Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway was born in 1983, the same year that retired running back Roger Craig was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers.

So although the focus of the Legends/Sanford Football Clinic held Friday afternoon at Augustana College was on the participating kids and their admiration of the presenting heroes, it was hard to ignore the generational gap between the two celebrities.

Now 47, Craig has been retired for 15 years. Based in the Palo Alto area of California, he's still healthy enough to run marathons, continuing the high-knee style that he made famous on the gridiron. He has become a fan of track and field, one of the sports favored by his three children. For the last seven years, he's been working as the director of business development for Tibco Software, one of the many post-football success stories from the old 49ers. Former teammates Ronnie Lott and Harris Barton, for example, co-founded HRJ Capital, a $2 billion hedge fund.

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"We work together, too," said Craig, who grew up in Iowa and played his college ball at Nebraska. "A lot of times players don't tend to work together and to do things and they just go their own separate ways. But with us we're like one family. (Former 49ers owner) Eddie DeBartolo keeps us together too."

At Tibco, Craig has a hand in human resources, sales, marketing - he's as all-purpose as he was when he was playing football.

Voted to the Pro Bowl as both a fullback and a tailback, Craig was the first running back in NFL history to gain 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season and remains the only running back to lead the NFL in receptions in a season.

He's not, however, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame yet, something he mentioned Friday during a Q and A with the 300 youth campers. Craig also disclosed that as a kid he was afraid to get hit and that as a professional he used to train on hills with the likes of Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.

"What are professionals?" one boy asked. "Old men yet they try to be a kid," Craig replied with a smile.

Comparatively, Greenway is still a kid and "a good little linebacker," as Craig put it. Nonetheless, the Mount Vernon native has become a father since the last time he worked a Legends camp. He entered Friday's clinic holding his infant daughter.

"It's just exciting to know that my daughter now is growing up and in a few years she'll be playing soccer and going to these camps and being influenced by people who are in the situation I'm in," said Greenway, a third-year pro out of Iowa. "It's exciting for me to now have my own and understand what kids go through."

During the two-hour clinic, the participants were put through eight skill stations manned by players and coaches from Augustana. A ninth station was for getting autographs from Craig and Greenway - or not. One young Chicago Bears fan bypassed the line so as to not deface his Brian Urlacher jersey, an impressive show of allegiance.

Conversely, Keith Elliott of Sioux Falls had to schedule a family trip to the Twin Cities around the event. His sons, Luke, Jack and Sam, already ESPN junkies, were all decked out in Greenway jerseys and posed for a picture after procuring signatures.

"He's an excellent role model," Elliott said of Greenway. "As South Dakotans, we're real proud of him."

The 6-foot-2, 245-pound Greenway had a strong 2007 season, making 105 tackles with two interceptions, showing no ill effects of the knee injury that cost him all of his rookie season. But 2008 could be even better considering the Vikings added sack master Jared Allen via trade and the defending division champion Green Bay Packers lost quarterback Brett Favre to retirement.

"The Giants really came out of nowhere," Greenway said of the reigning Super Bowl champs. "I think we can be that team this year."

Of course, you can't win a Super Bowl without first reaching the postseason, something Greenway has yet to experience. Craig, on the other hand, went to the postseason in each of his 11 years in the league, winning three Super Bowls. In fact, Greenway was a big 49ers fan.

"It's fun to be here with him," he said of Craig. "He's obviously a Hall of Famer and a legend and I'm not there yet."

Article courtesy of Terry Vandrovec, and Argusleader.com