‘Rosey’ Grier Tackles Social Service Needs

Roosevelt Grier, who starred as a defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams, is joining the San Diego County administrative staff as a special assistant to give a helping hand running a spectrum of social services programs, county officials announced Wednesday.

Although best known for his crushing tackles, Grier has also received recognition for founding and operating community service programs since ending his 12-year football career in 1967.

According to Norman Hickey, the county’s chief administrative officer, Grier will serve on his staff as a special assistant and participate in a variety of programs, ranging from those that help underprivileged youth to programs that assist senior citizens. Grier also may be asked to help defuse the county’s growing gang problem.

“Rosey Grier is a humanitarian,” Hickey said in a statement released Wednesday. “He has repeatedly demonstrated a unique capability to interface with virtually every facet of humanity, even those who have become splintered from society.”

Hickey and Grier are both Penn State University alumni.

It has not been determined how long Grier will work for the county, Lerner said.

“It’s a part-time position to be determined at the pleasure of the CAO,” Lerner said, referring to the chief administrative officer. “It may go beyond a year, it might be less.” Grier is due in San Diego today to make things final, Lerner said.

Regardless of how long he works, Lerner said, Grier will be placed on the county government payroll and receive a sum based on a $50,000-a-year salary. Grier may be put on the payroll as early as Friday, Lerner added.

Grier is expected to work with the county’s social service and probation departments.

Leon Williams, chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, described Grier in the statement as “a good role model whose presence in our ethnically diverse county will be an asset to our ongoing efforts to promote positive social change.”

Grier is the founder and director of a federally funded program designed to give job training to disadvantaged youth. He is also the founder and chairman of a program aimed at helping inner-city youth improve their self-esteem and assists them in finding better educational and employment opportunities.

Grier began his football career with the New York Giants (1955-62), where he was named as an All-Pro defensive tackle in 1956.