National Football League. - NFL brawler: a player-turned-agents forty years in the bloody trenches of the National Football League

A star linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh, Ralph Cindrich played for the NFLs New England Patriots, Houston Oilers, and Denver Broncos. In the 1980s he became one of the pro games most prominent player agents. Soon he was ranked among the most powerful people in sports. USA Today called Cindrich the undisputed free-agent champ. His pioneering work for left tackle Will Wolford was featured in Michael Lewiss The Blind Side . Today he represents several second-generation clients, teaches sports-law classes, and serves as an expert witness in multimillion-dollar labor cases. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Mary. Visit him at cindrich.com.

My whole life has been football, most of it in the NFL. In the past, Ive wondered whether a life in football was a wasted one. Critics of the business want you to believe it is. Theyre wrong. Football has given me everything I have in lifeall of it. It was a privilege to play.

I owe football big time. It kept me out of trouble, provided an education, paid for my first new car and house at a young age, and put me through most of law school. I met my bride because of football. I live a charmed life because of it.

I know now why I blew out my knee. I would have played longerand better toobut I almost certainly would have suffered even more damage to my brain.

I believe I was able to write about my experiences and share them here because I didnt have a long career on the field. I learned in college from this sawed-off runt of an English professor, Abe Laufe, that for a work to be considered literature, there had to be a moral. I hope you found one.

My heart is in here on every page. Did I mess up somewhere, maybe get something incorrect? My nightmares involve reading something that I misrepresented in this book. I have extensive, rather excellent notes, but there have to be a few screw-ups. I did my bestjust as Mario and the Chief always wanted. But Ive been hit in the head too. Repeatedly. Dont you get that?

Ive been blessed beyond belief from the day I was born, starting with a brilliant mother who helped me overcome a serious speech defect. I think about where I came from and my experiences throughout the years, and I often remember the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Dapper Dan awards dinner in 1967. It was my first honors banquet and I was named the MVP of WPIAL Class B. My youth football coach Abby Rush escorted me. Big-time Westinghouse high school star Lloyd Weston looked like he fell out of the pages of GQ . I looked like a dirt-poor farmer. I wanted to leave. Coach Rush put me at ease. Aint nobody care what you look like, Ralph, or where youve beenonly where youre going.

Abby, along with Mario Gabrielli, in absentia of course but with me like old times, introduced me at the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2014.

Ive been blessed all along the way. Ive been in the business so long that Im now representing the sons of clients. Im at a point where I dont have to charge if I dont want to and can help out a clients charity too. Im thankful that I was able to make it to this point.

My family, my hometown, my coaches, teammates, and clients are the reason why.

Ive been blessed.

I met a bunch of big-time athletes thanks to Al Abrams, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor, who established a Dapper Dan Banquet that was one of the best in the country. As a high school senior, I sat on a leather couch next to Al while he discussed race relations with baseball legend Roberto Clemente, who was extremely animated in this particular conversation. This was the late 60s and racial issues were a hot-button topic. Al was saying he understoodhe experienced discrimination as a Jewyou just have to give it time. I really dont think anyone other than Al could talk to Clemente that way back then. Al was given tremendous respect by all the professional athletes, writers, and guests. Al eventually introduced me to Clemente and Roberto acknowledged me at the introduction with a head shake.

When youre honored in high school by the Dapper Dan Club they put you up on the dais with all the greats and I mean all the greats: Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Stan Musial. I was just a good athlete from Avella and I sure as hell didnt belong, but I was happy to have that spot. I sat next to Fritzie Zivic one yeara well-known Hall of Fame boxer and a fellow prick Croatian. He was one of the dirtiest fighters during his time and never ashamed of it. Anyway, Fritzies right next to me and former Steelers running back Frenchy Fuqua goes up to the podium dressed in one of his wild costumes: glass shoes with goldfish, a plume hat, and a satin, gold overcoat or cape. Fritzie gives me a shot in the ribs and leans over.

That guy know how to fight? he asks pointedly.

Well... I dont... I dont know, Fritzie, you know, hes a football player. Why do you ask?

He dresses that way he better know how to fight!

My youth football coach Ab Rush was a big part of my athletic success and my life in general. His wife, Jane, was too. One night, many years after I moved on from the Pee Wee league, I was all dressed up for a formal party in a black suit and pink tie.

Ralph, Abby would look good in that tie, why dont you give it to him? Jane said.

Wait a minute, Jane, my brother Ron said. What if Ralph asked you for your panties?

Without missing a beat, Jane responded, If I was wearing any, Id give em to him.

I carved my biggest niche in the NFL with offensive linemen, but I had a handful of quarterbacks too. One of them was among the biggest Cinderella stories pro football had ever seen. Jeff Blake went from the waiver wire to Waikiki (for the Pro Bowl), as Cincinnati writer Geoff Hobson put it.

Blake led East Carolina to an 111 record and a No. 9 ranking as a senior, but wasnt drafted until the sixth round by the New York Jets in 1992. The Jets cut Blake after two seasons and he signed with Cincinnati as a third-string quarterback. But Bengals quarterbacks David Klingler and Don Hollis both got injured in the same game, and Blake got a golden opportunity. He made the most of it, taking the starting job and holding onto it for six years. He earned the nickname Shake-N-Blake, became famous for throwing deep balls that seemed to drop from the moon, and made the Pro Bowl in 1995, throwing a record 92-yard touchdown in that game. As his agent, it was fun to watch everything come together. And according to Blake, it all happened so fast, he never got to savor it as much as he would have liked.

It all happened so fast it seemed like, it was kind of unreal, Blake said. I never got a chance to indulge in it. The one thing I wish I could do is go back and have the opportunity to reflect. Sometimes things happen and you never get a chance to indulge in your victory or your success.

Blake played in 120 games over the course of his career, following his stint in Cincinnati with stops in New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago. He currently works as a coach and trainer preparing the next wave of elite quarterbacks.

One year with the Cardinals, a few of us agentsFrank Bauer, Frank Murtha, and myselfbanded together and refused to deal with the lead contract guy of the Cardinals, Bob Wallace, a good guy working for a tough, old-time owner who at the time was, well, cheap. Bob was not easy to deal with and he used all of the abundant leverage available to him. We used what we had. Every time he would call, we would all hold tight and refuse to negotiate. Then, wed call the other agents of the draft choices of the Cardinals and pretty much leave a messageRabbit on the Run!knowing the other side was holding tight.