37. NFL Hall of Fame Guard Joe DeLamielleure and the Electric Company

Joe DeLamielleure will tell you he has lived a charmed life. An All-American at Michigan State he was drafted in the first round by the Buffalo Bills in 1973. In his 13 years in the NFL, he never missed a game due to injury. In fact, he's never once had any kind of surgery in his life. And that rookie season was one to behold. He helped solidify the Bills line and opened up holes for OJ Simpson to run through en route to being the first player ever to eclipse 2,000 yards in a season. The O-line was known as the Electric Company because they would turn on the Juice, otherwise known as OJ. 6-times a Pro Bowler, Joe D. was a member of the NFL's All 70's All-Decade Team, the Bills Wall of Fame and the Browns Ring of Honor and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. And since his retirement he has worked tirelessly to get older NFL players taken care of financially as well as their health care needs tended to. It's been a struggle but DeLamielleure doesn't back down to a challenge... like when he rode 2,000 miles to Mexico on a bike to raise money for an orphanage south of the US Border... this despite the fact that Joe had never ridden a bike before. That's the kind of man he is... one who values friends, family and faith over money, fame and recognition. And that's why when the topic of OJ comes up, he doesn't back down from portraying his friend from 50 years ago in a light many of us haven't seen in quite some time. Not that he excuses Simpson for what took place, but Joe knew another side to OJ and still struggles to this day to separate the man he played with and blocked for on a football field with the man who killed two people in Brentwood, CA thirty years ago. It's a powerful talk with a man who tells us about the last time he spoke with Simpson just days before the former Heisman Trophy winner died from cancer this past April. It's a Past Our Prime episode you won't want to miss. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices