Tony Nathan - Touchdown Tony

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TONY NATHAN was the Woodlawn High School running back in the legendary game of 1974 in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a Parade All American in high school and went on to play for Paul Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama, winning a national championship in 1978. In 1979, he began playing for the Miami Dolphins and played with them until 1987. He was the starting running back in Super Bowls XVII and XIX. In 1981, he was named the teams MVP. After his retirement, he began coaching, eventually becoming the running backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2006, he was inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame and made his return to the NFL when he was hired by the Baltimore Ravens. He is currently the bailiff for former teammate Judge Edward Newman in Miami-Dade County court.

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Copyright 2015 by Tony Nathan

Cover title treatment from the motion picture Woodlawn , an Erwin Brothers Film, is used with permission. Copyright 2015 by Woodlawn Rights, LLC. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations not otherwise marked are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version . Copyright 1982, 1988 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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First Howard Books hardcover edition September 2015

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Interior design by Akasha Archer

Jacket design by Bruce Gore

Front Jacket Photograph by Collegiate Images, LLC

Photograph Colorization by Steve Gardner/Pixelworks Studio

Back Jacket Photograph Courtesy of the Author

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nathan, Tony, 1956

Touchdown Tony / Tony Nathan.First Edition.

pagescm

ISBN 978-1-5011-1851-7 (hc)ISBN (invalid) 978-1-5011-2573-7 (tp)ISBN 978-1-5011-1853-1 (ebook)1.Nathan, Tony, 1956 2.Football playersAlabamaBiography.3.Miami Dolphins (Football team)History.4.Football coachesUnited StatesBiography.I.Title.

GV939.N36A3 2015

796.332092dc23

[B]2015016728

ISBN 978-1-5011-1851-7

ISBN 978-1-5011-1853-1 (ebook)

I have known Tony Nathan for more than thirty years. I coached against him when he was a running back for the NFLs Miami Dolphins, and then he worked with me as an assistant coach on my staff with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001.

I thought I knew him quite well, but I have to admit that I didnt know much about Tonys early life until I read this book. Hes a very humble man and doesnt talk about his own achievements very much. But after reading about what Tony initially endured and then accomplished at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Alabama, during the early 1970s, I have to say that Im not surprised. I know the kind of man Tony is, and I witnessed his courage, determination, and humility when he was a player and an assistant coach.

The Bible makes it clear that God has a purpose for each of our lives, and theres no doubt in my mind that God put Tony at Woodlawn High School for a very specific reasona purpose that went far beyond winning football games. I believe God used Tony to help bring a football team, a high school, and a community closer together during a time of great turmoil. Tony was a humble and reluctant superstar, but his courage and willingness to accept the challenge speaks volumes about the type of man he was then and is today.

Like Tony, I grew up during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. However, while I was raised in Jackson, Michigan, Tony grew up at ground zero of the struggle in Birmingham.

Like Tonys remarkable parents, my mother and father taught me to look past the color of a persons skin and to turn my head to the racism and prejudice we faced at the time. It wasnt always an easy thing to do, but my parents taught me that intelligence, poise, leadership, humility, respect, and dignity were the characteristics that would make me successful in life. Those were the same lessons that Louise and William Nathan taught to Tony and his brothers and sisters. And those lessons served him well.

After becoming a star at Woodlawn High School and then the University of Alabama, Tony played on several great teams during his NFL career with the Miami Dolphins. While Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino and wide receivers Mark Clayton and Mark Duper were probably the best-known players on his teams, Tony was always the guy we were concerned with stopping because he had the ability to hurt you in so many ways.

While I was the defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, I had to devise ways to contain Tony, which was never easy. He could hurt you as a runner, receiver, blocker, or kick returner. He might not have been the most recognizable Dolphin to the fans, but as an opposing coach I knew what a vital role he played in the teams success.

One of the things that impressed me most about Tony as a player was that he was always evolving. In high school, he was rarely asked to block and seldom caught the ball out of the backfield. At Alabama, however, he became a punishing blocker in Coach Paul Bear Bryants wishbone offense. His willingness to sacrifice his personal statistics and to block for his teammates was one of the reasons he was one of Coach Bryants favorite players. He was unselfish and did his job when he wasnt running the ball. Tony was willing to do whatever he needed to do to help his team win. Tony didnt catch many balls at Alabama, but he became a potent threat as a receiver in the NFL through hard work and practice.

His willingness to evolve and to learn all aspects of the game made him a great coach after he retired as a player. When Tony joined my coaching staff with the Buccaneers, the franchise had endured thirteen consecutive losing seasons. In many of those seasons, the Buccaneers were among the worst teams in the league. There was no tradition of winning and no standard of excellence. The Buccaneers went 610 in our first season with the team in 1996 as we struggled to develop an identity and a winning attitude. That year, Tony was a calming influence and a tremendous role model for our entire team, but especially for our rookie fullback Mike Alstott.