Jerome Bettis

1972—

Professional football player, commentator, philanthropist

Sportscasters and fans called him "the Bus"—an apt nickname for the durable Pittsburgh Steelers fullback who carried would-be tacklers down the field as if they were passengers along for the ride. Jerome Bettis played for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Ranked fifth on the list of players with the greatest all-time rushing yardage, he had never achieved quite the superstar status his statistics would seem to merit when he retired after the 2006 Super Bowl. "I'm definitely underrated simply because I'm not flashy. I don't give you the 40-, 50-, 60-yd run. I'm 4 yards and a cloud of dust," Bettis observed to Sean Gregory of Time. "Unfortunately, you don't make the highlight reels doing that. But you make the box scores."

A native of Detroit, Jerome Abram Bettis was born on February 16, 1972, to Johnnie Bettis—a Detroit city electrical inspector—and his wife Gladys. The Bettis family lived on Detroit's tough west side. Johnnie and Gladys went to great lengths to keep their children out of trouble, often taking them off the streets for family bowling nights. Bettis became an avid bowler and continued with the sport even after becoming a professional football player; he once rolled a perfect 300 game that was certified by bowling authorities. A backyard ice rink also served as home entertainment for Bettis and his two siblings, and seeing a friend get shot also turned him away from street life. Little in his childhood suggested a career in professional football: he was small and suffered from asthma attacks that required him to carry an inhaler.

Knocked Opponents onto Porches

When Bettis was 12, however, he started to gain weight and strength in a hurry (he topped out at 5'11" and 255 pounds). He outgrew the large group of neighborhood kids who had been his competitors in street football, and he even decimated squads made up of boys several years older. "We played tackle on the streets," childhood friend Dorthanal Leonard recalled to Fred Girard of the Detroit News. "There was a time when (Jerome) would hit you and you would fly over the sidewalk and into a porch." At Detroit Urban Lutheran School and then Mackenzie High School, Bettis was a standout in both football and basketball, gaining 1,355 yards on the football field during his senior year and also racking up an average of 15 tackles per game as a defensive linebacker. A strong performer in the classroom as well, Bettis was courted by the powerhouse football programs at the University of Michigan and Notre Dame University.

Enrolling at Notre Dame, Bettis became the starting fullback in his second year (1991) and promptly earned co-Most Valuable Player honors that season. He turned in a three-touchdown performance in Notre Dame's victory over the University of Florida in the 1992 Sugar Bowl and was mentioned as a candidate for college football's Heisman Trophy the following fall. Injuries slowed him enough that he missed that honor, but he repeated his three-touchdown rampage in the 1993 Cotton Bowl as Notre Dame flattened Texas A&M, 28-3. It was a budding journalist at Notre Dame's student newspaper who coined the "Bus" nickname, and although Bettis gained other nicknames over the years (such as "the Battering Ram"), that was the one that stuck after Pittsburgh sportscaster Myron Cope began using it to describe his straight-ahead style of play.

With an impressive average of 5.7 yards gained per carry, Bettis left Notre Dame after his junior year to turn professional. He was the tenth player picked in the 1993 pro football draft, joining the Los Angeles Rams. Bettis's rookie year was a spectacular success: he ran for 1,429 yards during the 1993 season and was named Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press. An effusive Bettis bought each of the Rams' offensive linemen a 45-inch television as a thank-you.

Traded to Steelers

But the Rams, who moved to St. Louis in 1995, turned out not to be the right place for Bettis. His total rushing yards declined to 1,025 yards in his second season as the Rams offense floundered across the board, and in 1994 and 1995 he struggled with injuries and wrangled with new Rams coach Rich Brooks. Often benched and performing poorly, Bettis considered leaving pro football, and in the spring of 1996 he briefly returned to Notre Dame and worked toward finishing a business degree there.

Just prior to the 1996 draft, Bettis was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a pair of draft picks. "Getting traded is a humbling experience," Bettis says, "because no matter what you tell yourself—‘I didn't want to be there anyway’—there's a team that didn't want you," Bettis admitted to Michael Silver of Sports Illustrated. But Pittsburgh's tough, running-oriented offense turned out to be a perfect fit for Bettis, who bested his rookie-year yardage total with 1,431 yards in 1996 on the way to a Super Bowl appearance with the Steelers. The following year he rushed for a career-high 1,665 yards. "He exemplifies what I think a football team should be—he brings a toughness, an identity and, of course, he is the consummate pro," Steelers coach Bill Cowher told Silver.

Bettis remained remarkably consistent over his ten seasons with the Steelers, gaining over 1,000 yards rushing in six of them. He was adept at avoiding the injuries that plague running backs who are hit time after time, week after week, but he was slowed by physical problems in his later years. In his 2007 autobiography The Bus: My Life In and Out of a Helmet, Bettis recalled that he had faked an injury during spring training in 2000 in order to avoid being cut from the Steelers squad (a team cannot cut an injured player during training camp without negotiating a financial settlement). Journalists disputed the sequence of events Bettis recounted. His offensive totals declined in the early 2000s in any event.

At a Glance …

Born on February 16, 1972, in Detroit, MI; married Trameka Boykin; two children. Education: Attended Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN.

Career: Los Angeles Rams, professional football player, fullback, 1993-94; St. Louis Rams, fullback, 1995; Pittsburgh Steelers, fullback, 1996-2005, 2006 (Super Bowl); The Bus Stops Here Foundation, founder, 1997; Football Night in America, commentator, 2006-; Jerome Bettis Grille 36, Pittsburgh, PA, co-owner; real estate developer (with C.J. Betters), Detroit riverfront.

Awards: Associated Press, Offensive Rookie of the Year, 1993; Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI, honorary doctorate, 2006; six-time Pro Bowl participant.

Addresses: Home—Roswell, GA. Office—Jerome Bettis Enterprises Inc., 2615 W. 12 Mile Rd., Berkley MI 48072. Web—www.thebus36.com.

Foundation Aided Students

Despite a sequence of injuries, Bettis became something of a football institution. Fans liked him for his philanthropic activities—his The Bus Stops Here Foundation, established in 1997, made direct academic and athletic grants to inner-city students and schools, and the Cyber Bus computer-literacy program was formed with Bettis's help at Michigan's Lawrence Technological University in 2003. On the field Bettis's lifetime yardage totals mounted. He blew by the 10,000-yard rushing mark in 2001, becoming only the 14th NFL player ever to do so, and by the time he retired in 2006 his 13,662 rushing yards ranked him in fifth place on the all-time NFL list.

By the beginning of that season Bettis had only one major goal left unfulfilled: he had never been part of a team that won the Super Bowl. At the end of the 2004 season, after a difficult 41-27 loss to the New England Patriots in the American Football Conference (AFC) championship game, Bettis thought about retiring but was talked out of it by Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. "With tears in our eyes and snot coming down and everything, he asked me to come back and promised he would get me to the Super Bowl. And I believed him," Bettis recalled to Gregory. Roethlisberger delivered on his promise as the Bus rolled home to Detroit's Ford Field for a 21-10 Steelers victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006.

Married to longtime girlfriend Trameka Boykin and raising two children, Bettis plunged into a varied schedule of activities after his retirement. He opened a restaurant, Jerome Bettis Grille 36, on Pittsburgh's North Side, featuring 36-ounce steaks, as well as 36 different martinis, beers, and vodkas (his Steelers' jersey number was 36). He joined NBC television's Football Night in America as a commentator. And he continued to support his economically struggling hometown of Detroit, joining with Pittsburgh developer C.J. Betters to propose large redevelopment projects along Detroit's riverfront. He settled with his family in Roswell, Georgia, outside of Atlanta.

Sources

Books

Bettis, Jerome, with Gene Wojciechowski, The Bus: My Life In and Out of a Helmet, Doubleday, 2007.

Sports Stars, series 4, U*X*L, 1998.

Periodicals

Crain's Detroit Business, February 6, 2006, p. 1.

Detroit News, January 30, 2006.

Jet, March 20, 2006, p. 48.

Publishers Weekly, June 18, 2007, p. 48.

Sports Illustrated, November 29, 2004, p. 33; February 15, 2006, p. 12; September 3, 2007, p. 24.

Time, February 6, 2006, p. 8.

On-line

"Ex-Steelers RB Bettis: I Faked Injury to Prevent Release," USA Today,http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/steelers/2007-08-22-bettis-book_N.htm (September 11, 2007).

"Jerome Bettis," Pro Football Reference,http://www.profootball-reference.com/players/BettJe00.htm (September 11, 2007).

"Jerome Bettis Grille 36 Opens Tuesday on N. Side," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07151/790197-46.stm (September 11, 2007).