Bill Millsaps on former NFL star Howard Stevens

Howard Stevens, all 5-foot-5 of him, never would have made the NFL without those Hall of Fame years at Randolph-Macon

Though he had a thick neck and a barrel chest, Howard Stevens stood only 5-5 and weighed 165 pounds. He looked more like a gymnast than a football player.

Oh, but he was a football player. After one of a number of heroic games at Randolph-Macon College, Stevens stripped off his uniform and pads and said, “I’m not small. I’m just short.”

This fall is the 40th anniversary of the last of his two memorable seasons at R-MC, seasons for which Stevens will be inducted into the Randolph-Macon College Athletic Hall of Fame this coming January. In 1970, the Harrisonburg native transferred from small-college R-MC to big-college University of Louisville, where, after a required sit-out year, he set a school single-season rushing record in 1971 that still stands.

Then he went on to play five years in the National Football League, two with the New Orleans Saints and three with the Baltimore Colts. He was a kickoff and punt returner, a position that requires the ability, toughness – and size – to withstand frequent high-speed collisions.

Ted Keller, the late Randolph-Macon coach, once recalled the day he learned that Stevens’ lack of size would not be a handicap:

“We’re in a live scrimmage, ones versus ones, and we call a pass play,” said Keller. “The ball is snapped, the quarterback takes his drop, and the left defensive end sheds our offensive tackle right away. The only thing standing between him and the quarterback is Howard."

“The defensive end was a big kid, 6-2 or 6-3, weighed 230 or so pounds. He bull-rushed Howard, looked like he was going to run through him. Howard just launched from his blocking position and drove his helmet right into that kid’s chin. Not only knocked him down. Knocked him OUT. That’s when I quit worrying about Howard’s size.”

Today, still physically fit at the age of 59, Stevens is a financial planner who lives in Timonium, Md. He’s finishing a four-year appointment on the Maryland Stadium Authority, which oversees taxpayer investments in sports facilities. He and his wife of 37 years, Joyce, have three children and three grandchildren. “Marrying Joyce was the best decision I ever made,” said Stevens. “We have been blessed.”


Thanks to Randolph-Macon
Though he firmly established his ability to play football at Louisville, Stevens believes he may have never gotten the chance to play in the NFL had he not gone to Randolph-Macon.

The reason? “While I was at Macon, the coach of the Richmond Roadrunners [a defunct minor league pro football team] was J.D. Roberts. By the time I finished at Louisville, he was coach of the Saints.

“I doubt he ever saw me play in college, but I know he remembered me from reading about me in the Richmond papers when I was at Macon. So when it came time for the 1973 NFL draft, he took a chance on me. In the 16th round. That’s the dart-throwing round. The Saints were then a pretty poor team, and had I gone to a better team, I might not have had a chance to make the team. I knew I could play. All I needed was a chance, and J.D. gave me that chance.”

After the 1974 season, Stevens was traded to the Colts, then a playoff-contending team.

In his five seasons as a pro, he served with distinction, missing only three NFL games due to injury. At the end of his tenure with the Colts, he missed a 1977 first-round playoff game against the Raiders because, the week before, the Dolphins’ Bob Kuchenberg blocked him and broke his jaw.

Many men Stevens’ age who have played five years or more in the NFL wake up every morning feeling the effects of long-ago injuries. “To this day,” said Stevens, “I wake up and nothing hurts. God has been good to me.”


Main Passion
Outside of his wife and family, Stevens’ main passion is for the game of golf. He plays and practices often enough so that he is nearly a scratch player, which means he’s around par almost all the time. “It’s a wonderful game,” said Stevens. “It’s about you controlling you. It’s a game in which you need a good constitution and a short memory. I play every golf course from the back tees, and I can hit it.”

Stevens enjoys the game so much he half-kiddingly envisions the possibility of “a fully lighted, 18-hole championship golf course open 24 hours a day. I think you’d be surprised how many people would play.”

Told that he’d have a serious problem getting zoning approval for such a proposal, he said, “Yes, you’d have to put it way out in the boondocks. But wouldn’t it be fun to play?”

Not as much fun as watching Howard Stevens play football.
 

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Rushing Machine
Howard Stevens’ College Years

At Randolph-Macon College:
1968 - 1,468 yards (x)
1969 - 1,417 yards

At University of Louisville:
1971 - 1,429 yards (school record)
1972 - 1,294 yards.

4-year total - 5,608 yards
x-also set an R-MC record of 23 touchdowns