Very good article on Stallings for those interested

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Stallings' final summer of oil work was in 1957 on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He rode out Hurricane Audrey's 100-plus mph winds on the shaky rig, wondering if it would crumble into the sea. The storm slammed into the Texas and Louisiana coasts and killed more than 400 people, the largest death toll from a hurricane in the U.S. until Katrina hit in 2005.

"We were the only rig that wasn't evacuated," Stallings said. "Everything had broke loose. We were there two or three days. It was scary."

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At the end of his sophomore year against Ohio State in the Jan. 2, 1995 Citrus Bowl, center John Causey felt his knee pop. He immediately fell to the ground, watching as the play resulted in a fumble. Looking down, he saw just how bad the injury was.

"My toes were where my heel should have been," Causey said.

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"Are you hurt or are you injured?" Stallings asked, "because you can play hurt."

Causey had dislocated his knee and tore three ligaments.

Laid up in the hospital, Causey didn't expect to see Stallings until next year. The following day, his head coach came by to say hello.

"I was in there nine days and he stopped by each of those nine days," Causey said.

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"He would walk around and monitor what was going on," Copeland said. "If a player did something that was stupid, bone-headed or just wasn't doing it right, he would always say something to the effect of, 'Hey man, what are you doing? Hell, John Mark can do it better than that!'"

Now retired from the NFL, Copeland still laughs at Stallings' signature barbs. How he got away with it was simple.

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