We made small talk as we played, with Bledsoe sharing stories from his playing days and his thoughts on the recent NFL Draft and the many changes surrounding Washington State football.
He likes the hiring of Mike Leach at WSU, but feels bad for outgoing coach Paul Wulff – a sentiment shared by many. He thinks former quarterback Trent Dilfer is doing a nice job as an ESPN commentator, but wonders about some of the others. I asked him if he had any interest in getting into broadcasting himself — he’d be good at it, given how articulate he is. He said no, though; for the most part, he avoids anything that might conflict with his four kids’ games on the weekends.
Forget any of the football achievements — along with his with his wife, Maura, the kids (Stu, 14; John, 13; Henry, 11; and daughter Healy, 9) are his greatest joy. All ski and mountain bike near their home in Bend, and are all straight-A students.
He said that almost every morning, Henry wakes him up at 6:30 so they can play catch before he goes to school. He might be too tired to get up, but he gets up anyway.
I couldn’t resist asking about the recent NFL Draft, where quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III went No. 1 overall to Indianapolis, and No. 2 to Washington, respectively. It was reminiscent of 19 years ago when Bledsoe was taken No. 1 overall by the Patriots, and another quarterback, Rick Mirer, went No. 2 to the Seahawks.
“It’s pretty cool when you get taken first at recess, then to have it happen in the NFL draft…” Bledsoe said. “That was crazy. We went to New York City for the draft. It was the first time my family had flown anywhere. I’d never been east of the Mississippi.”
Until then, Bledsoe was like most college kids, with hardly a penny to his name. He remembers calling the bank as a student and having the automated lady tell him that he had a “negative seven dollars in my account.”
But after the Patriots paid him his first installment on his signing bonus, he called the automated lady again and will never forget her voice.
“’[You have] one million and one-hundred-twenty-five thousand dollars [in your account],’” Bledsoe recalls her saying. “I called my brother and told him he had to call that number to hear her say that.”
e played the black tees – his choice, not mine – and finished on the 577-yard, uphill-into-the-wind, par-5 18th. The way I was playing, it felt like an 877-yard hole, but Bledsoe had no trouble reaching the green in three.
Afterward, we had lunch in the clubhouse, and I thought it was cool that Bledsoe went around to every table to say hello to various friends and acquaintances. He appears to be just “Drew” here, not Drew the legendary quarterback, and I get the feeling he likes it that way.
He is Drew the legendary quarterback, though — eighth all-time in the NFL in passing yards (more than 19 Hall of Famers, including Dan Fouts, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Jim Kelly and Johnny Unitas) and fifth in completions, with two Super Bowl appearances and four pro Bowl selections.
Bledsoe returned to New England for the AFC Championship Game last year to be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. It was the first game he’d been to since he retired. It brought back those football memories.
“When they played the national anthem, the hair stood up on my arms,” he said. “I could feel the adrenaline. For so long, the anthem meant it was go time.”
Later in his career, he made a conscious decision to appreciate every moment as a football player. He would grab rookies in the tunnel before they ran onto the field and say to them, “How cool is this that we’re getting ready to play a football game!?!?”
“Unless I land on the moon someday, it will be the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” he recalls.
Despite the overwhelming statistics, the NFL Hall of Fame has yet to call Bledsoe’s name. Bledsoe, though, has no regrets — sure, he wishes a play or two had gone differently. But he was a four-time Pro Bowler, he has a Super Bowl ring and he’s sitting here at Tetherow — and mountain biking and hiking with his kids — with no lingering injuries or pain.
“Taken as a whole, I’m happy with it,” he says.