Richard Hyatt: Robert Steele a true man of mettle

His future was at stake but Robert Steele was more interested in the steaks.

At one end of Dales’s Restaurant was Cornell Green of the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. He bought the unlikely free agent a rib eye and served his best pitch.

At the other end of Dale’s Restaurant was Bill Jones of the Seattle Seahawks. He too ordered the lanky wide receiver a rib eye.

They were in Florence, Ala., to sign an unknown player with good hands and bad knees. A wide receiver on a University of North Alabama team that preferred to run, Steele was all-conference in 1977. But during the NFL draft, his name wasn’t called.

Only there he was, running routes between two tables and nibbling on two steaks while two scouts told a 20-year-old kid from Columbus, Ga., why he should sign with their team.

Green eventually ran out of rib eye and patience. “Robert, let me be real honest with you,” the former defensive back said. “Did I mention earlier that we’re the World Champions and that we beat Denver in Super Bowl XII?”

Steele never finished either one of his steaks but he did sign with the Dallas Cowboys.

Signing with the world champs was laudable. Making the team as a free agent was remarkable. Playing in the Super Bowl a year later is a story worth telling. Thirty-three years later, he shares his memories in a new book, “Steele Here.”

Not that Steele’s season in Dallas provided a happy ending. He never caught a pass and one was never thrown in his direction. But his book is about values he brought with him to the NFL and lessons he learned in one season with the Cowboys and one with the Minnesota Vikings.

“I set two goals,” he says. “I wanted to make the team and I wanted to earn a game ball. I achieved both of those goals. Now, when I’m making a speech, I tell people that I never bothered to set a third goal and the next year I was out of the NFL.”

With the Vikings, he had one pass reception, a 12-yard toss from Tommy Kramer. But his experiences overshadow his meager statistics. He applies his time in football to his life in business in his book, now available at www.steelehere.com.

Leaving football, he went into the insurance business. He also dabbled in politics, serving as a state legislator from Muscogee County. For 30 years, football was left on the shelf.

On a cross-country flight several years ago, he watched “Invincible” -- a film in which Mark Wahlberg portrayed Vince Papale, a 30-year-old bartender who played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1976 to 1978.

“My story is better than his, I thought to myself. He made the last-place Eagles. I had to make the first-place Dallas Cowboys,” Steele says.

And while he only caught one career pass, Steele’s backside was featured in a book that honored the best buns in sports. Take that, Vince Papale.

This story was originally published April 22, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: Robert Steele a true man of mettle."