“If you could have dinner with any three athletes, who would it be?”

We’ve all played the game. Some sports fans may change their attendees from year to year. My guests, however, haven’t changed in two decades. Paul O’Neill, Brian Leetch and New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Kyle Turley

While those dinner reservations haven’t been made yet, you can imagine my excitement when an interview request with my all-time favorite New Orleans Saints player was granted.

OK, so now what? Knowing Turley, there were many different directions this could have gone. Would the focus be on the Outlaw Country / Southern Doom musician? Could attention be turned to his work with the Gridiron Greats Foundation? Perhaps we touch on the cause that he, along with many current and former NFL players, is looking to have cannabis as an alternative to the prescription meds that are currently offered. Well, for part one of this two-part interview, the focus is on the football.

Kyle Turley: Protector of More Than Quarterbacks – Part One

The Game

Hard to believe, but Turley only played one year of high school football. When asked why, he replied, “It costs a lot of money to play football. I was one of five kids, my dad was a truck driver and we didn’t have much.”

When addressing any possible reluctance, Turley jokingly added, “Before the whole concussion thing, I didn’t want to play football because all my buddies that played football were getting these serious injuries. Blowing their knees out in high school and middle school, breaking arms…I gotta surf. I gotta skateboard.”

After gaining the athleticism from other sports and growing to a more suitable size, he would make the team in his senior year at Valley View High School.

From there it was off to San Diego State. After redshirting as a freshman, Kyle was presented with a life-shaping decision. defensive line or offensive line? When I asked him about this choice, he offered, “I decided to play offensive line when our coaching staff changed. I was recruited under Al Luginbill. Luginbill was the coach that recruited Marshall Faulk and brought that whole team together. He got fired after my freshman year. The new coach (Ted Tollner) came in and Tollner brought with him his new staff. The defensive line coach got up in front of the whole team and gave his introduction and the offensive line coach got up and gave his introduction. The difference between those two individuals was a background in the offensive line coach (Ed White) that I couldn’t deny. It would help me achieve my ultimate goal of making it to the National Football League.”

If the introduction by White didn’t sway Turley, it may have been his four Super Bowl rings.

After that very successful college career which was highlighted by All-American honors in 1997, it was off to the draft. Turley was selected seventh overall by the New Orleans Saints. I asked Kyle if he had any preference as to which team picked him heading into the draft.

“I didn’t care,” Turley said. “As a player coming out of college, it doesn’t matter to you. I would have liked to stay in San Diego. There was a chance of that. It made all the sense in the world. They needed some offensive line help. Unfortunately, they chose Ryan Leaf.”

I’m sure the Chargers would like to have that one back!

Turley continued, “I went to New Orleans and thank God for Mike Ditka and what he saw in me. He opened my eyes to a whole other part of the world. In the NFL, you don’t stick around one place too long. If you’re lucky, you can. I played for three different teams in three different cities in three different states and that’s the journey of a professional. I knew that coming out of college but I was really hoping the Chargers would have kept me there. But that didn’t happen.”

Turley is probably most noted for his “Flying Helmets” incident on November 4, 2001 versus the New York Jets. Turley came to the aid of teammate Aaron Brooks who was receiving a violent, unforgiving facemask from the Jets’ Damien Robinson. After a scrum in a pile of black, white and green, Turley emerged with Robinson’s helmet in hand and tossed it in disgust. I asked Kyle if there were anything that people should know about that play and he simply stated,

“The video speaks for itself,” he emphasized. “I did what I did because I was a football player and that was my job.”

The 6’5”, 300 pound Turley would go on to have a great nine-year career (Saints ’98-’02, St. Louis Rams ’03-’04 and Kansas City Chiefs ’05-’06). He would be elected to two Pro Bowls as an alternate and two All-Pro Teams. Yeah, you read that right.

“I should have made the Pro Bowl six years in a row and it’s political that I didn’t,” Turley added. “That was my first introduction to the hypocrisy of the league. I didn’t play football to go to Pro Bowls. I did it to help my team win.”

Turley continued with a very revealing statement, “I think I’m still, to this day, one of the only players that received an All-Pro status and didn’t get invited as a starter to the Pro Bowl.”

If anyone out there can find another example of this, I would love to know who it was.

So, while it wasn’t dinner, and Brian Leetch and Paul O’Neill weren’t a part of this, today was a day I won’t soon forget. I look forward to sharing more of my interview in Kyle Turley: Protector of More than Quarterbacks – Part 2 of 2 where we dive into the important role Kyle has taken on after the game.

Kyle Turley: Protector of More Than Quarterbacks – Part Two