If you need to feed your football fix after this Sunday’s Super Bowl comes to a close, then I suggest that you read NFL Brawler, A Player-Turned-Agent’s Forty Years in the Bloody Trenches of the National Football League by Ralph Cindrich. It’s a first-person account of his stories with NFL players that are absolutely hilarious, touching and shocking.
Cindrich was a player, is an agent, and he’s definitely a character. He was a star linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh and he played for the New England Patriots, Houston Oilers and Denver Broncos. In the 1980s he became an agent. Today he represents several second-generation clients, teaches sports-law classes and serves as an expert witness in multimillion-dollar labor cases.
In his book, Cindrich tells a comical story about his interaction with the late Bob Irsay, the owner of the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts. He writes, “His own mother called him the devil. Bob Irsay had no problem pissing people off. Irsay took the Baltimore Colts, a proud franchise filled with legendary players, and moved them out in Mayflower trucks in the middle of the night, leaving an entire town without a team.”
“That guy was out there,” he said to me in an interview. “He was a tough SOB and to he was a rough, tough guy to negotiate with.”
Cindrich tells the tale of his negotiation with Irsay and a bottle of vodka.
“Craig Erickson was a national championship quarterback with Miami and Irsay wanted to trade for him in the worst way,” said Cindrich. “They wanted to work him out, which is customary, but I talked with Rich McKay who was with Tampa Bay at the time and he said, ‘Ralphie, whatever you do, do not let him work out, he throws his balls like wounded ducks in the off-season.’
“So, Irsay is calling me and I’m telling him to go screw himself and he’s not liking that. Finally he brings me in and says that we’re going to do this deal. I’m there in the morning because construction guys like to move early in the morning and nothing was taking place.”
Cindrich explained that time flew by with no progress. “Now it’s 1 p.m. and I did my homework on this and the word on Irsay was whatever you do don’t drink with him, get there early and after noon he was a horrible drunk. So, we’re both miffed at this time and I’m ready to throw down with the guy an hour ago.”
Irsay took Cindrich to a bar to seal the deal. “He pulls out a sleeve of stadium cups and puts them on the table and he pours Vodka in his and mine but we have nothing to toast. I’m like Jim Belushi telling him to keep pouring that bad boy and fill it up. He takes a sip of his and I take a chug of mine and slam the cup on the bar.”
Cindrich’s actions make Irsay antsy. “He starts jumping around and I figure I’m in trouble,” said Cindrich. “He would’ve sucker punched you in a heartbeat, but he wanted to take me to a barn party and introduces me to everyone as his son Jimmy. After that we made up…a little.”
The next day Cindrich and Irsay signed a ‘monster’ contract. “We got it done in an hour,” said Cindrich. “Today, every time I have vodka, I raise my glass to old Bob Irsay and I tell him, ‘if you were cremated you’re still burning.’”
This 250-plus page book is filled with great stories like these, including tales about Herschel Walker, Will Wolford, Kent Hull, Tim Ruddy, Demontti Dawson, Joe Paterno and so many more.”
One of Cindrich’s top clients was offensive tackle Will Wolford, who was a pick of the Buffalo Bills in the 1986 NFL Draft. Ralph Cindrich negotiated a deal for Wolford that paid him a salary equal to several players drafted in the top 10 and then he orchestrated Wolford’s free agent signing with Indianapolis, where his contract was worth $7.65 million over three year. In 1995, Wolford signed a four-year, $10 million with the Pittsburgh Steelers. All I know is that I want him to negotiate my next book deal.
To hear the entire interview with Ralph Cindrich, tune into Sports Palooza Radio.
