we ended up getting Jay Feebler. I was just sad because

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

he was retiring, man. And I knew it was getting

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

close. You know,

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you think about it, you know, we played that Jacksonville game and, you know,

[Bobby]:

Ugh,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Danny

[Bobby]:

I don't

[OJ McDuffie]:

got

[Bobby]:

want to talk

[OJ McDuffie]:

beat up

[Bobby]:

about

[OJ McDuffie]:

so

[Bobby]:

it.

[OJ McDuffie]:

much towards the end of his career, bro, that, you know, you knew at some point it was coming to a close, man. So just to see such a great guy and a legend at his position. you know, legend on the football field called quits man. That's a tough deal, man. But

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I tell you it was just for him. It was time because of the situation more than anything, you know, I think Danny could have played another year, but it wasn't a it wasn't a good environment for him in my opinion.

[Bobby]:

Right. Right. Well, and I always like to ask this question, OJ, cause I don't think television does, you know, the athletes, a lot of, you know, justification, because I'm always curious, like how hard did Dan Marino throw that football? Like, I mean, how fast was that thing coming out of that shotgun?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Oh yeah, it was definitely getting a fastball. I mean, that's what he called it, man. Once you go up 10 yards, break out, fastball. You know, that's kind of how you call it, you know? And he wants

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you to get your head around like Linda Blair, you know, from the exorcist, you

[Bobby]:

Like

[OJ McDuffie]:

know?

[Bobby]:

Clinton Blair.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, man, he was serious about it. And he took pride in practicing, ear-holding you, man. If you don't get your head around fast enough, the ball's coming, it's gonna pop you right in the head, man. You know, so he did throw it hard. I was lucky enough, like I talked about going from Paterno to Shula, I was lucky enough to have Kerry Collins my last two years at Penn State. He threw a fastball

[Bobby]:

Mm. Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

and that thing was humming too. So

[Bobby]:

Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

then he ended up being number five pick in the draft a couple years after that. So

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I was ready for the fastball. I wasn't ready for coming out of my brakes as fast when that ball was on its way because Danny's anticipation and Danny's

[Bobby]:

Uh-huh.

[OJ McDuffie]:

ability to throw you open was incredible. Whereas in college, I was running wide open. I had a lot of time to see the ball. With Danny, he had to fit it in some windows and that thing was unbelievable. It was humming. And I was ready. I was ready. It was fun. I'm going to tell you a quick

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

story too about Danny, man. You

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, you know how Danny is. You seen yelling at receivers and yelling at guys and you know, he yelled at me one time in a game and on TV. I thought I saw the copy afterwards right on TV. They said well that has to be McDuffie's fault because Danny's been in the league for 15 years, you know, and so we get to film on Monday and Danny looks back at me. We see the play over and Danny's like Oh, my bad, juice. My bad. Like I wish everybody else knew that. You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Now,

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

Can

[OJ McDuffie]:

know,

[Bobby]:

you go tell

[OJ McDuffie]:

you're

[Bobby]:

everyone?

[OJ McDuffie]:

the only one that knows you're bad. Everybody else thinks it's my bad, bro. You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

Can't be Danny's fault. That's great. Hey, at least he was man enough to say, hey, my bad, you know. Oh,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Well,

[Bobby]:

yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I was

[Bobby]:

Sorry

[OJ McDuffie]:

gonna

[Bobby]:

about

[OJ McDuffie]:

let

[Bobby]:

that.

[OJ McDuffie]:

him know, I was gonna let him know himself. I was gonna let him know that look, Danny, see this is cover two, whatever. I don't know what the situation was, but yeah.

[Bobby]:

Man, well, so you brought it up. I'm going to ask you a follow-up question. So kind of those, that 95, 96-ish with Jimmy Johnson. I mean, I've heard stories that he was trying to, trying to trade Marino, trying to run him out of town. Maybe it had maybe some of the same situation with you too. Was it just, what was so toxic? Was it because the regime with the Shula era and he didn't, he just wanted to be defensive minded. What was that, that relationship like?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Well, I think he definitely wanted to trade Danny because you look what happened in Dallas for him when he traded Herschel Walker and he got, you know, he got everything. You know, he created that organization over again when he's able to trade Herschel Walker and picked up all those draft picks, you know, I think he's looking for the same type of payout for, you know, for the Miami Dolphins at that point. And I just feel like, you know, for the most part anybody Shula was not, you know, on his, on his. good side. And so we really had to prove ourselves all over again. The fact that I made it through for a couple more years with Jimmy Johnson was pretty incredible. You know, I know he wanted it. And every year they tried to replace me. They're bringing free agents, the draft guys, they always try to replace me every single year when Jimmy got there and it just didn't work out for him. You know, until I got hurt, you know, it couldn't, they couldn't get rid of me, you know? Um, and so I just thought that, you know, for the most part that, you know, You've never I don't think you ever get Danny to say anything bad about Jimmy. I don't give a damn You know I have nothing to lose by saying something bad about that guy because I thought he was one of the worst coaches ever played for And so but I definitely feel like a lot of Schuyler guys. Yeah, we weren't his favorites. That's for sure

[Bobby]:

Interesting. So when you did the the fish tank show with Zach Thomas and Zach's

[OJ McDuffie]:

Mm-hmm.

[Bobby]:

talking, his opinion is a little bit different. So that was interesting.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Dude, Jimmy loved his defense.

[Bobby]:

Yeah, he's a

[OJ McDuffie]:

He

[Bobby]:

defense

[OJ McDuffie]:

didn't give a

[Bobby]:

guy.

[OJ McDuffie]:

damn about the off. He loved his defense and Jimmy gave Zach a shot. It's so funny you say that because going into that interview, Bobby, Seth knows, my partner knows I don't like Jimmy Johnson, but I said, Seth, it's not about me, it's about Zach and his pod. So I'm gonna be as positive as I can. I won't say anything negative about Jimmy and Zach's podcast. You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

You did

[OJ McDuffie]:

So.

[Bobby]:

good. You did good.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

It's

[OJ McDuffie]:

so I was just, I had

[Bobby]:

awesome.

[OJ McDuffie]:

to remain professional in that situation. Even though I wanted to be like, you know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

I love

[OJ McDuffie]:

I didn't

[Bobby]:

it.

[OJ McDuffie]:

do it. I didn't

[Bobby]:

Bite

[OJ McDuffie]:

do it.

[Bobby]:

your tongue. I love it. Well, that's pretty special for Zach. You know, another teammate making it to the hall of fame. I think Richmond's going to get there. Like, that's really cool to play with some hall of famers that you're still really close with that your buddies with to say, you know, man, I'm so proud of you. You accomplished the top of the mountain in our profession. That's really special. I thought the interview that you guys did with Zach was really, really good. Obviously, the film, the NFL films filming the whole thing was really, really special. But Obviously very happy for Zach and hopefully we'll be really happy for Richmond someday too.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, man, it's kind of funny, man. It's like I play with three Hall of Famers, you know what I mean? And hopefully get that fourth in there and hopefully Clayton gets in there. We got a bunch

[Bobby]:

Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

of I never played

[Bobby]:

you should.

[OJ McDuffie]:

with Clayton, but it wouldn't. He needs to be in the Hall of Fame as well. But, you know,

[Bobby]:

Oh

[OJ McDuffie]:

to

[Bobby]:

yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

play with Danny, to play with Jason Taylor, to play with Zach, you know, and hopefully Richmond gets in there. I mean, my trips to Canton are beautiful. I love making that trip to Canton. You know,

[Bobby]:

Right? Heck yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I mean, I mean, it's it's a fun trip going back home, really, for me. You know, so it's

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

pretty cool.

