This is Part 2 of a five-part series on Steelers legend Troy Polamalu, in advance of his scheduled Aug. 8 induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Today: BACK TO LA ... AND STARDOM
As he grew up with his aunt and uncle, Shelley and Salu Polamalu, in tiny Tenmile, Ore., Troy Polamau's athletic talent began to shine. He was an all-state player at Douglas High School in football and baseball, where he roamed centerfield like he would one day roam the Steelers' secondary.
He batted .550 in his senior season and, though he played just four football games as a senior because of injuries, colleges came knocking based off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons as a sophomore and junior as a running back and defensive back. Lots of them.
In fact, few know Polamalu originally intended to go to Colorado. His uncle, Kennedy Polamalu, was running backs coach under Rick Neuheisel there in 1997 and 1998. Kennedy brought young Troy into football camp at Colorado for his first taste of football outside the confines of rural Oregon.
"He went in there to the camp and really just shined," Kennedy told me. "I was training him to be a running back because I thought he was going to be a running back. You saw it later in life. Every time he got an interception, he was like a running back. He just enjoyed the culture there, the environment and being around family, so he committed there. Then the head coach decided to leave and all that changed."
Neuheisel headed north, taking the head coaching job at Washington. Kennedy took a job at San Diego State as a linebackers coach in 1999. The following year, he was back at his alma mater, USC, working under Paul Hackett.
He brought his new head coach and the rest of the staff some film of an undersized Samoan kid from a small school in southern Oregon. The response was mostly underwhelming.
It was just tough to tell how good Polamalu was playing against what the staff considered inferior competition.
Hackett, however, saw something and scheduled a trip to meet with the young man and his family in the Oregon backwoods.
"Kennedy and I made the trip up there to meet with him," Hackett told me. "We met with him at his aunt and uncle’s house and it was unbelievable. Their house was right on the edge of the river. It ran through their back yard. The welcome they gave me was unbelievable. They were so friendly. We sat out on the back porch and talked. And Troy barely said a word. He was just so quiet.
"You wondered about how his play would translate. He was at such a small school. It was easy to look at the kids from the schools around LA and figure out how they would make the transition. With Troy, we weren’t as sure. A lot of the coaching staff didn’t want Troy because of that. But Kennedy and I were adamant about him."
Despite Polamalu's apparent shyness, Hackett came away impressed. He invited Polamalu to make an on-campus visit to meet with the coaching staff. Polamalu made the visit and the staff was even less impressed with the 5-foot-10 defensive back and running back.
Much as he did when Hackett was visiting with his aunt and uncle, Polamalu didn't have much to say on his official visit.
"He was very quiet on his visit. But Kennedy and I were so big on him," Hackett said. "I remember we would talk about him as a staff, but Kennedy would leave the room because he didn’t want people to think he was pushing for Troy because of his relationship."
It's a good thing Hackett and Kennedy Polamalu stuck to their guns. Though Hackett was fired after that 2000 season, the die was cast.
"USC came in and we were lucky," Kennedy said. "They had a recruit fall out. He didn’t want the scholarship, and so we’re grateful for Coach Hackett, because I know it wasn’t a 100 percent vote. The important vote was the head coach giving that OK. I know it wasn’t even 50 percent on that vote. One guy voted (that mattered) and that was the head coach."
But Polamalu also fancied himself a two-sport player. He wanted to play baseball at USC as well. And the Trojans had a long history of two-sport athletes at one time.
Joining the USC baseball team, however, wasn't a possibility by the late '90s.
"There were colleges that wanted me only for baseball and not football," Polamalu said. "Most colleges were both, including USC. When I went to USC, the agreement was that I was going to play both. After the football season, Paul Hackett was like, ‘Sorry, you’re a football player.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, what are you talking about?’ He said, ‘No, you’ve got a football scholarship.’ I didn’t play baseball. He was a great coach. I learned so much from him. He had a huge influence on me."
Hackett, who also coached at USC in the 1970s, said the commitment level needed for both sports didn't allow players to cross over like they had in the past.
The demand for players by both sports had just become too great.
"He was an outstanding baseball player. And for a long time, they really liked it at USC if athletes could play multiple sports," Hackett said. "I remember my first stay there, (Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle) Anthony Munoz pitched on the baseball team and he would pitch every fifth or sixth game. But by the time I was there the second time, baseball had become a big deal. They were playing like 100 games in the spring. It just made it too tough to play two sports."
But when Hackett was fired after Polamalu's sophomore season, the baseball field beckoned once again. Polamalu went and worked out in spring practices with the Trojans' baseball team. Earning a spot on Ron Gillespie's team just wasn't in the cards.
"When (Hackett) got fired, there was a lame-duck period before Pete Carroll was hired," Polamalu said. "That's when I played baseball. At that time, USC has Mark Prior. They had a really good baseball team. There was a lot of talent. They might have won (the championship) the year before I had gotten there. But I was scrimmaging with them and I quickly learned how much I had lost my skill. It was hard for me to throw. I had been lifting so much. Being able to hit a fastball was easy. But then I saw my first legitimate off-speed pitch and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It felt like the pitcher didn’t throw it, the third baseman threw it. I realized the commitment I needed to make to be a decent baseball player. I knew I didn’t have it. I understood I didn’t have the commitment to be a really good baseball player while also making the commitment to being a good student and football player."
Besides, Polamalu was well on his way to becoming a star football player. Carroll had a pretty good idea he had a budding star on his hands.
"Pete Carroll came in, he made the decision easy," Polamalu said. "He said, ‘Oh, you’re playing baseball? No. I coached Ronnie Lott. I coached Lawyer Milloy. They’re the heart and soul of my defense.’ That was one of the first conversations that we had. I was really excited because hearing those names, understanding what they meant, was special for me. That was the end of baseball for me at USC."
Polamalu starred on special teams as a freshman, throwing his body around in a fashion that would later be on display during his 12-year NFL career.
He was a starter in Hackett's final season in 2000, then became a two-time All-America player in his final two seasons with Carroll as head coach. Polamalu was named by the Football Writers of America to the All-America team as a junior. His senior season, he was named to every All-America team.
"Those first two seasons, you saw the suddenness," Hackett said. "He played a lot of special teams. He was blocking kicks, making tackles on special teams. But he was still quiet. He just let his play do all the talking on the field. He just had an ability to contort his body while also being so sudden. That suddenness was always there. He’s just a phenomenal player. One of my favorites that I've coached."
Tomorrow, Part 3: PITTSBURGH ... REALLY?
Previous Installments
Part 1: Humble beginnings
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