“Fatty Fatty Two by Four” to NFL Legend: John Hannah's Story
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, before John Hannah became a NFL Hall of Famer and one of the most respected offensive linemen in football history, he was a fourth grader being mocked for his weight on the playground. Hannah shares how his father and Alabama’s legendary coach Bear Bryant pushed him beyond what he thought were his limits and helped shape the mindset that carried him to greatness.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:14.3 | This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, |
| 0:18.4 | the show where America is the star and the American people. To search for the Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. |
| 0:22.8 | To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, |
| 0:28.6 | or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:31.6 | Our next story comes to us from the guy Sports Illustrated said was the greatest offensive lineman |
| 0:37.0 | of all time. |
| 0:38.9 | John Hanna was a two-time All-American at the University of Alabama, was selected fourth |
| 0:44.3 | overall by the New England Patriots in the 1973 NFL draft. |
| 0:49.6 | Hannah received nine Pro Bowl selections and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991. |
| 0:57.2 | Hannah shared this story first with 1819 News, a multimedia company for the state of Alabama. |
| 1:05.0 | Here's John Hannah sharing two moments in his life that pushed him towards excellence. |
| 1:10.5 | One story is from his youth, another |
| 1:12.6 | from his time spent under legendary coach Bear Bryant in Alabama. Let's take a listen. |
| 1:19.4 | In the fourth grade, I was nine years old in Canton, and there was two playgrounds, and they |
| 1:27.1 | were on terrace. There's one upper terrace and the playground down below, and there was two playgrounds, and they were on terrace. |
| 1:27.9 | There's one upper terrace and the playground down below, and I was up on down on the lower |
| 1:34.4 | terrace playing kickball with the gotcha guys, and all of a sudden about seven |
| 1:38.3 | eight guys on the top of the top terrace started serenade me with a song called, and it went like this. |
| 1:47.7 | It says, fatty, fatty two by four, can't get through the kitchen door. |
| 1:51.7 | And so it hurt. |
... |
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