Happy Birthday Bill Romanowski
CT native and NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski turns 55 years old.
One of the leagues all time assholes turns 55 years old today. Bill Romanowski was notorious for spitting on opposing players, breaking fingers at the bottom of a pile, and even ended his own teammates career.
Romanowski grew up in my neck of the woods in Vernon, CT. He played four years of varsity football at Rockville High School and went onto play college football at Boston College.
In 1988, he was drafted in the third round by the San Francisco 49ers. This was the beginning of a long and violent career from “RomoCop”.
The 6’4 bruiser played 16 season with the 49ers, Eagles, Broncos, and ended his career with his most fitting squad, the Raiders. In his career he tallied 1,116 tackles, 39.5 sacks, 18 interceptions, and 16 forced fumbles.
While Romanowski posted great numbers through his career, he’ll always be remembered as the guy who kicked Larry Centers in the head, spit on J.J Stokes, broke Kerry Collins jaw, and even swung on Tony Gonzalez.
Those four incidents aren’t even the worst of his career. In 2003, Romanowski’s last season, when he was playing for the Raiders, he got into an altercation with backup tight end Marcus Williams. He punched him so hard in the eye that he broke his eye socket.
Due to this, Williams sued Romanowski for 340,000 dollars to compensate for lost wages and medical expenses. Williams was forced to medically retire due to the injury.
When Romanowski’s playing career came to an end he stepped into the world of acting and honestly, he just played the same character he was in real life.
In the Longest Yard, he played a prison guard with roid rage that was also a dirty and violent linebacker on the field. In The Benchwarmers, Romanowski once again played the asshole role as the opposing little league coach.
Romanowski may have won four Super Bowls and been named to two Pro Bowls but, he’ll always be remembered as one of the leagues dirtiest players.