PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Joe Fields was a star offensive lineman at Gloucester Catholic High School in South Jersey, and then at Widener University in Chester.
He went on to spend 14 years in the NFL, most of that time as an All-Pro center with the New York Jets.
At Widener, Fields played for College Football Hall of Fame Coach Bill Manlove. Fields said Manlove kept things simple.
How simple? The offense basically ran four plays.
“If you didn’t know what you were doing, you had a real problem, because you only had to think about four plays," Fields said.
"I can remember one drive, our play was called speed right or speed left. We give it to the fullback and he just runs it up the middle. That was the speed play. One series, we ran 25 straight speeds. 25 of the same exact play, right down the field against Moravian and we scored a touchdown. Everybody came off the field just shaking their head. Every time it would come into the huddle, we just shook our head. ‘Are you kidding? The same play?’ But that was Bill Manlove.”
Fields was a 14th round draft pick of the Jets in 1975, so almost by definition, he was a bit of a long shot to stick. But he battled.
He remembers the moment he learned he was going to make the team, along with his roommate and fellow young offensive lineman Darrell Austin.
“We see last year’s backup center and last year’s backup guard talking to each other on the corner of the building. We come walking by and the one guy, Warren Koegel, was the center. He reaches out and he shakes my hand and he says, ‘Joe, congratulations, I wish you luck.’ I went, ‘Why, what’s going on?’ He said, ‘Well, they just released me and you’re the only other center,’" Fields recalled.
"Then the other guy said to Darrell the same thing. He said, ‘They just released me and you’re the only back-up guard. So you guys must’ve made the team.’ Of course we were like, ‘Oh, we’re really sorry to hear that.’ We walked around the corner, me and him were jumping up and high fiving, rolling around on the ground, we were so excited that we had made the team!”
You can listen to the full interview with Fields, above, in the latest episode of the KYW Newsradio original podcast, "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." For more, subscribe on the Audacy app, or wherever you get podcasts.
Follow Matt Leon on Twitter @MattLeon1060.