"He was really mean," said Buffalo Bills head coach Wade Phillips, who nearly a quarter of a century ago coached the defensive line for the Houston Oilers under his father, Bum, during which time Culp was the Oilers' nose tackle in what was then the newfangled 3-4 defense.

"He was an old-time forearm guy," Phillips continued. "His first move was a crack to the head, and I don't think there are any more guys like that. I'm telling you, he was a real ornery player."

He was also an outstanding player. Culp had been a star wrestler while attending Arizona State and he won the NCAA heavyweight championship by pinning his opponent in less than a minute in 1967, a year in which he also was named an All-American in football.

Denver drafted him in the first round, but traded him to Kansas City before he ever played a regular-season game. Broncos coach Lou Saban wanted to make Culp an offensive guard, and Culp was miserable.

"I had never played offense much," said Culp. "I liked banging people as opposed to getting banged."

At the end of training camp, Culp told Saban he was unhappy, and Saban, thinking the Broncos might have made a mistake in drafting Culp, traded him to Kansas City.

Chiefs Coach Hank Stram called Arizona State coach Frank Kush to ask about what he had just received. Kush told Stram to play Culp on defense. Stram lined him up in the middle of his stack defense -- basically the modern 3-4 -- and Culp became one of the best run-stuffers in the game.

Culp was eventually traded to Houston in 1974 where Bum Phillips was coaching the defense and toying with the 3-4 defense. Culp became his nose tackle and he served in that capacity for the final seven years of his career.

"He was a dominant player," said Wade Phillips. "He actually put fear into guys and he intimidated centers in the league. He'd hit them so hard, you could see certain games where guys just shied away from him. He was a vicious player, within the rules. Just some kind of tough."

The nose tackle position Culp played in Houston differed slightly from the one he had played in Kansas City, and it took a little while for him to buy into the idea.

"A defensive lineman's first instinct is to rush the passer," Culp said. "But nose tackles don't have a chance to get a sack. You get off one blocker and there's another. Get off him and there's still another."

"He was always complaining, always bitching that he was double-teamed all the time," Phillips said with a laugh. "He didn't like that 3-4. I told him 'Curley if they double-team you, someone else is free,' and he still didn't like it, but he knew I was right. He was a 300-pound guy, just as big as the guys now, he was just as fast and he'd be a great player right now."