0:03

As the Carolina Panthers original radio

0:05

play by play announcer Bill Rozinski

0:07

had a fifty yard line seat for some of the

0:09

intoxicating excitement of those

0:11

early years. There was a great concern

0:14

that if there were a lot of lopside at early losses,

0:16

who's gonna make that trip plumps And as

0:18

the case was, it turned into a magical season.

0:21

Stay tuned as we celebrate twenty

0:23

five years of Panther football with former

0:26

play by play man Bill Rosinski.

0:29

Five seasons of Panthers football,

0:32

a celebration of the players, coaches,

0:34

and other people who have contributed to the

0:36

organizational success. Now to

0:39

mcmixon, we promise

0:41

you an excellent podcast. This time,

0:44

because our guest is a paid professional

0:46

communicator, we celebrate

0:48

twenty five seasons of Carolina Panther Football

0:51

with Bill Rozinski, the team's original

0:54

and ten year radio play by

0:56

play voice. Thank you for coming in and spending

0:58

a few minutes. Bill, My pleasure, Mick

1:00

and I still, even though some people might not know

1:03

this, I'd call Charlotte is still my home. So

1:05

I've been living here since the team

1:07

started back in and

1:10

still enjoy the city, love and life. You

1:13

had a similar job with Atlanta Falcons

1:15

and moved here. Then what was it

1:17

like bill in and around this

1:19

region when a national football team

1:22

arrived here and started to get traction.

1:25

Well, it was interesting because

1:27

the stadium that we are now in

1:29

would not be finished until so

1:33

there was no place to play in Charlotte

1:35

it was being built. They practiced,

1:38

and how how ironic is this that

1:41

they would practice down in rock Hill at Winthrop,

1:43

which will suddenly become we

1:46

we've come full circle with this story for the Panthers.

1:48

So they would practice there during the regular season.

1:50

Training camp was at offered and

1:53

the first regular season games that first season

1:55

where we're at Clemson, which was

1:58

no easy travel for the people in the Charlotte

2:01

area because somehow these orange barrels

2:03

keep popping up along making

2:05

life miserable. But that was

2:07

one of the unique parts of it because of

2:11

training in South Carolina, not playing

2:13

any games in Charlotte, and then going to Clemson

2:15

to play regular season home games. It was unique

2:18

and the players will tell you that it was a bonding

2:21

experience for them because they would take busses

2:23

from training camp or wherever over

2:26

to the home games and

2:28

pick out different movies that they were going to watch on

2:30

these little bus rides, the two hour rides to Clempson.

2:33

So it was a unique experience not only

2:35

for the fans who had to make that trip

2:37

for those ten home games, but also the players.

2:40

So Don Caper's is the first head coach.

2:42

He only has a four year run, but

2:44

how important a figure is he as

2:47

you see it Bill in in the history of this franchise,

2:49

Well he started it along with Bill Polian

2:52

and Mike McCormick. I guess you'd take a look at that

2:54

that triumvirate there, the guys who put

2:56

this roster together for and

2:59

that great season where they ended up going

3:01

to the NFC Championship game. And

3:04

I think the belief was they had

3:06

to win with defense. There was a you

3:08

know, even back then, there was a philosophy about

3:10

how good the Steelers had been. And

3:12

I think the other team that the organization looked

3:14

at to model themselves after, where

3:17

the San Francisco Forts. Now, remember

3:19

this is mid nineties, so

3:22

Capers came in built the defense.

3:24

Knew if they could play good defense,

3:26

they would at least be competitive and

3:29

keep people in games. And I know talking to

3:31

Bill Polly and he there was

3:33

a great concern that if there were a lot of

3:35

lopside at early losses, who's going to make

3:37

that trip to Clemson? Uh? And

3:39

as the case was, it turned into a magical

3:42

season. Ended up people

3:44

are actually in November of uttering

3:47

the P word playoffs. So

3:49

I think Capers in that regard being

3:53

a first time head coach coming from Pittsburgh

3:55

and having that experience, and then the leadership

3:58

of Poleon and McCormick and putting the Ross traw

4:00

together, huge huge

4:02

impact the first couple of years. So those

4:04

of us who carry tape recorders, microphones, cameras

4:06

around for a living. Did did Dom Papers understand

4:09

that end of the business. Was he easy

4:11

to work with and and media genic? In

4:14

your view? Sort of?

4:16

I think he He didn't

4:18

mind doing the radio show,

4:21

he didn't mind doing the television shows

4:23

that we did. But you

4:25

know, if you knew Dom, he was, he

4:28

was all business. So I think he would

4:31

put up with dealing with the media. It

4:33

was funny when he'd meet when he would read an injury

4:35

report, he would literally read

4:37

it like the doctor wrote it. Instead

4:40

of a bruised shoulder, he'd go a crack clavical

4:42

of the F F bomb bone and

4:45

guys are like going, what, I always got a source shoulder,

4:48

Okay, thanks, So that's that's

4:50

what he was like to deal with. But he was, you

4:53

know, a great communicator with the players, so I

4:55

think in that regard, I he might have been

4:57

a little shy as far as dealing with

4:59

the fans. But I remember

5:02

one television show that we taped in here, and

5:04

this was in ninety six when the team was on this run

5:07

and it had been embraced

5:09

by the community at this point because

5:11

they were finally playing in Charlotte, and

5:13

he was introduced. It

5:15

was doing a Panther Talk TV show with

5:18

the Lano Little and I was there to talk

5:20

to Dom and Dom got introduced last to

5:22

our live studio audience and

5:24

he got the standing ovation from

5:26

the you know, a hundred people that might have been in that studio

5:29

that day, and you could see him blush.

5:31

He was like overwhelmed by the fact that these

5:33

people were standing and applauding

5:36

him for what he was doing as a head coach. So I thought that

5:38

was pretty cool. Unfortunately, these were the same

5:40

people who were calling for his head two

5:43

years later, but hey, that's life coaching.

5:46

Sixty six year old Bill Razinski, our

5:48

guest on the podcast, So that at

5:52

twelve and four has some big personalities

5:54

on it. Seven wins in a row to close

5:57

out the regular season. What do

5:59

you remember about some of the characters and

6:01

the character of that team.

6:03

Well, let's first start

6:06

with why that team became

6:08

what it was. It was a good team. In nine,

6:11

Carrie Collins had become the starting quarterback.

6:13

Remember Frank Reich started

6:15

the first three games, Jack Trudeau got in

6:17

about a quarter and then Carrie

6:19

Collins took over. So here we go to

6:21

ninety six. The defense was okay,

6:24

but in ninety six they add four

6:27

crucial free agents to this team

6:30

who had a lasting impact. The

6:32

first was Steve Berlin, who became

6:35

a backup quarterback and actually engineered

6:37

a couple of big wins that playoff season.

6:41

Uh Eric Davis, who would

6:43

then set eventual records for interceptions

6:46

for this franchise. Kevin Green

6:48

was at it a linebacker. Lamar Lathan

6:50

was already here, so suddenly you had salt

6:52

to go with Pepper, and you had that great linebacking

6:55

corps that included Carlton Bailey and Sam Mills.

6:58

And then the last, but not least, they brought in a

7:00

guy named Wesley Walls, who's going into this

7:03

Ring of honor, the Hall of Honor here. So

7:05

Micky, look at those four guys that they brought in

7:07

add to the character that the team already

7:09

had, and you could see in practices

7:11

how big Walls was gonna be in

7:14

this offense. You could see the leadership of Eric

7:16

Davis, who had been on Super Bowl teams in San Francisco.

7:18

You could see the leadership of Kevin Green and the

7:21

enthusiasm. We talk about characters. Kevin

7:23

was crazy. Kevin aided to practice, but

7:26

he he loved to play the game. So you

7:28

had those guys, and then

7:30

you had a receiver like Willie

7:32

Green step up our Anthony

7:35

Johnson, who became the key running back

7:37

that year. People forget Derek Moore was the

7:39

running back in ninety five who really

7:42

played well for this team, but he wanted he wanted more

7:44

money, and the team said forget it. So Anthony

7:46

Johnson became the guy. And you've got

7:48

Mark Carrier, You've got Willie Green making

7:51

plays. You've got Wesley

7:53

Walls at tight end, and then you've

7:55

got Collins developing as a quarterback burline

7:57

to back him up. And then a defense that add

8:00

a guy like Kevin Green. So it was

8:02

and the experience Pat Terrell, uh

8:05

Brett, Maxie. You go down the list of guys

8:07

on that defense, they were all leaders. They had they had

8:09

been in other situations. Remember this is the second

8:11

year team. Most everybody had played

8:13

somewhere else and had experienced either

8:16

great success or horrific losing, and

8:18

they put it all together for a magical run. Most

8:21

of us collect memories, kind of collect

8:23

people in this in this business bill, Where

8:25

would you rank in your own personal kind

8:27

of memory book. The home playoff

8:30

win against Dallas to go to the NFC

8:32

championship game at Green Bay that year, it

8:35

was a remarkable night.

