TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Nation Knew Jack After Interception

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY

mfennelly@tampatrib.com

Published: January 26, 2009

TAMPA - This time of year every year, the phone rings at the Squirek residence in suburban Cleveland. It's a reporter and ...

"I know what they need," Jack Squirek said.

Another Super Bowl is here, its big wheel spinning. Whose name will it stop on - or stomp on? Whose name will go global, raised from obscurity?

Twenty-five years ago, the name was Squirek. On Jan. 22, 1984, in Tampa's first Super Bowl, a second-year backup Los Angeles Raiders linebacker named Jack Squirek (still pronounced SKWY-rik) crashed America's living room with an interception and touchdown that won't go away.

"The Super Bowl, it's a powerful thing," Squirek said.

Twenty-five years ago in Super Bowl XVIII at Tampa Stadium, the Raiders led 14-3 and had the Washington Redskins pinned near their goal line just before halftime. Jack Squirek stood on the sideline. "I thought they'd run the clock out," he said.

Raiders linebackers coach Charlie Sumner thought different. He recalled Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann dumping one to Joe Washington in a regular-season win against the Raiders; Washington went 67 yards. Now Sumner grabbed the 6-foot-4 Squirek and told him to get in there for the slower Matt Millen.

"I remember Charlie holding me by the jersey, saying 'Don't let this happen, don't let that happen,'" Squirek said. "I was trying to pull away from him to get in there. I ran in, found my stance and keyed in on Washington and ..."

Theismann threw for Washington in the left flat.

"If you look at the replay, Lyle Alzado sees Washington going out for the screen, so he pushes him and knocks him off course. You can see Theismann kind of redirect his throw, and when he did, I was able to make a break on the ball."

He made the pick and strolled into the end zone. "Then 20 of my guys piled on me," Squirek said. Before they did, a Sports Illustrated photographer spotted Squirek holding the ball aloft and clicked.

The Raiders crushed the Redskins. Squirek, the quiet son of an auto worker, was hauled to interviews with another second-year Raiders player, game MVP Marcus Allen. Allen got the new car, but Squirek got the SI cover, beneath the word "BLOWOUT!" next to the words "Jack Squirek Shocks The Redskins."

And that was Jack Squirek's moment. Seven months after the Super Bowl, in a preseason game against the Dolphins, his jaw was fractured when he was crack-back blocked. He had headaches for years. He was out of football by 1987.

"Sometimes you want to be remembered for your long career," Squirek said. "But it's not like I'm remembered for something bad."

The Super Bowl cuts both ways.

Ask Jackie Smith, a Hall of Fame tight end always remembered for dropping a pass in a Super Bowl 30 years ago.

"I'm in the Hall, and so is a great big picture of my drop," Smith said.

Ask Scott Norwood, who on another Tampa night missed for the Buffalo Bills.

It's a powerful thing.

Jack Squirek turns 50 next month. He and his wife, Penny, have two children, Jacob and Cassandra. He owns a successful janitorial and cleaning business. He keeps his Super Bowl ball and No. 58 jersey from the game in a bank safe deposit. He has a tape of his Super Bowl. Sometimes, Jacob, a high school runner and linebacker, shows his pop's moment to friends. Dad kept the Sports Illustrated cover.

"It's framed down in the rec room. And I have like 10 copies around the house. Sometimes people give me copies, or I'll find one and just kind of keep it."

He watches the Super Bowl on TV. He thought about his night when someone named David Tyree made that miracle catch against the Patriots last year, and when no-names Larry Brown and Dexter Jackson became Super Bowl MVPs. "That's what's great about the Super Bowl," Squirek said. "Anyone can step up."

Dexter Jackson still drives the 2003 Cadillac Escalade he won for being Super Bowl XXXVII MVP for the Bucs. Jack Squirek? He once signed some autographs outside a Nike store in Chicago. He thinks he got $1,000.

But there was this time a few years back ...

"We were going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for vacation. On the drive back, we couldn't find a hotel. Every hotel was filled. I must have tried 10 hotels. I'm getting tired, I try one more. Guy says, 'Nah, we're all booked up.' I was getting ready to leave and he said, 'Is that a Super Bowl ring?' I told him yeah. He said, 'I think I might have a room for you.' They had me judge this Hawaiian Tropic beauty contest in the nightclub they had. They gave us free dinner, a couple of beers, and a room, all on them. I said wow, what a great deal."

It all began on a night in Tampa 25 years ago.

It's a lesson for us all.

"Always be ready," Jack Squirek said.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT