DeVone Claybrooks will forever be linked with fiery head coach Jon Gruden and Pro Football Hall of Fame players Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks.
In 2002, the B.C. Lions head coach was a rookie defensive lineman with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who capped their season with 48-21 Super Bowl victory over the favoured Oakland Raiders. Sapp and Brooks anchored a defence that registered five turnovers in the title game to earn Gruden a measure of redemption against the franchise that dealt him to Florida after the '01 campaign.
Claybrooks knows all about what it's like to play on one of the biggest stages in sport, like the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams will do in the Super Bowl on Feb. 3 in Atlanta.
"Nothing really beats (winning the Super Bowl), it's one of those unique experiences," Claybrooks said. "You never realize the magnitude of it and that you're in it until it's over.
"After a few years you realize the moment, that that team is etched in history and you're one of the few players to actually win a championship."
Claybrooks, 41, also has won Grey Cups as a player and defensive co-ordinator with the Calgary Stampeders (2014, 2018 respectively). He replaced the retired Wally Buono as Lions head coach in December.
Claybrooks was part of an elite Tampa defence. Sapp and Brooks are both in the Hall of Fame with safety John Lynch, currently the San Francisco 49ers GM, and also a finalist for induction. The Bucs also featured stalwart end Simeon Rice (four time All-Pro) and cornerback Ronde Barber (franchise-high 47 career interceptions).
"You could see the character of those men," Claybrooks said. "You understood they required you to be great even if you didn't have the same physical skills and tools they did.
"They played and competed at a very high standard, the same standard you wanted to be at. I'm where I am now and have been blessed because of the journey those guys took me on. They took me under their wing, showed me how to a pro and taught me how to understand the game."
And it didn't take long for the six-foot-three, 300-pound Claybrooks to realize he was in the midst of greatness.
"I'll never forget the first day I'm there," he said. "They threw a screen pass to (running back) Warrick Dunn and both Sapp and Booger (defensive lineman Booger McFarland) tagged him immediately.
"You talk about two freight trains moving in, lord have mercy. Watching those guys turn and go, that's something I love to show my guys because most people only saw them hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, they didn't see the work that goes into it."
The ultra-competitive Gruden — dubbed Chucky for his resemblance on the sideline to the demonic character in the horror movie "Child’s Play" — ran Tampa's scout team during Super Bowl week. He constantly drilled his defence on the Sluggo Seam, a favoured passing play of the Raiders' offence and MVP quarterback Rich Gannon.
Not only was Tampa's defence prepared for the play, surprisingly Oakland didn't change how Gannon called it at the line of scrimmage.
"When they were like, 'Kansas, Kansas,' we knew what Kansas meant," Claybrooks said. "All five of our turnovers came off that play.
"The thing is the guys on that defence were a pro's pro. Once you tell someone like Derrick Brooks something once, he remembers it forever."
Claybrooks said one of the most vivid memories he has of Tampa's Super Bowl win — and also Calgary's two Grey Cups — was the raw emotion that came afterward.
"You see vulnerability," he said. "You see these big 300-pound men break down and become emotional because it's the culmination of all your hard work.
"What's also rewarding is being able to do it with family. I'll never forget the look on my mom's face after (Calgary's Grey Cup win over Ottawa last year in Edmonton)."
Claybrooks said the atmosphere surrounding the Super Bowl and Grey Cup are totally different.
"What makes the Grey Cup unique is fans can see guys like Bo (Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell) or (Edmonton quarterback) Mike Reilly and talk ball," Claybrooks said. "If you see Tom Brady or Peyton Manning (during Super Bowl week), they have a lot of security and you wouldn't be able to have a conversation with them."
Claybrooks has two big reminders of his Super Bowl win. There's the Bucs' championship ring, of course, and a gold football the NFL gave players of each winning team in 2016 to commemorate the game's 50th anniversary.
The NFL also presented Claybrooks' high school with a gold ball and financial donation.
Claybrooks had the ball in his Calgary office and will have it on display at his new digs in Vancouver.
"It's definitely a great piece of history but it's also a crazy validation to your kids that, 'Oh my God, coach has played in the Super Bowl.'" Claybrooks said. "You can definitely get their ear to understand the hard work that goes into it."
Claybrooks feels no player worked harder than Sapp, a seven-time Pro Bowler and the NFL's top defensive player in '99.
"I was able to play 13 years in pro ball and the reason for that was the influence he had on me," Claybrooks said. "We'd go out and go right to the facility at 3 a.m., sleep there, hit the steam room at 6 a.m. and be on the field at 7 a.m. doing hand drills.
"He's one of the highest football IQ guys I've ever been around as far as knowing it from front to the back and back to front. You have those memories that you take with you for a lifetime."
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
