This portion of the pre-draft coverage has largely morphed into identifying Hall of Famers that the Washington Redskins have drafted. After all, what better indication of a solid draft choice is there than the guy ending up in Canton? (Conversely, picking the busts has largely been a struggle to not just rattle off names that Vinny Cerrato has scribbled in crayon on draft cards.)
Russ Grimm was a 3rd round draft pick in the 1981 NFL Draft (#69 overall...haha). He was a founding member of the Hogs, one of the greatest offensive lines in NFL history, and the anchor of our dynasty under head coach Joe Gibbs. Grimm played in 4 Super Bowls and personified the blue-collar nature of the Hogs (see story below.)
This one is personal to Kevin and I, as we attended and got to be a part of the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies last year for Grimm (allow me to squash the rumor that I was the first choice to be the presenter--Joe Bugel was the right way to go.) We entered the post-ceremony party thrown by Daniel Snyder and it was perfect. Next door, John Legend was playing a live show for Jerry Rice. (I can neither confirm nor deny any of the stories coming out of Emmitt Smith's party a couple doors down, but someone said that a windowless van rolled up and Nate Newton jumped out.) But at Russ Grimm's celebration, there was just a tiki hut-style bar in the center of the room with a sign that said, "5 O'Clock Club." They must have had 500 cases of cans behind that bar with ice buckets filled with cans of beer scattered throughout the room.
Everyone was now dressed casually and literally chugging beers. At a table with his family and a couple other famous former Redskin linemen, Russ Grimm was holding two beers in one hand, stacked one on top of the other. The top one was open, and he was drinking from it, with the bottom one ready to go. Everyone was happy, the stories were flowing and it seemed every face was recognizable.
Right in between Jeff Bostic delivering a profanity-laced version of an incident that occurred in practice during the glory years and Jim Lachey almost falling over into the Hall of Fame bust of Russ Grimm, both Kevin and I had pretty much the best time we have ever had as Redskin fans since the early 90's.
Nice draft pick, I'd say.
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