By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Winston-Salem State head football coach Robert Lee Massey had one of the greatest days an NFL defensive back ever has had on a day in early October 1992.

The Washington Redskins were the reigning Super Bowl champs and quarterback Mark Rypien was the reigning Super Bowl MVP. The Redskins, as they were expected to do, were pounding the winless Phoenix Cardinals at Sun Devil Stadium. The Redskins led 24-6 in the fourth quarter when Massey stepped in front of a pass intended for Art Monk and headed to the house to make it 24-13.

And then it happened again.

Rypien saw Ricky Sanders and believed he was open, but he didn’t see Massey breaking on the ball. Massey intercepted and had his second pick-six in a matter of minutes. Now it was 24-20. Massey’s interception returns of 31 and 41 yards inspired his team to rally for a 27-24 victory. Cardinals head coach Joe Bugel called it the greatest win he’d ever experienced, and he’d been an assistant on Super Bowl champs.

That was Massey’s greatest day during his greatest season. He had five interceptions that year and three he returned all the way. He also had a pick-six against the Atlanta Falcons. He was named to play in the Pro Bowl.

Massey never had another day anything like the one he had in Phoenix against the Redskins, but he lasted in the league nine seasons, playing for five teams.

A native of Rock Hill, Massey played high school football at Charlotte’s Garinger High and college football at North Carolina Central. After a year as an assistant coach with the New York Giants, he  returned to the Carolinas to coach Durham’s Hillside High in 1999, and by 2003, he was in the college ranks as a North Carolina Central assistant.

Massey served as Livingstone’s interim head coach for the 2005-06 seasons.

Then he moved on to Shaw where he was an assistant coach for two years, defensive coordinator for two years and head coach for five years.

After Shaw, he landed at Winston-Salem State as an assistant before being named head coach in 2019. He led the Rams through the challenging COVID period and the 56-year-old veteran still leads them. His staff includes running backs coach Malcolm Gaither, who played at West Rowan.

Livingstone head coach Sean Gilbert is 53, He reached the NFL a few years later than Massey, but they were in the league together for five seasons in the 1990s.

Their teams played against each other, although they were both defensive players so they never went head-to-head. Gilbert’s super season was 1993, one year after Massey’s big season. That’s the year Gilbert had 10.5 sacks for the Los Angeles Rams as a 23-year-old defensive tackle. He went to the Pro Bowl and was viewed as one of the rising stars in the game.

The Pennsylvania native and former Pitt All-American never quite duplicated 1993 again, but he had a number of strong seasons and lasted 11 years in the NFL. He posted 42.5 career sacks. He got his last one as a Carolina Panther in 2002.

He coached in Charlotte at South Meck and West Charlotte before being hired as Lvingstone’s head coach in January 2020. He was greeted by the COVID season — the CIAA canceled it entirely — but he has been working to get Livingstone back on track since then.

The Blue Bears have had some big wins under Gilbert. The biggest may have been last season’s 20-17 victory against Winston-Salem State at Livingstone’s Alumni Memorial Stadium. That win broke LC’s 18-game losing streak against the WSSU Rams.

Another marquee triumph came last week when the Blue Bears beat Bowie State 31-18 at home. Bowie State is down some this year, but any time Livingstone beats Bowie State, it’s news. Bowie State is one of the CIAA’s traditionally bullies.

The Blue Bears will be looking to build on that success as two former NFL stars lead their respective teams into this Saturday’s game on Bill Hayes Field at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

WSSU (2-3, 2-1) comes in off a draining loss, a game that got away from them in the last 15 seconds against Lincoln. The Rams struggled to contain Lincoln QB Isaiah Freeman, who had 278 passing yards and 153 rushing yards and was the HBCU National Player of the Week.

WSSU will count on QB Daylin Lee and RJ Mobley, one of the CIAA’s top receivers, to lead the way against Livingstone.

The Blue Bears (1-4, 1-2) were rewarded with three CIAA  honorees for their upset of Bowie State. Davin Deloatch, who had three TD catches, was named CIAA Receiver of the Week. Jaden Echols was the Linebacker of the Week, while Kobe Pringle was the Defensive Lineman of the Week.