Jerome Bettis

Bettis was picked in the first round (10th overall) of the 1993 NFL draft by the-then Los Angeles Rams. A star even in his rookie year, he rushed for 1,429 yards in 1993, and was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. He quickly earned the nickname "Battering Ram." He rushed for over 1,000 in his second season with the Rams, but his carries declined as he fell out of favor with the team.

After Rams head coach Chuck Knox retired and was replaced by Rich Brooks, Bettis no longer fit into the team's plans. The Steelers needed a running back: Bam Morris, their featured back in the 1995 season, had pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and was cut by the team in June, 1996. Bettis was traded to Pittsburgh that summer with a third round draft pick in exchange for a second round pick in 1996 and a fourth round pick in 1997.

His career took an upturn after the trade, and Bettis became an integral part of the Steelers offense. He rushed for 1,072 yards and 4 scores in 2001. Injuries cost him part of the 2002 season, and he began the 2003 season as a backup to Amos Zereoue. Despite regaining his starting role midway through the 2003 season, Bettis again found himself a backup to start the 2004 season, this time to Duce Staley. But when an injury held Staley out of action mid-way through the year, Bettis stepped in and gained 100+ yards in each of his seven regular season starts, leading to a Pro-Bowl berth for the sixth time in his career. Bettis spent the 2005 season as a full-time short yardage running back, but managed 101 yards against Chicago in week 14 and scored 3 touchdowns in his final home game against Detroit. Although age had slightly reduced his role, he remained important to the Steelers and was the NFL's 5th leading all-time rusher. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, and 2004. Bettis won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 1996, and in 2002 he was the recipient of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

Bettis was at the center of one of the most controversial calls in NFL history. During a Thanksgiving Day game with the Detroit Lions on November 26, 1998, Bettis was sent out as the Steelers representative for the overtime coin toss. Bettis called "tails" while the coin was in the air but the referee declared that Bettis had called "heads" and awarded first possession of the ball to Detroit, who would go on to win the game. After reviewing the incident, the NFL changed the rule and declared that the call of "heads" or "tails” would be made before the coin was tossed rather than during the coin toss and that at least two officials would be present during the coin toss. Some have jokingly referred to the new procedure as the "Jerome Bettis Rule". The readers of ESPN voted the incident as the #8 on its list of the top ten worst sports officiating calls of all time.[1]

During the 2004 season, Bettis and New York Jets running back Curtis Martin dueled for position on the all-time rushing yards leaderboard. Bettis entered the season in 6th place all-time and 684 yards ahead of Martin in 9th place. Because Bettis was the backup in Pittsburgh for the start of the season, Martin was able to pass Bettis in week 13 until the Steelers played their game later in the day and Bettis retook the lead by 6 yards. When the Jets traveled to Martin's home town of Pittsburgh to play the Steelers the following week, both backs would cross the 13,000-yard mark, making this the first time two players crossed the 13,000 yard mark (or other similarly high yardage milestones) in the same game. Their combined career totals were also one of the biggest combined career totals for opposing running backs in history. At the end of the game, Martin would lead Bettis by 9 yards. Two weeks later in week 16, Bettis would again pass Martin and establish himself with a lead of 81 yards. In doing so, Bettis passed Eric Dickerson for 4th place on the all-time list. Bettis sat out the final week of the season, and when Martin rushed for 153 yards that week he passed Dickerson and Bettis for the final time.

After the Steelers' defeat in the 2004 AFC Championship Game on January 23, 2005, Bettis announced that he was considering retirement, but would not make a final decision for several months to prevent the sting of the defeat from clouding his judgment. Later, Bettis agreed to stay with the Steelers for another season. He stated he would love to play in the Super Bowl in 2006 since it was to be played in his hometown of Detroit. His wish came true as the Steelers played in, and won, Super Bowl XL (40) against the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 on February 5th, 2006.

Bettis finished his 13 NFL seasons as the NFL's 5th all-time leading rusher with 13,662 yards and 91 touchdowns. He also caught 200 passes for 1,449 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Most people think Bettis acquired the nickname The Bus from legendary Steelers radio color commentator Myron Cope; but Myron only popularized the nickname after hearing a brother of a fellow Notre Dame alumni call Jerome "Bussy" in Green Bay. Although some would think otherwise, the nickname had no association with wearing a black and gold uniform; it actually comes from his ability to carry multiple defenders on his back, like a bus ride, during his carries. It was during the Green Bay broadcast that Cope starting using the nick name "The Bus." Jerome credits someone at the Notre Dame school newspaper with first using the now famous nickname.

Another lesser known nickname for Bettis was "the closer". He was given this nickname by former Steeler head coach Bill Cowher because whenever Pittsburgh was ahead and was ready to close out the game Cowher would send in Bettis to run out the clock. This was due to Bettis' very low fumbling percentage and the fact that he was diffcult to tackle.

Source: Wikipedia