Hall of Famer LeRoy Butler Talks Inventing Lambeau Leap, Emotional Rookie Card Reveal, Packers Bike Rides with Nick
Tony Reid- I’m joined by four-time First Team All Pro, four-time Pro Bowler, NFL 1990s All-Decade Team member, Super Bowl Champ and 2022 Pro Football Hall of Famer, Mr. LeRoy Butler. How you doing, sir?
LeRoy Butler-You didn't have to read all that stuff. I get a little embarrassed by it. I really do.
TR-What accolade do you enjoy hearing when your name is read?
LB-The one that I'm most proud of is being a Packer for life. That separates you because that means at the top of your career you made it work, whether it was money or whatever. Sometimes it's not your fault, they just trade you away. Sometimes it is your fault. You want four more million than the next guy. I never wanted to be, I actually wanted to be sort of like the Tom Brady approach. Although it didn't work out like Tom Brady, I wanted its approach. Don't necessarily want to be the highest paid but be the richest and the most loved. That's what I want to do now. I didn't get the richest part. I think I got the most loved part, especially when you're going to talk about collectibles.
TR-I'm excited for our conversation.
LB-I've never been interviewed about what you're about to talk about. Not one time. I’ve done a million interviews. This is the first. So, thank you for having me.
TR- Your rookie cards appeared in 1990 in all the big products. There was Action Packed, Fleer, Pro Set and Score. You were a big deal. You had a rookie card in pretty much every product. So the question I have to ask, what was the experience like seeing yourself on a football card for the first time?
LB-Do you want to know the truth? How much this worth? I was always with cards, to be honest, it was mainly baseball cards not football cards. So when I saw my Florida State card for the first time, I got emotional because if you know my story, and I won't go into it, but to be an African American in the south, from a single parent family and my mom was my hero. I had braces on my legs, living in extreme poverty. I jumped in the NFL to get my mom out of poverty. When I first saw that card, I said, man, this thing is worth a lot of money. Then I started seeing them everywhere and next thing you know, I got a card in my Packers uniform. That was next level. It was emotional. It really was because sometimes a kid you say we're trading football cards or baseball cards, you never think you're going to be on one when you see it, it is very exciting.
TR-What is your most memorable trading card experience?
LB-I was at Florida State and my uncle gave me a Drew Pearson card for Christmas. I didn't want a bike. I didn't want a GI Joe with the kung fu grip. I wanted anything that said Dallas Cowboys, but it had to have Drew Pearson on it. But to me, he was the best player on offense, defense, special teams, coach, it didn't matter. I just love that guy. My uncle got that for me, and that card and was unbelievable. I wish I knew where it was.
TR- So you've appeared on just under a thousand different cards over the years. It's 998 to be exact. Do you have a favorite or most memorable card?
LB-Great question. Platinum question. I do. Any of them in green uniforms are amazing because that means we were at home and we won a lot of the home games, but there were a couple in white jerseys. We were playing the Bears and I knew it was the Bears because in Chicago they did a flea flicker or something like they pitch it back, they run it back, pitch it back to the quarterback. He throws it and I intercepted it and they kind of catch me running off the field. That's one of my favorites.
TR-Where is your collection today?
LB-My nephew has most of 'em down in Florida. I'm sorry, my nephew and my son. My son has a notebook and he has all my cards. I have six daughters, and my son is my youngest and he is my favorite, of course. Not the six girls. Trust me, they know (laughs). And I'm going to go through theirs and I'm going to pick out my favorite ones. I'm going to text them to you.
TR-You spent, like we said, your entire 12 year career with the Green Bay Packers, quite possibly the storied franchise in pro football history, with one of the most, if not the most passionate, loyal fan bases in the sport. So I have to ask, what is your most memorable fan interaction or crowd moment with the Green Bay Packers?
