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Pro Bowl Player
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Zabel and Steve Nelson were very good players and part of an excellent, under rated linebacking corps. He is someone that never forgot the Ben Dreith game, but for more than just the officiating:
Great State: Former Patriot Still Laments a Forgotten Playoff Scandal
"When we went out to play the field was sloppy, muddy, wet, and the grass was about six inches long."
Zabel has a short highlight reel of great plays from his NFL career.
He only has one shot from that playoff loss to the Raiders.
It shows him sitting on the bench bending over in anguish, a reaction that still mirrors his feelings about what might have been of they'd played on a neutral field.
Steve says, "This Super Bowl is all about 'Deflategate' and what a deal that was. Maybe they ought to go back to 1976 and talk about Al Davis (Raiders owner) flooding the field to slow us down so they could go on and win the Superbowl. It was horrible."
https://www.oklahomasportshalloffame.org/steve-zabel.html
Steve Zabel was a standout high school athlete in Thornton, Colorado. He won state titles in both the high jump and pentathlon. Zabel was then recruited and signed by the University of Oklahoma. He earned All-America honors as a tight end in 1969, and developed a reputation as a versatile player while at OU. The Sooners utilized him at defensive end and as a punter. He helped the Sooners win two Big 8 Championships and earned All Big 8 honors. Steve was the sixth player selected in the 1970 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Edmond Life & Leisure
During the 1967 season, OU shutout its first two opponents, Washington State and Maryland. Their only loss came two weeks later to Texas (9-7). They finished the season 10-1 as Big Eight champs.
“My greatest OU moment was catching a 30-yard touchdown pass from Bobby Warmack with one minute left in the game to beat Kansas and clinch a Big Eight championship berth. It was a magical year,” said Zabel.
...
In 1975, the New England Patriots acquired Zabel where he reunited with head coach Chuck Fairbanks. He was credited with 72 tackles, three sacks and a fumble recovery his first season with the Patriots. His second season was perhaps his best ever as he led all linebackers with 88 tackles and was named most valuable defensive player.
Knowing his time in football might soon be coming to an end, Zabel and his wife decided to move from Denver to Edmond in 1978; a place he loved and would remain.
Zabel remained in the NFL for three more years where he retired after the 1979 season with the Baltimore Colts.
“In 1978, I witnessed my teammate Darryl Stingly take a hit that paralyzed him. It made me realize that I didn’t want the same fortune. Once you start thinking about getting hurt, it’s time to retire. I have lived to tell the story and am fortunate,” said Zabel.
Still partial to Patriots – The Denver Post
“When I played for the Eagles, I played for three different coaches in five years and played four different positions on the field between offense and defense,” Zabel said. “It wasn’t a good situation.”
New England was different. He made 48 starts at linebacker in his 50-game career with the Patriots and played with tight end Russ Francis, guard John Hannah, quarterback Steve Grogan and linebacker Steve Nelson.
Zabel, who will be 58 in March, was a college star at Oklahoma and recently looked back on his illustrious career from his home in Edmond, Okla.
His most recent stop was at tiny Curry College in Milton, Mass., where he was on the coaching staff for four years.
“It was a blast for me,” Zabel said. “If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have waited so long to go into coaching. It was something new and exciting for me. It didn’t seem like a job.”
Even though he was some 1,800 miles from home, Zabel wasn’t alone at Curry College, coaching with Nelson.
“He was a terrific team player when we played for the Patriots,” Nelson said. “He taught me a lot about playing in the NFL. He played outside linebacker, and I played inside. We had to communicate really well to be able to play our best.”
Zabel has done some great things in his post-football career:
Former OU All-American and NFL player Steve Zabel found his life's work after football
(Zabel) and Bross founded City Care, which over the past 20 years has helped thousands of low-income families find housing, provided them with food and other resources and helped tutor young children through it’s “Whiz Kids” program.
Whiz Kids has more than 1,200 volunteers, Zabel said, and will serve more than 900 students during the upcoming school year. The goal with Whiz Kids is to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy for low-income students between the first and sixth grades.
A vision impossible to see without tears...a team as deserving to be honored as any Patriot team ever, perhaps more.