[Bobby]:

It's true. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and talking about good and special players. So one of the questions I had for you, OJ, is the corners. Like, who was one or two guys that really gave you, not really a hard time, but a challenge? Who was some really good guys that were covering you back in the day?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Well, they're, I mean, hell, they all, it was a hard time, you know? It was, you hit it on the button. I'm gonna tell you what, it started off, like, young in my career, when I'm going against Troy Vincent and JB Brown in practice.

[Bobby]:

Mm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Practice was tougher than games sometimes, because those dudes were unbelievable, especially Troy Vincent. Troy Vincent was long, strong, fast. It's hard to beat him, you know?

[Bobby]:

Wasn't he drafted

[OJ McDuffie]:

Then I had

[Bobby]:

first

[OJ McDuffie]:

to deal

[Bobby]:

round

[OJ McDuffie]:

with Ty,

[Bobby]:

like the year after you?

[OJ McDuffie]:

the year before me.

[Bobby]:

Or year before you, yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, him and Marco Coleman were our first round picks the year before me in 92, and then I came the year after that. But man, he was tough to deal with. He really was. And then when I, you know, in the league, then I had to deal with guys like, you know, like I talked about Ty Law. Ty Law was my, he was my nemesis, man. That dude there was, he was

[Bobby]:

hehe

[OJ McDuffie]:

tough to deal with. Another guy, long, strong, and long arms, strong, you know, quick, they had a great scheme for him. You know, I see him today, you know, he lives down here in South Florida. I want to crack back block on him, you know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

No.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I want to try to get some get back from when we played against him in New England. You know what I mean?

[Bobby]:

Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

But

[Bobby]:

exactly.

[OJ McDuffie]:

he's a super, super nice guy, man. And we, you know, we chop it up a lot. But then, you know, I went against Deion Sanders a couple of times. When Danny saw Deion on me, he didn't even throw. He didn't even look my way. So, you know, we can't even count

[Bobby]:

Really?

[OJ McDuffie]:

that as him going against me. Yeah.

[Bobby]:

He

[OJ McDuffie]:

But.

[Bobby]:

just used that as a decoy and just went the other

[OJ McDuffie]:

Right,

[Bobby]:

side.

[OJ McDuffie]:

right, right, right. Ju, see if you could, but see, Deion didn't even care. Deion's like, I got this guy, you guys got the rest of him. So it was, but for the most part, man, I just ran into a lot of trouble or a lot of good battles with Ty Law. Man, that was my dude that every game, you're trying to figure out a way so I can beat Ty Law. Put me in the slot, put me in the left side. Was he gonna travel with me? Is he gonna stay on the right side only? Different things like that to try to, to get open against a guy like that.

[Bobby]:

Wow. Yeah. So let's go. I'm going to go back a little bit. Um, as we're getting close here to the end, we talked about that wild card game 1994 against our Kansas city chiefs here that listen to the headlines here. We've got Marino versus Montana, right? The first time that they had played against each other since the super bowl in 84, Marino versus Montana, Schottenheimer versus Shula. You've got OJ stats right here. Two kick returns for almost 60 yards. Uh, one rushing attempt for 19 yards, two receptions for 25 yards. Obviously jacking up DT, Derek

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

Thomas in the game, right. And then throw on top of it. Tough loss. That's Montana's final game ever.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, yeah,

[Bobby]:

That's a, that's

[OJ McDuffie]:

yeah, that

[Bobby]:

a

[OJ McDuffie]:

was,

[Bobby]:

pretty.

[OJ McDuffie]:

yeah. Yeah, that was, yeah, that was, you know, and it was at 94, you said.

[Bobby]:

Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

Christmas

[OJ McDuffie]:

that was

[Bobby]:

Eve

[OJ McDuffie]:

my, yeah, my second

[Bobby]:

or New

[OJ McDuffie]:

year.

[Bobby]:

Year's Eve or Christmas Eve.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Somewhat. Yeah. I think

[Bobby]:

Maybe.

