pittsburghsportsdailybulletin – Page 30 – Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

Exclusive with Dan Cortese

First off – do you have any projects/stuff you want to discuss/let folks know about?

At the beginning of the year I started building my own production company. It was born out of Covid – no one was working – the industry was shut down for a while. I had a bunch of ideas and talked to a friend of mine that was an agent about them. I didn’t want to shop around ideas – I wanted to hit the ground running. So I have 12 ideas/show concepts that we can now use to fill any voids people may have.

Any stand out?

I’m in the process of doing a documentary on the MTV Rock N’ Jock show. There’s so much history and so many stories no one knows about. It’s crazy, 30 years later people still refer to the show today. When people talk about sports all-star competitions, they always mention the show.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers Offensive Lineman Mike Sandusky, 1957-1965

First, can you let me what you got involved with after football?

Well, I did a little wrestling – I just tried that out to see how that was. My folks had a bar so after that I went into the bar business with them for a bit and then ran my own liquor store.

How did you get involved in wrestling?

My wife went to the University of Maryland and knew some folks around there. She got some signatures together to get fans to come see me wrestle in DC. We got 100 or so people to watch. It wasn’t much but it was fun to try it.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers offensive Lineman Jay Hull, 1983

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

Well what I’m proud of is that we were able to get Linwood Sexton into the Missouri Valley Conference Athletics Hall of Fame. Linwood was a terrific Black player in the 40’s – led the Missouri Valley in rushing for three years even though he wasn’t allowed to play in Tulsa and Kenyon due to racism. But we finally got him into the Hall of Fame six years or so ago.

How did that happen?

A bunch of us met at a Wichita State reunion and one of the guys did research on Linwood. We all decided then we needed to get him in.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers Defensive Lineman Fred Anderson, 1978-1979

First, tell us what you’ve been doing with yourself since your time in the NFL?

A lot of coaching high school – a little bit of this and that. Coaching football, basketball, and baseball – mostly for my kids. It was a father thing. I also started my own construction company – I did that because I wanted a sense of independence – to have that extra time to spend with my family.

I’ve been always involved with nonprofits, focused on the socially and economically disadvantaged contractors in our community.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers Quarterback Cliff Stoudt, 1977-1983

First, can you let us know what you did after football?

Well, I’ve been involved in sales for a while. And I do speaking engagements. I’m just enjoying life, honestly.

I’m enjoying my kids. My daughter played basketball for NC Wilmington and my oldest son played football at Louisville and Old Miss. My youngest played at Clemson.

Was the post-NFL adjustment difficult for you?

I got to be a child until I was 38 years old. When people ask me if I miss football, I tell them that. I was fortunate to play longer than 99% of most NFL players. Nothing will match up to playing in the NFL. So it was a tough adjustment.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers Wide Receiver Lyneal Alston, 1987

First, can you let us know what you’ve been doing since your time playing football?

Since football I got married – I’ve been married for over 30 years now and have three kids. I’ve just been enjoying my family and working at my trucking company.

Was it hard adjusting to life after football?

It’s funny you ask that because I think about it all of the time. It was very difficult. I was playing football for so long and I thought I was pretty good at it. It was very hard – I struggled for a time. My wife went into the military though and I went overseas with her and did fitness training for the military there. That helped. But it was hard to be a regular civilian after 20 years playing football.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers Wide Receiver Danny Coale, 2014

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since you stopped playing?

My last team was the Steelers – my last game was the playoff game versus the Ravens. When we lost and the season was over, I knew it was time to move on.

My NFL journey was an up and down one. I had a lot of injuries, so because of that I think I was always thinking about what was next after the NFL. I had my degree in finance from Virginia Tech and my wife’s family was from Pittsburgh. I’m not sure if you knew it but my father-in-law was Tunch Ilkin. We stayed here in Pittsburgh – we thought about going to different places but I got an opportunity to work at PNC Bank and did that for six years.

Since then I took a job with a company that produces banking software – I’m excited about that. I also have three kids – five, three, and one. So it’s crazy – chaos. But I love it. And I have two girls so having grown up in a family of all boys, I can say having a girl is great.

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Exclusive with Tom O’Malley – Steelers Press Box Assistant/Steelers Charity Basketball Team Coach

First, can you let me know what you are doing with yourself besides the press box and basketball work?

I’ve been in the insurance business for over 40 years. I ran my own agency for years – it was in Bethel Park with Bob Purkey – the former Pirate. I bought it out from Bob when he retired in 2003 then sold it last year to First National Bank and have been working for them since. It’s worked out great.

I still do the press box work for the Steelers and, if we get back to playing again, coaching the Steelers charity basketball team.

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Congratulations to Joe Haden on his Retirement:

Isaiah Johnson: “Joe Haden – he showed me how to be a leader – how he was able to do that for so long in the NFL. One thing I was just told a lot was to be a professional. To “Be you.” It’s easy to do in that environment. They helped show me how to be a professional.”

Kam Kelly: “When I got to the Steelers Joe Haden was my biggest mentor. He was a true pro – he studied and knew the game. He was invested in his career and I learned how to manage my time and approach to the game – on and off the field – from him.”

James Pierre: “Haden and Nelson for sure – I just want to learn all I can from them – and from any of the younger guys too. It doesn’t matter if they are younger or older – I just want to learn. With Haden and Nelson I want to see their film prep – how they watch film and dissect it – how they learn different things.”

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Congratulations to Steelers Linebacker James Farrior on his Hall of Fame Nomination

Alonzo Jackson: “Farrior taught me more of the X’s and O’s. Aaron, well, my locker was next to his. He was a great guy and a mentor on just how to live life. I don’t think he even knew how much of a mentor he was too people.”

Doug Whaley: “The one I think I was most excited about was getting James Farrior from the Jets. When he first got here it took time for him to transfer his skills from a 4-3 to 3-4 defense. When I saw him in the first couple of practices, I was like…oooh no… Then, once he clicked, he was great. When we recruited him he came in and I think he really liked the guys in the locker room and the team chemistry.”

Kevin Spencer: “Heck, I had to throw Farrior off of special teams. He didn’t want to leave – he was indignant when I took him off.”

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