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On Wednesday, April 4, receiver Torry Holt signed a one-day contract with the St. Louis Rams and then immediately retired from the NFL. I caught up with him recently, and here is what Holt had to say about his Rams career, his Hall of Fame candidacy and the Holt Foundation.
Is it awkward to have Jeff Fisher leading the Rams when you consider he was in charge of Titans when the Rams beat them in Super Bowl XXXIV?
(Laughs) It is. It’s funny you say that. It is, because when Coach Fisher was at the NFL Network, it was the first time I had a chance to talk with him. I said, “Coach, do you still have that game, or have you ever watched that game?” And he said that he had watched that game a couple times. It’s tough when you get there and you lose. It’s tough. And now he’s coaching the organization that gave him the loss in the Super Bowl that you can never forget. It’s like me going and coaching the Patriots receivers. Would I love to coach the Patriots’ receivers? It would be a great opportunity, but still it would be in the back of my head, like this team left me with a bitter taste.
But I think Coach Fisher is the ultimate professional. He’ll set that aside, and he knows and respects the history of the Rams. He knows that team that he faced in ’99 was a tough, athletic, really well-coached football team that got the best of him that day. From that standpoint, I think that will give him enough energy and confidence to go out there and want to win his own championship as the head coach of the St. Louis Rams.
You mentioned playing for the New England Patriots. Did Spygate ever come to mind while you were with them?
You know, I didn’t give in to that when I was there. I didn’t make a whole lot of it. It was normal for me to think, “I wonder if … As a matter of fact, let me go snoop around and see if I can pick up some clues or something.” (laughs) Naw, I was there to play with a winner. I saw how they work, the attention to details, and the focus every single day in that building was all geared towards winning. I saw how they worked to prepare or get ready to win ballgames, and I had a total respect for it. Did they do more? Hey, I don’t know. It’s just unfortunate it had to happen with us there in St. Louis. But I tried to separate that as much as possible, and just kinda focus on why I was there, and that was to get better and help them win ballgames.
I think the whole Spygate deal with the tapes will continue to linger because nobody really knows. And I think that now with the bounties and the New Orleans Saints, that’s going to linger over their Super Bowl run. But at the end of the day, those guys [the Patriots] played well, they played hard, they executed and did more than we could do that game to win.
Who had the greatest influence on your football career?
A lot of guys: Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, Art Monk, Jerry Rice, Deion Sanders – the list goes on and on and on of guys. My teammates, Isaac Bruce, Ricky Proehl, these are guys I was able to learn a lot of the details about the receiver position once I got into the NFL as a young ball player. You know, my hometown, my family, my brother and sister… There were just so many people. All my coaches from school, up through prep school, up through college. I had a lot of people pushing me and challenging me to keep going.
Even Michael Jordan on the basketball side. I had a lot of admiration for Michael Jordan and the way he played the game. Every single night, being there, being consistent. Every single Sunday, I wanted to be in there and be consistent. You know, give my teammates, give the fans something. There’s no greater joy when you can leave the game and people say, “You know, I really enjoyed watching you play. You played the right way. You played fast. You enjoyed it, you were into it.” So you know the guys that were into it, those were the ones that I emulated.
Do you believe you’re a Hall of Famer? Why or Why not?
Sure. Absolutely. Now, will that happen? I don’t know. I’m not in control of that. I hope at the end of the day – and I said this in St. Louis – when you look at the totality of the body of work that I had in NFL, I feel like I’ve been able to dominate a decade. I was All-Decade team, six or seven consecutive years of 1,300-plus [receiving yards]. You know all the NFL record numbers saying I was the first to do a lot of things in the National Football League, and we’ve had a lot of great players at the receiver position. That right there, in my opinion, says a lot.
At the end of the day, when you look at it, the game is based on production, the ability to affect others or lead others on the football team. I think I was fortunate enough and able enough to do that. Coaches trusted me to do that. I think I was able to follow through with those things. An all-around ball player, and having production on the football field, and winning championships and conference championships, I was able to do that. Yeah, absolutely. I feel that I’m worthy of being a Hall of Famer based on how I played the game and how impactful I was when I played.
What can you tell me about your Mom and the Holt Foundation?
