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Behind the Mike: The ever-analytical Jack Ham

Mike Lucas  —  10/09/2008 5:19 am

Nearly 40 years after he first set foot in Camp Randall Stadium as a starting linebacker on the Penn State football team, Jack Ham still has an analytical recall of what went right and wrong for the Nittany Lions against the underdog Wisconsin Badgers, who were still chasing their first victory under first-year head coach John Jardine.

Ham remembered how the Penn State defense made life miserable for UW quarterback Neil Graff, who was sacked 14 times for losses totaling 99 yards. He also remembered how the Badgers converted on a third-and-goal from the 27 when Graff hooked up with Terry Whittaker for the go-ahead score, breaking a 16-16 tie.

In addition, Ham remembered how Wisconsin's tight end Larry Mialik, a converted fullback, caught touchdown passes of 68 and 52 yards and set a school record for average yards per catch (47.3) on his three receptions in the game. "I also remember we lost," Ham said.

On Oct. 3, 1970, Jardine was carried off the field on the shoulders of celebrating fans after the Badgers knocked off the Nittany Lions, 29-16. The week before, Colorado had waxed Penn State, snapping a 31-game unbeaten streak under coach Joe Paterno, whose 1968 and 1969 teams had both gone undefeated (11-0).

"We finished 7-3 (in 1970) and it was devastating to us," said Ham, a consensus All-American, whose Penn State teammates that season included running backs Lydell Mitchell and Franco Harris. Years later, Ham and Harris would be reunited in Pittsburgh, where Ham enjoyed a Hall of Fame career (eight straight Pro Bowls) on the legendary "Steel Curtain" defenses.

Today, the 59-year-old Ham is still breaking down offenses from the perspective of a color analyst on the Penn State radio network. Ham, also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, is entering his ninth season with Steve Jones, who handles the play-by-play and credits Ham with "making me a better broadcaster."

How so? "Because he's able to see things on the field that others miss," Jones said. "He understands all of the intricacies of the game. And his personality is such that he has zero ego, none whatsoever."

The respect is mutual. "It's refreshing," Ham said, "to have a play-by-play guy who cares totally about the broadcast -- someone who doesn't worry about who does all the talking or who makes the best points. I'm not blowing smoke, either."

Ham admittedly has a soft spot in his heart for Wisconsin because of one of his former Steelers teammates, the late Mike Webster, a Hall of Fame center. In 1970, when Ham was the co-captain of that Penn State team that lost to the Badgers, Webster was a UW freshman, a 6-foot-1, 218-pound prospect from Rhinelander.

"Oh, my God, I can still remember practicing against Mike when we were together with the Steelers," Ham said. "When we would get into a prevent defense, we'd take a linebacker out of the game and I'd move to the middle of the field.

"Well, they called a blitz and I hit a gap and ran right into Mike Webster. Once he got into your body, you were done. He clamped onto me and rode me out of the play and I'm thinking to myself, 'If I had to go against him every play, I would just pack it in.' He worked so hard at becoming a great football player and he was one of the greatest centers of all time."

In the next breath, Ham acknowledged the cold reality to Webster's life. He was only 50 when he died, having been diagnosed with brain damage and endured drug addiction and homelessness. "I remember the good things with Mike, and the positive," Ham said, "but, yes, it was a very tragic ending to an incredible career."

Some believe Jack Ham was the most accomplished linebacker in NFL history. He is at least in the discussion with Lawrence Taylor and a handful of others. Throughout his years in the radio booth -- "broadcasting has always been kind of an avocation for me" -- Ham has witnessed many strategic changes in the game at both the pro and college levels.

"But if you can still run the football," he said, "like people did 10 years ago and 20 years ago and 30 years ago, if you can run the ball, you can still be a successful football team. That has been the constant. In my era, Dan Fouts and the San Diego Chargers threw the ball all over the place, but they never won a Super Bowl. The running game is still so very important."

How would Ham, the quintessential linebacker, measure up against the spread offense, the rage today in college football? "I would have enjoyed it because I always enjoyed playing pass coverage," he said. "Not that I didn't enjoy playing the run. But there were people who thought linebackers were a liability against the pass and I tried to change that perception."

There's another constant that has transcended the many different eras. "It's all about the matchups," Ham pointed out. "I'm big on personnel. I don't care what you're running offensively, if you've got a great front four -- four maniacs -- you can get pressure on the quarterback and get the ball out of his hands quickly."

As Penn State's radio analyst, Ham has witnessed the evolution of the current Nittany Lions offense from an immobile quarterback, Anthony Morelli, who struggled when he was forced to move around the pocket, to a mobile one, Daryll Clark, who has emerged as a difference-maker at the position because of his athleticism.

"Against Illinois, it was a third-and-1 situation," Ham related of Penn State's 38-24 win over the Illini on Sept. 27, "and everyone was thinking an inside run, and he (Clark) goes around the right end for about 20. They ran that sweep with Clark, which gives you an extra blocker. Mobile quarterbacks might get killed in the pros, but they make college defenses so wary."

Ham likes the makeup of the Penn State offense, which features three skilled receivers (Derrick Williams, Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood) and two dangerous tailbacks (Evan Royster and Stephfon Green). "They've got a lot of weapons," Ham conceded. "But it all still starts with their offensive line and it goes back to the running game and the ability to control the ball and wear down defenses."

There has been no greater constant at Penn State than Joe Paterno, who has been on the sidelines for 43 years as the head coach and 59 years overall. Since Paterno took over the program in 1966, there have been 817 head coaching changes in Division I and eight -- soon to be nine -- administrations of U.S. presidents.

During his visit to Madtown in 1970, Paterno observed, "Someone once said that coaches are kids who never grew up and I guess that's how it is with me." He will be 82 years young in December.

"I remember when I started doing the Penn State broadcasts," said Ham, who is an executive in the coal industry in Pittsburgh (a vice president of Targe Energy), "I was watching Joe screaming and yelling at a player on the practice field and I could almost turn back the clock to when I was playing with Mike Reid and Steve Smear, and he would do the same thing.

"Joe has always had the belief that if you hang around young people they will keep you young. His high energy level today is amazing for a man his age. For him, age is truly a number." Laughing, Ham added, "I may retire from broadcasting before Joe retires from college football."

mlucas@madison.com

Mike Lucas  —  10/09/2008 5:19 am