Celebrity Deathwatch: Joe Gilliam Jr., Former NFL Steelers QB, 49

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/news/2000/12/26/gilliam_dead_a
p/

Former Steelers QB Gilliam dies

Posted: Tuesday December 26, 2000 10:17 AM
Updated: Tuesday December 26, 2000 3:41 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- After years of struggling with a drug addiction
that left him homeless and broke, Joe Gilliam Jr., finally seemed on track
with his sobriety and priorities.

He was coaching a football camp for boys, counseling drug addicts and
renewing relationships with family and friends. His turnaround ended Monday,
four days short of his 50th birthday, when Gilliam died from an apparent
heart attack.

"It's a shame because I think he did mend a lot of fences," said Woody
Widenhofer, a former Pittsburgh Steelers assistant and current Vanderbilt
head coach. "He talked a lot about his dad and there was some mending
there."

Gilliam was dead on arrival at Baptist Hospital about 10:30 p.m. Monday,
hospital spokeswoman Jessica Etz said. An autopsy was planned to determine
the cause of death. Etz said family members believed Gilliam had a heart
attack.

Gilliam's career was marked by a series of highs and lows, including a
starting role for the Steelers in 1974, six years after Marlin Briscoe of
the Denver Broncos became the NFL's first black starting quarterback.

But drug addiction, in part, led to his benching and eventually ended his
NFL career. It also created financial problems that led Gilliam to pawn his
two Super Bowl rings and left him homeless for a while on the streets of
Nashville.

He fought his addiction to cocaine and heroin several times with stays in
drug-rehab centers, even working as a drug counselor, but it took more than
20 years for him to finally kick his habit.

Earlier this month, when former Steelers reunited for the final game at
Three Rivers Stadium, Gilliam said his life was so tough at one point that
he lived in a cardboard box under a bridge for two years and, "To me, it was
like the Ritz-Carlton."

"I had it all and then it disappeared and then my life disappeared and now,
look, I'm back with my friends again," he said, gesturing toward teammates
Lynn Swann and Roy Gerela. "I let a lot of these guys down, but only in
America could I could come and be with these guys again."

Steelers president Dan Rooney said he had a long talk with Gilliam at the
reunion and "he was upbeat and in great health, probably in better shape
than anyone.

"Joe had some difficult times and everybody knows that, and during those
times I had some talks with him and tried to help him and get him
straightened out, it didn't work at the time but in time he did solve some
of his problems," Rooney said.

Gilliam got the Steelers starting quarterback job in 1974 when veteran
players, like Terry Bradshaw, were on strike. But Dick Hoak, a Steelers
assistant for 30 years, said that wasn't why Gilliam got the job.

"He was an excellent quarterback and could throw the ball," Hoak said. "But
Joe had problems off the field and that hurt."

This was Gilliam's third straight year of sobriety. His father, Joe Gilliam
Sr., credited Gilliam's wife of four years, Barbara, for the turnaround, and
his passion for the youth football camp he started in Nashville. Gilliam
used the field of his alma mater, Tennessee State, where his father spent 40
years coaching football.

"I learned from the turbulent years what unconditional love is," Gilliam Sr.
has said.

He now has Gilliam's Super Bowl rings. Kind-hearted football fans and
friends bought the rings a few years ago and returned them to his father,
who was waiting to give them to his son until he was ready to hold on to
them permanently.

Gilliam, who was called "Jefferson Street Joe" for a boulevard near
Tennessee State, was an All-America in 1970 and '71. He was an 11th-round
draft pick by the Steelers in '72.

Gilliam kept the starting QB job when Bradshaw, the starter the previous
season, and the others returned after the 1974 strike and led the Steelers
to a 4-1-1 record. He topped the Steelers in passing that year with 1,274
yards to Bradshaw's 785 yards.

But many Steelers' fans were unhappy with Gilliam and there was a racial
tone to their anger. Gilliam began receiving hate mail and death threats. He
said the franchise began receiving bomb threats on Three Rivers Stadium.

"I thought if you played well you got to play," he said. "I guess I didn't
understand the significance of being a black quarterback at the time."

Head coach Chuck Noll eventually gave the job back to Bradshaw, partly
because of Gilliam's problems off the field. Gilliam said his problems with
drugs began that year.

Noll also was angry because Gilliam kept calling passes and ignoring Franco
Harris and the running game. He threw 50 passes in a 35-35 tie against
Denver, then a team record. At the time, Steelers quarterbacks still called
their own plays. Noll reinserted Bradshaw and the Steelers went on to win
the Super Bowl that season. Gilliam didn't play in the title game.

Gilliam played little the 1975 season, then was cut. He didn't play in the
NFL again.

Gilliam joined minor league football teams in Pittsburgh, New Orleans and
Baltimore during the 1970s. In 1979, he was seriously injured during an
attack outside a Baltimore liquor store and was in a coma for weeks.

He recovered and played football again, for the Washington Federals of the
USFL in the 1982 season.

Howard Gentry Jr., former broadcaster for Tennessee State and a Nashville
councilman, said when he last saw Gilliam recently he told him he was
working on a book and a possible movie about his life.

"Everything was just positive," Gentry said. "He looked great. He seemed to
be on top of the world."

Gilliam's survivors include his father, his wife, daughters Joi and Lawanda,
and two stepsons.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete Tuesday.

Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This mailing list is brought to you by Slick.ORG at http://www.slick.org
to remove yourself from the list, send e-mail to majordomo@slick.org
and include the words "unsubscribe deathwatch" in the message (not in the
subject).  For web-based help, go to:

http://www.slick.org/cgi-bin/majordomo

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *