Frank Wycheck is forever etched in the annals of the Tennessee Titans history.
Wycheck, 52, who died Saturday at his Chattanooga home, made his mark with the franchise in so many ways, though most remember him being the linchpin in the Jan. 8, 2000, Music City Miracle play, firing a cross-field lateral to Kevin Dyson for a 75-yard kickoff return with 16 seconds left in the AFC Wild-Card Playoff Game that gave Tennessee a 22-16 win and propelled the team to its only Super Bowl appearance to date.
The fact that it came in the first year of the team changing its name from the Oilers to the Titans and moving into a new stadium only added to the magic of one of the most memorable plays in NFL playoff history.
But Wycheck’s legacy is much more than just one historic play, or even three Pro Bowl appearances and being one of the top tight ends in the franchise’s history with 505 receptions.
He was a key part of a group of Titans players, coaches and front office members who went out of their way to win over a skeptical fan base at a time when many wondered if Tennesseans could make room in their football fandom hearts for a professional team. Remember, the Titans arrived when the University of Tennessee was in the midst of one of its most successful runs in program history.
Fortunately for the franchise, the players who came to town were more than willing to make Nashville their home and do their part to be good neighbors in the community.
There were plenty of accommodating personalities, from head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Floyd Reese to heralded players like Eddie George, Steve McNair, Neil O’Donnell, Derrick Mason, Chris Sanders, Jevon Kearse and many, many others.
But there was something especially endearing about Wycheck. A sixth-round pick of the Washington Redskins in 1993, the then-Oilers had plucked him off the waiver wire in ’95 and watched him develop into a top receiving weapon.
Wycheck was humble for a professional athlete, but his competitiveness was evident on the field and in how he liked to joke and poke fun with a quiet but sly sense of humor.
It’s part of what made him such a natural for the second career – radio personality – once football ended for him in 2003, thanks in large part to concussion issues.
While the original generation of Titans fans recalled Wycheck as a blue-collar player, younger fans will probably remember him only as Mike Keith’s color analyst on Titans Radio and on his daily radio show, “The Wake Up Zone,” with Kevin Ingram and Mark Howard on 104.5 The Zone.
That transition into radio and staying in the public eye helped to take the fans’ love of Wycheck the player to a completely new level, offering insight, humor and banter on his broadcasts.
Nashville radio Hall of Famer George Plaster, who was with WTN 99.7 and later on 104.5 The Zone, helped start Wycheck down the radio road with a weekly radio show on The Zone, and says it was an idea Wycheck immediately embraced.
“I wish I could say that I saw it and pushed for it, but it was just something that I floated out there to him one night, and he jumped at it,” Plaster says. “He really wanted to do it and, to do it right, it needed somebody that would take ownership of it, and he did. He was so proud of the fact that so many people would show up each week.”
Wycheck quickly took to the experience, and it only boosted his popularity with fans.
“Frank was an enormous part of this team being accepted by the fans in those first five or six years,” Plaster recalls.
“Not only did we do a one-hour-a-week radio show together, he would stick around to greet every last person, sign autographs, take every picture, shake hands and kiss babies.”
Plaster went on to say that Wycheck was one of a number of players he and other media members formed friendships with that lasted well beyond their playing days.
“For me, Frank, Scott Sanderson, Eddie George, Steve McNair, Neil O’Donnell and many others made up one of the great NFL locker rooms of all time. I don’t know if they were starved for attention, because they didn’t get any in Houston, but those guys were out everywhere and this was a community that gravitated toward them,” Plaster says.
“That was exactly what the team and the city needed, and Frank was a huge piece of that.”
By being a part of daily morning drive radio and the Titans’ game broadcasts for more than a decade, Wycheck was able to achieve an enduring popularity and legacy that made Nashvillians feel like he was one of them and one of their own.
Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com