Doug Pederson broke his jaw after a jarring hit in relief duty as the Green Bay Packers quarterback late in an October 1998 loss to Minnesota, and still completed a touchdown pass on the play. He stayed in the game for the point-after attempt, but he needed his jaw wired shut for the next six weeks.
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This was a problem. And not necessarily just because Pederson was Brett Favre’s No. 2. It was also a problem because Pederson had a radio show to do the next night.
Yes, a radio show. You thought this story was about Pederson’s time as a backup quarterback in Green Bay?
Pederson played seven seasons in Green Bay during two stints as the backup or third-string quarterback. He never started a game in a Packers uniform. He attempted only 77 passes. Fans couldn’t watch Pederson play on most Sundays, but they could hear him on Mondays.
“I was a third-string quarterback, and I had a radio show for two or three years down there in Green Bay!” Pederson recalled last week, acknowledging how atypical the arrangement was for someone of his standing on the depth chart. Imagine Nate Sudfeld filling Chickie’s & Pete’s for a radio show.
Yet for a few of Pederson’s years with Green Bay, he sat behind a microphone at Tanner’s Grill and Bar in nearby Kimberly, Wisc., as a co-host on AM-WHBY’s “Let’s Talk Sports.” A limousine driver named Lenny would drive him to the show and back home. (In fact, when Pederson was asked what he remembers about the show, he replied: “free limo ride!”) He’d bring a teammate as a guest and sit with Jim Caston, who served as the host of the show.
“I had fun doing it,” Pederson said. “It was talking about (the game). And listen, I wasn’t playing, so it was easy.“
He did play in that 1998 game, though, and it’s hard to do a radio show when you can’t move your mouth. But turning to Nick Foles to win Super Bowl LII wasn’t the first time Pederson found an able substitute. Pederson liked his contingency plan in 1998 even more. He relied on his wife, Jeannie, to guest host the show.
“She’s had to bail me out a couple times,” Pederson said.
“It was fun to have Jeannie talk and Doug could keep his mouth shut for a little while,” said Bruce Hawley, the owner of Tanner’s.
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The show must go on, as Pederson learned. And he was a star attraction. As Eagles head coach, Pederson is amicable but not necessarily quotable. Coors Light isn’t turning any of his press conferences into a commercial. No noteworthy “Pederson-isms” from his time at the lectern have entered the Philadelphia lexicon.
As a player, though, he was a prime choice for a radio show.
“Doug was very smart and he was likeable,” said Caston, who added that Pederson was the best co-host of the Packers players during that era. “He was well-liked because he knew how to work it. He got the gig.”
Pederson could inject humor. He offered insight on Favre and Packers head coach Mike Holmgren. He analyzed the game from a quarterback’s perspective. Some players hosted shows to collect a quick paycheck and then head home. Pederson, it seemed, did not fit in that category.
“He was not in it for the pay because we were not paying him a king’s ransom,” Caston said. “He was there because he genuinely liked doing it and wanted to do it.”
Doug Pederson gives a young Packers fan a ride on a bike in 1998. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)Caston said the radio station was not interested in name value as much as having a player who could engage listeners. It helped that Pederson was well-connected in the locker room, and able to coax a well-known teammate to appear as a guest. From Frank Winters to Gilbert Brown to Marco Rivera to Robert Brooks to Mark Chmura, Pederson had pull. Caston remembered the Pederson connection convincing players to sacrifice their off night to come to a sports bar 28 miles from Lambeau Field.
“A lot of times, (for) a show like that, the players don’t want to travel from Green Bay down to Kimberly … to do a radio show, but Doug was able to get some of the good guys to come down and hang out and spend an hour or so with all us Packers fans,” Hawley said.
It didn’t always work, though. One time, word leaked that Reggie White would be the guest. But White apparently had another obligation to attend a cooking show. They needed to apologize at the beginning of the next show for his absence.
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Still, Pederson’s audience seldom waned. They were loyal to him. The show started at 6 p.m., and at least 150 fans, sometimes as many as 200, would come to listen live, Hawley said.
“A lot of times, we couldn’t even feed everybody because there were so many people there,” said Hawley, who needed to reconfigure the bar’s seating for space in a standing-room-only crowd.
“I don’t know if they were sliding any money to the fire captain,” Caston joked.
The prime seats were in front of the radio set, and a group of listeners would arrive at 2 p.m. to make sure they had their tables. They were affectionately referred to as the “Front Row” group, which included some of Hawley’s in-laws and friends.
“If somebody happened to beat them there,” Hawley said, “they’d stare them down until they moved off their tables.”
“There were many arguments when somebody showed up earlier and they didn’t get their seats,” Caston said.
Doug Pederson with Packers fan “Front Row Katie” during a radio show at Tanner’s. (Courtesy of Carol W)Pederson still receives Christmas cards and letters from fans who attended the shows. He would arrive early and eat a burger, and then stay afterward and share beers while watching “Monday Night Football.” Lenny the limousine driver dutifully waited until Pederson was ready to go home.
Pederson didn’t mind chatting with the fans. Hawley said Pederson was just being a “normal guy.” Pederson knew the fans as “regulars.” He’d share Favre stories he couldn’t tell on air. He’d discuss fatherhood. He’d offer insight about the game on TV.
“We’re watching it and just the people coming up to you, they want to sit down and have a beer with you, or tell a story or … they would tell a hunting story,” Pederson said. “Those people that were there for me was one of the biggest memories that I took away from doing a show.”
Sure enough, a few listeners took Pederson north to go hunting. There was one listener nicknamed “Beefy” who drove a race car, and Pederson visited the track for a drive.
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Pederson would sign autographs for anyone interested after the show, too. When he realized how many fans waited for his signature, he came up with the idea around the holidays to hold a raffle with the money going to Toys for Tots. Hawley went Christmas shopping with Pederson to buy the toys.
Pederson smiled at the memory of the show and noted that, even with a broken jaw, he maintained his obligation. But Philadelphia radio producers shouldn’t get any ideas. Pederson never envisioned it as anything more than a side gig during his playing career, even if he showed a knack for talking football on the airwaves.
“If he wanted to take that path and pursue it … he certainly had the ability to do that,” Caston said. “Did he want to do that? I didn’t get that sense.”
Even as Eagles head coach, Pederson doesn’t have a radio show. He does a weekly sponsored call-in spot for the team’s official station. He fulfills his required media obligations. But Pederson doesn’t seek out microphones.
So the question was posed to Pederson before he returns to Green Bay for Thursday night’s game, more than two decades after his hosting days: Could he ever have gone from quarterback to sports-talk radio?
“No!” Pederson yelped with the volume and authority of a shock-jock host.
(Top photo of Doug Pederson in 1998: Harry How / Getty Images)
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