Have you ever met a Steeler

I would love to hear peoples personal stories about meeting a Steeler and what the interaction was like. Was the guy nice or not so nice. Different from the reputation you have heard or the same, etc.

I met Carmel Lake in a Gym one time. In fact it was just him and I in the gym at the time. It was a Gym up in Wexford I forget the name. It was in the morning. I was doing a bench press and i was repping out and I dropped the weight on my chest and could not get it up. Carnell saw what was going on and raced over and was lifting the weight off of my chest but it was too much weight to just pull off my chest without my help in pushing it. The problem was he was sweating so bad that as he leaned over to pull the weight off my chest my mouth was wide open and his sweat dripped right into my mouth and on my face. Needless to say I started gagging and had no strength to push the weight up. I regained my composure and was able to assist him with getting the weight off my chest. He apologized and we had a chuckle about it. He was a super nice guy.

I didn’t officially meet Cam Heyward but I accidentally cut him off on the Wexford flats and he raced up beside me at the red light and I din’t know who it was until I looked over at him and he was giving me this glare. I tell you it was absolutely intimidating having a dude that size glaring at you like that. I just waved and told him I was sorry.

I saw Ziggy Hood at a Movie Theater once and I told my Son “You see that guy over there. He is a Steeler. I bet your Dad could take him. My Son then walked up to Ziggy and said my Dad says he could take you” I was ready to ground my kid fro doing that. Luckily Ziggy was a good sport and just laughed.

My Son walked up to Max Starks at the Benedum during a Christmas Show and got his autograph. My Son was like four years old. He stood and talked to Max for like five minutes. Max took the time it was super cool.

I see Aaron Smith all the time around Cranberry and Wexford. He doesn’t seem real approachable so I keep my distance.

I met Franco at Heinz Field and got my autograph with him. Super nice. Met Mel Blount briefly and LC Greenwood. Didn’t talk with them but was in awe of how big they were.

My Wife and kids shared a flight with Polamaulu and his wife and kids on flight to Europe and back. My kids literally switched seats so they could sit with his kids and my wife sat with Troy and his wife. Super nice guy.

 

I shook the hand of ?????. In the 60's my sisters boyfriend took me to a game at old Pitt stadium. After game we went to the tunnel and he obviously knew this Steeler. They joked a bit and then he introduced me. I was in a state of shock how huge this monsters hand was. Damn if I can remember his name. My now brother-in-law is way to old to remember much. He doesn't even remember the incident.

Now if you asked Pirates I'd have a better story since my family members attend the Golf events sponsored by the old Pirates from the 60's.

 

I went to the last game in Three Rivers against the Redskins and we had seats in the first row behind the 'Skins bench. The viewing experience sucked because you could barely see the play on the field and had to watch the game on the big screen.
Unbeknownst to us, after the game they had a bunch of current and former players parade around the stadium so we got to shake hands with them all. It was awesome! Except Bradshaw was working and Swann must be a germaphobe because he just stood back and clapped. Good time.

 

I ate dinner with Chuck Noll and his wife at a charity event we talked about anything but football he was very intelligent and very nice mostly we talked about flying airplanes

I met John Jackson’s right elbow at another Steelers charity event when he turned around with a platter of horderves and his elbow was at the same elevation as my face

Mark and Tracey Bruener we’re my neighbors for years and are excellent people

I saw Craig Wolfley regularly when he car pooled to work with Mark but other than waving I didn’t get to know him he did drive a ratty old pick up truck

Rocky Bleier at a Vietnam Memorial he’s a good speaker

 

The Bus. Talked to Him shook His hand, and bothered Him about a picture.....which one of My ex ole lady's took out of meanness. He seemed nice. Now other teams I have know a few personally.

 

Tom Beasley in a Subway restaurant. Super nice fella. I heard Bradshaw speak in Myrtle Beach once at a work conference I attended but didn’t get to meet him personally unfortunately. I work with a lady who dated Heath Miller in high school, so that’s close.

 

I’m S.T.D. The eighth I am

S.T.D. The eighth I am I am

 

One of my aunt's actually dated Luis Lipps, and he ran a football camp that I brought 2 of my cousins to

 

My son was a ball boy for the team. I met some. 2 of cousins dated Steelers players. They are people just like anyone else.

 

Yes I have met LC Greenwood in Bloomfield and Dwight White, Rocky Blair and Jack Ham and Jerome Bettis.

 

Bettis, in his prime, was a dude that LB's and DB's didn't want to tackle.

 

I met quite a few of them through work as a sports writer. The Steelers were never my beat, but I got to cover practices and games off and on throughout my time there. I've also met a few away from work.

• I once earned a sarcastic answer from Bill Cowher when I pressed him for an answer about something during training camp. I think it was about whether Gerald Williams was going to play nose tackle or end. "Last I checked, the opener was Sept. ????) For some reason, I still get a kick out of that.
• I covered the draft the year Plaxico Burress was taken in the first round. I remember the reporters standing around the phone for a group interview, all of us exchanging glances upon hearing just how inarticulate he was at the time. He actually got a good bit better over time. Maybe he was nervous.
• A small area on the side of the locker room was set aside for fringe guys on the roster. It was off-limits to reporters, but I didn't know that. I took one step over the imaginary line and they all started loudly correcting me. I had ben trying to talk to Chris Oldham, who had a big game that day. Once they were done messing with me, one of them asked me who I needed and Oldham came out to talk to me.
• Often guys like that were the best to interview. Jim Sweeney was friendly and intelligent. I spoke to him after a game that the line had been hit by so many injuries that he had to play multiple positions and the long-snapper even got a few snaps. He was great.
• That same day, I tried to talk to Brendan Stai, the only starter who played the entire game. He clearly didn't want to talk but didn't say so. Instead, he got up and stood about an inch away from me, glaring down. (I'm a tall guy, but he still had a few inches on me.) I ignored his intimidation tactics, asked my questions, thanked him, and walked away.
• I once saw Greg Lloyd doing an interview with a television crew. He was wearing his girdle and nothing else. Another crew waited patiently. As soon as the interview was done, instead of waving the other guys off or telling them he needed a shower first, he just stood up, stripped off the rest of his clothes, tossed a towel over his shoulder, and walked right through them without a word.
• Of course, some star players were very gracious and gave good interviews. Jerome Bettis was always great about that. Hines Ward was another. So was Levon Kirkland. I'm sure others will come to mind if I think about it.
• One important thing to remember was that we were in their space and they deserved to have us respect that even if being available was part of the job for them.

I've got a few stories that were away from games or practices, but I'll get to those in a separate post later.

 

Met several of the 1979/80 players exiting practice in SoCal just before beating the Rams in the 1980 SB at the Rose Bowl including Rocky, Franco, Terry, Swann, Stallworth - they were all very cordial and relaxed and signed a plethora of autographs. About 4 years later I almost killed Richard Simmons at 2am at the luggage turnstile at LAX after a flight from hell from Boston. Need I say more?

 

Really who?

 

I forgot. Dwight White lived in our neighborhood for about a year. I was to youn but my older brothers went up to his house and he actually came out and picked my one brother up and threw him up in the air. I just temper my brother coming home so excited telling that story.

 

Back in 1966 while he was still at Notre Dame, Terry Hanratty gave me an autographed Notre Dame national championship pennett. In 2003 when the Steelers sideline store opened here in Grove City, they had a meet and greet with rookies Ike Taylor and Brian St. Pierre. Ike was an unknown for most of us coming out of college so I talked mostly with St. Pierre because I was familiar with his play at Boston College as they were still in the Big East then with Pitt. During training camp at Latrobe back in 2009, Charlie Batch stopped and gave my grandson his autograph and asked him how old he was and what school he went to. Sean Mahan walked up to my grandson and gave him his sweaty lineman gloves after practice that day. 3 years later I took the same grandson to Steelers Fest at Heinz Field. There was an event in which you took your kid or grandkids out on the field and Dennis Dixon talked to everyone and then had every kid run a pass pattern and he threw them the ball. Finally in 2006 the summer after the Steelers won the Superbowl, I was at the airport in Pittsburgh and saw The Bus sitting there waiting for a flight to arrive. I went over and sat beside him and congratulated him on a great career and going out a champion. He told me thanks he appreciated it and actually talked to me about the team's chances for the upcoming season.

 

About 6-7 years ago a good friend of mine, who works for the NFL, invited me and my 12 year old son to the Steelers hotel before their game in Atlanta. Part of that included going to the team dining room and being introduced, and my son taking his picture, with Ben, Leveon, Troy, and Cam. We were with all the players and my friend was bringing over the players with whom my son wanted to take his photo.

All of them were very gracious to my son. It was a great experience for him and me.

More recently, my daughter coached a softball team which included John Stallworth’s grand daughter. I never met John but did meet his son and let him know how much I admired John and how he played. The grand daughter is a pretty good softball player.

 

I've also met a few away from games and practices.

• I saw Franco Harris in Monroeville Mall when I was very young maybe five or six. People were stopping him and talking to him and asking for autographs. He was very gracious. I was too shy to approach him, though my parents offered. I always regretted it, even moreso after his passing last year.
• When I was 13, my father decided he was going to try to get one of the Steelers to show up at the party after my Bar Mitzvah. He tried going through the team and they said they didn't handle stuff like that. Somehow, he got a phone number of Louis Lipps's agent. He somehow maneuvered that into a conversation with Lipps and talked him into showing up with the promise of me being a huge fan. Maybe the open bar helped, too. He was nice and actually stuck around for a while. He had people bringing him drinks and had the little kids keeping him updated on the Browns-Dolphins playoff game that was going on that day. He brought a woman who took great joy in asking people which running back was better, Frank Pollard or Walter Abercrobie. Whenever one told her it was Pollard, then she would tell them she was Abercrombie's sister. She seemed to enjoy the reactions.
• When I was in college, we had a former journalist who taught a sports writing class. She had built a good enough relationship with Chuck Noll that she got him to come in and field interview questions from her class. This was shortly after he retired. He seemed so much more relaxed than when he was coaching. He spared us his famous glare, though I'm sure some of our questions weren't very good. He answered every one of them thoughtfully.
• I saw Bill Cowher away from the team a few times. I covered a few of his daughter's high-school basketball games. He just sat there near the other parents and nobody would ever bother him. I think everyone was afraid of his wife. He also used to take his daughters to an ice cream shop that my wife and I would go to in Fox Chapel. One time while I was in line, I turned around and there he was right behind me.
• One of my favorites was work, but away from the game. Terry Bradshaw came back to Pittsburgh to promote a book. We were able to get an interview before a signing at one of the local book stores. I sat with him one-on-one for about 15 minutes. He came out dressed for the signing except he was barefoot. I doubt I asked more than four questions. He would just start talking, rolling from one topic to the next. He didn't say anything earth shattering and the story wasn't anything special, but it was about as much fun as I had interviewing anybody.

 

Yes. Terry Bradshaw married Melissa Babich. She went to my High S school. They moved out on Battleridge road next to my best friend Billy Ellis. He would walk his dog ands speak to us.

 

Showoff.

 

No Steelers players. Just a few of the Charger players.

 

I met Lynn Swann at Norfolk Airport. I walked up to him and told him my father and I were Steelers fans and my father was a big fan of his (he was before my time). He didn't really say much, maybe thank you, and seemed like he didn't want to be bothered.

 

I used to work out at a local rehabilitation center / weight room thingy with Jon Kolb...My younger brother was an All State good College OL, and later an OL Coach...And those 2 were Buddies, and were always talking OL strategies and stories...

Guy was still a Beast in his 60's 70's, and strong as an Ox...He still trains local kids at that Center

 

Said hello to, and fist bumped, Ramon Foster in Nashville a couple weeks ago. Our 14 year olds were playing a tournament baseball game against each other. My son is big at 6'2" but his son was bigger!

 

Yep - I met Mel Blount and Ike Taylor at training camp. I met Edmonds, Zach Banner, Rod Woodson, Cam Heyward, Yancy Thigpen, and a few others on the Steelers cruise in 2020. I met Louis Lipps a long time ago at an autograph thing.