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Kevin Cook, Author, The Last Headbangers: NFL Football in the Rowdy, Reckless ’70s—The Era that Created Modern Sports

Kevin Cook, Author, The Last Headbangers: NFL Football in the Rowdy, Reckless ’70s—The Era that Created Modern Sports:

First, can you let readers know how and why you decided to take on this subject and how you started doing so?

I was a tyke in 1967, watching the first Super Bowl on a little black-and-white TV. I grew up watching the early Monday Night Football and the great teams of the ’70s. After writing three books that were largely about golf, I wanted to write about the number-one sport.

It’s easy to forget that pro football didn’t always dominate the sports landscape the way it does today. It was a process—an evolution that’s really fascinating, full of epic games, crazy plays and vivid characters.

What makes the book unique in its coverage of those 70’s teams?

I think Headbangers is the first to suggest that the NFL took on its modern form in the ten-year period between the sport’s most famous plays: the Immaculate Reception and The Catch. Back in ’72, rookie Franco Harris actually hitchhiked to practice. Terry Bradshaw sold used cars in the off-season. Andy Russell and Ray Mansfield carpooled to work to save on gas that cost 55 cents a gallon. Monday Night Football was new—an experiment that only last-place ABC was willing to try.

By the time Dwight Clark snagged Joe Montana’s pass in 1982, the NFL was America’s dominant sport. Thanks mostly to TV, teams were getting rich and players were making ten times what guys earned a decade before. Rules changes favoring the passing game helped Bill Walsh’s 49ers usher in a more efficient, scripted style of play—the modern, corporate, huge-money NFL we watch today.

How did you research the book and what surprised you most as you did so?

I watched a bunch of grainy ’70s games, read everything I could find on the subject, and then started phoning ’70s players, coaches and broadcasters. What surprised me was that the vast majority of those players went on to other careers. They were the last NFL generation that wasn’t set for life by virtue of playing pro football. Some have struggled financially as well as physically. And then there’s Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, who screwed up his career by abusing drugs, and then won $28 million in the Texas state lottery.

How can readers purchase the book?

It’s at Amazon.com as well as Barnes & Noble, independent booksellers and the bookstore near you.

Were some players reluctant to discuss their experiences with you? Why/why not, do you think?

Most were eager to share their memories. I expected Henderson, for instance, to be tight-lipped about drugs, but he told about hiding liquid cocaine in his uniform during the Super Bowl. I expected Roger Staubach to be a stiff, but he was one of the most candid, interesting interviews I had in more than a year of working on the book. Talking to Staubach could almost make you root for the Cowboys…I say almost.

How do the players you spoke with look at the way the game is being played today? What were their thoughts on today’s rules regarding hits and the way today’s players handle themselves – both on and off the field?

Most of them think today’s players are spoiled. They hate seeing preening, prancing me-first guys do touchdown dances on TV. And they think the rules have changed so much that quarterbacks aren’t really football players anymore—QBs are more like kickers, playing a specialized, protected position. Or ballerinas. But don’t quote me—I don’t want Jay Cutler kicking me with his toe shoes.

Concussions and head trauma and the issues many former players deal with as a result of those injuries are a big topic today How did you find the players you spoke with on those issues. Angry at the NFL, accepting of them as a game risk…?

I think they’re scared. Worried. But while many ex-players are suing the NFL, others shrug and say they knew the game was risky. I’m hoping The Last Headbangers leads more fans to support former players who risked their futures to help build the game. The NFL and the NFLPA are starting to recognize the debt they owe the Headbangers generation, but haven’t done nearly enough.

How in your opinion does/can the NFL successfully manage the need to keep a certain level of “old school” physicality in the game for fans while better protecting players today?

I think it’s crazy when people talk about banning NFL football. Twenty or so years ago we began hearing about Dementia pugilistica, the brain damage boxers suffered from getting concussed. But we didn’t ban boxing. I applaud the NFL’s efforts to deal with players’ health issues. The next step is twofold: The league needs to put more of its wealth into pensions and medical care for former players; and it needs to keep improving concussion detection.

