SEATTLE — As the Seahawks ring in the new season, one of the rings they're chasing sits at a junior high in south Seattle.
It's an NFC Championship ring on the finger of Ron Howard, who's busy with a full day of work at Aki Kurose Middle School.
The halls may be empty for summer break, but Howard has been there since the early hours of the morning, immersed in his job as assistant principal.
"Just throw that rope over the side of the fence and pull someone else over, that's what I've been doing," he said.
Howard says he hasn't been thinking too much about his old job: football player.
"I only talk about it when I have to or need to, to share a life experience," he said.
Howard's NFL career is undoubtedly full of life lessons. The high point was in 1976, which was the inaugural season of the Seattle Seahawks.
"When the Seahawks came here and we were in that Kingdome man, you couldn't find an empty seat," Howard said.
He recalls the 12s being on the edge of their seats thanks to an offense that soared in the first few years.
"(Jim) Zorn was just a true athlete all the way around, pound for pound," he said. "Steve Largent came on board and they changed the whole passing game. We could've been like Tampa Bay and not won a game hardly at all."
The Bucs were the other expansion team during that time, and they won just two games in their first two years.
The Seahawks' success was more immediate, and it was Howard hauling in the first touchdown that led to the first win.
"It was against San Diego. It was a preseason game. Time was running out and Zorn was doing what he does well, scrambling, and I happen to uncover. Made the catch," he said.
It's a catch that's etched in his mind forever, but these formative memories almost never happened. In fact, Howard didn't play a down of college football.
"I was doing the Tony Gonzalez and (Jimmy) Graham before they were in junior high. Basketball was my thing," he said.
So Seattle U got his services. Howard was a starter on the 1973 team that shared the West Coast Conference title.
A year later, Howard decided to shoot his shot as a tight end, not because he wanted to, but because the Cowboys came calling.
"They gave me $5,000 for putting my name on the contract," he said.
The hardwood gave way to hard work—so much work that Howard almost didn't make it through his first training camp.
"Normally you go two weeks of two-a-days. I'm talking full pads, not like it is now. After about that sixth week, I called my father and told him I'd had enough," he said.
But his dad told him that's not how he was raised.
"I ended up making the team. I was the first free agent rookie to be a captain on that squad," he said.
Howard was raising a banner the year after that—an NFC Championship ring in 1975.
He rang in a new franchise in Seattle in 1976.
Howard says these tales from training camp apply to this day.
"I have to tell my kids this too. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle, when that sun comes up, you better be running," he said with a chuckle.
