Norm Evans Article in the Seattle P.I.

Where Are They Now: Norm Evans
Original Seahawk ultimately made the Emerald City home
By DAN RALEY
P-I REPORTER
ISSAQUAH -- Norm Evans stood in his driveway, shivering in
temperatures hovering around 38 degrees, soaking in the pounding rain
and wondering why he had picked such a miserable February day to
resume his offseason workouts. He did what any self-respecting 14-
year NFL veteran would have done at that point. He went back inside
and retired.
Thirty years ago, the Seahawks' original starting right offensive tackle,
most-decorated expansion draft acquisition and co-captain ended his
football career with an impulsive call to general manager John
Thompson. "I don't want to do this anymore," Evans told the front-office executive.
"I'm not working out. I'm done." The Texan played three seasons for the Seahawks,
two more than he initially envisioned. He figured to help launch the new franchise,
quitand reside in Miami, which had been his NFL home for 10 years and
given him some of the game's greatest achievements.
Evans, 66, was a member of the NFL's winningest team, the 17-0
Dolphins in 1972; participated in the NFL's longest game, two
overtimes covering 22 minutes and 40 seconds in a 1971 AFC division
playoff encounter in Kansas City, won by the Dolphins 27-24; and
appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls, winning the last two, and a
pair of Pro Bowls in 1973 and 1975.Seattle was supposed to be only a temporary assignment, and, considering his credentials, almost a goodwill mission on his behalf.
"Truth was, we weren't very good," Evans said. "But it was fun to play
here." He shared the Seahawks' always interesting huddle with quarterback
Jim Zorn, now the Washington Redskins coach, and wide receiver Steve
Largent, a Hall of Fame inductee. He learned to dislike the Oakland
Raiders, who became a natural and bitter rival. He liked being the
leader of this team, often its spokesman. At the same time, Evans had come from one of the NFL's most elite franchises to a starter team, from veteran Dolphins coach Don Shula to
rookie Seahawks coach Jack Patera, from winning to losing, and that
took a bit of an adjustment.
"I was used to Don Shula foaming at the mouth in a pregame tirade,"
he said. "In our first league game, Jack Patera calls the team together
by the door of the Kingdome, I lean in and he says, 'Wow, guys, I know
just how you feel. This is my first game, too.' That was it. We clapped
hands and it was 'Go get 'em.'
"I couldn't believe what I just heard. I spent the whole first quarter
giggling and laughing to myself." Football had taken Evans from his hometown
of Donna, Texas, on the southernmost tip of the state, to college at Texas Christian,
where he was twice an all-conference selection, to 14th-round draft pick by the
Houston Oilers, who kept him for just one year. His TCU coach, Abe Martin,
said he would never make it in the NFL, and to show he was serious offered the offensive lineman an assistant coaching job with the Horned Frogs.
"My whole career, every play, was a surprise to me," Evans said.
As he pushed ahead with his pro pursuits, he went to Miami in the 1966
expansion draft and six years later became one of the best players on
the NFL's greatest team. He wears a Super Bowl ring that honors the
1972 entry and sports a Dolphin caricature, diamond, his name and the
words "Perfect Season." Last winter, he watched the New England
Patriots also try to go unbeaten, only to lose to the New York Giants in
the Super Bowl, which was the preferred outcome for Evans, who didn't
want to share the distinction.
"Absolutely, I'm as selfish as the next guy," he said. "I'm a closet
Giants fan." Evans wasn't a conventional nasty lineman by any means. He became
an openly devout Christian that first season with the Dolphins after he
and his wife, Bobbe, heard a Florida evangelist speak. This left him
open to teammate hazing, but he stayed true to his newfound beliefs
and played on. For more than four decades, Evans hasn't wavered in that faith. He is
president of Pro Athletes Outreach, a nonprofit organization that holds
yearly conventions to teach players and coaches how to manage their
marriages, money and fame using religious principles. He's one of nine
employees who work out of a second-story office in downtown
Issaquah.
Before taking over Pro Athletes Outreach, he dabbled in a couple of
post-retirement media ventures, offering "Norm Evans' Seahawk
Report," a popular four-year publication that was put out of business by
the 1982 NFL players' strike, and co-hosting Patera's radio show.
Evans and his wife have downsized from their five-acre Issaquah home
to a Cougar Mountain townhouse. They have two children, Deanna, 46,
and Ron, 41, realtors, married and living in Ocean Shores and Pacific
Palisades, Calif., respectively. Their son, a former UCLA football player,
also is a high school assistant coach.
"I always thought we'd go back to Florida, but Bobbe said, 'Let's go
anywhere that doesn't have bugs and air conditioning,' " Evans said.
"That eliminated Texas and Florida." The former lineman has some post-career
neck and back problems and a thumb that still bothers him, but he left the pro
game healthier than most, primarily by avoiding major knee surgery. He weighs 256
pounds, just four more than his playing weight. He walked away from football with only one regret, in hindsight thinking maybe the rain and chill that aborted that long-ago February workout clouded his judgment.
"It really killed me," Evans said. "For years, I felt I had made a
mistake, that I should have played one more year."