LB-Well, obviously it would be the (Lambeau) leap because I went to them (the fans), they didn't come to me. I have a few. But the leap, I mean, jumping up and hugging a shareholder is truly amazing back in ‘93. But the most emotional, thoughtful interaction was when I'm coming out of the locker room and there was a kid named Nick. He's very, very shy, Tony. Very shy as I was, which is hard to believe, but when you come out of the locker room, you got 150 kids saying, ‘ride my bike, can you please ride my bike?’ It's during training camp. We got like 90 players, but sometimes kids want, they'll take a knockoff or a bootleg, but they want a brand player. That's our best joke. When I was a rookie, nobody chose me. They didn’t know who I was. They wanted Don Majkowski and all these guys. And I said ‘Oh, I'm the knockoff player, huh?’ Everybody laughed. We used that joke, but at this point I'm the brand. Okay, this 1993, I had just had six picks, I was Pro Bowl, all of that. I see this kid and he's like, it was like, oh, don't look at me. I'm just here because my mom made me come, had that kind of look. He was in the back and he was really quiet. And when I saw him, I said that's me when I was a kid. I said ‘Hey, you!’ All the kids turned around and looked, 'Nick, he talking about you.' And I said ‘I'm riding it.’ I don't even know what bike it was. I'll be honest, some players pick their kids based on how nice the bikes are. Those are the offensive players. That's another joke. But he came up, I got on his bike, I gave him my helmet and I would ride and we talked. We did it for nine straight years. Every training camp, he was there waiting for me. There were a couple times he couldn't make it. He had other kids with a little sign, like the limo guy, saying pick up Mr. Butler. He had a sign. It was a young lady. She said, Nick's not here. He had a dentist appointment. You're riding my bike. Great. So, he was organized. Then he grew up and got married. I'm still in touch with him today. I'll never forget that.
TR-That's incredible.
LB-It is. Because when you pick a kid who has anxiety like I had, I was a special needs kid, but he was very smart, but he was just shy and I connected with him. He didn't ask me to pick him. He didn't do that. He's the only kid that didn't raise his hand and it worked. I bet you to this day, if anybody ever interviewed him, why didn't you raise your hand? He's going to say, I don't know. He's in his thirties now. So that's the best fan story.
TR-That's an incredible, incredible story. Along similar lines, the autograph experience for a fan is really special when they can meet their hero and have a memorable interaction. Do you remember your first autograph request?
TR-I met with the FBI. We had a rookie symposium type thing. I'm a networker. I like to talk to people. I appreciate them. I remember there was a young lady with the FBI and she said, now you know your signature can't be your signature. I said, drill that down because that's deep. Well, think about it. If you are a scammer or up to something nefarious, they can copy your signature. So your signature on your check can't be the same as on the ball. It blew my mind. I never even thought of that. So it's a difference what you see players, their signature is not the signature. So if some guy goes to forge your name and writes Brett Favre, oh, that's fake. So I appreciate her. I wish I knew her name. I would thank her because when I left from the orientation, I was going outside and I went back to the airport to get something and there was a kid there and he walked up to me and he had some regular football. It didn't even have a Wilson on. It was just like a regular football. I think it might've been close to a Nerf football. And he said, can I have your autograph? I was shocked. I was like, it just happened all the time because at Florida State you didn't sign autographs. They just want you to come to, can you come here? Can you not just to Sign. It blew my mind. I said, man, maybe I'm famous. And then I told my mom about it. Who was my hero. I said mom, these people asked me for my autograph. She was like, duh. I never thought about it. I just thought I was just going to play football. And then when a grownup came with the real football and it was in a different marker than black, that was my famous moment. Wait a minute, he wants it an inch over. He wants ‘Leroy Butler 36, second round pick Florida State.’ I said, mom, I done made it.
Some of these guys, some guys are born with teeth. I mean, they're born grown men like LeBron James, all these great players, Peyton Manning, Deion Sanders, they knew they were going to sign autographs. They probably know all about it. For me, it was different. Where I came from the projects, I didn't know this. I just couldn't figure out how 500 people are in my line and they're paying for it.
TR- The new generation's tradition to pay respect to an opponent is the post-game jersey swap. Now maybe you did it at some point, but if not, if you could go back to your playing career…
LB-We never did it.
TR-Yeah, you only had two jerseys, right? You didn't have any to spare.
LB- Man, you did your homework. I don't know if it was the league because they would even fine you for throwing the football in the stands. It's my football. Why can't I throw it in the stands? Wait a minute. I can keep it and give it to someone. Why can't I throw it up there to a Packer fan? But Paul Tagliabue, that's my guy, hey man, listen, do what you want with the ball. We just thinking we don't want nobody to get hurt, jumping, fighting over it. That makes sense. That's how Tagliabue explained it. Oh, okay, I get it. We got thousands of jerseys, but we never really thought about it because me, if you played at Florida State, I'm going to seek you out and give you a hug and talk to you before I picked you off, of course. We never really thought about doing it, but on the road we had three white jerseys in the trunk. One may rip, you may get blood on it. I remember we played the Bears on Monday Night Football. It was in a monsoon, a rainy game. And yes, I'm a diva. I said can I get a new jersey? Of course. I ripped it off, put a new one on and everybody said it's going to get muddy again. I said, yes, but when we go back out there, I want to look good. I got that from Deion Sanders. I think we could have done it, but nobody really thought about doing it until later. We said, oh man, that's pretty cool. I would've gotten one. Now, if I could retroactively go back, it would be Warren Moon. The only African American quarterback in the Hall of Fame. I'm getting that jersey. That's my best friend, too. Steve Young. I got to have it. Now I got to race to Steve Young because there'll be other guys trying to do the same thing. Emmit Smith, only because Emmitt is my best friend. I grew up a Cowboys fan until I got drafted. Full disclosure, I'm a Drew Pearson fan, but once I got the call to go to the Packers, I hated the Cowboys. I just hate them. But I'm getting that Emmitt Smith. Barry Sanders. I would tackle him if he ran into the locker room and not give me that jersey. I'm getting Barry Sanders. Now, I will say this though, the only jersey that's in my rec room is Herman Moore, but we did it at the Pro Bowl. At the Pro Bowl you always switch, but that's kind of like an asterisk. But those players I mentioned, yeah, before the game it would be like ‘Hey man, after the game win, lose the draw, I need that jersey.’
TR-Over your career, we talked about your accolades and everything you've accomplished and that you were a collector at heart. Do you have a man cave, an office, or a room where you have memorabilia displayed from your career?
LB-Yes, I do. And some of it I donated to the Packers Hall of Fame and some of it I donated to the Pro Football Hall of Fame because I wanted people to see them because I can't invite America into my house, but I could put it in places people could see it. One of the items is my high school helmet that had to be at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I want people to see that. you can give or donate your items and that's what my mom wanted, too. But I still have a lot of great things. But the most expensive stuff that's more valuable is at the Packers Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
TR-This has been an awesome conversation. So we're talking like football cards and memorabilia. If we could take one of your cards, flip it over and there could be one stat or one fact that you would want on the back of a card, what's the one stat or fact that you would have to have on the back of a card about yourself?
LB-Oh, hold on for a second. Let me see if I can find this. This is next level. That's a great question again. That way I won't sound really narcissistic, but I'm going to something that found it. It's my Score rookie card. Now you have to be Superman to read this writing, but I'll do my best. This is a quote from Coach Bobby Bowden. This is his quote. This is not what I said. This is his quote. “LeRoy is quick as a cat has a fierce competitive drive that overcomes a lot. Other than punt returns, he played better than Deion Sanders played last year. He made more things happen and he was more versatile.” If I had a mic, I would drop it. This is what the coach said. I didn't say it. You don't have to believe it. It is what it is.
And I only played cornerback one year. I played safety for two years. But yeah, I'm not going to read it again, but that’s the card. When you have quotes about here's a good way to end it. Our biggest anxiety is how my kids are when I'm not around? Me and you doing this interview, what are they doing? Once you raise them, you know they're going to do the right thing. And that was Coach Bowden. He needed somebody when Deion went number five overall to Atlanta to move to cornerback and would take it on and do it the way it needs to be done. I had seven or eight interceptions. I had a great year. Mickey Andrews was my defensive backs coach, and he was an amazing coach. But when I read that, what Coach Bowden said, who was another one of my heroes, nothing could be better than that.
Being the first 20/20 player in NFL history, having 20 interceptions and 20 sacks, that’s number two. I would like all of my cards to say that but what Coach Bowden said. That was special.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms