Quote of the Day | August 26, 2008: And You Think Today's Athletes Are Depraved?

From Roy Blount Jr.'s 1974 chronicle of the Pittsburgh Steelers, About Three Bricks Shy . . .

Later that day the Chief was sitting in one of the baseball dugouts talking with Ernie Holmes when I came up. Ernie was thanking the Chief for his help in connection with "the incident" -- the one which had culminated in Fats's almost shooting down a helicopter.

Holmes had had a good year at defensive tackle after failing to make the team in his first try in '71. He took home maybe $22,000, counting his playoff share, but he bought a Cadillac and a big wardrobe and had an apartment in town and a house back in Texas. "He asked me if he could talk to me about some personal problems," says Artie, "but I didn't know, I thought he might be one of these guys who just want to borrow some money and stick you . . . I told the team lawyer. He said he didn't want to get involved either."

Then, in the off-season, Fats's marriage broke up. He gave his last $1,000 to a man who said he'd double it for him but who lost it all. In March he called Dan Rooney and said he needed some money. Dan told him to come to Pittsburgh and talk it over. Fats heard about the money Steelers were making playing basketball and thought that might be the answer.

But he needed more release than basketball. On the way to Pittsburgh he jockeyed with trucks, trying to get into town before the Steeler offices closed for the day. But he didn't make it in time. He drove through town and headed back out, on the Fort Pitt Bridge. An accident had backed traffic up. He pulled over and approached a state trooper who was busy trying to untangle things.

"What are you going to do about those guys?" Holmes asked the cop.

The cop wanted to know what he was talking about. Holmes said truck drivers had tried to run him off the road. The cop recognized him as a Steeler and figured he was under the weather. In fact he was under the influence of nothing but a nervous breakdown. The cop put him off. Holmes went back to his car and sat there for a while. Then he pulled back into the traffic, and headed out of town.

He had grown up shooting on an East Texas farm, and he had a rifle and a pistol with him in the car. Somewhere in Ohio he started firing at passing trucks through his window with the pistol. He was a good enough marksman to hit what he wanted to. "I didn't want to hurt anybody," he said later. "I could have but I didn't."

Word had gotten out that a man was shooting at trucks. Two men spotted Holmes and gave chase. He sped away and careened off onto a small side road to give them the slip. He was going so fast he ran off the shoulder and his axle broke, the wheel fell off, and he ground to a stop in a ditch.

So he got out of the car with his rifle, and ran into the woods nearby, wearing a tank-top shirt and some sandals. He ran out of the sandals. He hid in the woods. By now there was a large-scale police search on. An Ohio state police helicopter hovered over the woods and Holmes shot at it, hitting a patrolman in the ankle. Because of the shot the police found him, and he surrendered peacefully. "We could have killed him a dozen times," one of the police said.

Tags: Roy Blount Jr., About Three Bricks Shy