Jerome Bettis Quotes

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Jerome Bettis

Profession : Football Player

Birth : February 16, 1972

I'll take Trent Richardson in a heartbeat. Give me that guy: he's polished, he knows how to get it done. He's been on the big stage.

Jerome Bettis

Doug Martin is incredible, and I like him as a runner, but if I had to pick a team, I want a bigger guy that can be more durable, hopefully, in the long run.

Jerome Bettis

You know, you can be perfect for a game or so, but when you get in the playoffs, you have to be perfect for every game.

Jerome Bettis

I don't think you'll find many guys that had a long career, played 10-plus years, that didn't have a concussion.

Jerome Bettis

I was able to reach the highest of the highs in my particular profession.

Jerome Bettis

When you have the Gold Jacket, it gives you, the phrase I like to use is 'permanent relevancy.'

Jerome Bettis

My goal was to get to college. And once I got to college and realized the opportunity there, it was to earn a living and help my family, and so at no point was there ever a time when I thought to myself that I had the ability to get to the Hall of Fame. That was never the idea.

Jerome Bettis

God is great because he helps you through and gives you what you need. Maybe not what you want, but what you need.

Jerome Bettis

I want people to remember that greatness is not a sports term. It's a life term.

Jerome Bettis

There are four things you need for greatness: the ability to sacrifice, the ability to endure pain whether it's physical or mental, the ability to understand that you're going to fail because that makes you a better person. And finally, loving what you're doing.

Jerome Bettis

The experience of growing up in Detroit helped give me the character necessary to push myself as hard as I did as a football player.

Jerome Bettis

The biggest problems come in when you have talent and expectations but you don't work hard. That's a big disappointment.

Jerome Bettis

That's what you have to watch for in all young football players - can they meet that expectation with work ethic? That's one thing you can't know until the moment they reach a certain success.

Jerome Bettis

It was great to have two parents there because you get the nurturing from your mother and you get the sternness from your father. With him there, he was my role model. He was a guy that I looked at and saw how you did things, how to be a man. I think there were a lot of benefits to having mom and dad in the household, and it felt normal.

Jerome Bettis

With an older brother and an older sister, I realized it was going to be tough for my parents to send all of us to school. And I wanted to get some type of scholarship to go to school, so that led me thinking to football.

Jerome Bettis

So by the time I got to Notre Dame, I was developed mentally probably a little bit more than some of the other guys I had played college football with, just because growing up you see a lot more in Detroit than you maybe see growing up in suburban America.

Jerome Bettis

When I think about my childhood, one thing comes to mind: Love.

Jerome Bettis

In Detroit, at least in my household, you might be poor, but you better be honest. You work for what you get.

Jerome Bettis

If you met me when I was six, I was a chubby, mischievous kid.

Jerome Bettis

My dad worked two jobs and my mom worked full-time so that they could afford to send me to this private Lutheran school starting in the fourth grade.

Jerome Bettis