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January 29, 2004
Hands of Wisdom
Panthers' Super Bowl guru catches passes, collects rings
BY LENOX RAWLINGS
HOUSTON - Every football team needs juice.Every football team needs a Cajun quarterback who talks too fast and a receiver who throws equipment around if the Cajun quarterback doesn't throw his way fast enough. Every football team needs defensive linemen who talk smack and defensive backs who smack the mucous out of cocky interlopers.
The Carolina Panthers employ all these passionate folks - Jake Delhomme, Steve Smith, Brentson Buckner, Mike Minter - but on the doorstep of the 38th Super Bowl, they turn the hot cheek and turn to Zen for chilled advice.
They turn to receiver Ricky Proehl, the 14-year veteran from Wake Forest.
Proehl labored nine seasons in five cities before his team managed a winning record, experiences that served as a contrary prologue to his eventual NFL identity. With three Super Bowls in the past five seasons, Proehl qualifies as the resident expert.
"I've been around longer than this franchise," Proehl said yesterday, his calculation accompanied by an abstract grin and gleaming blue eyes.
Zen has a five-year lead in longevity and a two-game lead in Super Bowls, which makes him Exhibit A during Coach John Fox's inspirational time trials. Zen wears a white ball cap over his recessive hairline. On occasion, he wears the rings he collected while playing for St. Louis, which beat Tennessee four years ago and lost to New England two years ago. The rings constitute Exhibit B.
"I brought them," Proehl said. "I've shown them the NFC championship ring, and I've shown them the Super Bowl ring. I said: 'Look at the difference. You want a Super Bowl ring. You don't want a championship ring.'"
Proehl used different weights and measures to choose a new employer after the Rams jettisoned him last winter. As a 35-year-old free agent, Proehl balanced personal preferences such as working near his Greensboro home against Carolina's preference for running. He signed a three-year contract worth $2.8 million.
He still balances anger about his end-game St. Louis treatment against warm friendships, memories and the chance to develop a winner's reputation.
"I felt like I gave them a commitment the five years I was there," he said. "After the '99 Super Bowl year, I took a pay cut. In 2001, I played for the minimum, and I played for the minimum again. They signed other guys. They signed Terrence Wilkins, a $2 million deal. It didn't work out. So, for me, it was frustrating. For everything I had given to them, I was upset because they didn't give me the respect of at least a phone call saying: 'Hey, we're going to go a different direction.' That's how this business is, and I know that, but I just wanted the respect of: 'You know what, we appreciate what you've done, but we're going to go a different direction.'"
Redirected toward Charlotte, the Panthers' No. 3 wide receiver wound up No. 3 in receptions with 27, which pushed his career total to 607, 32nd on the all-time NFL chart. Proehl caught the winning pass against Jacksonville in the season opener, a 24-23 comeback.
"If we had lost that game, who knows?" Proehl said.
He raises hypothetical and philosophical questions in the same controlled tone, his words chosen carefully. The accent barely registers, particularly for someone from New Jersey.
Proehl grew up in the middle of the state in the midst of a football clan. His family has bought New York Giants season tickets since the 1950s.
Proehl and sister Deborah (a former Triad television reporter now in real estate) learned the work ethic from their parents. Kevin Proehl, a vice president of financial services for several companies, and sales rep Vicky Proehl often got home around 7 p.m. Ricky practiced football or baseball most of the school year, learning the athletic side of the same discipline.
"I'm a Jersey boy through and through, always will be," Proehl said. "I've got roots. I am who I am because of where I grew up. My high-school friends, my high-school coaches - they taught me everything. My hard work, my commitment comes from that background."
There are all sorts of Jersey boys, from Bruce Springsteen to Uncle Brucie the crusty truck driver. How does a Jersey guy define the term?
The topic triggers the fast forward button in Zen's thought machine. He smiles and becomes unusually animated.
"When you think of New Jersey, what do you think about?" he said. "Be honest. What do you think about the people? You think of them as obnoxious, kind of hard on the outside. What exit do you live on? We're callous to that. We know what people think about us. When you're in Jersey, you are kind of hard on the outside. Coach Fox said he loved living up in New Jersey. He said: 'You know, what you see is what you get.' We kind of have that shell, but once you get in and you're a friend, you're a friend for life. I know all my friends, I could go to war with them. They've got my back. It's something where I grew up with that attitude, and it carried over to football. You work your butt off and you do what you need to do."
Time away from Jersey softened the edges, naturally. "North Carolina will do that to you," Proehl said. "What's the old saying? You can take me out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of me. I go back up there and I'm not the same mild guy."
While telling younger Panthers how to prepare for the New England game, Proehl retains the mild voice of reason, emphasizing details as the foundation for readiness. He also opens the emotional playbook, elaborating on the chasm between a Super Bowl winner's ecstasy and a loser's emptiness.
"When we won in '99, you don't even think about the other football team that's there," Proehl said. "You're with your guys. You're jumping. You're running on the field. You've just won a world championship. You're on top of the world. Your team is the best in the world at that particular time. There's no better feeling in the world. Your teammates are holding up the trophy. You're celebrating.
"On the other side of the coin, in 2001 when we lose, it's the total opposite. I immediately thought of the Tennessee Titans. All you do is, you get roped off. They rope you off. They bring the stage on. They send you to the locker room. That's just an awful hurt. That's when I said: 'This is how Tennessee felt.' They ship you off. You feel like you've been shipped off. It's awful."
Zen's message seems clear: Joy is good and pain is bad, whether you're in Jersey or Texas.
• Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com