Category: Media

Mark Mravic:

First, can you let readers know how and why you decided to write “Pittsburgh Steelers: Pride in Black and Gold’ and how you started doing so?

With this being the 80th season of Steelers football, we thought it would be a good time to look back at the history of the franchise, what it’s meant to the city and the NFL, and the great personalities and games for which it’s known.

What makes the book unique in its coverage of the Steelers?

What we’ve done is separate the book into three sections: The Pride, Players and the Prize. The first examines the team’s unique bond with the city, from the early struggles through the great Super Bowl teams, embodied in the continuous ownership by the Rooney family and the smart choices the team has made to maintain stability, beginning with the hiring of Chuck Noll. We went back and found relevant stories from the pages of SI, and here we reprinted Myron Cope’s great history of the Terrible Towel to accompany some historical photographs.

Then we grouped together some of the great players who’ve worn the Steelers uniform through the years, from Ernie Stautner and Jack Butler through the Steel Curtain teams to the Tomlin and Roethlisberger years, with accompanying text and excerpted stories on each one.

The third section reprints each of Sports Illustrated’s game stories from the six Super Bowl victories.

The real distinction of the book, apart from revisited some of SI’s great sportswriting on the Steelers, is that we went deep into the photo archives for a lot of pictures that have never before been published, and many that haven’t even been seen by anyone in decades. There’s a great untapped store of sports photography there—when SI shoots a football game, maybe a half-dozen or so shots end up in the magazine that week. But the photographers have shot literally hundreds of pictures (and with digital cameras now, thousands). When we are putting the weekly magazine together, that number gets winnowed by the photo editors to maybe 100 that the editors then sort through to make their selection based on the subject of that week’s story. The rest get stored away.

So going back through all of that stuff, from old pictures of the Steel Curtain defense to outtakes from those Super Bowls, was just a phenomenal experience.
 
How can readers purchase the book?

There are actually two versions: a large hardcover coffee table book and a smaller-format softcover. The former can be ordered online through Barnes & Noble’s website and Amazon.com. The latter are on newsstands and in some Pittsburgh-area supermarkets like Giant Eagle and other stores. 
 
How did your role as the Assistant Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated make your job easier or harder as you researched and wrote the book?

Well, I’m AME but also oversee the NFL beat, so I’m very familiar with our Steelers coverage through the years. As AME I also had the authority to make the final call on the format, the particular story selections and picture choices.

As a Pittsburgh native/Steelers fan, how difficult was it for you to stay unbiased in our coverage?

It’s not particularly difficult—I think I’m able to compartmentalize my fandom and guide our football coverage objectively based on what I think the Sports Illustrated reader would like. I won’t deny that I get a special thrill working on Steelers stories (and this book was a kid-in-the-candy store experience), but professionally I’ve treated the Steelers like any other NFL team. (Everyone at Sports Illustrated grew up a fan of some team; you wouldn’t be in the business if you didn’t have that background.)

The Steelers have been good for so long that we do cover them more than some other teams, but when it’s time to be critical we have not pulled any punches. Our cover story on the Roethlisberger scandal from a few years back was very harsh but authoritative—we went after that story with all of our resources and no hesitation.

What surprised you most as you researched and wrote the book – and why?

Outside of discovering that treasure trove of photography, I did learn about players I was not familiar with from the pre-Super Bowl days, particularly Jack Butler and Elbie Nickel. It was great to learn more about the history of those old teams and those great players.
 
Concussions and head trauma and the issues many former players deal with as a result of those injuries are a big topic today. How do you find the players you speak with to be on those issues. Angry at the NFL, accepting of them as a game risk…?

It’s really a mix. A lot of old players accept the physical toll—the bad knees, bad backs, etc., as something they were prepared to deal with. But we’re learning more about the potential psychological toll—depression, memory loss, dementia—and there is a lot of unhappiness and fear. You’ve got nearly 3,000 former players suing the league. It’s a huge issue.

And now I think some active players are beginning to think seriously about the repurcussions of their profession. They’re less willing to just “shake it off and get back in” when they’ve suffered a head injury, and more generally you’re beginning to hear some players say they would be concerned to let their children play football.

The Steelers have always embodied that physical nature of the sport. How in your opinion does/can the NFL successfully manage the need to keep a certain level of “old school” physicality in the game while better protecting players today?

The various rules changes and punishments the league is instituting have made a difference (it’s one reason why offenses are so much more prolific these days). Hard hits are always going to be part of the game, though, and even clean hits can cause serious injury (as when a player’s head slams the turf when he’s tackled). Players have been brought up in a culture that rewards and celebrates those hard hits, and I don’t really see that changing.

What needs to happen, as much as possible, is for coaches at all levels, beginning in peewee football, to teach proper tackling and blocking fundamentals and downplay the macho celebration of that physicality.
 
Who were some of the biggest characters on the Steelers teams and what made them so? Any examples?

So many of those guys from the ’70s era were characters, from Bradshaw and Harris and Lambert to Ernie Holmes and Frenchy Fuqua. They were also so much more approachable that today’s player—there weren’t 10 layers of PR between the media, the fans and the teams, or a uniform image that the league was trying to project. You still get that occasionally with players—Hines Ward comes to mind as a guy who was very up front with the media and always willing to speak his mind.

In your discussions with players over the years, how much did they discuss the difficulties players have on adjusting to post-NFL life, and what do you find separates those that struggled to do so from those that did not?

You just never know who may or may not struggle post-career. Some players are very smart with their money and in their personal lives others are not; that’s a big factor obviously in the adjustment to a career beyond football. But in terms of the physical struggle, it’s very hard to explain why a guy like former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon is apparently suffering the effects of the hits he took as a player while Terry Bradshaw, who took plenty of knocks of his own and has admitted to suffering multiple concussions, seems pretty much unaffected.

Most people are familiar with the unusual number of untimely deaths among former Steelers players, from Mike Webster to Justin Strzelczyk to Terry Long. Those old Steelers teams have been linked to steroid use—Steve Courson was the first really outspoken anti-steroid crusader—and while as far as I know there’s not a clear scientific link between steroid use and emotional or psychological difficulty, it’s hard not to think that the way some guys push their bodies, either within the rules or outside of them, can have a serious effect on their overall emotional health.

Without revealing too much, what players and stories were the most powerful, from your perspective. And why?
 
I really enjoyed revisiting all six of those Super Bowl stories—the first four because I was a young fan during at the time and remember eagerly awaiting my SI to read about the victories, and the last two because I personally edited those stories and had the strange experience of having my fandom and my professional life come together so perfectly. And I thought about the new generation of Steelers fans who may be experiencing what I felt as a kid back in the ’70s. In seventh grade I made a poster in art class of the SI cover with Swann’s amazing diving catch from Super Bowl X.

Now I’m working for that very magazine, hopefully making some other young fan happy about his team and his heroes in the same way.

Any last thoughts for readers?

I hope everyone enjoys the book. It was a real pleasure to work on, and hope some of that comes through.

Chuck Finder

First, can you tell readers about your new book – the Steelers Encyclopedia. What inspired you to write the book and how it differs from other Steelers books?

It wasn’t so much an epiphany or lightning bolt from above. Rather, about a month after I took a voluntary buyout from half my life as a newspaper wretch, a call came from a publisher: “How’d you like to write a Steelers book?”  It’s an idea that knocked around my cranium for years. But I held back, wanting to wade into the deep end of the sports-book pool with a craft more seaworthy than a ducky innertube (nothing against them, so long as you’re under the age of five).

These publishers found a niche with an Encyclopedia-style book, and that concept struck a chord with me. It allowed a laser focus on the coaches, the players, the Rooneys, the important moments and the few people who comprised the down-then-up arc of the Pirates/Steelers franchise. Moreover – and here’s where this book differs from the rest – this broad approach allowed for nearly 100 different voices and 150 rare photographs. From Hall of Famers to assistant coaches to trainers to media, from Joe Greene to the virtual Joe Blow, men with roles big and little in the 80-year history were given the ability to show their faces and share their oral histories. It’s a fun ride. It’s a fun read, I hope.

How can readers order the book?

It comes out Sept. 8, but you can preorder already via online sales:

+ Amazon at  //www.amazon.com/Steelers-Encyclopedia-Chuck-Finder/dp/143990832X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341545144&sr=1-1&keywords=%22Steelers+Encyclopedia%22

+ Barnes and Noble at //www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-steelers-encyclopedia-chuck-finder/1109647411?ean=9781439908327

+ And here is the publisher’s page //www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/2194_reg.html

Come September, it will be in bookstores throughout the Western Pennsylvania and, so we hope, anywhere Steelers fans shop. Make sure you ask for it!

How has your experience as a sportswriter and columnist for the Post-Gazette affected the way you approached the book – and did that experience make it in any way more challenging for you to come up with a different approach?

Actually, it felt as if that quarter-century of background and experience prepared me to write a better book on a familiar subject. Even beyond than that work experience, I was fortunate to grow up as a family friend of the Steel Curtain’s backup, Steve Furness. From an early age, I got to meet teammates and hear stories from behind the ‘70s scenes. So when it came time so many years later to call on folks I’ve known for so long, it seemed like renewing old acquaintances and them launching into, “Here’s one you never heard…..” Out poured stories that few outside of the team circle ever heard. Like when Gary Dunn prefaced one tale, “Here’s one you can retire on.” (If only that were true!)

Long answer short, my experience and familiarity allowed me to hold intimate conversations. My career as a journalist gave me the diligence and the doggedness to interview so many, to double- and triple-check stories, to back up statistics and to pore through accounts from a variety of different Pittsburgh media sources. Combined, those factors made the fresh approach – oral histories and hardly-seen photos – flow almost seamlessly together.

In researching the book, what are some of the biggest perceptions about the team that were debunked from the 100+ interviews you conducted?

Not sure if anything was debunked, but instead it was reinforced: somewhere between great fortune, divine providence and overdue karma came together this amazing amalgamation. Talent met character met camaraderie met fortitude met intelligence. These folks take you inside the draft room, inside the trainer’s room, inside the meeting room, inside the weight room, inside the locker room, through the tunnel, onto the practice field, into the game, to the Super Bowl. . . and on the raucous bus afterward. In quite a few occasions, they simply collided with dumb luck.

For example, take the John Stallworth story. Bill Nunn pulled some shenanigans in scouting Stallworth, then played poker on draft day: There was war-room sentiment to take Stallworth in the second round rather than Jack Lambert, but Nunn calmly convinced them that Stallworth would last until the fourth round (they had no third-rounder, remember). Later, on the practice field, Chuck Noll suggested that Stallworth shed his glasses for contacts. And from there Stallworth competed with Lynn Swann for Terry Bradshaw’s attention and passes. It all worked – the three each became Hall of Famers. Oh, and Stallworth owns a piece of the club now, too.

Hindsight and maturity allows many of the significant people of those ‘70s Steelers to talk about the rise of those players, those coaches. I found it to be a fascinating look inside a club I heretofore thought I knew pretty well. . . and I thought wrongly.

Who were some of the biggest characters you interviewed, and what made them so? Any examples?

So many characters have crossed the thresholds at Forbes Field, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium and Heinz Field – Lord, how I wished Bobby Layne, Johnny Blood McNally and Bullet Bill Dudley were still around to take out for a brew. So many people whom you might not expect suddenly were outspoken, such as Dick Hoak’s recollections of the South Park training facilities or Troy Polamalu’s personal pick for his favorite coach of all-time.

Every person interviewed will have a story or quote to make readers laugh, think, drop their jaw. But my personal favorite was 95-year-old Chuck Cherundolo, a star center in the 1940s and a coach thereafter. The delight that Buck O’Neil brought to Ken Burns’ baseball documentaries (certainly on a grander scale), Cherundolo brought the same sheer joy to this Steelers history. Through his thick glasses, you could almost see him replaying moments in his eyes. Bullet Bill Dudley, he growled? Not that fast. Is Bill still alive? (No.) Walt Kiesling, he still living? He’s gone, too? I guess when you get to be 94, they’re all gone.”

