THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270427
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Joe Jacoby enjoyed a 13-year career with the Washington Redskins, the team he might one day represent in the Hall of Fame.
He's got three Super Bowl rings, mementoes galore from four Pro Bowls, a solid marriage, two great daughters and a new automobile dealership in Warrenton, Va.
They're all nice, he told the Norfolk Sports Club on Monday. They're all meaningful in his life. But something's missing, something he aims to correct soon.
``I want to get into coaching,'' the 6-6, 305-pound recently retired offensive tackle said. ``Not in the pros and not in college. I want to be a high school coach. I want to teach kids the proper way to play the game - and the proper way to act off the field as well.''
Jacoby said he is too busy at the moment learning what will make his auto dealership a success to devote any time to high school coaching. But he and wife Irene have decided to move from Fairfax to Warrenton and once he and his business are settled, he plans to once again stalk the sidelines.
Back, neck, shoulder, knee and ankle injuries finally forced Jacoby to retire a couple of days before Redskins' training camp began under coach Norv Turner. He didn't miss pro football the first month or two, but the last two weeks have been emotionally trying.
``I'm too busy to miss football during the week, but I have started to miss it the last two Sundays,'' he said. ``It's the teamwork, the camaraderie, the competition I miss. I don't miss how I would have felt this morning (Monday).
``I'm trying to stay away from going to Redskin Park. I'm trying to stay away from going to RFK Stadium. Right now, it's tearing at me. Within a year, I figure I'll get over it.''
Jacoby, a free agent from Louisville who Joe Gibbs once mistook for a defensive lineman, was the cornerstone for perhaps the most famous offensive line in football, the Hogs. His speed and agility enabled Gibbs to devise plays in which Jacoby would leave left tackle at the snap and block someone on the right side of the line before the running back got there.
Jacoby did it so successfully that line coach Joe Bugel began calling the hole ``Route 66'' after Jacoby's jersey number.
Jacoby played with some of the most colorful characters in Redskins history. He remembered a little something about them all.
Quarterback Joe Theismann: ``You think Joe likes to talk now? You should have seen him in our huddle. He never shut up.''
Fullback John Riggins: ``You didn't want to face John on Sunday morning after he had been out all Saturday night. He'd come back to the huddle and he'd be so gassed and breathing so hard he'd suck all the air out of the huddle.''
Guard Russ Grimm: ``Russ didn't wear a mouthguard because he liked to chew tobacco. Only he didn't chew it long. He'd either swallow it or be disposing of it on his shoes or mine.''
Offensive linemen Jeff Bostic and Mark May: ``They fought in the huddle like brothers, and there were times they deliberately gave each other the wrong line signals.''
Jacoby called the five-touchdown, second-quarter outburst in Super Bowl XXII ``unlike anything I've ever been involved with in pro sports. Anyone else, for that matter. I don't think that'll ever be topped.''
Conversely, the 38-9 loss to the LA Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII was ``a debacle.''
``We read too many of our press clippings,'' he said. ``We were two points from being undefeated that season, a one-point loss to Dallas and a one-point loss to Green Bay. We had a plus-43 takeaway ratio and set a scoring record. But we got away from fundamentals that day and we paid for it.''
Jacoby said he felt a little sorry for today's pro football fans. Because of free agency, he doubts they will ever get to see a group of players like the Hogs stay together for long stretches of time.
``Maybe punters and kickers will stay with their same teams, but quarterbacks, running backs, everyone else, they'll be moving every three years,'' Jacoby said. ``I don't see how people are going to relate to the players. It's hard for me to see (Joe) Montana in a Chiefs' uniform, even though this is the second year.
``I guess time will heal all that. But free agency has taken away from the team concept. The quality of play is going to drop off and no one should want that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Former Skins standout Joe Jacoby: ``I want to teach kids the proper
way to play the game.''
by CNB