8:39

I remember going up

8:41

to Jerry Richardson, the

8:43

owner of the team, before the game, and

8:46

the crowd was packed in. People were arriving

8:48

into the stadium, and I said,

8:50

savor the moment because you know,

8:53

being in Atlanta for three years and they

8:55

had gone to the playoffs the year before I got there.

8:57

But those four years were just

8:59

you know, you thought you're gonna be good. It never happened.

9:01

And in the in the NFL, as Jerry

9:03

Glanville would tell you that man stands for not for

9:06

long, so your success can be fleeting

9:08

in this league. And I I remember, you know, he smiled, he looked

9:10

at me and he said, this is this is incredible,

9:12

isn't it? And I said yeah. And

9:14

then the game was, you

9:16

know, here come the Cowboys, America's

9:19

team, and the Panthers

9:21

just kicked their butt. They knocked

9:23

out Dion Sanders in the game, they knocked

9:25

off Michael Irvin in the game. Troy

9:28

Ukman really struggled. The thing I

9:30

remember most is Sam Mills with the interception

9:32

to kind of seal the thing, and

9:34

the emotion that he had in the locker room. I remember

9:36

his interview with Jim Zoki after that game ended.

9:39

And then after it was all said and done, the

9:42

team goes to the locker room. The fans are still in

9:44

the stadium, and the team decides to come back out

9:47

and just high five the fans. They did a loop around

9:49

the stadium, just a You

9:52

realize then what sports and a team

9:55

can do for a community and what

9:57

in turn those players, the

10:00

ocean that they have for the fans who supported

10:02

him. It was something this organization.

10:04

If you're around back then, you'll never forget some

10:07

great memories. No doubt. So Don Capers

10:09

has four seasons, then

10:11

George Seyffert for three. I would

10:13

agree, what was that relationship stressful

10:17

with with Seafort and me and

10:19

everybody? Well, I'll use the word, I'll use the

10:22

word zany because George, George

10:24

would use that term in very odd

10:26

situations. Uh, George

10:29

was his own guy, and you knew when he came

10:31

in not only was he the head

10:33

coach, but he was the general manager. Because

10:36

if people forget Don Don's

10:38

last year, which was uh,

10:41

Poleon had left, Domineely

10:44

the had scout had left and Don was

10:46

kind of buy as lonesome there and

10:48

Marty Hernie was involved with the with the

10:51

franchise back then. But with

10:53

the hiring of Seafort, you bring in a guy who was

10:55

a Super Bowl winning coach with the San Francisco forty

10:57

niners. He called the shots. That's

10:59

the one thing you knew that any

11:02

personnel decisions, anything that was going

11:04

on with who was in and out of that lineup or who

11:06

was being signed and who was let go involved

11:08

George Seaford. And

11:10

he did have some success.

11:13

You know, people forget you know, people remember

11:15

that one in fifteen season which was his last

11:17

and It was a brutal year, but

11:20

there were there were shot signs of life.

11:22

In the offense. Burline had become the starting quarterback.

11:24

They had a wide receiver named Pat Jeffers

11:27

who was really lighting it up. And unfortunately

11:29

Pat got hurt in the preseason game at Pittsburgh

11:31

tore up his knee. Was never the same

11:33

again. Uh this this, this team

11:35

could score points. Wesley Wallace was still on the

11:37

team then, and they

11:39

were good offensively. The problem was Seaford was a defensive

11:42

guy in the defense was just awful. I mean

11:44

just rank near the bottom of the league. So

11:47

he was he was unique in that regard.

11:50

I would do radio shows and coaches shows,

11:52

and there was one time he ever ever

11:55

opened up to me, and it was there

11:57

was a game we played against Dallas

11:59

at home, and there

12:01

was a third down call that Burline

12:04

made. I mean, it was a fourth down call, but it was

12:06

like one of these quick outs, and they it

12:09

wasn't a great offensive call. And

12:11

Bill Musgrave was the offensive coordinator at

12:13

the time, and I believe Musgrave

12:16

then quit the team after that game. And

12:19

I remember talking doing George's coaches

12:21

show that next week, and

12:23

we had taped the show. He didn't say much about

12:25

it, and I'm walking out of and I taped

12:28

it in his office and I'm walking

12:30

out of his office and he goes, Bill, and

12:32

I've turned around. I go, yeah, coach, and he said

12:35

it was like your son telling you he doesn't want to be part

12:37

of your family anymore. And he turned around a lot like

12:40

wow. You know that was that was pretty

12:42

That was one of the few times I would ever have, you

12:45

know, George open up. There were

12:47

time we taped the television show one time

12:50

and I asked him a question. He gave me a one word answer

12:53

and he just sat there and then he just started laughing.

12:55

He was pulling my chain. He was just trying to be funny.

12:58

We're taping this show and we ended

13:00

up doing it. So there were, you

13:02

know, instances where George was could

13:05

be rather humorous. He knew I was an Isle of Lucy

13:07

fan, and he would ask me about questions

13:10

about it walking from practice now and I get

13:12

so, you're like, I love Lucy. What episode

13:14

stands? Okay?

13:16

So that that's that's the type of guy he was. But

13:18

unfortunately the one in fifteen

13:20

season came and that

13:24

was, you know, he made the mistake. He's the one who

13:26

told Steve Burline he didn't want him on the team

13:28

anymore. And I remember Steve

13:31

telling me that he went back

13:33

to George the next day because his wife didn't

13:35

want to move out of Charlotte. She said, tell Steve,

13:37

tell him will hang around and do anything. I'll be the third

13:40

guy. Hold the clipboard. And Steve

13:42

told me walked into George's office and said, look,

13:44

I'll do anything. I'll be the third guy. I want to I

13:46

want to help the team. I don't want to go anywhere. And George

13:48

looks at him and says, I don't want your help.

13:51

And that was the end of the relationship with Steve Burlin.

13:54

So then, UH, you

13:57

know, they make some mistakes at quarterback. Eventually

13:59

they draft Chris Wanky, they go

14:01

one in fifteen. But I will say this, George

14:04

Seyffert's going away gift was

14:06

his last draft class, which

14:09

UH included Steve Smith in the third

14:12

round, Chris Jenkins in the second round, and Dan

14:14

Morgan in the first round. I would say that's

14:17

pretty heavy stuff. Helped build the foundation

14:20

for the remarkable two thousand and three

14:22

season. Just a couple of more questions for Panther's

14:25

radio voice original radio voice Bill Rosinski

14:27

on our podcast Built O three season

14:30

and the Super Bowl has been well chronicled, well talked

14:32

about. But you've got some huge personalities

14:34

on that team. When did you and when did

14:36

Panther fans kind of know

14:39

that Jake Delane was going to be special? Well,

14:43

I guess the first time he showed up and played

14:45

that game against Jacksonville will live in infamy

14:48

because Rodney Pete had been the starting quarterback.

14:51

Funny thing about Jakes. He had signed with the team

14:53

that summer, and I remember going

14:55

on a couple of caravan trips with the team

14:57

and Jake was on one of them. And we

14:59

would up at schools or we'd have lunches

15:01

and players out of that cheerleaders would be there and players that

15:03

signed autographs, and I remember seeing Jake at one

15:06

of these that summer. No one was even talking to the

15:08

guy, nobody knew who he was. I

15:10

felt sorry for him. So here he is. He

15:12

comes in to rod depetd started that year awful

15:14

first half against Jacksonville, and the decision

15:17

made Jake, You're in and that decision

15:19

and I will, I will, you know, because the pant when you look at the

15:21

Panther history of addressing

15:24

the quarterback position in the draft until

15:26

Cam Newton, that was never

15:29

a high priority list for this team. They

15:31

would draft quarterbacks, but no franchise

15:34

guy. And they got lucky with Jake DeLong

15:36

because who knew so you knew Jake

15:38

was a leader right away. But that season you

15:41

just had to Okay. They come back against Jacksonville,

15:43

he had Rickey prole to win the game. The next week, we're

15:45

in Tampa, winning the

15:47

whole game, and then the Bucks score basically

15:51

no time left and an extra point wins

15:53

the game. And we had already blocked two field

15:55

goals. And I remember looking at at Jim Zoki

15:57

and Eugene in the booth

16:00

and I said, we've blocked two field goals. Can we block

16:02

an extra point? Bingo? We blocked

16:04

the extra point. They win that game. They

16:07

went to Indiana. I think the game in Indianapolis.

16:09

If you look back at that season, the

16:11

great start they had. They went to Indie

16:13

with a healthy Peyton Manning and a really

16:16

good colts football team and beat

16:19

them. I think it was over time, but they beat them.

16:21

That to me was the game

16:23

where you said to yourself you know we okay, we

16:26

got lucky against Jacksonville. We beat the box,

16:28

we block an extra point. How many times are you gonna

16:30

do that? But that went in Indianapolis,

16:32

I think sent everybody a message around

16:34

the league that this team was for

16:36

real. Took a while to finally clinch

16:39

the division, but then obviously

16:41

the magical ride to the super Bowl was

16:43

incredible. Let's end this

16:46

chat with Bill Razinski with a little bit of shop

16:48

talk, because Bill, we're on a podcast right now.

