Sam Gash is a two-time Pro-Bowler and Super Bowl champion fullback, but not with the New England Patriots.
In fact, Gash actually had a bit of hostility towards the area when his contract wasn’t picked back up prior to the 1998 season.
“I was so mad that I went to Buffalo and made the Pro-Bowl the next two years; and the Super Bowl with the Ravens two years after,” Gash said to Prime Time Sports Talk. “But I was playing out of spite in a sense. It drove me. “
Gash, however, didn’t want to move around as much as he did.
“I wanted to finish in New England like my good friend Troy [Brown]. I wanted to finish here, but it was in the Pete [Carroll] time,” Gash recounted. “I played for 12 years. I played as hard as I could for as long as I could. And when I was done I was like, I’m gonna sit back and see what people say.”
Gash didn’t just sit back after playing though, he coached. He actually doesn’t think he could have just sat back at first.
Imagine driving a car that’s going 150 miles per hour. You’re driving it at that rate for 12 years, then all of a sudden, you slam on the breaks. That’s what it’s would have been like for Gash if he had retired from the sport altogether. Luckily for him, it wasn’t completely like that.
“It was 150 mph to like 75 because I went on to coaching,” Gash said. “As soon as I was done playing I sat out that season and then I ended up coaching the next year with the Jets and Coach Bill Parcells who I had played for [in New England], and he helped me to get the job and I ended up coaching for about ten years.”
Gash has coached for a multitude of organizations; including the New York Jets, the Detroit Lions, and most recently, the Green Bay Packers. He has worked with great coaches to model his style after like Bill Parcells and Wade Phillips.
However, most of his coaching philosophy actually didn’t come from a coach. It came from his mother.
“Watching her as an example kinda made me know that I would never quit. If someone was bigger, stronger, faster. Or they’re ahead of me, it’s not gonna matter much,” Gash said. “I just have to get through it. That’s kinda the way I always was. Even as a coach, I would always try to make my players be the best players they could be, as well as the best person they could be. That’s part of coaching is teaching life skills.”
But about three years ago, he retired from football altogether.
“And now that, that’s an adjustment. I won’t say it’s a fun adjustment because you know, a lot of times you go from doing autograph shows and being out there in the public and get to talk to the people and to go from stuff like that to going in a shell now,” Gash said.
But this shell may be a good thing for Gash, as there have been scans done on his brain that may have detected signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
CTE is a major fear for NFL players of this generation. Many players who played before studies on the brain were being conducted didn’t know the damage they could be doing to their brains.
Many rules have been changed in order to protect players, especially from concussions and brain injuries. For some, this is a testament to the NFL’s new initiatives to keep players safe. To others, like Gash, these rules are just hurting the game.
“Now, you know I do like some of the rules. Obviously, you want to protect guys as much as you can,” Gash said. “Just the techniques are different, and stuff which I think, you know, you’re teaching the guy to tackle with his shoulder pad, if he happens to hit a guy’s head it’s accidental. People don’t realize that. The people who have the rules don’t really know how fast the game actually happens. It’s an accident. It just wasn’t intentional.”
Some of the rule changes that the NFL has established is changing the game from the way it was when Gash played. Gash notes that there is a certain mentality that football players must have.
“When you play the game, you kinda know that any play could be your last play and that’s kinda what you buy into. Like, that’s why you go hard.”
Gash is no stranger to tough plays. He has always played like that. He was taught to use his head because it is “the toughest thing on your body.” He never thought of the repercussions that could occur because of his tough play. He was known to blow past the defense, and deliver hard blocks for his teammates.
“The thing that I think made me who I was as a player could very well be the thing that takes me away later on. So, you know, would I still have done it? Absolutely. It’s a game to me. It was always fun.”
This is why his kids are active in sports. He has five boys and now gets to watch them play the sports that they love.
“Any event they have I will be there. If they have multiple events during the same day, my wife will take one side and I’ll take the other and then we’ll alternate. I get to see my kids grow up, which is the biggest joy.”
But with the traces of white matter that has shown up in his brain, he makes sure that he lives out every moment that he can with his kids.
“I’m still young, but I’m saying that these could be my golden years. I don’t know,” Gash said halfheartedly. “One of my buddies, Kevin Turner, who I closely related to. We came in the same year, played together in New England, and both made the team, he was a third-round pick and I was an eighth-round pick, we both made it. And seeing him just kinda go like he did (Turner passed from ALS due to CTE) makes me nervous and it makes me appreciate every day.”
At 50 years old, Gash is certainly enjoying his life. He loves being with his kids and with his wife, but he doesn’t forget the game that allowed him to live the life he is living today.
“I appreciate the game. The game was to me helped me be who I am. I am Sam Gash, the fullback. That’s what people know me as. So I’m appreciative of that,” Gash said with a grin. “I’m very appreciative to the NFL because I do think that it’s a gladiator sport, not everyone can do it… I played for the respect of the game. And if people can still remember who you are years later, then you’ve made an impact.”
