Nov 22, 2014 5 min read

Since the age of seven, Scott Zolak has loved the game of football. That was in the mid-1970s, when Zolak was the waterboy for the Ringgold football team. His dad, Paul, worked as a coach and athletic director at Ringgold High School.

“Scott was our waterboy and he would go out and get the kicking tee off the field after kickoffs,” Paul Zolak recalled. “He was always around the players and coaches.”

Scott Zolak would go on to play nine seasons in the NFL. He is still around football these days, though a little farther from the field on game days.

Scott started to play ball at age 9.

“He was a big kid for nine,” said Paul Zolak recalled. “Scott played offensive tackle and wore No. 51 because he was a big fan of Dick Butkus, who also wore No. 51 for the Chicago Bears.”

Zolak grew to be 6-5 and became a standout quarterback at Ringgold. With that kind of size and a strong arm, Zolak attracted plenty of interest from Division I programs.

“He had interest in Syracuse and Miami but he liked Maryland,” Paul Zolak said.

So the younger Zolak enrolled at Maryland, but sat out his freshman year. Then he became the Terrapins’ third-string quarterback behind Dan Henning and Neil O’Donnell. The latter would go on to play quarterback in the NFL with or the Steelers.

“I felt comfortable with the system and learned a lot from Dan and Neil,” Zolak said.

In 1989, Zolak was O’Donnell’s backup, playing in eight games. The next year, Zolak finally moved into the starter’s role. As a senior, he had a standout season. In the 1990 season opener, he led the Terrapins to a 20-13 win over Virginia Tech. The following week, he directed Maryland to a big win over 25th-ranked West Virginia, 14-10.

Zolak will never forget an October game during his senior year, when he was sacked 10 times by Georgia Tech.

“That was one game I’ll always remember,” Zolak said.

There were many other memorable moments that season. For a kid who grew up in Western Pennsylvania, one was Maryland’s appearance in the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech, which ended in a 34-34 tie.

It, however, was memorable to Zolak not for the final score.

“Terry Bradshaw played there,” he explained.

Bradshaw, the Steelers’ former Super Bowl-winning quarterback, played his college ball at Louisiana Tech.

Prior to his senior year at Maryland, Scott received a special gift from another former Ringgold quarterback, a guy named Joe Montana, who wrote on a football “Good luck at Maryland and see you in the NFL one day.”

Zolak was the 84th pick – a fourth-rounder – by the New England Patriots in the 1991 NFL Draft.

In his first season with the Patriots, Zolak was the team’s third-string quarterback and did not play a single down. In 1992, Zolak made his first start, against the New Orleans Saints. The Patriots were winless entering the game, but with Zolak at quarterback, New England won 37-34. Zolak completed 20 of 29 passes for 261 yards two TDs. The performance earned him the AFC Player of the Week honor.

In 1996, to remain with the Patriots, Zolak took a $250,000 pay cut so the team could work around the salary cap.

“I loved playing for New England and felt it was the right thing to do,” Zolak said.

In 1996, he saw playing time against the Steelers in a playoff game won by the Patriots. They advanced to Super Bowl XXXI that season, but lost to the Green Bay Packers.

“I had a lot of fun during the week. It was a great experience,” Zolak said.

Before his playing career ended, Zolak spent time with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. He was released by Miami in May of 2000.

Zolak decided his playing career was over and opted for a new career, in broadcasting. He began by hosting a show on a radio station in Rhode Island and signed on as a host for Patriots Gameday, along with Bob Lobel, a popular sportscaster in the Boston market.

Zolak’s broadcasting career moved to television and he spent multiple years as the color analyst for Navy home football games on the upstart CSTV, which is now known as CBS Sports Network.

“It’s funny,” Zolak said. “I never thought, while I was in college, about a future in broadcasting. But I love what I’m doing.”

And Boston sports fans love Zolak.

In 2012, he was named color analyst for the Patriots’ radio broadcasts, joining longtime play-by-play announcer Gil Santos. Scott replaced former Patriots great Gino Cappelletti, who retired.

When not calling Patriots’ games, he is on the Sports Hub on 98.5 WBZ-FM in Boston as co-host of “Gresh and Zolak,” which airs weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. His co-host, Andy Gresh, also has ties to Western Pennsylvania and the Mon Valley, having grown up in Brownsville.

The show is No. 1 in the ratings and can be heard throughout New England.

“It’s a blast. I love it.” Zolak said.

In 2013, when the Patriots played the Denver Broncos, Zolak reacted with a memorable sound bite that made the highlight shows. The Patriots came back from a 24-0 halftime deficit to win 34-31. After taking a 28-24 lead, Zolak announced on the air “You can have your Manning. I’ll take my Brady.”

Bill DiFabio writes a bi-weekly column about local sports history for the Observer-Reporter.