Long before Tony Dungy entered the Hall of Fame as a coach, he was a player who spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers.
During the final season of his playing career, Dungy had a cup of coffee with the New York Giants, where he played under then-head coach Ray Perkins.
Perkins was impressed with Dungy’s knowledge of the game and believed that he should get into coaching following his retirement. And in 1981 after that had happened, Perkins came calling.
“I played two years for the Steelers, and I played a year for the 49ers, and then my third year to the Giants. Ray Perkins was the head coach, a guy named Bill Belichick was the special teams coach. I lasted kind of midway through training camp and got cut, and realized it was probably time to hang it up,” Dungy recalled, via the New York Post.
“When I got cut, Coach Perkins said, ‘I really like a lot of things about you, you’re just not a very good player. But one day, you might be a good coach.’ I didn’t think too much of it, I thought it was just small talk. … And so the beginning of winter of 1981, Coach Perkins called me and he said, ‘Hey I was curious about that. I’d like to talk to you about coming on the Giants coaching staff.’ So I called Tom Moore, who recruited me, coached me in college, and he was on the staff in Pittsburgh, and I said, ‘Hey, I might have a chance to go to the Giants, what do you think?'”
That’s about as far as things went between Dungy and the Giants. Although he had considered joining them, a more appealing opportunity immediately presented itself.
“Apparently (Moore) talked to Coach (Chuck) Noll, ’cause Coach Noll called me the next day and he said, ‘Are you really serious about looking into coaching? If you really want to try coaching, you ought to come here.’ So instead of getting on the plane to New York, I got on the plane to Pittsburgh, and at 25 years old I was a defensive assistant with the Steelers. But probably wouldn’t have happened if Ray Perkins hadn’t called me.”
Perkins and the Giants lit the match that led to a Hall of Fame career but have nothing to show for it themselves.
Dungy spent eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers before joining the Kansas City Chiefs as a defensive backs coach (1989-1991) and later the Minnesota Vikings (1992-1995).
In 1996, Dungy was hired as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He wrapped up his career as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts (2002-2008), winning Super Bowl XLI along the way.
Dungy was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
