COLUMBIA, S.C. — The voice that once boomed across football fields is now a whisper. Sam Wyche coached the Bengals to the 1989 Super Bowl. He went on to do football commentary on TV. Now, at 57, he is cut off from the NFL and broadcasting because of a paralyzed vocal chord.

Sam Wyche works with quarterbacks Chas Anthony and Drew Tweito in the school gym in Pickens, S.C. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        He is, however, not entirely cut off from football. He is back in the game at Pickens High School, where he will work with the team's quarterbacks this season.

        “It's strictly volunteer, it's not much of anything,” Wyche said Wednesday. “I wasn't looking for anything like this, but I'm glad I'm doing something I always wanted to in working with high school players.”

        Wyche, a former quarterback for the Bengals and Redskins, wasn't sure he'd work anywhere again.

        He became a CBS analyst in 1998. Two years later, he underwent a biopsy on lymph nodes in his chest. His left vocal chord was severed during the procedure, leaving his voice a whisper.

        No longer could he shout instructions to the likes of Boomer Esiason or go three hours on TV calling games without tiring or yell to snowball-throwing Bengal fans: “You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!”

Wyche jokes with head coach Andy Tweito after working with the team Wednesday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        But Wyche's vocal quality didn't matter to Pickens High coach Andy Tweito, who saw an amazing resource just down the road. Tweito talked to people in town who knew Wyche before approaching him.

        “They told me he was just a normal guy and I should ask him,” Tweito said. “I didn't want to do anything that would be demeaning to him, but he hopped on it right away.”

        Wyche was known as a fiery, innovator in Cincinnati from 1984-91 and Tampa Bay from 1992-95. He loved pro football and was hurt he couldn't stay close to it in the broadcast booth.

        “That was very hard for me to deal with,” he said.

        But Wyche didn't network or call friends who might connect him with a team.

        “I didn't think that was the right way to go,” he said. “But I still miss the game.”

        At Pickens High, Wyche is not the coach. He won't call plays or install any high-tech, no-huddle formations.

        “Those decisions are left to coach Tweito and his staff,” Wyche says.

        Tweito is happy to have Wyche nearby for questions and critiques.

        “This is like painting a picture and having Michelangelo review it,” Tweito said.

        In two weeks on the job, Wyche's experience already has been a plus. When Pickens' coaches discussed how their left-handed quarterback would deal with the center snap, Wyche told them how the Bengals did it with Esiason, a lefty.

        In his time in the pros, Wyche was struck by how much players retained from their high school coaches.

        “What they heard and learned in their formative years, it stuck with them all their lives,” he said. “That's the importance of teaching and coaching at high school.”

        Wyche and his wife, Jane, had a farm in Pickens County for several years. He qualified for a South Carolina teaching certificate and will work as a substitute at the high school this fall.

        Jane Wyche sees something new in her husband, an excitement that hadn't been there since his ordeal.

        “He didn't show that much on the outside, but inside you knew it was difficult for him” not to be around pro football, she said.

        The biggest adjustment, Tweito says, might be getting Wyche to talk high school football.

        “It's like we're beginning Spanish, and he's Spanish 5,” Tweito said. “That will come around.”

        Wyche's vocal chord remains paralyzed. He works with a voice therapist and tires when he has to speak where there's a lot of noise, such as restaurants. After 20 minutes on the phone, his voice gets gravelly and strained.

        But Wyche, a synthetic implant in his throat, thinks his voice will hold up well on the high school football field.

        He's already catching wisecracks from ex-players. He got a taste of it at a recent charity golf tournament in Cincinnati run by former Bengals receiver Cris Collinsworth.

        “They wanted to know,” Wyche said, “why I couldn't lose my voice 20 years ago when I had them at camp and was making them work out.”

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