Rocky Bleier Robert Patrick " Rocky " Bleier ( born March 5 , 1946 ) is a former National Football League halfback who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1968 and from 1971 to 1980 . Origin of nickname . He was nicknamed " Rocky " as a baby . Bleier said " As the first born of the family , my dad was proud , as all parents are . " And the guys would come into the bar and say ' Bob , how ' s that new kid of yours ? ' And my dad would go ' Aw , you should see him , guys , looks like a little rock sitting in that crib . He ' s got all these muscles . ' I ' m a little fat baby . So they ' d come back in the bar and they ' d say ' Hey Bob , how ' s that little rock of yours ? ' So after that , that ' s how I got it . It stuck . " High school years . Bleier graduated from Xavier High School in Appleton , Wisconsin in 1964 ; while in high school , Bleier starred in football and basketball . In football , he was a three time All - State pick as running back , and also won All - Conference honors at both linebacker and defensive back . College career . He graduated from University of Notre Dame in 1968 with a degree in business management , in addition to starring in football . He was a member of their 1966 National Championship team , captain of the 1967 squad , and was teammates & friends with quarterback Terry Hanratty , who would later be his teammate with the Steelers . Service in Vietnam . After his 1968 rookie season with the Pittsburgh Steelers , Bleier was drafted into the U . S . Army in December 1968 . He volunteered for duty in the Vietnam War and shipped out in May 1969 , serving with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade . On August 20 , while on patrol in Heip Duc , Bleier was wounded in the left thigh by a rifle bullet when his platoon was ambushed in a rice paddy . While down , an enemy grenade landed nearby after bouncing off a fellow soldier , sending shrapnel into his lower right leg . He was later awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star . His rank was Specialist 4 . While he was recovering in a hospital in Tokyo , doctors told him that he would not play football again . Soon after , he received a postcard from Steelers owner Art Rooney which just read " " Rock - the team ' s not doing well . We need you . Art Rooney " " . Bleier later said " When you have somebody take the time and interest to send you a postcard , something that they didn ' t have to do , you have a special place for those kind of people " . Football career . One year after being wounded , Bleier reported to Steelers training camp . Upon his return , he couldn ' t walk without being in pain , and weighed only 180 pounds ( 82 kg ) . He spent two full years trying to regain a spot on the active roster , and was even waived on two occasions . But Bleier never gave up , and said that he worked hard so that " some time in the future you didn ' t have to ask yourself ' what if ? ' " . An offseason training regimen brought Bleier back to 212 pounds in the summer of 1974 . From that point in time , he would be in the Steelers ' starting lineup . Since Preston Pearson was wearing number 26 ( the number Bleier wore his rookie season before he went to Vietnam ) , Bleier switched to number 20 when he returned to the team from Vietnam . After Pearson was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 1975 , however , Bleier kept the number 20 , which by this point he was more recognized with . In addition to being a great lead blocker , Bleier was the second of the Steelers ' rushing weapons ( Franco Harris was the primary back ) , but was effective nonetheless at both blocking and rushing . In 1976 , both Harris and Bleier rushed for over 1 , 000 yards , making this the second NFL team to accomplish this feat , after Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka of the 1972 Miami Dolphins . Bleier played in the first four Steeler Super Bowl victories , and caught the touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw that gave Pittsburgh a lead it would never surrender in Super Bowl XIII . Bleier retired after the 1980 season with 3 , 865 rushing yards , 136 receptions for 1 , 294 yards , and 25 touchdowns . At the time of his retirement , he was the Steelers fourth all - time leading rusher . Off the field . Bleier wrote a book of his struggle to recover from his war wounds called " " , and it was made into a television movie in 1980 , with Robert Urich starring as Bleier , Richard Herd as Steelers coach Chuck Noll , Art Carney as team owner Art Rooney , and many of Bleier ' s teammates ( including Matt Bahr and “ Mean Joe ” Greene ) as themselves . After his career , Bleier did some acting work , appearing on " SCTV " and in the film " Backstreet Justice " as himself . He also tours the United States as a motivational speaker . Bleier has four children . He has two children from his marriage with Aleta Giacobine Whitaker , from whom he was divorced in October 1996 . He also has two adopted children with his second wife , Jan Gyurina . As of 2011 , he lives in Mt . Lebanon , Pennsylvania . Honors . The football stadium at Xavier High School was renamed Rocky Bleier Stadium on October 12 , 2007 . Bleier tossed the coin to start the high school football game that day . Bleier spoke earlier in the day to students at an all school assembly . The entire student body wore t - shirt s with his number 23 , the only number retired in the school ' s history . On the following day , the third day of the three day event , city mayor Tim Hanna unveiled a street named in his honor . The former Oneida Court was renamed Rocky Bleier Run .