First, tell me what you’re doing with yourself now?
I’m retired now. I was running digital media at the University of Georgia for a while after Pittsburgh, but now I’m just relaxing and chilling here in Athens.
I know you worked with the Buffalo Bills before working with the Steelers. What made you decide to work for the Steelers – how did that come about?
I was working in Buffalo handling their video and scoreboard production. And like anything else, it’s a business and we have our own conferences. I met Jimmy Rooney and John Wodarek – the Steelers marketing guy – at one of those events. Jimmy was there selling a product he had at the time – we actually bought it.
Well, before they closed Three Rivers, the Steelers promoted John. He called me when he was promoted and asked if I could come in and help him with the video work. A year later he called me when they moved to Heinz Field. They were looking for a full-time producer and director. I told him I thought that was his job! But he said he knew the marketing stuff bit didn’t know the video work and needed some help so I went and helped him a bit. I spoke after that for a couple of months with Tony Quatrini there before they hired me.
What was your role there?
I was there to run the video and scoreboard for Heinz Field. At the time the Jumbotron was the largest in the NFL – by a couple of feet – I think on purpose so they could call it the biggest!
My role was to produce videos for the gameday experience. The live camera shots, instant replay, and to produce content like the hype and sponsorship videos. In fact Renegade became famous when the Browns played the Steelers in the playoffs 18 years ago!
It was Mike Marcinski who came up with the idea of using the Renegade song. We worked with the editor to create a hype video using the song. In the playoff game, Cleveland was up I think by 17 and the Steelers scored a touchdown. We played the Renegade video and the fans and players went nuts! So we played it again later – we played it twice!
That’s taboo now no!
Oh it’d totally be taboo now! You never play a video twice! But I said, man, it worked so well, let’s do it again! They asked if I was serious and I was. It’s funny, a couple of years later when hashtags became big, the hashtag “DoubleRenegade” was big.
What were some of the ideas you launched in Pittsburgh?
We were the first team to produce a live kids TV show. In Buffalo we did a magazine-style show with a former player and a young girl. In Pittsburgh we came up with the idea of doing a live version that ran for 13 years. We’d bring youth football programs, high school teams and groups like that in to film them live with former players.
Did you have to run ideas through the Rooneys?
No – it was all done with the marketing team. Maybe Tony Quatrini would run ideas up to them. But working with Mr, Rooney was like working with my grandfather. He told me that if I ever had any questions, to just give him a call. I was like, really?
We also did a youth football show where we filmed high school games around the city over the weekend. We also had the Bill Cowher Show that of course turned into the Mike Tomlin Show. It was originally done through KDKA but we brought that in-house.
We also did a show where we followed a player around for a day in the offseason. It was one of the Day in the Life shows.
Like Steelers Cribs!
Ha exactly! You know there are no new ideas! We even had hip hop music, those special camera angles and multiple shots.
I know this wasn’t as much an issue then, but do you see players’ looking to control their own brand more a help or threat to the work the broadcast teams do?
You know, I don’t think so unless the players start demanding to be paid for the use of their images. I really don’t think it’s an issue tough. I think in terms of them wanting to use their own platforms, they’d still want the production value we can bring to them and the support our work can give their brands.
What are some of the memories that stand out most to you of your time there?
The Super Bowl in Detroit is my fondest memory. I went to Detroit with my cameraman Pete Gergely – he’s now with the Yankees and one of the few people to earn a World Series and Super Bowl ring!
He and I followed Jerome around Detroit that week the entire time. We went to his mom’s house – they had all the players and media come to this house for dinner one night and set up tables and chairs in every room of the house so everyone could sit and eat. There must have been 50 guys there – almost everyone made it. Then he told all the media they should leave, but pointed to me and Pete and said we could stay.
Why you two?
He knew us so well. We ate with the team and filmed it all. Then Jerome did an hilarious press conference from his driveway – then we all went to the Detroit Pistons game.
When we all got out of our cars and walked in through the tunnel at the Pistons game, the announcer welcomed Jerome back to Detroit and we all walked on center court and the crowd went crazy. It was amazing. After that they were able to sit at court-side. Pete and I looked at each other and tried to figure out what we should do. We ended up sitting on the baseline and watched and filmed the game, and the reactions of the players, Coach Cowher and the Rooneys. It was a great time.
Any other good memories?
One of the best shows I did was with Brett Keisel. I went with a different cameraman this time to Salt Lake City and we rented a car to drive to his hometown to go mountain lion hunting with him.
It was one of the Day in the Life shows. We drove about an hour-and-a-half East of Salt Lake City and then got on snowmobiles to drive out to his buddy who had tracking dogs. It snowed like two feet so the first day we just all hung out by bonfires. The next day the dogs found a track and we trailed it to a tree. The mountain lion was 10-feet above us. We didn’t shoot it of course – we wouldn’t out that on TV. But four days hanging out with Brett Keisel going mountain lion hunting was a blast.
Any of the guys most fun to work with?
There was one lineman – I won’t say who it was. But every time I did a shoot he tried to get in the interview – on film. He’d always find a way to be naked so we couldn’t use it. One time he actually did a cartwheel naked to get in the film – as disturbing as imagining a 6’3″ offensive lineman doing naked cartwheels is!
Once when we were interviewing Jeff Reed he even dribbled a soccer ball naked around us. Like, really?
Any other thoughts of your time there?
I grew up a Colts fan. My friends were shocked I was working for the Steelers. “You hate them!” they’d say to me. But I’d tell them they were the ones paying me!
But when I got there and had a chance to work with them. It was such a family atmosphere. We all did four or five jobs – whatever they asked you to do, you did.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