If a player shows concussion symptoms, team doctors need to keep him off the field. For years, players were expected to “shake it off” and stay in the game. That decision—in the NFL as well as in college, high school and every other level of football—must be taken away from players, so they don’t feel pressured to say, “I’m fine.”

Who were some of the biggest characters of the headbanger days and what made them so? Any examples?

The ’70s was the most colorful time in NFL history. Mean Joe, Franco, Bradshaw, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann (who never got enough credit for his toughness), Stallworth, Vietnam hero Rocky Bleier, Frenchy, Ham, Blount, Webster, Fats Holmes, Greenwood, White, Gerela—and that’s just the Steelers! You’ve also got O.J. Simpson slashing downfield, and the crazed Raiders and glitzy Cowboys. I can’t imagine any time in any sport that ever had a better cast of characters.

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

That’s a mystery. It’s clear that one or two bad concussions make you more likely to suffer more in the future. But why are some people more prone to concussions, while others are resistant? Raiders linebacker Phil Villapiano used to bang his head on a cement wall before games. Villapiano had a bunch of concussions, but 40 years later he’s as lucid and healthy as can be, while plenty of guys he played with suffered far greater damage. Some were senile at 50. Others died before they turned 50.

I think the next frontier in sports science is discovering why some of us are more prone to concussions that others.

Without revealing too much, what players and stories were the most powerful, from your perspective. And why?

I really enjoyed talking with Franco Harris, who turned out to be as thoughtful and sharp as I expected. But his old rival Villapiano was my favorite: a great conversation, funny and profane. And Phil provided an important, powerful end to the book, because he’s got a son, Mike, who plays football. Quarterback Mike Villapiano led his team to the New Jersey high school state championship. Mike and his dad talked about what he should do if he “got his bell rung.” They agreed that Mike shouldn’t tell anybody. He wasn’t going to get a Division I scholarship sitting on the bench; he had to stay on the field.

Were they right? Were they risking Mike’s future for a shot at a scholarship? I think they were right, because Mike’s goal is to find out how far he can go in football, and that can’t happen unless he stays on the field. But I could be wrong…

What’s next for you?

Two movie producers are working on films of my previous books, Titanic Thompson and Tommy’s Honor. Here’s hoping somebody wants to make a movie of The Last Headbangers. Other than Jim Caviezel as Staubach, I’m open to casting suggestions.

Any last thoughts for readers?

I hope they’ll buy the book rather than just reading excerpts online. We authors gotta make a living! I spent almost two years of my life on Headbangers…but it’s bigger than me.

I hope the book brings a great NFL era back to life for a new generation of fans.

Jim O’Brien: ‘Immaculate Reception’ was a lifesaver for Pittsburgh video photographer

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

The Immaculate Reception was a lifesaver for the Steelers in the 1972 AFC playoffs, but it was really a lifesaver for video photographer Les Banos.

The 2012 season marks the 40^th anniversary of the amazing catch and run by Franco Harris of a pass from Terry Bradshaw that caromed off the colliding bodies of both Steelers’ running back Frenchy Fuqua and Oakland Raiders’ defensive back Jack Tatum.

You are going to see that historic sequence – voted the No. 1 play in NFL history even though it was a broken play and then some – this fall when the Steelers promote their 80^th anniversary of the team’s founding by Art Rooney Sr. and the 40^th anniversary of “The Immaculate Reception.”

In Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico, this year is also the 40^th anniversary of the death of Roberto Clemente. He was killed in an air crash on New Year’s Eve, 1972, as he was accompanying a cargo of relief goods from his native Puerto Rico to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua.

Les Banos was supposed to be on that airplane. He had promised his good friend Roberto Clemente that he would accompany him on the flight to photograph the event.

Banos was a video photographer for both WQED and WTAE in his long professional career, and he did stints as a photographer for the Pirates, Steelers, Penguins and the University of Pittsburgh department of athletics.

He also filmed games of the Pittsburgh Valley Ironmen of the Atlantic Coast Pro Football League, a minor league team that played its home games in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. They were preceded by another semi-pro team known as the Duquesne Ironmen.

I know the latter first-hand because I was the publicity director of the Ironmen during my senior year at the University of Pittsburgh, in 1963, and again the following season before I was drafted into the U.S. Army.

Banos and I used to get together on Sunday afternoons, the day after the Ironmen games, to edit some highlights that would be used on Pittsburgh TV on Sunday evenings. We both liked to talk, so it took us longer than it should have to do that task.

Later, in the mid-80s, I worked again with Banos at Pitt. He and I and Pat Hanlon, my assistant, joined with Banos and others at WTAE to put together a highlight film on Pitt football. Banos went to pre-season camp with the Panthers at EdinboroUniversity. Hanlon, by the way, is now the vice-president for communications for the New York Giants Football Team, and a real success story.

Hanlon worked with Joe Gordon and Dan Edwards with the Steelers’ publicity office. Hanlon had a great time exchanging barbs with Les Banos.

Banos loved to tell stories, and he had some good ones. He told us, of course, how the Immaculate Reception saved his life. He told us about his days in his native Hungary when he was a spy who infiltrated the Nazi regime, and managed to save many Jews from the death camps in Poland.

Pat Hanlon and I used to tell people in jest that Banos had been Adolph Eichmann’s chauffeur. Eichmann, of course, was the Nazi general who oversaw the concentration camps and was brought to justice as one of the central figures and criminals by the Nuremberg Trials. It wasn’t politically-correct humor, no doubt.

Banos was born in Hungary, but he had some Jewish bloodlines, and he was always an enterprising fellow. He was short in stature, about the same size as Myron Cope, maybe 5-5 or 5-6 at best. Like Cope, he puffed up his chest and came at you like a bantam rooster. He talked with a heavy accent.

Les liked it when I told him I had played for a team called the Hungarians in the Hazelwood Little League, and that there was a Hungarian social club in my hometown. It closed a couple of months back and was the only ethnic or service club remaining in the community.

I also told him I remembered that in the mid-50s there were a lot of Hungarians who left their home country, then under siege by the Russians, and relocated in our community. There was a sandlot soccer team in Hazelwood that had all Hungarian players.

A weekly newspaper called Magyarsag was printed a block from my home by a Hungarian ex-patriot named Eugene Zebedinsky. His son was a classmate of mine in high school.

Cope, by the way, was the one who popularized the phrase “The Immaculate Reception.” One of the callers on his popular sports talk show suggested the name. Cope checked with his Catholic friends to make sure no one would be offended by the phrase, and went with it.

Cope’s other creation, of course, was “The Terrible Towel.”

Like Cope, Banos was fun to be around. I recall being in Montreal with him at a sidewalk café, enjoying some wine and food when we were there in 1967 to chronicle the entry of the Pittsburgh Penguins into the National Hockey League. Banos picked up a check, unusual for any member of the media, and did a double take when he saw the high tariff on the bill.

Banos was the only one in our party who could speak and understand some French, which is always good in the bilingual community of Montreal. It didn’t help him to get out of paying the steep bill. His brown eyes bulged at the numbers on that bill. I think the waitress brought us a bottle of champagne by mistake…maybe by mistake.

Banos befriended many of the athletes he covered in his duties as a TV cameraman. Franco Harris was one of them. Roberto Clemente was another.

When Banos died at the age of 86 on April 22, 2012 it brought back memories of this little man with the big heart and such wonderful stories.

“It is significant that he passed our way,” said Harris at the HeinzHistoryCenter, where Banos had appeared the previous holiday season with a collection of his photos of Clemente. There are 50 of these photos on display in the RobertoClementeMuseum in lower Lawrenceville.

“It is amazing what Les accomplished when you look at his history and have seen his photos,” added Harris. “He was a great guy, always enjoyable, a kind and gentle man. You never would have expected what he went through by how kind and gentle he was.”

Banos addressed everybody as “Mister,” and he liked to get up under your chin like an undersized boxer, again like Myron Cope, and tell you his stories. Banos was a dapper dresser.

Banos was busy filming the Steelers’ game against the Oakland Raiders at Three Rivers Stadium on December 23, 1972. When the Steelers won that game, 13-7, on Franco’s frantic catch-and-run with a deflected ball he picked off his shoe-tops for the game-winning touchdown.

It meant the Steelers would be playing another game the following weekend, on December 31, 1972, a day that will live in infamy in Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico. The Steelers lost that one, by 21-17, to the Miami Dolphins, victimized by a fake punt by Larry Seiple of the Dolphins that was a game-changer.

So Banos had to stay back in Pittsburgh to work that game for WTAE-TV instead of accompanying Clemente on his mercy mission to Nicaragua. It ended the life of Clemente, all too early, and gave Banos a bonus 40 years.

Pittsburgh sports fans were disappointed, of course, by the defeat suffered at the hands of the Dolphins, but they were far more shocked by Clemente’s death. Fans over 50, and some as young as 45 or 46, can tell you where they were that New Year’s Day when they were the news. What a way to start a year.

If you go to a Pirates’ game at PNC Park these days you might be surprised to see how many fans still wear Clemente’s name and number (21) on their backs to the ballgames. Andrew McCutcheon and Neil Walker are the two most favorite uniforms, with Clemente a close third.

There’s a statue and bridge outside PNCPark to memorialize the man from San Juan who came to our city and set new standards for a baseball player, on the field and off the field. Young fans are fascinated by his story and the way he died, trying to help his fellow Latin Americans when they were in trouble.

It’s a shame more of them didn’t hear those stories as told by Les Banos.

Pittsburgh author Jim O’Brien is working on a book called Immaculate Reflections, which will be out in late October. His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

Jim O’Brien: Mike Wagner now a safety for well-heeled FNB clients

By Jim O’Brien, Columnnist, Pittsburgh Business Times

On a clear day Mike Wagner can walk from his office to PNCPark and Heinz Field. So he remains close to the playing fields of Pittsburgh. He’s had offices before where he could see Heinz Field on the horizon, and before that he enjoyed a close-up view of Mellon Arena.

It’s been 32 years since he retired from playing safety for The Steel Curtain defensive unit of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he remains interested and involved in the city’s sports scene. Wagner, at 63, is the vice-president of the Private Banking Group for First National Bank, with headquarters on Federal Street.

He can walk out the front door and see statues of Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente. He was starting his career with the Steelers when they played for the Pirates. He was with the Steelers for ten seasons (1971-1980), four of which they won the Super Bowl.

“Fans in this city treat Steelers well, past and present,” he said. “I’m proud to have played for the Steelers. I have no complaints.”

He was an 11^th round draft choice in the Class of 1971 that is regarded as the second greatest group in Steelers’ history, right behind the 1974 class that included four future Pro Football Hall of Fame performers (Lambert, Swann, Stallworth and Webster). He started from the first game of his rookie season, and was regarded as one of the most intelligent, resourceful and sure-handed tacklers in the National Football League.

He’s one of the best-looking, best-dressed Steelers ever, and he looks like a financial advisor. At 6-2, 175 pounds, he is still taller than most of the current defensive backs on the Steelers.

He’s been in the financial world over 30 years. He started out, with his accounting degree from WesternIllinoisUniversity on his resume, with Russell, Rea and Zappala at TwoNorthShore.

Former Steelers’ Pro Bowl linebacker Andy Russell recalls those days: “I think Mike was the best safety the Steelers ever had. He was intelligent. He came to work for our investment bank firm, and we sent him through his MBA program at Pitt, and then he really provided us with quality work before going off on another opportunity.”

Rocky Bleier says of Wagner. “Mike is a nuts and bolts guy, just like he was with the Steelers. He’s prepared and he comes to play hard.”

John C. Williams, the president of First National Bank, has over 40 years in the Pittsburgh banking business. He hired Wagner. “Mike has always had a great reputation in our field,” said Williams. “He has the experience and contacts we can use on our team.”

Wagner provides personalized services for affluent households. These customers aren’t looking for autographs. They are looking for sound financial advice.

“Having been with the Steelers helps,” said Wagner. “I’ve worked with some of these people before. My clients need something and it’s my job to figure out what they would like to have. What I learned from football is that nothing comes easy. You have to keep grinding away and good things will happen. You do the best you can.”

Wagner admits he remains a highly competitive person. “Sometimes I have to ratchet that back a bit,” he admitted.

“You always have a responsibility to whomever you work for, whether it’s the Steelers or some company you represent later on. You have to protect the brand name, whether it’s UPMC, Highmark, PNC, PPG or US Steel. That’s just common sense.

“I’m not sure if there was some statement that told us what was expected of us or something that was in the team playbook as to how we should conduct ourselves, but we knew we stood for the Steelers and that meant something.

“The Rooney family wanted us players out in public functions representing the team, and helping non-profits raise money. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of special people in the community and I realized it was important.”

To that end, Wagner serves on several boards here, at the HeinzHistoryCenter where he helps organize a golf event, EconomicsPennsylvania to teach kids about economics, and the Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh.

“That was one of Chuck Noll’s favorites,” said Wagner, “so I am still aware of his presence.”

Jim O’Brien has written 20 books in his Pittsburgh Proud series, including “The Chief” and “Steeler Stuff.” His website is jimobriensportsauthor.com and his e-mail address is jimmyo64@gmail.com

Terry O’Shea, Steelers Tight End, 1989-1990

First, can you let readers know what you’ve been doing since your time in the NFL and how you got started in this line of work?

I’m holding up well.

I have a wife (Amy) and two kids – Moira (13) and Delaney (11).

I’m self-employed. I was in the environmental business until 9-11. I was laid off about six months after that. Now, I work on internet marketing and I’m glad I’m into it. I got into it through networking with some others that were involved in it. We have a strong focus on the health and wellness industries.

Continue reading “Terry O’Shea, Steelers Tight End, 1989-1990”

Mark Mravic, Author, “Pittsburgh Steelers: Pride in Black and Gold”

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.

Daniel Piacquadio – Harold’s Corral Sports Bar

Daniel Piacquadio – Harold’s Corral Sports Bar:

First, can you tell readers about how you got involved with Harold’s and when?

I grew up in Pittsburgh and moved here out Arizona in ’87. I graduated from Seton-LaSalle high school.

My dad owned a couple of restaurants (Pasta Too in Bethel Park and Piacquadios in Mt. Lebanon) in Pittsburgh. He started dating a lady that lived in Cave Creek Az. and fell in love with Arizona. He moved out there to the Cave Creek area – at that time, Cave Creek was about a a half-hour to 45 minutes from Phoenix. Later, I went to Arizona State University – I had some friends from Pittsburgh there so it was an easy transition.

My dad bought Harolds in ’87. Before then, my friends and I used to watch Steelers games in the back of bars when I was still in school. After three years of owning the restaurant, we started going and spending time watching the games with my dad at the restaurant. It started off with maybe ten or twelve people. Now, we have over 1,500 in the fan club and over 600-650 people come to see the games, on average.

What makes Harold’s so unique?

There are lots of Steelers sports bars, but this is unique in that a guy from Pittsburgh owns it. I am able to do stuff that maybe other fan clubs can’t. We have the passion for it. We have a 10×11 screen. We know and serve the Pittsburgh food – we put that in there. We give you the full Pittsburgh experience, even though it’s a country western bar with boots hanging from the ceiling.

What are some of the more memorable times/occurrences you’ve had at Harold’s, and what made them so?

We got 3,200 fans for the Seattle Super Bowl, 3,600 for the Arizona Super Bowl and 3,800 for the Green Bay Super Bowl. We’re right next to a Green Bay sports bar and share a parking lot, so during the Green Bay Super Bowl we actually together had over 6,200 fans!

I remember a few years ago I got a phone call from Mel Blount. He was referred to me by the Steelers marketing director Tony Quatrini and Bill Hillgrove. He asked me if I knew who he was and I said of course (laughing). I asked how I could help him, and he said they wanted to come out to Arizona for the Steelers game and expand their fundraising efforts there and wanted our help working with our fan club.

Well, we created events – a golf tournament and fan fest on saturday the day before the game- that brought in over $30,000.

Mel Blount called me again a couple of years later and we threw a huge event and gold tournament. Blount, Mike Wagner, Andy Russell all came and Donnie Iris played. We had over 2,200 people rocking to Donnie Iris. Bill Hillgrove mc’d – it was a great experience.

I actually went to Mel Blount’s boys home ion Washington, PA. I was blown away by his dedication to those boys. He was raised on a farm and now owns acres of land. He has the boys do what he used to do when he was on the farm growing up – taking care of the animals and the farm. He’s an impressive man – he’s still bag and looks like he could still play today!

