By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - The NFL Draft was a much different experience 50 years ago than it is today.
To begin with, it was not held in late April, but rather early February. And it certainly wasn't broadcast live on ESPN or NFL Network with experts standing by to break down each pick in real time.
There were 17 rounds, not just seven. And prospects weren't gathered around their living rooms with friends and loved ones waiting for the phone to ring.
In fact, Saint John's University defensive lineman Steve Setzler '72 wasn't even home at all when the San Francisco 49ers selected him in the 12th round of the 1972 draft, held 50 years ago this week on Feb. 1-2 at the Essex House Hotel in New York City.
"I was coaching J.V. basketball at the Prep School and we had a game at Melrose that day," recalls Setzler, an All-MIAC defensive end who at the time stood 6-foot-4, weighed 245 pounds and had been timed at 4.63 seconds in the 40-yard dash by Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel Gil Brandt during a workout at Macalester College in St. Paul the previous summer.
"I think we ended up getting beat like 76-8 or something. Melrose had this talented eighth-grader by the name of Mark Olberding (who went on to star at the University of Minnesota and play 12 seasons in the ABA and NBA). We couldn't stop him. We'd put four guys on him and he still got to the basket.
"So after the game, I got back to the cafeteria at Saint John's and everybody was coming up to me to slap me on the back and say congratulations," he continued. "I thought they were making fun of me about the game. Finally, like the fourth or fifth guy to come up to me told me I'd been drafted by the 49ers. They'd heard it on the radio.
"When I finally got back to my dorm room, there was a telegram from the team saying they'd picked me and welcome to the club."
It was the culmination of an unlikely journey for Setzler, an Osseo (Minn.) native who didn't even make the high school varsity roster at Saint John's Prep until his senior season. He had been cut nine times in all when trying to make the varsity in football, basketball and baseball.
"When I was a junior in high school, I was 5-foot-8, 165 pounds," he recalls. "By my senior year, I was maybe 5-9, 173. Between my freshman and sophomore year in college, I grew to 6-4, 230. My parents didn't even bother buying me clothes that year. They'd buy a shirt, and within a month, I'd look like the Incredible Hulk if I tried to wear it."
That newfound size and speed earned him his shot with the 49ers in training camp prior to the 1972 season. He saw action in several preseason games, even managing to tackle quarterback Joe Namath during a matchup against the New York Jets played before a crowd of 41,920 in Jacksonville, Fla.
He also appeared in the program next to a backup quarterback who'd won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 and shared not only his first name, but a passing resemblance.
"Steve Spurrier and I looked a lot alike and our photos were next to each other in the program," Setzler said. "One time a group of teenage girls came up to me and asked me to sign it. I did, and as they walked away, I heard them saying 'We got Spurrier's autograph! We got Spurrier's autograph!' From then on, if anyone asked me, I made sure I just signed Steve and did it right between our two photos.
"That made the experience a lot better for anyone who asked."
Setzler was among the 49ers final cuts, then went on to the St. Louis Cardinals where he made the taxi squad before eventually being released. He went to training camp with the hometown Minnesota Vikings the following year. But it wasn't until the start of the 1974 season when he landed with the New York Stars of the upstart World Football League.
He earned a spot in the starting lineup at defensive end - even as the team relocated to Charlotte midseason and became the Hornets.
"We had some great players on that team," said Setzler, whose career ended with a knee injury late in that season (the WFL itself would last only one more year). "The defensive line was John Elliott and Gerry Philibin, who played with Joe Namath and the Jets, Lloyd Voss, who played with the Packers, Steelers and Broncos, and me.
"(Longtime pro quarterback) Babe Parilli was our head coach. George Sauer, who'd played for the Jets, was our top receiver. We had to play our games (at Downing Stadium) on Randall's Island. The (New York) Cosmos (of the North American Soccer League) played there when they had Pelé. They brought the old lights from Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and installed them. It seated about 25,000 and one end was open facing an insane asylum. It wasn't in a really great part of town."
"I remember an official working one of our games was a guy from Shakopee. He recognized me and said 'Hey, Minnesota. I don't know how to get out of here. Can you give me a ride afterward?' I told him that depended on if the guy across from me started getting called for holding.
"Lo and behold, about two plays later, the flag came out."
Even while pursuing his pro football dreams, Setzler was teaching and coaching at Benilde-St. Margaret's High School in St. Louis Park, Minn. He eventually became head football coach there in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He then left education to work in investment securities before retiring in 2004. He was also a longtime official in the Twin Cities metro area.
These days, he has returned to the classroom as an in-demand substitute teacher when he isn't spending his winter months in Florida.
"It wasn't a bad run for a guy who wasn't much of an athlete in high school," he said.
20 years ago (2002) – It was a big week for coaches at SJU. On Feb. 6, longtime Johnnie basketball coach Jim Smith recorded his 600th career victory as his team defeated St. Olaf 90-76 at Seton Arena. Luke Witt '02, a standout on that year's team, finished with 21 points to cross the 1,000-mark in his career.
Then, two days later, SJU hockey coach John Harrington, a member of the gold-medal winning 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, joined with his teammates to light the Olympic Torch at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
60 years ago (1962) – Ben Pulkrabek '63 won his sixth match in a row as the SJU wrestling team topped Gustavus Adolphus 31-5 in a dual meet on Feb. 3. It marked the Johnnies' fifth win in their past six meets.
The team would go on to capture that season's MIAC title. Pulkrabek won a conference title at the 190-pound weight class, then placed second at the NAIA national meet.
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