Charles Haley Tells NFL Rookies to Act Like the White Guys
Awaiting his upcoming enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Charles Haley had some peculiar advice for the San Francisco 49ers rookie class back in May.
“As far as the rookies, and I know they probably got mad, but I said, ‘Why don’t you all act like the white guys? You never see them in the paper getting high or hitting people. Why don't you act like that,'" said the former NFL great, as revealed by the San Jose Mercury News on Thursday. "They all looked at me crazy.”
“I just did it for the shock value of it,” Haley said of his May speech. "The hardest thing is these guys, they have an attention span of a five-year-old. I’m not the most gentle and kind person to sit there and deal with that crap. I’m a little more confrontational. I think I got my point across. You’ve got to have people that stand for something, until you’re able to lead yourself."
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Yet Haley, who famously won five Super Bowls with the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, will seemingly be welcomed to either squad's camps.
Haley, diagnosed as bipolar in 2002, also told the Mercury News that the Hall of Fame enshrinement will give him a platform to "raise money for kids and for mental illness."
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(Photo: Robert Laberge/Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway)