When I was growing up, I was just barely too young to remember the LA Rams' Fearsome Foursome: Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy, and Rosey Grier, but I heard about them all the time and had great respect for their football prowess. One of the lasting lessons of my childhood came in the form of trivia about, Rosey Grier. Each and every time I would make a remark along the lines of, "That's for girls," it didn't matter what "that" was. I would be quickly met with the rejoinder that, "Rosey Grier does needlepoint." Thus providing me with a life-long lesson that members of any sex can participate in any activity that they choose. I was reminded of this today, when I read The Manly Art OF Knitting by @rgeddes, so I went and looked at Grier's wikipedia page.
In addition to his NFL and needlepoint fame, I was surprised to learn several other things about Grier, too. For example, he is a Christian minister and he was a singer, with the 1968 hit song, People Make the World:
The most surprising thing I learned, though, was that Grier was a bodyguard for Senator Robert F. Kennedy's wife, Ethel, on the day that Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan. On that day, Grier was the one who disarmed and helped to subdue Sirhan Sirhan. I can't find a way to embed the video, but Grier talks about what happened in the PBS video: Rosey Grier on the Kennedy Assassination. In short, he sprinted to where the shooting had taken place, helped to hold the shooter, and managed to wrench the weapon away and pocket it.
Today I learned that the last surviving member of the Fearsome Foursome seems to also be a remarkable man in a variety of ways that had nothing to do with football.