From caged lions and tigers to frequent visits by celebrities, Harold’s has a rich history. How did that history come about – what made Harold’s such a unique place from it’s beginning?

The Corral started in 1935 – it was started by a guy named Johnny Walker. And that time it was a liquor stand really – that’s all they did. Two dams were being built in the area and the construction workers would come there and buy beer – it was really their one social engagement they had.

Harold bought it in 1955 and did some crazy stuff to bring people to Cave Creek from Phoenix. Live tigers and lions, gunfights….stuff like that.

No live animals today?

(laughing) We inquired with the zoo to see if we could bring in a live tiger to celebrate the anniversary of Harolds, but that didn’t go over. We do live gunfights still – we just use blanks!

We’ve added to it since. One of Harold’s grandsons has become a big Steelers fan. He’s happy to see what we’ve done with it now. It’s now the biggest Steelers bar in the country, I assume. It’s bizarre but a really cool thing.

What’s the most difficult aspect of running a place like Harold’s, and why?

I was flipping pizzas since i was twelve. The restaurant business is in our blood – my grandfather and father both owned restaurants.

It’s rewarding meeting people. We sell season passes for tables, just like they do in the stadium for seats. There are some people who have sat at the same table for fifteen to twenty years. We’ve gone to weddings and made lots of friendships with those people.

The challenges are really just of the every day business. It’s not the easiest business to be in.

What’s next/new for Harold’s in 2012-2013?

We’ll bring in a recently retired Steelers player this year – I can’t say who it is yet. We’re not playing the Cardinals this year in Arizona, so the fan club will do a road trip – probably to Pittsburgh.

As a Steelers fan, what are you looking forward to most from the team this season and why?

I love this year’s team. Cincinnati with their young players will be tough. Baltimore’s always tough. Playing them twice in three weeks – I just hope we survive and don’t have any injuries.

I think Haley will inspire Ben – he’s still one of the best quarterbacks in the league today. I think he needed that push Haley will give him. The concern is that we lost veterans like Hoke, Farrior and Hines, but the bond in the locker room overcomes that.

I’m excited. I’m optimistic at this time every year, but I think this is the year. I think this team is better than last year’s.

The Steelers Defense: Prone to Fourth Quarter Letdowns? The Numbers Suggest Otherwise

Ron Lippock:

We’ve seen the players, media and fans speak to the issue. The fact the Steelers’ defense falters in the fourth quarter, letting up leads and losing games.

It sure feels that way after suffering end-of-game scores that led to losses last season to Baltimore and Denver.

But, the facts belie the feeling.

Of the top three defenses in the NFL in 2011- Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Baltimore, according to ESPN’s drive charts, the percent of drives that led to scores (excluding “drives” with unreasonable scoring expectations – like 30 seconds left before the half on one’s own 20) for each team is as follows:

Across all four quarters:

San Francisco: 25%
Pittsburgh: 26%
Baltimore: 28%

On fourth quarter drives:

Pittsburgh: 26%
Baltimore: 28%
San Francisco: 33%

On fourth quarter drives where the game is within 14 points(and there’s still time enough to won – excludes scores that bring it to a once score game with seconds left on the clock, for example):

San Francisco: 26%
Pittsburgh: 29%
Baltimore: 33%

While the team slips slightly (by 3%) when the game is close in the 4th quarter, the numbers still show Pittsburgh’s defense is stout in the fourth – as much so as the other leaders. Just a couple stinging losses don’t make it feel that way.

It is interesting to note that most defenses slip percentage-wise in the 4th quarter in close games as offenses become more pass-oriented….

REVENGE IN THE ROCKIES” (ALL DAY Steeler Fan Rally)

STEELER FOOTBALL IS BACK!!

What better place is there to begin our “stairway to seven” than in Denver? We all remember the last matchup, the last play and the bitter taste of defeat we so rarely experience. THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW!! Come welcome Peyton back into the league with thousands of the greatest and most devoted fans in the world, as we INVADE DENVER with towels waving and lungs blazing! The madness officially begins one day early before we seek…

“REVENGE IN THE ROCKIES” (ALL DAY Steeler Fan Rally)

Saturday, September 8

Featuring two fromer Steeler greats…

ANDY RUSSELL and JOHN “FRENCHY” FUQUA

Rusty Bucket Bar & Grill, 3355 S. Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood, CO 80227

(303) 980-6200

~ FREE entry to Steeler fans

~ Player autographs

~ LIVE Steeler DJ & Fight Songs

~ Steeler Highlight films

~ Black and Gold Raffles by Steelcity Mafia

~ LIVE Polka by “Accordion Joe”

~ Iron City Beer and Primanti Style Sandwiches

**Doors open at 11AM and will close when we can’t scream anymore!!

MORE INFO ONLINE AT :

www.SteelCityMafia.com

www.The-Rusty-Bucket.com

Jim O’Brien: Homestead’s Charlie Batch hopes to stick with Steelers for another season

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

This Thursday may be a make or break night for Homestead’s Charlie Batch.

Once again, he and Byron Leftwich are looking to stick with the Steelers as backup quarterbacks to starter Ben Roethlisberger.

There’s a new kid on the block with a strong arm named Jerrod Johnson who has impressed the coaches, but Leftwich and Batch are hopeful of holding him off the way they did with Dennis Dixon in recent seasons.

Dixon is gone now. Johnson and Batch are expected to see action tonight in the final tune-up game before the regular season starts. Roethlisberger will be on the sideline when the Steelers take on the Carolina Panthers at Heinz Field, resting up for the real stuff.

He and the Steelers will be opposing Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, the team that Tim Tebow led to an upset of the Steelers in the opening round of last season’s AFC playoffs, when the regular season begins. The Steelers are still smarting from that unexpected setback. The game in Denver will be on national TV.

Batch is 37 years old and in his 14^th season in the National Football League, his 10^th with the hometown Steelers. He has been the perfect backup for, at first, Tommy Maddox and more recently for Ben Roethlisberger.

Batch would have liked to have been the starting quarterback, of course. That’s the competitor in him. But he never stirs the pot or creates any kind of controversy. He has been content in his role with the Steelers, where he also has the opportunity to serve his neighborhood community in a meaningful way.

He has been honored by NFL and local agencies for the way he has helped improve recreational facilities, be it football fields or baseball fields, and be a role model for young men and kids in the Homestead-Munhall area. He has raised money through a golf outing he hosts to help Mercy Hospital provide health care for homeless people. He has his own foundation to raise money to enrich the lives of local kids.

Leftwich, at age 32, showed in the Steelers’ last game that he can still throw deep and accurately. He and Batch both have been injury-prone in their pro careers, so it has been an insurance policy for the Steelers to keep both of them, hoping at least one of them is healthy when Big Ben needs a breather or someone in relief if he is hurting from a hard tackle or sack.

The daily newspaper reports have indicated that Leftwich and Batch are believed to have an edge on Johnson in sticking with the Steelers. The team will try to keep Johnson on the practice team to continue his development, hoping no one claims him on waivers.

Some day, sooner than later, the Steelers will need to nurture a quarterback to replace Roethlisberger in the lineup. Big Ben is 30 and thought to have another five or six strong seasons in him. But he has taken more than his share of hits because of the way he prefers to play the game, biding for more time to find an open receiver or for something positive to develop, and because the Steelers have often had a make-shift offensive line.

The Steelers selected David DeCastro from Stanford and Mike Adams from Ohio State, two big offensive linemen, with their first two draft picks this year, but DeCastro went down early in the exhibition victory over the Buffalo Bills last Saturday night and will miss most of his rookie season. The Steelers were counting on DeCastro as a starter. Ramon Foster is the fill-in and he must step up and show he can do the job at guard.

That’s just another reason I never get too worked up about the draft stories and all the analysis about how the new players are going to help the team. You just never know.

The Steelers have a lot of injured players to start the season – never a good sign – and they may have held on to at least one of them, Casey Hampton, too long after they did some house-cleaning at the completion of last season.

They got rid of a lot of veteran players and leaders. Batch has been a positive force in the locker room. The players like him and respect him. He is good for the team. To date, he has been a model citizen.

The team’s general manager Kevin Colbert has always been a big fan of Batch. Colbert was working in player personnel with the Detroit Lions when they drafted Batch out of Eastern Michigan University on the second round of the 1998 draft.

Batch was a starter for the Lions for most of four seasons, but was released when Matt Millen was brought in from the TV booth where he’d been an analyst to manage the affairs of the Lions. Millen made personnel changes, and he gave up on Batch, who had been nagged by injuries throughout his time with the Lions. Millen, a Penn State product, was a disaster as the Lions’ GM.

Batch and Leftwich have missed considerable time since they have been with the Steelers for one injury or another that sidelined them.

Batch has been a survivor, going back to his early days in Homestead. He is the son of Lynne Settles, a former school teacher, and they experienced challenging times. She raised Charlie and his sister, Danly Lynn, mostly on her own.

Danly Lynn, at age 16, was shot and killed in a gangland crossfire while walking down the street with school friends. Danielle was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That memory still haunts Charlie’s family.

“The things that happened in our family inspired me to work harder,” Batch once told me. “It was just the two of us for a long time. We always shared everything and I’m glad we can share this. You can’t take anything for granted. You are never guaranteed tomorrow so you better make the most of today.”

Batch has been a goodwill ambassador for the Steelers. He has lent himself to many good causes in the community. He has become an entrepreneur and everything has not worked out well. He’s had some financial setbacks in his efforts to rehab buildings and homes in his old neighborhood.

Some things have worked out well, while others have been big disappointments. But Batch keeps moving on.

He earned a degree in criminal justice, not business, at Eastern Michigan University, and maybe he’s always had an interest in helping steer kids in the right direction, as coaches and teachers and his mother had done for him.

At this stage of his life, I don’t think he’d want to play elsewhere in the National Football League. He realizes his days are numbered in the NFL. But he feels good, everything is still functioning fine, and he’d like to play at least one more season with the Steelers.

Colbert was with the Steelers when the Lions released Batch and he signed him to a one-year contract for 2002 as a backup quarterback. Batch has been here ever since. He signed another one-year contract this past April.

He’s made good money in his pro career. He’s lived in a nice home in the North Hills – in the Gray Oaks development in Franklin Park — but he has never forgotten where he came from. One of the first things he did when he signed with the Lions was to buy his mother a new home.

“This was always the dream,” said Batch. “When you grow up in Homestead and you dream of playing in the National Football League, it’s playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“When I was in high school, I was a big fan of Dan Marino. He had come from Pittsburgh. Just being able to watch him and knowing he came from a nearby neighborhood was an inspiration for me.

“I’m happy just to be here. Considering my family’s history, you just don’t let the outside world confuse you. A lot of things can make you go down the wrong road. You are never guaranteed tomorrow and that is the attitude I take, and I am going out there living every day to the fullest.

“In your mind, you know what you have to do. I only know one way to compete, or to prepare, and that’s as a starter. You always want to compete to be the guy.

“Charlie Batch has always been in sports, always competing. As a kid, I loved the Steelers. So this is great to be with them.

“I try to help out at Steel Valley High School, my alma mater. I grew up in the Steel Valley. That’s where the Steelers got their name in the first place, right?”

I will be rooting for Charlie Batch to be with the Steelers come next week, and the start of another season. I like what he is about, and I think a lot of people will be rooting for him to stay.

Pittsburgh author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien has written “The Chief” and “Steeler Stuff” among his 20 books on the Pittsburgh sports scene. His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com and his e-mail address is jimmyo64@gmail.com

Merril Hoge, Steelers Running Back, 1987-1994; ESPN Broadcaster

First, can you tell readers how you got started in your broadcasting career?

It was back I think in my rookie year. I was asked to do so some autograph sessions and did some call-ins after the sessions for B-94 – the radio station. I was then asked to do some for WDVE – B-94 wasn’t paying me then, so doing them for WDVE was interesting to me. The only thing was I had to go into their studio on Monday mornings to do them. At first I didn’t like that idea, but the studio was on the way to the stadium, so I said what could it hurt? I got up thirty minutes earlier and started doing them.

The first day – well, I was never in a studio before. When I got there it just hit me – this bis what I wanted to do. I just knew this is what I wanted, and took advantage of various opportunities since then.

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