John "Bull" Bramlett would go on to become a professional football player, but in the early 1950s, he was part of the ragtag team that played touch football near Lauderdale Courts housing project with Elvis Presley as a teammate.

Bramlett, 67, was six years younger than Elvis, who called him "Little Bramlett." He sometimes had to stand on the sidelines and watch, but when the older boys needed an extra player, he says, "They'd bang me around just like they did everybody else."
John Bramlett of Cordova went from All-State and All-American football player to an NFL career.

Karen Pulfer Focht/The Commercial Appeal

John Bramlett of Cordova went from All-State and All-American football player to an NFL career.
Elvis Presley, playing touch football at the Dave Wells Community Center on Dec. 27, 1956, enjoyed sports but according to friend John Bramlett, Elvis was a better at making music than touchdowns.

Barney Sellers/The Commercial Appeal files

Elvis Presley, playing touch football at the Dave Wells Community Center on Dec. 27, 1956, enjoyed sports but according to friend John Bramlett, Elvis was a better at making music than touchdowns.

It's part of the story Bramlett tells as part of the "Elvis Presley Legacy Project," in which Graceland is inviting those who knew or met Elvis to tell about their encounters in taped interviews to be included in Graceland's archives.

Graceland will videotape other stories from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 12 and 13 at the East Memphis Hilton.

Bramlett was invited to tell his story ahead of time along with a few other high-profile Memphians, including former Elvis girlfriend Dixie Locke Emmons, who met Elvis at her church, First Assembly of God.

The interviews, designed to promote the 75th Elvis birthday celebrations in January, tend toward a certain reverence, although off-camera, Bramlett adds a few details that won't make it into the Graceland archives.

Elvis was a "great guy," he says, but he was not destined for sports. "He was just an average athlete. I thought he kind of ran like a girl. It was just a funny way that he ran."

While Elvis went on to musical immortality, Bramlett became a celebrity in his own right. He was an All-State and All-American high school football player at Humes High School and an honorable mention All-American at Memphis State University.

From 1965 to 1971, he played for the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins, the Boston Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.

Bramlett says alcohol and drugs helped fuel his reputation as "the meanest man in football," until he "met Jesus in 1973." It was a conversion that led Bramlett to begin his own lay ministry. He now ministers in prisons and to sports groups, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, NFL clubs and NASCAR chapel services.

And he can tell about knowing Elvis before and after he became famous.

Bramlett was with Elvis in 1954 at the old Suzore Theater when Elvis' mother, Gladys, came to the theater to tell him that his record, "That's All Right," was being played over and over on WHBQ Radio.

Within three years Elvis had his first RCA hit, "Heartbreak Hotel," and a new home at Graceland. It was soon after the move to Graceland, Bramlett says, that Elvis pulled up alongside him at a red light. He heard a familiar voice yell, "Hey, Little Bramlett." Bramlett says he had to look closely before recognizing Elvis in an old white van and wearing a floppy hat to disguise himself so that he could go out in public.

When Bramlett called out, "Elvis," Presley motioned for him to keep quiet, then drove away.

--------------------http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/jun/06/on-record/