Bob Elliott’s background with legendary NFL personality Tony Dungy, who won a Super Bowl as a player and coach, goes back to the days when they were rivals on the basketball court during their high school careers in Michigan.
Elliott, called “Big Bird” during his Arizona days because of his towering presence as a center, attended Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor (Mich.) while Dungy was a point guard at Parkside High School in Jackson, Mich.
Their friendship grew when playing together during the high school summer pro league at St. Cecilia’s Gym in Detroit.
“Our families are close,” Elliott said Thursday. “He was in our wedding 50 years ago.”
That close bond remains to this day with both contacting each other often, especially recently when the conversation turned to Dungy being the next guest in the famed “Fireside Chat with Bob Elliott” series with proceeds going to the African-American Museum of Southern Arizona.
Elliott and his wife Beverely operate the museum after creating it in 2023.
The Fireside Chat series included Julius “Dr. J” Elliott as a guest in January. Previous guests include Ruby Bridges and Stacey Snowden, daughter of former Arizona basketball coach Fred Snowden.
The event with Dungy is scheduled for Feb. 18 at Palo Verde High School’s auditorium. The time the event will start will be announced later.
“He’s geeked up about the opportunity,” Elliott said. “We remain in contact, but lately, he’s been hitting me up weekly to get his fireside chat going.”
Dungy is highly visible as an NFL analyst for NBC’s broadcasts on Sunday Night Football. He will be in Tucson for the fireside chat 10 days after NBC televises the Super Bowl in February.
Elliott mentioned that Dungy has family from his wife’s side who reside in Tucson.
“He’s been a close friend since our high school days,” Elliott said of Dungy. “We actually almost came to Arizona together but Fred Snowden (his basketball coach) and Jim Young (Arizona’s football coach) couldn’t agree on working it out that he can play both sports here.”
Dungy attended Minnesota, where became a standout quarterback for the Golden Gophers and a backup point guard for the basketball team.
“Tony is the poster child to show that you should not choose a sport when you are young,” Elliott said. “He was an all-state quarterback in football, all-state guard in basketball, all-state shortstop in baseball and he won state titles in track as a hurdler.
“If you made him choose his sport, it would’ve been basketball. He ends up going to Minnesota and sets Big Ten passing records and sits on the bench in basketball. You know how it turned out for him.”
Dungy was converted to defensive back after he joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 1977. He played in the Super Bowl with the Steelers in 1978. He recorded six interceptions with Pittsburgh that season.
Dungy began his head coaching tenure in 1996 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a franchise regarded as one of the league’s worst at the time. Through implementation of the Tampa 2 defensive scheme, he brought success to the Buccaneers, leading them to four playoff appearances in six seasons.
After his departure from Tampa Bay, he served as the Indianapolis Colts’ head coach for seven seasons, qualifying for the playoffs in each. He led the Colts to the Super Bowl title in 2006 with Peyton Manning as his quarterback. He became the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl.
He retired from coaching following the 2008 season. He began his broadcasting career with NBC in 2009.
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