Stories and Quotes
Some of the things that have been written and said about me.
For The Record
Washington Post - April 1, 1989
Los Angeles Raiders -- Signed DL Bob Golic of Browns.
Golic Tackles Opera
Washington Post - April 2, 1988
Cleveland Browns nose tackle Bob Golic will play an executioner in the upcoming Cleveland Opera performance of Puccini's "Turandot."
The 6-foot-2, 270-pound Golic fits the role.
"The executioners in the opera need to be large men with a strong physique," said David Bamberger, the opera's general manager. "We are especially delighted that someone who acts as an executioner on the football field is so willing and excited to be an executioner for the Cleveland opera."
Golic, named to the Pro Bowl for the past three National Football League seasons, said he is looking forward to the challenge.
The opera opens April 9, with another performance scheduled for April 10
"There's no way to put the emotions into words. I'm just empty."
Bob Golic - Jan. 11, 1987 after John Elway's "The Drive"
Browns' Newsome 'We Won't Be Denied'
Washington Post - January 5, 1987
"That had to be the best game I've ever seen," said nose tackle Bob Golic, who helped the Browns limit the Jets to 287 yards of total offense.
"The fans paid what, $22.50 to watch this game? We had to give them their money's worth."
NFL Playoffs, Golic Is Strong Point For Browns
William N. Wallace - New York Times - January 1, 1987
Bob Golic, the Cleveland Browns' nose tackle, is one of those athletes who was given a second chance in the National Football League and made the most of it.
Steroids weren't involved in the quick makeover of Golic from the 235-pound linebacker let go by the New England Patriots to the 270-pound nose tackle voted to the Pro Bowl squad the past two seasons.
But steroids were thought about when Golic, who is from Cleveland, joined the Browns on a waiver claim in 1982 and was told he would now play nose tackle.
It is a position he has described as "de-evolution."
"I went from a two-legged, walking, upright, thinking human being to a four-legged, crawling, sniveling beast of burden," he said. "The opposite of Darwin's theory."
Power-Lifting Helped
Golic at the time asked the strength coach, Dave Redding, "Shall I take something?"
Redding said he would not condone steroids, so Golic suggested instead a diet of "Twinkies and a lot of beer."
Redding, however, introduced him to his first intense power-lifting program and his playing weight went from 235 to 255 and on to 270.
Said Golic today, as the Browns finished three days of practice here at Dodgertown for their playoff game Saturday against the Jets, "I'm comfortable at 270, half quickness, half ballast."
The 29-year-old Notre Dame alumnus has many opinions - including some about steroids.
"I hope they do start getting some kind of steroid testing," he said. "It would make my job a lot easier. There are guys around the league that you know are using something because there is no way they could look like that. They look like somebody pumped them up with an air hose."
A Matter of Pride
If the ban on steroids was followed in the N.F.L., Golic said, "There would be a lot of offensive linemen playing indoor soccer next year. They'd look like raisins." Obviously, the people who are doing the steroids have a mentality that is wrong because they are trying to push themselves past a point that is natural for them.
"I look at it as a matter of pride. If I took steroids, and I got big and I got strong and I got fast and I went out and I made the Pro Bowl, I might be happy."
"But I would also know that is wasn't me. It wasn't natural. I had to do something unnatural to get there. That would be hard to accept, but of course there are guys who can. They got there and that's all that matters."
With the Browns, Golic has come a long way. He started as a nose tackle for the first time against the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1982 playoffs and soon met Gene Upshaw, the 6-foot-6, 275-pound guard who is now director of the players' union.
Golic called for a pass-rush switch that had him looping around from the outside.
"I come around the corner and I think, 'Hey, this is going to be easy.' " he said. "But Upshaw's standing back there. It looks like he's been waiting a week, waiting for me."
"I think about all these moves I'm going to make on him. I put my head down and drive into his chest. He didn't move. I immediately went from a 6-3 to a 6-2 nose tackle."
Golic improved quickly, and by the end of the 1983 season he was voted a Pro Bowl alternate. This season was another good one but it lacked one element.
"I didn't get any quarterback sacks," said Golic. "I had my hand on the guy a few times and I told the coaches to give me at least a half-sack. No."
"One of our guys said, 'If you'd had just one sack you might have been defensive player of the year.' "
Golic is good enough so that opponents see to it that he is blocked at least twice and sometimes three times. "I get hit from all directions," he said. "That's my job."
Golic likes his head coach, Marty Schottenheimer, because of his enthusiasm.
"As you get farther along in the game," he said, "you have a tendency sometimes to look at it as a business, go to the office, do your job, go home, get the paycheck."
"Being a Notre Dame guy, I'm into the rah-rah, let's get fired up. Marty brings an emotionalism to the game."
"It's not the screaming and yelling which he does sometimes. You can see him when he's talking, the muscles in the jaw tighten, the eyes get a little wet. You can see the emotion there. This game means everything. That gets me going. And there's a bunch of other guys who feel the same way."
Dickey Takes Advantage of Browns' Turnovers
Washington Post - November 7, 1983
Cleveland tied it at 13:41 of the first period. Linebacker Chip Banks hit (Green Bay quarterback Lynn) Dickey's arm on a pass play, causing the ball to flip into the air to nose tackle Bob Golic, who took it in seven yards for the score.
Notre Dame Felt All Along It Could Run On Navy
Washington Post - November 5, 1978
"He looks so nice," Notre Dame linebacker Bob Golic said yesterday of teammate Vagas Ferguson after the Irish back had run through Navy for a school record 219 yards on only 18 carries. "I've never seen anyone's hips slide so much."
Golic, who led Notre Dame's defense with 10 tackles said, "We're working our way back up. We were ranked 15th coming in and we know that if we beat these guys 11th-ranked it would be another step back to where we should be."
'Devinity' School Turns Out Believers
Washington Post - September 9, 1978
There is no mystique surrounding Notre Dame football Coach Dan Devine.
He's just "ordinary folks," said one of his players, Bob Golic. "You hear stories about Woody Hayes and Bear Bryant and you have to wonder if they are really human.
Coach Devine is no god and he doesn't act like one. He's a coach down on our level. We don't have to make appointments through assistant coaches here to talk to him."
Football Preview '78
Washington Post - August 27, 1978
Last year's national champion, Notre Dame, lost a lot of its defense but still has All-America linebacker Bob Golic and an offense, led by Joe Montana, Vagas Ferguson and Jerome Heavens, that can score.
Two Force Iowa To Wire In Wrestling Title Quest
Washington Post - March 19, 1978
Notre Dame linebacker Bob Golic salvaged third place by pinning Gary Peterson of Brigham Young. Earlier, Golic beat Iowa's John Bowlsby, 2-1, on riding time.
Wrestling's Big 3 Gain
Washington Post - March 18, 1978
Bob Golic, the Notre Dame linebacker, slipped into a semifinal match with Jackson by whipping oft-warned Jerry Anderson of Drake, 5-1. Anderson's point was also a result of stalling by Golic.
Smith Upset By Walsh In NCAA
Washington Post - March 17, 1978
Defending champion Iowa State, the other principal contender for team honors, saw its representation sliced from eight to six. Heavyweight Tom Waldon was pinned in 1:44 by Notre Dame linebacker Bob Golic and Mark Warner, 134, was an 8-2 loser to the Atlantic Coast Conference's outstanding wrestler, Steve Silverberg of Virginia.
NCAA Wrestling At Cole
Washington Post - March 16, 1978
Oklahoma State heavyweight Jimmy Jackson, with a 24-0 record, is an overwhelming choice to repeat, but there are four other unbeaten wrestlers in the unlimited divisions, including 240-pound Bob Golic, a linebacker for Notre Dame's national football champions.
Texas Feels It Is No. 1 Even If Notre Dame Wins
Washington Post - January 2, 1977
Notre Dame's defensive line features two of the nation's most impressive defensive ends in Ross Browner and Willie Frye. And nose guard Bob Golic plugs the middle with his 245-pound body.
Keaton's Line About Irish Won't Play in South Bend
Washington Post - October 23, 1977
"I don't know if I can stand all of this, I just want the game to get started," linebacker Bob Golic kept muttering as he waited to give another of what to him seemed like one long endless interview Friday.
"There's just a lot more tension this week than I've felt before. It's just been so hard to get a loose feeling."
Notre Dame Hosts USC
Washington Post - October 22, 1977
"In the past, if you stopped Bell or O.J. or whoever their tailback was, you stopped S.C," said Notre Dame linebacker Bob Golic. "That isn't so this year. They use three tailbacks and they'll throw the ball on you anytime they feel like it. White is still the man I think they want with the ball.
