Carl Weathers' Unexpected Career Before He Became Apollo Creed

April 2024 · 2 minute read

Well before he became known to the world as Rocky Balboa's rival-turned-friend Apollo Creed, Carl Weathers had a brief career as a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders. But how did he get started on the road to professional football in the first place?

In a 1979 interview with The Washington Post, Weathers looked back on his childhood in New Orleans, where, at a young age, he found that his artistic aspirations were not a good fit for the tough neighborhood he grew up in. "Certain things I was drawn to — like doing a little acting or singing in the choir — had no credibility on the street," he recalled. "And I was too ignorant and intimated to try to explain why they seemed valuable to me. The other guys would say, 'What is this, man?' and all I could was mumble."

It was only in the eighth grade when Weathers finally gave in to peer pressure and started playing football, though at that time, he claimed, he was motivated by his observation that the attractive girls were mostly drawn to the athletes in his school. He ended up playing well enough as an eighth-grader to get a scholarship to St. Augustine, an all-Black Catholic high school, and while he liked it there, he ended up moving to California after his junior year. 

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunCFj3JwaWlfmK6zuIywnJqsmJq%2FtHnUp5yxqJWYwaawjJyYq52Vp3qjscWoqZ5lmJp6o7HCmqSeZZGlvK24zmaaq52VmXw%3D