Champ, Boss in sibling revelry

Champ, Boss will be reunited on field in Detroit

Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 2, 2007 at midnight

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ENGLEWOOD - There is a chance that through the years, many of the roughly 2,100 people in Folkston, Ga., got the wrong idea about how things worked in the games people play.

But all they had to go on was what they learned with the three R's.

Ronald. Roland. And Rodney.

And two of the Folkston Baileys - Broncos cornerback Champ, given name Roland, and Detroit Lions linebacker Boss, given name Rodney - will be inside Ford Field on Sunday.

"Just extreme athletes," said Broncos receiver Glenn Martinez, who also has played for the Lions. "They're both fast, both smart, both hell of a football players. You can only think about what that must have looked like when they were young playing together.

"People there probably thought everybody in the world was that fast because they were used to seeing those guys run all the time."

Ronald, the oldest of the three, was a starter at Georgia and played a season in NFL Europe. Champ and Boss Bailey followed Ronald to Georgia, where they became All-Southeastern Conference players and Champ was an All-American.

The brothers changed sports with the seasons, small-town heroes who long ago graduated from a place tucked near the Florida-Georgia border and entered the NFL's stage.

"We were brought up to do things right," Champ Bailey said. "To appreciate what you have, but don't get complacent. So I've never taken any of this for granted. My dad always told us to be the best at what you do whatever that may be, be the best at what you do."

Said Boss Bailey: "I think how we play, how we act comes from the way we were raised, a humble upbringing. South Georgia, that's just who we are. We're not going to be out there gloating, trying to be seen all the time. We were raised to be very humble, not always trying to stand out there in front."

But what they do often puts them out front. Champ Bailey is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, considered by many in the league not only to be the best at his own position but one of the best when compared with any of the others.

Boss Bailey, who had reconstructive knee surgery in high school and also missed a season at Georgia and in Detroit because of knee surgeries, still is one of the all-time best athletes to work out for scouts before any draft.

In the weeks leading to the 2003 draft, Boss Bailey, at just more than 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, ran a 4.3-second 40-yard dash with a vertical jump of 44 1/2 inches. At the time, some teams had only timed three linebackers in the previous 10 years with a sub-4.5-second 40.

"He's a great player - there's nothing he should be shy about how he got to where he is," Champ Bailey said. "He's overcome a lot of adversity with the surgeries. I'm just proud how he's overcome all that and has still gone on to be a great player.

"Thing is, I'm over a year older than Boss, but Boss was the same size as I was in the sixth or seventh grade. And everybody thought I was the best (athlete), but as Boss got older, he got more and more explosive. Sprint champion, hurdles, 200 dash, in high school. The way he did it, because of his size, I had some athletic awards, but I don't have anything like that."

The two have remained close in their playing days, with Ronald Bailey shuttling between Denver and Detroit to see as many of their games as he can.

Boss Bailey said he usually talks to Champ twice a week - "once at the beginning of the week and once at the end of the week."

This weekend, the two will have several family members in the stands, and the brothers are hoping to see each other Saturday after the Broncos arrive in Detroit.

"We've never really been competitive with each other, more with other people," Boss Bailey said. "We always played hard, but it was never like, 'I've got to beat you,' or anything like that. It's a great feeling to have that kind of relationship with your brothers, your family. We don't drift apart - we do what we can to be together as much as we can."

Added Champ Bailey: "We're pretty close in age, so we probably influenced each other in a lot of ways. We played a lot of games together, did a lot of things together, that's what brought us so close. We've been around each other all our lives, all of us want to be part of each other's lives. That's family."

Name game

The Bailey brothers and their nicknames.

• Roland Bailey: Called Champ, nickname given to him by his mother.

• Rodney Bailey: Called Boss, nickname given to him by his grandmother.

"It's always been Champ and Boss, long as I can remember. Nobody uses our real names," Boss Bailey said.

"Not ever," Champ Bailey said. "I mean, before anybody anywhere knew what our nicknames were, that's what we called each other. It was no big deal, we didn't know any different because we had heard that from Day 1."

• Ronald Bailey, the oldest brother: Doesn't have a nickname.

"He was the first, so maybe they didn't start getting creative until I came along," Champ Bailey said.

Boss, on Champ

"I would say he's very competitive for one. He just knows what he's doing, a really, really smart player, who is very athletic. He makes plays, I think you would agree with that one. He does his homework. In the offseason, we have conversations about that all the time. He just does his homework and it pays off for him on the field."

Champ, on Boss

"Very athletic for one, he prides himself on being accountable. Studies hard, works hard. He's always been like that. He understands the game. I can call him and he'll know the things we're doing in our game - like he did after Monday night. He's a great player - he's one of the best at what he does."

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