For whatever reason the Patriots changed their plans during the 1980 NFL Draft, it led to the Rams choosing Penn State's Irv Pankey in the second round, 50th overall, and having a durable and consistent offensive tackle for the next 11 seasons.
"New England had told me that they were going to pick me with their second pick in the first round," Pankey said. "I never worked out for the Rams, or spoke to anybody from the Rams. And they called me and said, 'Hello, my name is (Director of Player Personnel) John Math, and we just drafted you. Do you have a problem coming out to California? And I said, 'Do you know where I am? Hell, no.'
"But because I had never talked to the Rams, it was kind of a shock."
And the Rams were kind of getting a diamond in the rough. Even though Pankey was named as a second-team All-American as a senior, that was the first year he had played the position for the Nittany Lions.
He began his collegiate career as a linebacker and was switched to tight end as a junior and caught 10 passes for 105 yards. He made the move to tackle his senior season.
And so without much experience on the O-line, Pankey not only relied on Los Angeles' offensive coordinator, Lionel Taylor, and his position coach, Dan Radakovich, for a quick education, but also on his new veteran teammates who played on both sides of the ball.
"A lot of old defensive guys like Larry Brooks and Freddy Dryer. those guys would be like, 'You're leaning. Rook.' Things like that," Pankey said. "But Doug France helped me out a lot, he was the starting left tackle on offense when I got there, and Rich Saul, the center, they would sit me down and tell me things.
"They'd say something like, 'Hey, Rook, you might want to blah, blah, blah.' And you'd say, 'Okay, show me what you're talking about.' And they'd work with you."
After playing mostly on special teams during his first season, Pankey practically became an insurance policy, stepping in and making starts at both tackle positions and at right guard, before becoming a full-time starter at left tackle.
Aside from missing the 1983 season after tearing his Achilles tendon during the preseason, after his rookie year, Pankey started in 116 of 128 games, including the Rams' two NFC Championship Game appearances – in 1985 against Chicago and 1989 against San Francisco.
"When we played the Bears that year, we were so one dimensional… It was just their year. I mean, they went 15-1 or something like that," Pankey said. "And in '89 when we played San Francisco, I thought that was the game where we had a true shot to get to the Super Bowl. We had played them twice already and we split, 1-1. And I don't know, in my mind, I had a good feeling."
Another good feeling Pankey experienced was when he was named as a team captain.
"It was me and Jackie (Slater). And on defense, it was Carl Ekern or Nolan Cromwell, one of those two," he said. "You appreciate it because you hope that your play got you to that point."
It did. Pankey, Slater, and Doug Smith became fixtures on the Rams offensive line and were as sturdy as the Hollywood Sign on Mount Lee in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. Pankey's reliability and longevity are what makes him most proud of his career.
"The old adage was when I first got there, they said, 'Getting here is not the hard part. Staying here is the hard part,'" he said "I think the average career back then was under three and a half years, and I got 13. (Eleven with the Rams and two with the Indianapolis Colts)."
Retiring from football in 1993, Pankey took a little time off before getting into sales. But before long, thoughts about the game found their way back on his mind.
"I wanted to go get a real job and I had my own business for a couple years," Pankey said. "Then I was like, 'Yeah, I think I'd like to coach.' And if I'm going to coach, I know what I know, but coaching is different because as a player, you just get the playbook and learn what you've got to learn.
"As a coach, making the playbook and breaking down film and all that other stuff, I didn't know. And I would need to be a coach. So I called (my head coach at Penn State) Joe (Paterno), and said, 'I'd like to come up and be a G.A.' That way, I'm a grunt. It's not Irv Pankey, who played 11 years for the Rams. He's just a student assistant, so to speak. And I went that route because I wanted to learn the game of football from the bottom up.
"So I got to coach while I was at Penn State and learned that, but when it was all on me, I wanted to know what I was talking about and have my ducks in a row."
After spending one season at his alma mater and one as the offensive line coach at Cornell University, Pankey returned to the West Coast in 1998 and taught Health and Wellness and Sports Theory classes as well as serving on the coaching staff at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California.
There for the 22 years, what did he enjoy most about his time in the classroom and on the football field?
"I was a teacher, first," Pankey said. "And well, I was there long enough to where some of the kids or adults that I taught, their kids came and took my class. Some came in struggling, and to see them graduate and move on to a four-year university or college to finish their degree, they'd come back and show me their diploma.
"Just being able to touch lives that weren't just on the football field because I remember when I was at Cornell, I went to a football convention. The coaches are there and we're talking, and one of their kids came up and said, 'You know, dad, you spend more time with the players than you do with me.'
"I said, if I was a young guy just out of college and started coaching, my family would have understood it more because they would have grown up in that. But I never wanted my kids to say that to me. So when I got to COS, the head coach there, Rocky Kelly, if my kids had something going on, like on a Saturday once my sons started playing Pop Warner, I'd go watch their game for a little bit, then go to the stadium for our game.
"He was very family-oriented that way, and I got to see my kids do the things that they had to do through elementary school and junior high and high school. I made it to 95 percent of all of their stuff. That was more important to me."
As, of course, it still is. Making his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pankey, a widower, has three adult children: Keith, Kevin, and Kylie, and six grandchildren.
"The older ones range from 16 to 12, and then I've got two young ones, twins that are 3," Pankey said. "So I spend my time trying to go catch up with all the little things that they're doing. And they're growing fast. Two of them are in high school, one's in junior high, and one's in the sixth grade. Every couple years, we'll take off for a couple of weeks and go drive across the country or do something."
