Ten years after leaving field, Haley on more solid ground

He got the call last week while he was at his daughter's soccer practice. Ten years after retiring with 100½ sacks and 1,000 humiliating moments later, Charles Haley learned that he was among the 15 modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"I didn't know I'd ever get this far," said the former Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers defensive end, the only player in league history with five Super Bowl rings. "I'd always felt it was me against the world; now I know things are beginning to change."

Charles Haley earned three Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys after winning two with the Niners. (Getty Images)

Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson both said that the Cowboys' fortunes changed when they acquired Haley from the 49ers in 1992. The pass-rush specialist, with his speed and ferociousness, terrorized quarterbacks and teammates alike. A game-changer, Haley played in seven NFC Championship Games in eight years (1988-95), yet this is the first time he has been a finalist for the Hall of Fame.

"I did so many things wrong in my career," said Haley, who, on the field, did almost everything right. "I'm bipolar. I knew I was different, but I wouldn't admit there was anything the matter with me. I ruined my marriage. Karen has been my biggest supporter, even after we divorced. I can't believe what she and my kids had to put up with. They didn't even know who'd I'd be when I came in the door."

Haley had grown up in the small town of Gladys, Va., where everybody knew everybody and watched out for the neighbor's kids.

"When I was young, I was short and fat, with big feet," Haley said. "When I shot up, well over 6 feet, I lashed out. We didn't have projects, but the streets are the streets. I wasn't going to let anyone degrade me. My thing was to push myself and other people to the limit."

Haley carried that fury into the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick in 1986. Teammates who loved him -- Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana -- told him to get help. Haley would act out in practice, with well-chronicled tales of lewd behavior in team meetings and distressing pranks.

"I'm very ashamed," said Haley, who has apologized to everyone. "It was so strange. Sometimes it would be kind of an out-of-body experience where I could see myself doing it, but I couldn't stop it. I couldn't even figure out why I was doing it."

His wife, Karen, would bring home volumes of papers from the library about manic depression and make appointments for him with different doctors.

"I just pushed everyone away," he said.

There was no denying Haley on the field. A contemporary of Lawrence Taylor and Bruce Smith, Haley studied them, studied more, and delivered on Sunday. When he'd see Reggie White at the Pro Bowl, he'd "trap him in the lobby and pick his brain."

Haley learned well, sacking glamour boys like John Elway and Brett Favre.

"Man, Elway was hard to get down," Haley said. "So was Randall Cunningham. Brett was fun to play against. I'd hit him hard, really hard, and he'd say, 'How did you get in here?'"

There was one player, though, Haley just couldn't sack.

"Dan Marino," he said. "I'd hit him and it would hurt me! Plus you'd blink and the ball would be gone. I never got anything on Dan."

Haley remembers his first Super Bowl clearly. In 1989, Montana drove the length of Joe Robbie Stadium and found John Taylor in the end zone with 34 seconds left to beat Boomer Esiason's Bengals 20-16.

"With about 50 seconds left, I was sitting on the bench, crying, feelin' sorry for myself," said Haley, who was the starting outside linebacker. "Then I started to see Jerry [Rice] and Joe gettin' it done. Right there, that taught me something."

Haley greatly respected 49ers coach Bill Walsh, whom he called "direct, a straight-shooter," but said he learned the most from George Seifert.

"He taught me how to study," Haley said. "We'd get in a room and go over one play for 45 minutes. He taught me to see the whole field."

After two Super Bowl victories with the 49ers, Haley won three more with the Cowboys. He found Jimmy Johnson to be "a very strong leader, an iron-fist" and Barry Switzer "to be someone who understood, even identified, with every player."

But it was the owner of the Cowboys who made the biggest impression.

"Jerry Jones was great to me," Haley said, comparing Jones' compassion to that of Eddie DeBartolo, the legendary owner of the 49ers. "He took time with me, made me feel he cared about me."

Haley, now 46 years old with a bad back, takes medicine for his bipolar condition, attends counseling and has found a spiritual connection.

"I'd go to church as a kid," he said, "but God was around me, not in me."

With his life in order, Haley would like to become a pass-rush coach. He sees great talent in DeMarcus Ware, for instance, and thinks he could teach others as Taylor and White taught him.

"DeMarcus needs an inside move," Haley said. "He's just all outside speed. A pass rusher has three moves; inside, power rush and speed. Players need to become students of the game. They don't know that the past can help with their future."

Haley is hoping he'll be elected to the Hall of Fame's Class of 2010 -- announced during Super Bowl week -- but he is certain about speaking clearly on bipolar disorder and the game of football.

"It has taken so many years for me to get to this point," Haley said. "I'm ready to drive the bus forward."