What interviews stand out to you the most, and why?

Beyond Chuck Cherundolo (about whom so many older players raved and asked for his address) and Hoak and Polamalu, some open and honest and incisive and funny tales came in particular from Joe Greene, Andy Russell, Larry Brown, Mike Wagner, Gary Dunn (he had me howling), Jon Kolb (he has a great line about the Immaculate Reception), Frenchy Fuqua (speaking of), John Stallworth, Jack Ham (now he has quite the story to tell), Ralph Berlin (he misses the players’ poker games), many of the Rooneys… even Bill Cowher had a good crack about playing racquetball with Kevin Colbert.

Who knows, this might be the last book where Hines Ward, Aaron Smith and James Farrior talk together. I don’t want to give too much away quite yet, but they just were so at ease talking about their days that their words prove both entertaining and informative.

In speaking with many of the older players – the pre-70’s Steelers – do you think the post-NFL adjustment was easier for them versus the more modern day players because they had to create non-football careers and non-football for themselves while they were still playing since they got paid so much less?

There was little adjustment in those days. People tend to forget, but the NFL wasn’t a big deal until the 1970s… and even then it wasn’t as monolithic as it is today. Franco Harris rode a PAT bus to work his Rookie of the Year season, for goodness sakes. In the decades preceding, players HAD to make a living outside of football.

Tim Rooney Sr. remembered marriage being a barrier – some guys had to retire from the NFL so they could make a real living somewhere else and support their brides. Ernie Stautner, one of the toughest Steelers ever? He owned a drive-in theater in Lake Placid, N.Y. His business was so successful, he was allowed to report to camp late because it was still the high-season at the drive-in.

Who were some of the more under-appreciated players and coaches in Steelers history, from your perspective?

Wow, talk about an idea for a book!

As for coaches, I’m not sure Bud Carson receives as much credit. Several players loved telling how he could change gameplans in the tunnel before the game. And how they reveled in telling famed 49ers coach Bill Walsh how Carson solved Walsh’s offense all those years. The under-appreciated players could be summed up thusly: The Steelers historic line of centers doesn’t begin and end with Ray Mansfield (who came to the Steelers as a defensive player), Mike Webster, Dermontti Dawson and Maurkice Pouncey. No, Cherundolo and his replacement Bill Walsh (not the 49ers coach) were two of the best linemen in their day, let alone centers.

As a sportswriter and now author, you get to talk with players and see them outside of the on-field, game-time environment. How different is the perception that fans have of players from reality, and how much do you think that frustrates the players?

Some relish their roles and personnas, others spend careers – if not lifetimes – trying to avoid perceptions… or misconceptions. The intrusive, 24-7-365 nature of this society and media, and that includes social media, plays a role in that. Little is perceived to be either private or off-limits anymore. For some players, Pittsburgh actually is a haven: most fans give them their space, allow them to breathe and act for what to them is normally. Otherwise, a beard would never have its own Facebook.

What’s next for you – another book on the horizon? Or did you want to get back into sportswriting?

This was my first solo book project, and it was a lonnnng, draining process. But it was, and is, enjoyable, fulfilling and, if people like the book as much as I hope they will, rewarding. I’d love to do it all again. The future for me is, well, filled with unwritten chapters.

After I left sports writing, several roads opened: this book, some online work with CBSSports.com, some free-lance writing, teaching opportunities, and a new career in media relations. Hey, I still got two boys, a wife, a father and a mother-in-law, three dogs and two snakes to look after. The heck with a plate, that’s a full buffet in front of me.

Any last thoughts for readers?

The same as the Steelers quiz on your website – and many of those answers are found in “The Steelers Encyclopedia” – there is so much more to learn about this franchise. I spent twenty-five years around them, inside the locker room, and for years before that I knew many of them off the field. And in compiling this book I found out: You think you may know a team, but you really don’t.

Feel free to pass the time until September with blogs about the book every Friday on my immodestly named site, ChuckFinder.com (hey, it was available!). Once the season arrives, here’s hoping fans get an enjoyable season from the team and an entertaining education from “The Steelers Encyclopedia.”