Former Detroit Lions players from Long Island are proud of their old team's success this year

Chris Dieterich played in the NFL for seven seasons, and it’s not difficult to envision him doing so. Even today, at age 65 and living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Dieterich has a thick  6-3 frame that still seems suited for the task of blocking other burly men and pushing them where he wants them to go.

So naturally, whenever he’d meet someone at a dinner party or an outing over the years, or just while strolling along the pier near his house, his former vocation would come up. He’d cheerfully rehash his go-to name-drop stories of blocking Hall of Famers such as Lawrence Taylor and Mike Singletary, of being recruited to North Carolina State by Lou Holtz, and of playing on the barely disguised  concrete that passed for artificial turf back then along with the toll it has taken on his body since (he’s had four hip replacements and numerous other surgeries to his knees, shoulders and neck). All of it, even the aches and pains, is something he is always happy to discuss.

But then the inevitable question arises.

So what team did you play for?

“And I’d kind of put my hand over my mouth and mumble the name,” Dieterich said with a deep chuckle. “I’m kind of joking, but it was like, ‘Oh, man.’ It’s been some long, painful decades for us.”

That shame, exaggerated perhaps only slightly, is just about gone now.

Suddenly, Dieterich is more than happy to say he played nearly a decade for the Lions, an organization that no longer is associated with its 0-16 record in 2008, its lack of a championship since 1957, or its 30 years between home playoff games that ended this month.

The Lions — his Lions — are one of the four teams still left playing in the NFL, set to face the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game in Santa Clara on Sunday —  and one win away from the unimaginable feat of playing in the Super Bowl for the first time.

For Dieterich, who grew up in Stony Brook and played for Ward Melville (he won the 1975 Hansen Award as the top player in Suffolk County), the turnaround has been as enjoyable as it has been stunning.

“I had a few friends of mine who at the start of the season said, ‘Hey, Detroit’s gonna be a contender this year,’ ” Dieterich said. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah. I’ve heard that before.’ But this has been a long time coming. They’ve been in the doghouse for a while. I couldn’t be happier for them. It’s brought up an old sense of pride. I’ll be pulling hard for them.”

Dieterich isn’t the only former player from Long Island with ties to the Lions.

Stephen Boyd, a star at Valley Stream Central in the late 1980s, was a three-time Pro Bowl linebacker in a Lions career that lasted from 1995 to 2001. After his playing career ended because of back injuries, the 1989 Thorp Award winner as the top player in Nassau County returned home to Long Island and coached football at Chaminade starting in 2003, serving as head coach from 2013-16.

While Dieterich and Boyd each had fairly long and distinguished tenures in Detroit (they did reach the playoffs a combined five times between them, all losses, all on the road), several other local products have slipped in and out of the Lions' organization virtually unnoticed since they last won a title in 1957. For better or worse, you just can’t spell Lions without L.I.

Tom Kennedy of Farmingdale is a wide receiver currently on Detroit’s practice squad. He’s appeared in 20 regular-season games for the Lions and caught 14 passes.

Offensive tackle Andre Johnson of Southampton, who was drafted 30th overall by Washington in 1996 and was cut the following offseason, making him one of the most disappointing first-round picks in NFL history, made his pro debut playing sparingly for the Lions in a 1997 playoff loss to the Buccaneers. Johnson played only three regular-season games in his brief career, all for the Lions in 1998, and all of them losses.

Carl Capria, a defensive back from Carey High School in Franklin Square, was a fifth-round pick of the Lions out of Purdue in 1974. He lasted just one season in Detroit (the Lions went 7-7) before being cut. Capria played one game for the Jets in 1975 to cap his short career.

And John Witkowski, a quarterback from Lindenhurst, was Detroit’s sixth-round pick in 1984 out of Columbia. He appeared in three games for the team that season, including a start in the regular-season finale against the Bears. After signing with (but never actually playing for) the Houston Oilers in 1986 and 1987, he returned to Detroit in 1988 and appeared in two more games for them, throwing only one pass all season.

Witkowski was never on the field for an NFL victory, but he is enjoying this stretch of rare Lions success.

“They gave me an opportunity to play in the NFL, so obviously I am a big fan of them,” he said. “But over the years it has been tough to watch. So this is exciting. I’m happy for those guys and happy for the whole franchise. You can’t ask for much better than what these guys have done.”

Witkowski said the best part of this Lions season has been getting back in touch with old teammates and friends from his time in Detroit. “It’s good to be connected again and be part of something like this,” he said.

Same for Dieterich, who said the excitement others suddenly seem to have for the Lions, often through him, makes it all the more enjoyable. His wife, Pam, whom he didn’t even meet until long after his playing days ended, is enjoying the ride. “She’s more excited about it than I am, I think,” Dieterich said.

During last week’s divisional playoff game against the Buccaneers, Dieterich was barely able to watch the action on television.

“It’s almost as if people think I’m still playing,” he said. “The phone kept dinging. I had to turn off the ringer on Sunday night. It’s like ‘Damn, guys, I’m not playing anymore. It’s been 40 years, man!’ But it’s exciting and everybody wants to talk about it. It really is cool that this seems to be generating this sense of excitement for folks.”

He’s heard from former Lions teammates who have reached out with similar tales in recent weeks, but also from people he knew growing up on Long Island.

“Everybody is going nuts,” he said. “People are like, ‘I remember watching you on Monday Night Football and this brought back memories.’ It’s like ancient history. But it’s really pretty cool.”

Dieterich said he’s even “dusted off” his old helmet, which had sat untouched on a shelf for so long that the last time he took it down — about five years ago to show it to a local elementary school class he visited — the facemask broke off. He repaired it before returning it to its somewhat secluded spot for the next few years, right next to the small square of turf he has from the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, where he played all of his home games, and the artificial hip joint that he had to have replaced, which stands on that thin green stage.

Recent events in Detroit have brought them forth from the shadows once more.

“I just look at it and smile,” he said while staring at the silver headwear with the blue logo on the side, the one he once tried to hide from company and conversation but now gleefully flaunts. “I’m just tickled to death.”

And he, like just about everyone else associated with the Lions, whether from Long Island or not, can only imagine what feelings another win or two might bring.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.