16:50

There's a their generations of people listening

16:52

to this podcast that know all about podcast,

16:55

but they don't know about the

16:57

name. For example, Roman Gabriel, one

17:00

of your former color analysts, quarterback on a

17:02

par with John Unitis, with uh

17:05

with Bart Star, with

17:07

Frantar, with some of the greats that have ever played.

17:09

What was it like sharing a booth with former

17:12

number eighteen for the Rams, Roman Gabriel. Roman

17:14

was larger than life because we

17:17

weren't that different age wise. Maybe he was

17:19

ten years older than I was. I don't know how Roman is

17:22

old is now, but I remember watching when I was a

17:24

kid in this in the

17:26

middle late sixties. And you get two NFL

17:28

games, you get a one o'clock in a four o'clock game,

17:31

and usually that four o'clock game was either the Rams

17:33

or forty Niners. And if it was the Rams,

17:35

it was Roman Gabriel, who was this

17:38

big, huge, tall, strong

17:40

I mean now, he could probably be a linebacker, that's

17:42

how big these guys are now. But back in the day,

17:44

in the sixties, for a guy his size to

17:47

be out there and play the quarterback position, and

17:49

he was good. He played on some really

17:51

good Rams teams. He will tell you now and again,

17:53

George Allen didn't give the offense much credence.

17:56

George wanted to win with defense, had

17:58

the fearsome Forsom and all those guys. But

18:00

I was actually blessed and not only work with Roman, but one

18:03

of his great receivers on that team. I worked with Jack Snow

18:05

back in my old Westwood one day, so I knew Jack,

18:08

and Jack later became a part of the Rams radio

18:10

broadcast. So in fact,

18:12

that's what I'll never forget. This night, Mick, we were

18:14

in St. Louis play the Rams might

18:17

have been, and

18:19

I went to dinner in St. Louis

18:22

with Jack Snow and Roman Gabriel, and

18:24

I sat there for two hours and never said a word,

18:27

And people in the restaurant were like just like pointing

18:29

and looking, you know. And and Jack

18:32

would tell stories about Roman. Roman would

18:34

tell stories about Jack, about George Allen. They

18:36

both made. Jack was on Bewitched.

18:38

I was asking him how if Elizabeth

18:40

Montgomery was I loved her, I

18:43

said, I was a scale of one to ten. Was she real

18:45

nasty or she had jem. He goes to Rosie,

18:48

She's eleven, and I'm going, oh, good good.

18:50

Roman did a movie with John Wayne,

18:52

The Undefeated. I mean, so this is this conversation

18:55

I'm having with this guy. Then they're just telling stories.

18:57

It was. It was unbelievable. But Roman played at nc

18:59

stay. There is still

19:01

a move by some people to try to get him in the

19:04

Pro Football Hall of Fame. Uh.

19:06

He didn't win a lot of championships because unfortunately

19:08

the Green Bay Packers were there. But

19:11

stats wise, career wise, Roman

19:14

Gabriel was one special

19:16

football player and he was great. He you

19:19

know, you work with different guys. Were working with Eugene

19:21

Robinson. Usually Eugene was a defensive back, so

19:23

he approached a game differently than a quarterback

19:25

would. In Atlanta, worked with Jeff Van Old

19:27

offensive lineman. Those guys think differently than anybody

19:30

thinks on how how football game

19:32

plays out. In fact, I remember Eugene.

19:35

I think we were in Tampa, second game of

19:37

the year, that one with the blocked extra point. He's

19:40

yelling out of the out of our booth at Mike Mintor

19:42

trying to tell him what's happening next, and I'm like, looking

19:44

up, I'm going, Eugene, he can't hear you up

19:46

here. Just sit down, You'll be okay. But

19:49

back to Roman, a a larger than life

19:51

guy beloved by the

19:53

NC State community. Still. I mean, if you follow

19:56

a CC sports and especially NC State,

19:58

you know who Roman Gabriel is. And I leave

20:00

he's still out in uh somewhere

20:02

in the Wilmington area, somewhere out there, and he's had

20:04

some health issues, but I still I think he's

20:06

still still going strong.

20:09

Looking back on twenty five years

20:12

of Panther football with Bill Razinski, we could

20:14

go on for a long time. Bill, appreciate your time.

20:16

Thank you for coming by. My pleasure. Isn't

20:18

a podcast just a radio show on tape? Is

20:21

it even on tape? Okay?

20:25

My pleasure? No

20:27

doubt. The press corps. Covering the Panthers back

20:29

when Bill worked looked quite different from

20:31

the bloggers, tweeters, instagrammers, and

20:33

facebookers of today. Next time on

20:35

the podcast, we'll get the historical perspective

20:38

of the Panthers legendary former director

20:40

of Communications, Charlie David