“Rock, the team’s not doing well. We need you. Art Rooney.” Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. sent a postcard to former running back Rocky Bleier while he was recovering from the wounds he suffered during the Vietnam War. The Steelers had selected Bleier in the 16th round of the 1968 NFL Draft, but he later received notice that he had been drafted into the U.S. Army.
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Bleier completed basic and advanced infantry training before being sent to Vietnam in 1969. He served as a Specialist 4 with Company C, 4th Battalion (Light), 31st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade. He was a squad grenadier, carrying and operating the 40mm M79 grenade launcher.
That same year, however, Bleier suffered severe injuries to both legs. A rifle round struck his left thigh, while his right leg suffered significant injuries after a grenade exploded nearby.
“We were on patrol and rolled over my side, breached a grenade, and all of a sudden, I felt a thud in my left leg,” said Bleier on the latest installment in ESPN’s I Scored A Touchdown Series. “And it burned and bled, and I was hit for the first time that day. Platoon came in, dragged us out of there, set up another secured area, and all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye, I saw a grenade come flying through the air.
“And it hit my commanding officer right in the middle of the back, bounced off of him, rolled between my feet, and before I could get out of the way, it blew up through my lower feet and lower legs.”
It was on August 20, 1969, when Rocky Bleier’s platoon was operating in the Hiep Duc Valley when it came under enemy fire. Bleier was hit in the left thigh by an enemy rifle round. “It felt like somebody punched my leg,” Bleier said in one account. Despite being shot, he remained conscious and was trying to figure out whether he could still move.
But the worst was still to come.
While Bleier was down, an enemy grenade came into the area. The blast sent shrapnel into his right lower leg and foot. He was eventually evacuated, first to an aid station in Da Nang, then to a hospital in Tokyo. At that time, doctors told him that he would never play football again.
According to multiple accounts, doctors removed approximately 100 pieces of shrapnel from his leg and foot. He subsequently underwent additional surgeries at an Army hospital in Kansas. To make a return to football, the physical challenge wasn’t just recovering from a wound. In fact, Rocky Bleier had to rebuild the strength, flexibility, and mobility required to play professional football after suffering catastrophic damage to his lower body.
And after Art Rooney sent a postcard, it meant something bigger than football for Bleier.
“When you have somebody take the time and interest to send you a postcard, something that they didn’t have to do, you have a special place for those kinds of people,” Belier said at that time.
His comeback, however, was much harder than simply rehabbing. After being honorably discharged in 1970, he began working out again. Per reports, early in his rehabilitation, he could run only about one mile on a good day. He would run in the morning, lift weights in the afternoon, and run sprints after dinner. And even after all of that, his comeback wasn’t guaranteed.
However, Bleier eventually returned to play for the Steelers in 1971 and went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls with the team. But his best moment with the franchise was yet to come. And it came during Super Bowl XIII against the Dallas Cowboys.
“No matter where I may go, people say, ‘Well, geez, Rock, I mean, you got four Super Bowl rings. Which one do you like the most?’ Well, I have to tell you, in all honesty, that this one that I wear on my right hand, Super Bowl XIII, the second time that we had played the Dallas Cowboys, is the one that I wear all the time,” Bleier added on the ESPN series.
The Steelers played the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII in January 1979. Pittsburgh was trying to win its third championship of the decade. And Rocky Bleier played a small but hugely memorable role.
With just 33 seconds remaining in the first half, Pittsburgh was at the Dallas 7-yard line. Terry Bradshaw rolled right, and Rocky Bleier slipped into the right side of the end zone. Bradshaw found him. Touchdown, Pittsburgh, as the team went up 21-14 after an extra point and ultimately won the third championship in franchise history.
Nine years and 154 days after the injury that threatened to end his career, Bleier found himself in the end zone of the biggest game in football. His 7-yard touchdown reception gave Pittsburgh a 21-14 halftime lead, and his Super Bowl XIII ring remains the one he chooses to wear most often. For Bleier, the significance of that night clearly goes beyond adding another championship to his collection.