Oh man, my mom was an incredible woman. She passed away in 1996 from Lymphoma. She battled with it for 10-12 years. Very tough woman. Worked in Glenraven Mills dying yarn. So she was a very tough, very independent woman with a drive to provide for her kids to try and give an opportunity. So the best way that we could repay her was to go out and take full advantage of what we were blessed with and the opportunity that was presented to us. Now we have a foundation in her name, the Holt Foundation in memory of Ojetta V. Holt-Shoffner. We have young kids whose parents are battling cancer. We have a full program called Kids Can! Kids can still survive, kids can still achieve, kids can still dream. Kids can still succeed and be whatever it is you want to be, even though your parent or guardian is battling a deadly disease.
So we try to encourage kids to keep moving on, keep marching on and do the best they can. That’s what you can give your mom, your dad, or your guardian, and that’s doing something positive with your life. So we’re involved with that. We have three programs here in North Carolina, one at Rex, Duke, and Alamance Regional Medical Center. And we also have one at Siteman Cancer Center in St. Charles, Missouri. So my mom will always play a role in our lives, and the best way we can keep her spirit going is by trying to impact families and kids whose parents are dealing with the deadly disease of cancer.
How can people get involved with the Holt Foundation?
You can log onto our website, and first and foremost, see what we’re doing. See if this is something that you want to be involved in. We have all the info and contacts there for people to call or email us if you have any thoughts of being involved. We’ve got a lot of general donations, and all of the funds that we raise go right back into the foundation programs. All of the funds that we raise go right back into the foundation programs. So you can get involved by logging onto Holtfoundation.com or by giving us a call.
You can follow Torry Holt on Twitter @BigGame81. If you’d like to know more about the Holt Foundation, check out their website or just head over to their Facebook page.
Derek Ciapala has been a Rams fan since he was a child and the team was in Los Angeles. His favorite Rams moments include Flipper Anderson’s 336-yard receiving night against the Saints in 1989, and their miracle 1999 run to their first Super Bowl victory. You can follow him on Twitter @dciapala.
(Originally published on Yahoo! Sports)
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On Wednesday, April 4, receiver Torry Holt signed a one-day contract with the St. Louis Rams and then immediately retired from the NFL. I caught up with him recently, and here is what Holt had to say about his Rams career, his Hall of Fame candidacy and the Holt Foundation.
Is it awkward to have Jeff Fisher leading the Rams when you consider he was in charge of Titans when the Rams beat them in Super Bowl XXXIV?
(Laughs) It is. It’s funny you say that. It is, because when Coach Fisher was at the NFL Network, it was the first time I had a chance to talk with him. I said, “Coach, do you still have that game, or have you ever watched that game?” And he said that he had watched that game a couple times. It’s tough when you get there and you lose. It’s tough. And now he’s coaching the organization that gave him the loss in the Super Bowl that you can never forget. It’s like me going and coaching the Patriots receivers. Would I love to coach the Patriots’ receivers? It would be a great opportunity, but still it would be in the back of my head, like this team left me with a bitter taste.
But I think Coach Fisher is the ultimate professional. He’ll set that aside, and he knows and respects the history of the Rams. He knows that team that he faced in ’99 was a tough, athletic, really well-coached football team that got the best of him that day. From that standpoint, I think that will give him enough energy and confidence to go out there and want to win his own championship as the head coach of the St. Louis Rams.
You mentioned playing for the New England Patriots. Did Spygate ever come to mind while you were with them?
You know, I didn’t give in to that when I was there. I didn’t make a whole lot of it. It was normal for me to think, “I wonder if … As a matter of fact, let me go snoop around and see if I can pick up some clues or something.” (laughs) Naw, I was there to play with a winner. I saw how they work, the attention to details, and the focus every single day in that building was all geared towards winning. I saw how they worked to prepare or get ready to win ballgames, and I had a total respect for it. Did they do more? Hey, I don’t know. It’s just unfortunate it had to happen with us there in St. Louis. But I tried to separate that as much as possible, and just kinda focus on why I was there, and that was to get better and help them win ballgames.
