ROCKY BLEIER

Rocky Bleier was not very big and not very fast, but he was an incredibly determined athlete when the Steelers picked him late in the 1968 draft. Before he could prove himself as a rookie, he was drafted again – this time, for combat duty in Vietnam.

A few months later, crippled by enemy rifle fire and grenade wounds in both legs, Bleier faced his biggest challenge. He could barely walk... he certainly couldn’t run. To very play professional football seemed impossible.

But Rocky Bleier did the impossible. The story of Bleier’s agonizing two-year battle to overcome his injuries and return to the Pittsburgh Steelers is described in the book Fighting Back, and recreated in the 1980 ABC-TV movie of the same name. The rest of his exciting 12-year career made football history.

Bleier’s ability to inspire effort and commitment from others has continued throughout his life. He has been active in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the International Special Olympics. As a board member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, he helped make possible the erection of the Washington, DC Memorial.

Bleier’s special qualities have been recognized by colleagues as well as others who had honored him with numerous awards, among them are the Whizzer White Humanitarian Award, the Vince Lombardi Award and the Most Courageous Athlete of the Decade Award. The U.S. Jaycees also chose him as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Year.

Nowadays, Rocky is in demand as a speaker, motivating his audiences by drawing the parallels between the challenges he faced in the past and the challenges all business people face in today’s crowded, competitive marketplace.

His speech, “Be the Best You Can Be” motivates audiences to keep on striving for greater accomplishments. Rocky employs a dynamic style with real life stories and brings it together with a warm, self-reflective humor that audiences can relate to.

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