Former University of Notre Dame football standout and NFL player Jerome Bettis (1990-92) will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday and it all started with a put-down.
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In 1991 Jerome Bettis was preparing to become a focal point of the Notre Dame offense, when his coach, Lou Holtz, decided to knock him down a peg or two. All in hopes of lighting a fire under the young running backs...backside.
"I was shocked," Bettis said via ESPN. "He was telling the whole team that there was a guy who was going to separate the locker room and who wasn't ready to work hard and had a bad attitude. He didn't say my name, but insinuated that it was me and everyone knew it."
Bettis said that comment was enough to fire him up, he didn't want his teammates looking at him in that way.
So he focused on the end zone. In his first season in a prominent role, Bettis rushed for 972 yards and 16 touchdowns. Years later, Bettis and Holtz would about that moment.
"He was such a big part of why I'm here," Bettis said. "I'm forever grateful to have a coach like that. It always stuck with me that you're not always as good as you think you are, so just keep working hard."
Bettis, known as "The Bus" would go on to play in the NFL for 13 years— first three with the Rams and the last ten for the Pittsburgh Steelers— running around and over defenders on his way to 13,000 yards on the ground and one Super Bowl victory.
