Catching up with Joe Nash: Undersized 'iron man' had 218 big games

Joe Nash played 218 games with the Seahawks, more than any other player in franchise history.

The number is so high that no current Seahawk is even in the top 10 in career games with the team. So how did Nash, a defensive lineman who spent 15 seasons in Seattle, last so long in the NFL's world of short careers?

"Part of it was the fact that for many years, I was 'on the bubble' (to make the team)," Nash, 43, said from his home in the Boston area. "I was undersized. I was one of the guys the media asked, 'Will he be here next year?' "

Nash came back year after year, from 1982 to 1996, and when the Seahawks released him for good, Nash didn't blame the team.

"They had to drag me out," he said. "I stayed in pretty good shape compared to a lot of other players, and I was relatively injury-free. We (teammates) kind of pushed each other. Jake (Jacob Green), Jeff (Bryant) and I played 10 years together. You don't want to let guys down."

Nash took over as the full-time starter for Manu Tuiasosopo in 1984 and helped the Seahawks make the playoffs on his way to the only Pro Bowl appearance of his career. Years later, his name is all over the Seahawks' record books. Nash is third on the Seahawks' all-time tackles list with 779, fifth in sacks with 47-½, fourth in forced fumbles with 13 (tie) and first in blocked field goals with eight.

The Boston-area native and Boston College alum is still a Seahawks fan, even though the New England Patriots are all the rage in his hometown.

"I wouldn't root for the Patriots over the Seahawks," he said.

Nash is working with mortgages at Mt. Washington Cooperative Bank, a small operation in South Boston. He used to do real estate in the offseasons with the Seahawks, and at one point handled retirement plans for a living. He came back to Seattle for the last regular-season game at the Kingdome in 1999, and returns to play in Green's charity golf tournament.

Nash and his wife, Nancy, have three children: 17-year-old Alissa ("She'd move back to Seattle in a minute," he said); 14-year-old son Robbie (who played football this year for the first time), and daughter Brooke, 10, who plays soccer, lacrosse and basketball.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com