Phil Villapiano – The Biggest Character and Most Hardcore Raider of All Time?
Growing up in the 80s I used to love NFL Films. My father would purchase all the old VHS tapes. One of the reasons I am old school in my football beliefs is because I would watch the old highlights of the players in the 50s, 60s and 70s and I loved the hard hits , the defensive battles, the borderline late hits, the classic rivalries.
One of my favorites to watch was Phil Villapiano. He had the best interviews. I remember my father getting the Raiders – Team for All Decades . Phil was featured in it. I still remember his one line like it was yesterday “These teams were beaten long before we got there. They would absolutely fumble, teams used to throw me be the i swear they were like let me give the Raiders thing get me off the field.”
Early Life and College Draft
Phil grew up in the blue collar town of Asbury Park, New Jersey. His mother encouraged him to pursue a dream of being a NFL player telling him you know you can do that when you grow up, that could be your job. He went to Bowling Green where he became a star and went to the senior bowl. (he even played Running Back his rookie year carrying the ball 8 times for 24 yards). Phil made over 20 tackles that game despite being hit in the eye and playing with a blown up eye.
Villapiano expected to be drafted in the first or second round and was drafted near the end of the second round by the Raiders (he probably dropped due to him being undersized). Despite this he hit like a train and became a starter.
Pro Career
Davis gave a tip on how to play the Browns game on a Monday night game his rookie year and he tackled hall of fame running back Leroy Kelly.
Villapiano was a pro bowler and a star. In his rookie year he came in second for defensive rookie of the year. In his second year he had a career high 3 interceptions for 97 yards including a 82 yard TD against the LA Rams. The next 3 years Villiapiano would make the pro bowl. During the Raiders Super Bowl season of 1976 he had a career high 5 sacks. For his career he had 11 interceptions for 159 yards a TD and 15 sacks.
In 1977 he had a severe knee injury which limited him to 2 games. In 1978 and 1979 he came back and played strong and even had a career high 4 fumble recoveries in 1979.
In my opinion Phil had three extremely classic moments in his career.
3 Classic Moments
- The O.J. Simpson Hit – The Raiders had a trainer who was an expert in making casts for injuries that could be used like weapons . Hall of Fame tackle Bob Brown just used the cast on his broken thumb and put it into LC Greenwood or Mean Joe Green’s stomach and dropped them. Villapiano had one on his forearm. In a game against Buffalo Villapiano his O.J. Simpson just right and the arm tackle around the neck cause the helmet to pop off and roll around on the ground. Like something out of a Gladiator movie when a Gladiator is decapitated. It is considered one of the classic hits in NFL history. Below is a video of the hit!
- Forced Fumble In The Super Bowl – In Super Bowl 11 against the Minnesota Vikings the Vikings blocked a Ray Guy punt, the first block of his career. The Vikings had first and goal at the 2. The Vikings went for the jump package and Phil knew they would run the ball. Phil kept yelling at his teammates “we got them where we want them!!!”. The ball was given to McClanahan, the Vikings’ back. Phil hit him face on, McClanahan fumbled, the Raiders recovered, scored 19 straight points and blew out the bikes!
- Interception to Clinch the Famous Sea of Hands Game – In the Famous Sea of Hands game Phil made a play almost no one remembers. You must remember after the famous Clarence Davis TD catch the Dolphins still had enough time to get a game winning FG as the score was 28-26. Bob Griese threw a deep pass over the middle and Phil picked it off sealing maybe the most famous victory in Raiders history.
Phil loved to work hard and play hard. He talked of drinking triple or quadruple Chivas after a hard day of work in training camp. He used to party and drink with fans after the game to the point where he didn’t know how he got to his car.
But his partying got back at him when he had a few too many one night and in 1980 when the Raiders were considering moving to L.A. he made a statement no way he would go. Al Davis heard about this and had a trade in the works he asked Phil what he thought about the Bills WR Bob Chandler. Bill told him Chandler was great and would be great on the Raiders to replace Fred Biletnikoff who left the team in 1979. Davis told him great cause he was traded to the Bills for Chandler. Phil didn’t want to go to the Bills at first but there he was going to make way more money than he made in his entire career.
His knee injuries were catching up to him and Phil played mostly as backup on some very good Bills teams at the end of his career. He even started the last few games of the 1981 season and was made honorary captain.
Phil is a great person. He does a lot of charity work especially in the local area after Hurricane Sandy destroyed many of the small beach towns in New Jersey. I live in Eleuthera, an island in the Bahamas where Sam Spence used to have a place. I have a friend who is a composer and asked him if he would remake the Raiders Theme written by Sam. I sent it to Phil and he told me he would even send it off to the team for them to listen to it!
Phil is a legend, Classic Raider and one of the best linebackers of his generation . His story telling is second to none!
This week his two former teams face each other, although I got to think Phil is going a bit harder for the Raiders!
His new book Just Tackle Baby is out on Amazon. The link is below.
He is played by Miles Burris, the former Raiders linebacker (who I covered earlier in the season) in the upcoming John Madden biopic.
Also below are a recent interview NFL FIlms did with Phil and the before mention “team for all decades” video which was released in 1989. And of course my Villapiano Jersey.
Just Tackle Baby
Phil Interview with NFL Films
Raiders – Team For All Decades 1989 NFL Films Feature
Phil’s 2019 Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame Speech