Local NFL Greats: Larry Csonka

As a student at Stow High School, Larry Csonka attended the groundbreaking for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the early ‘60s. A quarter-century later, after a stellar career as a powerhouse running back for the Miami Dolphins, he wore the familiar gold jacket of an inductee. Many know him for co-hosting the competitive athletic TV show “American Gladiators,” but his name is etched in history for running the ball 15 times in 112 yards to help win Super Bowl VII, capping off a perfect season for the 1972 Dolphins — the only NFL team to go undefeated. 

“I heard [Chicago Bears fullback] Bronko Nagurski was going to be at the groundbreaking. I identified with him, [but] I was not particularly adept at running routes or catching passes. 

Me and some of the other guys piled in a friend’s ’55 Chevy and pooled our money for gas down to Canton. I ended up being about 10 feet from him. He looked at me and grinned. I was in awe. I’d done book reports on him!

I got to meet him about eight, 10 years later. I shook his hand — I was in the pros at this point — and my hand was like a kid’s in his. 

All the places that were looking at me out of high school were looking at me as a middle linebacker, but I wanted to run the ball. Ben Schwartzwalder, the Syracuse University coach, said he’d give me the opportunity to run the ball. 

I’d played middle linebacker my sophomore year at Syracuse and backup fullback. The fullback got hurt and someone had to block for Floyd Little. He got hurt and they started giving me the ball. My junior year I started to entertain the thought I could go pro. 

I still get a lot of people who send me notes about “American Gladiators,” but not as many as people who write me about the perfect season with the Dolphins.

Don Shula took all the people there and turned the team around in what seemed like record speed. He is a hell of a coach.” — as told to Vince Guerrieri