Doug Atkins is old school and he's not ashamed of it.

The Hall of Fame defensive lineman played for three legendary football coaches. Atkins played for General Robert Neyland at Tennessee before being selected with the first pick in the 1953 NFL draft. Then, Atkins played for the Cleveland Browns' Paul Brown and George Halas of the Chicago Bears in the NFL.

"There never was a better defensive end," Halas once said of Atkins despite often being at odds with the Humboldt native.

Atkins retired from the NFL in 1969. The 75-year-old Atkins recently discussed a life of football.

Q: How much has football changed since when you played?

A: It's like night and day. There are a lot of people that are doing things that they're not supposed to do now. People are getting larger but a lot of them are getting help, though. They're using things they shouldn't be using to get all that extra weight on them.

Q: Do you think there are a lot of steroids in football?

A: Oh yes, there is a lot of it. There's everything in the National Football League and everything in college now, things that we didn't even have to worry about.

Q: Did you ever see steroids when you played?

A: We didn't have steroids back in those days. I've never heard anyone talk about them. But it's changed so much. It's still a good game but there are so many things that have interfered with it. I think it's worldwide.

The country is just getting evil. That's the only thing I can think of. They've got a bunch of greedy, evil people. Everything is about money. You have a problem, you look at the bottom line and it's money. You have too many dishonest people.

Q: What was your relationship with Halas like?

A: It's a problem when you play with a coach like General Neyland, one of the best coaches in the country, and then you play with Paul Brown, the best in the pros, Then when you go to the Bears, they look like a three-ring circus.

Football passed him (Halas) by. He just gave his old coaches a title instead of a raise and he just let the rest of it go by him.

I never really had any problems; they just asked you to do things and they don't give you a chance to do it. They put you in a certain defense and they want you to get results. But it's impossible to get results from some of those positions they put you in.

It was a Mickey Mouse defense. Then when George Allen got in there, we won the championship. We kind of went to basic defenses like everyone else.

Q: Was Halas fiery?

A: Yeah, he'd tee it up with you. He'd get nose-to-nose with you. He wouldn't back down. He was a tough old man.

When he started off in the league, he had his family and his wife. You had to wash the uniforms and sew them up. During the depression he just about lost his team a time or two. Halas had to work for it. I could understand completely after I got out, but at the time it was hard to understand.

We had weigh-ins, and the weigh-ins weren't fair because he'd set weights that were way low and they'd be hard for you to make. And he signed you for, let's say, $25 for each pound up to three pounds. If you went over the three pounds of your assigned weight, he'd charge you $50 (per pound). He took it out of your paycheck. We had problems over that.

We tried to figure out every way we could to beat the scales. The scales were next to the restroom and you'd get on the other side and when those scales extended we could put some quarters or half-dollars on there and staple them on there with tape. So we spent more time trying to beat the scales than we did taking steam baths.

Q: Does it bother you when UT players get in trouble today?

A: I think we're in the top-10 in all those things I don't know what you have to do to get kicked out of football as long as you can play. It's just the things that are happening. It doesn't disturb me; it's just hard to get used to.

Q: How tolerant was Neyland of such issues?

A: He didn't tolerate anything, buddy. He was the man that ran the show. You did what he said. He handled it with an iron hand. That's why he had so much discipline. Very seldom did he have a problem. We had a few little ones but they were very small.

You didn't stay around long (if you got in trouble). He shipped them out. We had so many going out that you couldn't keep up with them. You start the season and have so many in camp and the next thing you knew they'd be slipping out in the middle of the night going to the bus station and going home. He was a good coach.

Q: How intelligent was Neyland?

A: He was a very smart man. He had a lot of common sense. Maybe he'd get on you for something, and then he'd laugh about it to somebody else, but not us. He wouldn't let you know.

There was a soft side to him but we never saw it. That's an old army thing. He'd say something to us kind of rough-like and then get out and laugh to someone else about the reaction he had out of us.

Q: How much football do you watch now?

A: I watch and then I'll get a movie on, a western or an old movie, and I'll go back and see what the score is. I try to watch (Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton) Manning and some of the people. But all the people that I know aren't playing anymore and I don't know any of them.

I watch Tennessee games. If they're winning and get behind I switch off to something else. I can take it or I can leave it. I like to see them win but I don't get excited like I used to.

Q: Are there any UT players you like to watch today?



A: I like Manning. There are a lot of other players. I'm a Manning man because I think he's one of the best and he's a good person and he has good morals and he's fair with everybody else.

It's a shame more players aren't like him. I'm not talking about ability. You don't see him get in trouble a whole lot unless he moons someone. Back in my day there'd be a lot of people mooning when you have women in the dressing room.

That's completely ridiculous. That's a place for a man. They're completely out of line and anything they get I think they deserve. There's no place for a lady in a men's dressing room. I think it's the university's fault for having them in that position. I don't think it's Manning's fault at all. I'd probably have done worse.

Q: Could Peyton have played in your time?

A: Peyton could play in any time. He plays like the old players in the past. He studies probably more than any of them. Yes, he could have made teams in my day. He could make teams in any day.

Q: What physical toll did that take on your body after playing in a then record 205 games as a lineman?

A: Everything is broken down. It takes a toll on you. You play hurt. Now they get a hamstring and they go talk to their agent to see if they can play. You had to play back in my day. Get injections to play or they'd send somebody else in there. There are a whole lot of differences now."

Atkins was interviewed on the Morning Sports Animals with Dave Hooker and Jeff Jacoby. The show airs from 6-9 a.m. and can be heard on 99.1 FM, 99.3 FM and 990 AM.