One thing that is American for sure is football. Especially the Super Bowl. One year every Sunday families around the nation get together and throw watch parties for the biggest sports game of the year. Some of the players on the field have been our heroes, but have you ever thought of the other heroes in our lives? The ones who serve our country in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Well, there have been a few veterans to play professional football and make it to the Super Bowl. So in honor of those veterans, here is a list of veterans who have played in a Super Bowl.
Kevin Greene
Greene is widely known as one of the NFL’s all-time great pass rushers and played in the Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But did you know he served? Greene served in the Alabama Army National Guard according to the Poughkeepsie Journal. While in the service Greene commanded a tank platoon and got his paratrooper wings.
The Steelers lost Super Bowl 30 to the Dallas Cowboys. It was the one and only Super Bowl Greene ever played in, but he did win a Super Bowl as a coach for the Green Bay Packers in 2011. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
Roger Staubach
At one point in time, Roger Staubach was considered the most famous person who had played in the NFL and served in the military. He played with the Dallas Cowboys all 11 years of his career. He played in four Super Bowls, winning two of them. Staubach served four years in the Navy and toured in Vietnam. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.
Chad Hennings
Chad Hennings won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys. He is known for being an Air Force pilot flying A-10 Thunderbolt II. During his time in the NFL, he had 27.5 sacks over a nine-year career. Today, Hennings is married and has two children. He works as a Christian motivational speaker and author.
Rocky Bleier
Rocky Bleier has the most Super Bowl wins by anyone who served in the military. Bleier won four Super Bowls with the Steelers alongside NFL Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris. Bleier was drafted in 1968 by the Army and volunteered to serve in Vietnam. In 1969, he was wounded in combat. He was shot in the thigh and hit by grenade fragments, losing part of his right foot.
Bleier only played six games in 1971 after missing all of 1970. He went on to rush for 3,865 yards and have 23 touchdowns.
Although there will be no veterans playing in this year’s big game, Super Bowl 58 will kick off on Sunday, February 11th at 6:30 pm EST in Las Vegas. The Kansas City Chiefs will face off against the San Francisco 49ers. Who will you be rooting for in this game?