I think the whole Spygate deal with the tapes will continue to linger because nobody really knows. And I think that now with the bounties and the New Orleans Saints, that’s going to linger over their Super Bowl run. But at the end of the day, those guys [the Patriots] played well, they played hard, they executed and did more than we could do that game to win.
Who had the greatest influence on your football career?
A lot of guys: Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, Art Monk, Jerry Rice, Deion Sanders – the list goes on and on and on of guys. My teammates, Isaac Bruce, Ricky Proehl, these are guys I was able to learn a lot of the details about the receiver position once I got into the NFL as a young ball player. You know, my hometown, my family, my brother and sister… There were just so many people. All my coaches from school, up through prep school, up through college. I had a lot of people pushing me and challenging me to keep going.
Even Michael Jordan on the basketball side. I had a lot of admiration for Michael Jordan and the way he played the game. Every single night, being there, being consistent. Every single Sunday, I wanted to be in there and be consistent. You know, give my teammates, give the fans something. There’s no greater joy when you can leave the game and people say, “You know, I really enjoyed watching you play. You played the right way. You played fast. You enjoyed it, you were into it.” So you know the guys that were into it, those were the ones that I emulated.
Do you believe you’re a Hall of Famer? Why or Why not?
Sure. Absolutely. Now, will that happen? I don’t know. I’m not in control of that. I hope at the end of the day – and I said this in St. Louis – when you look at the totality of the body of work that I had in NFL, I feel like I’ve been able to dominate a decade. I was All-Decade team, six or seven consecutive years of 1,300-plus [receiving yards]. You know all the NFL record numbers saying I was the first to do a lot of things in the National Football League, and we’ve had a lot of great players at the receiver position. That right there, in my opinion, says a lot.
At the end of the day, when you look at it, the game is based on production, the ability to affect others or lead others on the football team. I think I was fortunate enough and able enough to do that. Coaches trusted me to do that. I think I was able to follow through with those things. An all-around ball player, and having production on the football field, and winning championships and conference championships, I was able to do that. Yeah, absolutely. I feel that I’m worthy of being a Hall of Famer based on how I played the game and how impactful I was when I played.
What can you tell me about your Mom and the Holt Foundation?
Oh man, my mom was an incredible woman. She passed away in 1996 from Lymphoma. She battled with it for 10-12 years. Very tough woman. Worked in Glenraven Mills dying yarn. So she was a very tough, very independent woman with a drive to provide for her kids to try and give an opportunity. So the best way that we could repay her was to go out and take full advantage of what we were blessed with and the opportunity that was presented to us. Now we have a foundation in her name, the Holt Foundation in memory of Ojetta V. Holt-Shoffner. We have young kids whose parents are battling cancer. We have a full program called Kids Can! Kids can still survive, kids can still achieve, kids can still dream. Kids can still succeed and be whatever it is you want to be, even though your parent or guardian is battling a deadly disease.
So we try to encourage kids to keep moving on, keep marching on and do the best they can. That’s what you can give your mom, your dad, or your guardian, and that’s doing something positive with your life. So we’re involved with that. We have three programs here in North Carolina, one at Rex, Duke, and Alamance Regional Medical Center. And we also have one at Siteman Cancer Center in St. Charles, Missouri. So my mom will always play a role in our lives, and the best way we can keep her spirit going is by trying to impact families and kids whose parents are dealing with the deadly disease of cancer.
How can people get involved with the Holt Foundation?
You can log onto our website, and first and foremost, see what we’re doing. See if this is something that you want to be involved in. We have all the info and contacts there for people to call or email us if you have any thoughts of being involved. We’ve got a lot of general donations, and all of the funds that we raise go right back into the foundation programs. All of the funds that we raise go right back into the foundation programs. So you can get involved by logging onto Holtfoundation.com or by giving us a call.
You can follow Torry Holt on Twitter @BigGame81. If you’d like to know more about the Holt Foundation, check out their website or just head over to their Facebook page.
Derek Ciapala has been a Rams fan since he was a child and the team was in Los Angeles. His favorite Rams moments include Flipper Anderson’s 336-yard receiving night against the Saints in 1989, and their miracle 1999 run to their first Super Bowl victory. You can follow him on Twitter @dciapala.
(Originally published on Yahoo! Sports)
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