[OJ McDuffie]:

it might have been New Year's Eve. I think it was playoffs

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

had to be probably New Year's Eve. Um, but yeah, man, that was, um, we, we thought we had a good team that year too, bro, you know what I mean? And we thought we had a really good team, thought we could, we should have gone further, you

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know? I mean, the year before, I want to say the year, my rookie year, 93, we were, we were nine and two at one point. We beat Dallas in the Leon let play, you know, on Thanksgiving.

[Bobby]:

Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Then we lost

[Bobby]:

We

[OJ McDuffie]:

our

[Bobby]:

talked

[OJ McDuffie]:

last five

[Bobby]:

about that

[OJ McDuffie]:

games.

[Bobby]:

with Richmond. Yep.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah. Yeah. And so we, and we lost our last five games after that and didn't make the playoffs. So we knew coming back, we had a really, really good team and be able to host a playoff game against the chiefs who were really good team at that point. I think they were playing well at that point too, to even get in and, uh, and, and see Dan going against Montana. I mean, it was, uh, it was, it was a special game to be in and be a part of. you know, and to be able to, you know, do my little parts of what I was doing, you know, I was like, I was talking about kick return here. It threw reverse in here, you know, different little things, you know, blocking downfield or crack back blocking on DT.

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

I was just so hyped to be in the playoffs, bro. You know,

[Bobby]:

Oh

[OJ McDuffie]:

I'm

[Bobby]:

yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

in the playoffs in the NFL, man. This is my first one. This just go have at it, you know, and that's

[Bobby]:

playing

[OJ McDuffie]:

what it

[Bobby]:

against

[OJ McDuffie]:

was about.

[Bobby]:

Marcus Allen, Joe Montana,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Oh yeah.

[Bobby]:

Derek Thomas, Dale Carter,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

you know, Neil Smith, all these guys, wow. I tell

[OJ McDuffie]:

Man,

[Bobby]:

you

[OJ McDuffie]:

they

[Bobby]:

what,

[OJ McDuffie]:

were so good. You know, a lot of

[Bobby]:

if

[OJ McDuffie]:

guys

[Bobby]:

you ever

[OJ McDuffie]:

late

[Bobby]:

wanted

[OJ McDuffie]:

in their careers

[Bobby]:

to...

[OJ McDuffie]:

at that point, but man, they were still good and still scary as hell. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Bobby]:

Oh man. I tell you what, OJ, what I was going to say is, uh, you should have seen this town in 92, 93, whenever they made that trade to get Joe Montana, man, you thought he was a second coming, right? Even though, you know, he's at the end of the career of everything, but like, you know, we through the eighties of cheese were just awful and you know, Schottenheimer era started, you know, we had the defense, but to get. a legendary quarterback like that. I mean, we were, we were pretty jazz. Marcus Allen too. Marcus Allen. In

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

fact, I think

[OJ McDuffie]:

oh yeah.

[Bobby]:

90, 93 is when we lost the AFC championship game. We had to go up to Buffalo. And then I think this playoff game that we're talking about, I think that was the next year.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah. I'll tell you what. It's kind of like how the Jets are feeling about Aaron Rodgers right now. You know, you know, when

[Bobby]:

Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

you get legends

[Bobby]:

exactly.

[OJ McDuffie]:

like that, you know, it really is, especially in a league that's driven by quarterback play. You know, you

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

have to feel pretty special about back in, you know, back in the day when we played at 94 with Montana, you know, we ran the ball a lot. A lot of teams ran the ball live. Marcus Allen was a huge pickup

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

for for Kansas City as well, you know, but

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

nowadays you got to got it can sling it like Rodgers

[Bobby]:

Man.

[OJ McDuffie]:

man. It makes them formidable. We're still gonna kick their butt a couple of times this year, but they're formidable,

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know what I mean? But you gotta respect it, gotta respect it.

[Bobby]:

Yeah. Hey, are you going to make the trip over to Germany and watch the Chiefs-Dolphins game over there?

[OJ McDuffie]:

I wish man boy do I wish I'd have to talk to our you know, I do the postgame show for the Dolphins So if they

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

take our host our whole unit over hell, yeah I would

[Bobby]:

Hell

[OJ McDuffie]:

love to go to Frankfurt and watch

[Bobby]:

yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

this

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

play, you know, I've been to London games twice, you know I've been I love seeing our team play elsewhere man. It's it's a lot of fun to go overseas and watch our team play

[Bobby]:

Yeah, it seems like Mr. Ross is a big fan of growing that global market for the dolphins, that's for sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I tell you what, man, it's really that I know the NFL announced all the other, you know, countries and, and, and, you know, that are going to be doing some NFL stuff and some of the teams that are with the dolphins have been popular overseas for a long time, you know, and it really starts with Dan Marino and Don Shula. I mean, we've played some games like that where, you know, Dan Marino had all these, you know, all these fans fascinated for a long time. And then we always win the women over because of our colors. You know what I mean? It's like. Yeah,

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

we got it going

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

on as

[Bobby]:

The

[OJ McDuffie]:

an

[Bobby]:

swag.

[OJ McDuffie]:

organization, man. I mean, I'm no slight to the Chiefs with that. I don't even know the red and the yellow, whatever it is. It's not as sexy as this. You know what

[Bobby]:

Right?

[OJ McDuffie]:

I mean? It's just not,

[Bobby]:

I hear

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

you,

[OJ McDuffie]:

know?

[Bobby]:

man.

[OJ McDuffie]:

So,

[Bobby]:

You got

[OJ McDuffie]:

but

[Bobby]:

the swag

[OJ McDuffie]:

yeah,

[Bobby]:

for sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I know,

[Bobby]:

That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

right?

[Bobby]:

great.

[OJ McDuffie]:

So just, you know, being able to build that brand, you know, worldwide

[Bobby]:

for sure.

[OJ McDuffie]:

is important. And NFL is doing a great job of being global, you know? And,

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, for us to be a part of it. The way you go really global is be like the Chiefs. Win, win, win, win, win. You know

[Bobby]:

No

[OJ McDuffie]:

what

[Bobby]:

kidding.

[OJ McDuffie]:

I mean? Same way the Warriors. The Warriors were way up in the Pacific Northwest somewhere. You know what I mean? Win, win, win, win, win. Everybody likes them, you know? So

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

winning, you know, brings a lot of people out. You know, you get a lot more recognition, you know,

[Bobby]:

Man,

[OJ McDuffie]:

like we're winning

[Bobby]:

it

[OJ McDuffie]:

down

[Bobby]:

does,

[OJ McDuffie]:

here in

[Bobby]:

I

[OJ McDuffie]:

South

[Bobby]:

mean.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Florida. South Florida has been great right now. You know, our hockey

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

team just got to the Stanley Cup. You

[Bobby]:

Panthers.

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, hopefully the heat can, you know, can get into the finals. It's like, yeah, it's fun. And winning cures all.

[Bobby]:

Well, when he does cure, cure all, I was getting ready to say, you know, even the generations of cheese fans that are going to be around just for decades they come just because of Patrick, my homes. Yup.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yep.

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yep.

[Bobby]:

Yeah. I, I can say

[OJ McDuffie]:

Well,

[Bobby]:

this

[OJ McDuffie]:

you

[Bobby]:

because

[OJ McDuffie]:

know, here's

[Bobby]:

I

[OJ McDuffie]:

the

[Bobby]:

have

[OJ McDuffie]:

funny

[Bobby]:

several.

[OJ McDuffie]:

part about it. I'm sorry, these had to me

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

to cut you off.

[Bobby]:

No, you're fine.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Here's the funny

[Bobby]:

You're

[OJ McDuffie]:

part

[Bobby]:

good.

[OJ McDuffie]:

about it. There's going to be a lot of kids named Patrick or Patricia,

[Bobby]:

Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, moving

[Bobby]:

you're

[OJ McDuffie]:

forward,

[Bobby]:

exactly right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, you know, I mean,

[Bobby]:

Yup.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Danny's and Danielle's there are down South Florida.

[Bobby]:

Oh yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

You know what I

[Bobby]:

Oh

[OJ McDuffie]:

mean?

[Bobby]:

yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I was given one of my buddy's crap and we were just down in Texas a few weeks ago and, uh, I swear, cause you know, my homes is from Texas and you start seeing more of my home's jerseys than you do Cowboys Jersey. So I was starting to rub that in on pretty good.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Oh, that's great. That's great. Ha ha ha.

[Bobby]:

That's great. Well, hey, juice, before we get off here, you want to talk a little bit about the catch 81 foundation and the good that that's doing within the community.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, so we always go back to my mom, because my mom is the one that spearheads a lot of stuff that I've done in my life. And she's always preached that. I've been given so much that it's imperative that I give back. And we started doing golf tournaments and events back in my fifth year in the league, I think, I want to say, somewhere in the late 90s. And so we got to a certain point where we were given to certain organizations. Sissy Fibrosis, the American Cancer Society. And then we started thinking about, look, I grew up in a single parent home, just me and my mom. She had me when she was really young. So we decided to start the Catch 81 Foundation to start raising money for similar people in a similar situation. Single parent homes, young moms. My mom went to school. She actually went to, and my mom had me when she was 15 years old. And

[Bobby]:

Oh wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

she

[Bobby]:

Okay.

[OJ McDuffie]:

ended up being the first one in my family to graduate high school. And if in high school back then, if you're pregnant, they kick you out. You know,

[Bobby]:

Oh wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

so she hit her pregnancy until almost until I was born. She even hit it from her from my grandparents until I was almost born

[Bobby]:

How?

[OJ McDuffie]:

because she was one of 13 kids. So it was easy to hide my parents. My grandparents are working, working, working, working. And so the kids kind of raise themselves. So kind of worked out pretty good for the family. But so we decided with Catch 81 Foundation when we started in 2006 that this is what we're going to do. We're going to. do this organization ourselves and start doing events, they give money to these underserved, underprivileged, single parent homes, young moms, and so they have a chance. We've also started a scholarship program that's gonna be starting up in the next few years where we're just building it, putting some money into it, where we can start giving some of these young moms scholarship money so they don't have to quit their dream of going to college. We wanna give them some money so they can go to college. and find a way for them to be able to take care of their young children while achieving their goals. So everything starts with my mom, bro. It really does, man. Without her, hell, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, obviously.

[Bobby]:

Right. That's super special, man. And what is really cool, uh, probably didn't seem like it to her at the time being 15 and having a child, but, uh, to have your, so now is mom's still around?

[OJ McDuffie]:

No, my mom passed about eight years ago.

[Bobby]:

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sorry to hear that. But the, the amount of influence OJ that she had in your life, man, that is just huge. I mean, literally like every topic that we went through today, you can kind of trace that back to mom's decisions. Yeah. Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

The schooling.

[OJ McDuffie]:

absolutely.

[Bobby]:

you know, the decisions where you live,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

all that stuff, man. So you're super blessed to have had her as a rock star mom.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah DC, that's what I preach to these kids when I talk to them a lot of times too. Listen to your moms bro. I tell my

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

kids, listen to your mom.

[Bobby]:

Ha.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Listen to your moms.

[Bobby]:

Yup.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Moms are the ones. Dads try to be cool with the kids. Moms are the ones that

[Bobby]:

Right.

[OJ McDuffie]:

are trying to tell you the right things. My mom always made the right decisions for me growing up and you don't realize them until you grow up. You're

[Bobby]:

Hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

like, man I hated that. Oh I hated that. I hated that. I look back at all the major decisions. My mom, real quick, now I know we're up against time,

[Bobby]:

You're good. No, you're good, man.

[OJ McDuffie]:

but like I said, my mom had me when she was 15 and she was the first one to go to college. My mom could have just kicked it in college. She could have just kicked

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

it. My grandparents, they took care of me. My grandparents said, we've got OJ, go do you. My mom's like, no, I want OJ here with me. So I was going to college classes before I went to Penn State. I was three, four years old going to college classes. You know what I mean? Cause we'd sit in the back

[Bobby]:

That's amazing.

[OJ McDuffie]:

and you know, I was a quiet kid, I didn't have an iPad or anything to entertain me, but I was sitting in the back with my mom while she was going to class, man. You know, we couldn't afford

[Bobby]:

Wow.

[OJ McDuffie]:

childcare, but you know, so, you know, then when she moved to Cleveland, we moved to Cleveland, she went up a year earlier and she could have went to Cleveland, my grandparents still, they would have taken care of me. You know, she said, no, OJ, I'm gonna give you one year here in our hometown of Marion, but then you're coming up there with me. You know, she's still a young, she's

[Bobby]:

Mmm.

[OJ McDuffie]:

still young, 27 years old,

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

you know, she still could have kicked

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

it. But no, she said, you're coming up here with

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

me. And so she just never, never abandoned me, you know, for a young mom, it could be easy

[Bobby]:

Yeah.

[OJ McDuffie]:

at times, but she never, you know, she never abandoned me. She made sure I was right there with her. And soon as I made it, you know, she made it, you know.

[Bobby]:

Mm-hmm. Wow. What was mom's name?

[OJ McDuffie]:

Gloria.

[Bobby]:

Gloria. Gloria. Well

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

done. You raised a really,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

really great man. And obviously he, he, uh, you loved, you loved her a lot. I'm still do. That's

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

great.

[OJ McDuffie]:

man.

[Bobby]:

That's amazing.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah, I miss her every

[Bobby]:

Rockstar

[OJ McDuffie]:

day, bro.

[Bobby]:

mom. Yeah,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah.

[Bobby]:

I bet. I bet you do. I bet. That's a, I think that's probably a good way to put a bow on this, man. That's really special juice. Thank you so much for being on the show today, man. This was a lot of fun. I told Darren before we got on, I was like, this one's going to be fun. He's fun,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Hahaha

[Bobby]:

man. Oh, J as soon as this dude got back from the cruise, he's like, We're going to have OJ on the podcast. Let's go. And I'm like, all right,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Hahaha!

[Bobby]:

man, I know I'm sure he's awesome. Let's go. So no, man, thank you so much for the time and, and the stories and wow, just what a career and, uh, you know, the family and the mom, man, thank you for all the shares and, uh, man, just keep up the great work and give them back to those other young moms and your foundation. That's great work.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Man, I appreciate it, man. Thank you guys for having me on, man. I had a blast, man. And congratulations, man. I think you guys are just, you guys are one of the top pods in the country, bro.

[Bobby]:

We're doing all right. Yeah, it's a lot of fun,

[OJ McDuffie]:

Yeah,

[Bobby]:

man. It's a lot of fun.

[OJ McDuffie]:

good man.

[Bobby]:

It is. So

[OJ McDuffie]:

Good.

[Bobby]:

everybody

[OJ McDuffie]:

Keep

[Bobby]:

can

[OJ McDuffie]:

studying

[Bobby]:

find

[OJ McDuffie]:

hard

[Bobby]:

OJ.

[OJ McDuffie]:

Bobby.

[Bobby]:

You

[OJ McDuffie]:

Keep studying hard Bobby.

[Bobby]:

got it, brother. Hey, make sure you guys find OJ on Twitter and Instagram at OJMcDuffie81. You can also catch the catch. Catch the Catch 81 Foundation at Catch81Foundation.org. Guys, this has been the Always Be Cool podcast with your host, Bobby Kerr. Darren Copeland, today's special guest, Mr. OJ McDuffie. Be sure to subscribe and leave a five star review of the show wherever you listen to your podcasts. Find us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at Always Be Cool Podcast. Everybody be cool, take care.