The Linebacker

Your discovery of the existence of Carl Weathers reveals the band of your birthdate in the cultural Grand Canyon. If you know Weathers as a football player, that’s a foundational layer. If you knew him as Apollo Creed, you’re further near the top. And the youngest– the mostly-untested, the most jagged, the least windswept of the group— know him as Greef Karga in The Mandalorian. 

He was a linebacker. Linebackers arrange for the best possible defense during a drive. They are at once the quarterbacks of the D and the line of last defense at the line of scrimmage. They’re a wall, but a wall that understands its function in the universe.

Casual football fans might not notice what a linebacker is doing. These guys, for all their immensity, are buried in the middle of the scrum and quickly lost in the melee when the ball is snapped.

Butt if his team forces a punt or turnover, you are seeing the fruits of his brawny labor. So Weathers played along when his character eventually lost his life in the Rocky franchise– that was considered best for the team.

You’d think it was tough to ever miss Carl Weathers– but sometimes, you had to stop and look carefully, and then you gained an idea of who he was and what he had. Weathers went undrafted in 1970, but then the Raiders stopped and looked carefully. And Weathers formed part of the team that fought its way to the AFC Championship. 

Carl Weathers was a focused man. He played football to support his acting; it was never an off-season hobby. Although most of his roles were highly physical, he wasn’t content to let his height and muscles carry his performance or his person. A Carl Weathers character is always on the move, but he rarely lifts so much as a finger without knowing precisely why.

Weathers’ big break arrived with Rocky in 1976, and he was the type of bad guy who you really couldn’t classify as a bad guy. Charisma clung to Apollo like his well-cut suits– his intelligence, his lightness despite his size, the way he called on just the right inflection to out-monologue anyone in the room.  If Rocky weren’t an underdog story, this was the guy you were betting on based on his fashion choices alone. 

Perhaps the most startling aspect of Carl Weather’s life was the way he left it. He went in his sleep, his family said, peacefully and silently. At first glance, a human ignition system the likes of Carl Weathers would never go down in such tranquility. 

But… look closer.

Weathers was quiet when quiet was required. Stealth when stealth was necessary. By departing with as little fuss as possible, behind the scenes and without fanfare, Carl Weathers, ever the linebacker, remained the calm gravity in the middle of the huddle. 

Originally published on Feburary 1, 2024