Former CBS 3 Sports Director Beasley Reece joined us on Monday’s Crossing Broadcast. He’s semi-retired and living in the Waco area, where he grew up, hitting the links and growing out his hair and doing all sorts of things you do in semi-retirement.

Beasley played for the Cowboys, Giants, and Bucs during an NFL career that started in the 70s and carried into the mid 80s, and was part of the New York team that lost the first “Miracle at the Meadowlands” game, when Herm Edwards returned a late fumble for a game-winning score. He shared with us what he believes is a previously-untold story:

Had you heard that before? We didn’t. Here’s the full quote off the back end, with some more context:

Reece: “We went into the locker room and literally, the defensive linemen started beating up members of the offense. Nobody knows this. I’m telling you, it was a fistfight. I think I was the only one that wasn’t fighting. I was either scared, or…

Kinkead: “There were some big guys in there.”

Reece: “Dude, there’s some stuff that went down in that locker room. The offensive coordinator got fired. I believe the head coach might have gotten fired at the end of the year (ed. note – John McVay indeed did not return the following season). It was an upheaval like (no other). So when you say ‘Miracle at the Meadowlands,’ there’s about 60 guys I know who go ‘oh my God.’ 

Pagan: “And Lawrence Taylor wasn’t even on the team at that point. Could you imagine if he was on that team?”

Reece: “Oh my God, if L.T. had been on that team he would have started beating guys up before we went into the locker room.” 

Fun episode, great to see Beasley grow his hair out in retirement after 17 years doing corporate TV for Eyewitness News. Here’s the full interview: