First, let me know how you got involved with the Steelers and Duquesne?
Well I grew up in Pittsburgh and a sports fan, so when I got the call for a PR internship with the Steelers it was Mike Tomlin’s first season. It wouldn’t have mattered who was coaching but it was cool to work for his first draft. It was a good one too – everyone played in a game except Stephenson. Timmons, Woodley, Spaeth and Gay…and Sepulveda would have been great if he could have stayed healthy.
How did you get in a position to get the call?
The way it worked out for me – Duquesne was close to the Rooneys. So many went to school there -Art and Dan played football. I played too and went to Duquesne grad school for a fifth year on a scholarship – I could go for five because I was injured one year, I was in the media and journalism program then. I was a T.A. for my professor there. Right after grad school my professor called me and told me that the Steelers were looking for someone to help them – someone looking to get a start in their career. I had a part-time marketing job in Elizabeth and started boxing at my dad’s gym in South Park at the time.
I got s black eye before the interview sparring. I interviewed with Dave Lockett then who was a big fan of fighting – he works for Ultimate Fighting Championship now. I think he loved that – we had a good rapport and I thought I got the job. He called me a week later though and told me they hired someone else – that I was their second pick. They hired another guy that had been with five other teams, I knew that was a mistake – if he couldn’t move on to a bigger role after five teams…
So what happened then?
While I was waiting for another opportunity, Dave called and asked if I could help them with the draft. They had people like me come in – I think two other guys as well that were older PR guys – we came in and sat in these little work stations at the facility waiting for the picks to come in. It was all hush hush until the names came in. We had a couple of minutes before the media got the information so we did the research on the players to help the media with the information they needed.
Any examples?
Dallas Baker said that his uncle played basketball for Duquesne. I had to reach out to Duquesne to confirm that. Luckily I was able to confirm that quickly and if I remember it was true.
How did the process work with the media?
After the pick we’d call the athlete and the media would gather around a conference call machine and yell questions at him. I’d record the conversations and type up the transcripts for the media and edit them for style and grammar. That way the media just had to really copy and paste them. We’d have to do it quickly, before the next pick if possible. I remember Woodley’s and Spaeth’s were close together so it wasn’t easy!
And you got other work with the team?
Dave asked me to come back to help work the preseason. They still had the other guy but they needed help on stuff like getting background info on players for the writers, helping in the press box, transcribing interviews. I was only working part time so I said sure.
After that I got a job at Hamilton College. Lockett called me and asked me to come back two months after I got that job – it was during the Steelers’ season. They offered me a job but it was terrible timing. The guys at Hamilton would have had no one to do their job, so I asked them to call me in April.
In the meantime though I got a job making five times more at Susquehanna College. Lockett called me and offered me a job but I was paying off student loads and getting ready to get married. We thought about moving back to Pittsburgh and taking the job later if my wife could find a job but she couldn’t find one so they had to offer the job to someone else. Two days after they hired someone else, my wife found a job in Pittsburgh, of course.
Now, Burt Lauten comes and helps at Duquesne for the program. He’s a great guy and great speaker. He takes students on tour of the Steelers facility too.
Timing is everything in this industry. If I accepted the job – if my wife found a job just a few days sooner – I could have maybe had Burt’s old job when he moved up. It was just bad timing.
You mentioned working Tomlin’s first draft. Any takeaways from your experiences with Coach Tomlin?
It’s crazy to to think that he started as a head coach at the age I am now, then. I hear some of the criticisms of Tomlin and how he supposedly lost the locker room. But all the positive things you hear about his demeanor and presence were accurate. He’s a guy – when you shake hands with him you feel like everything will be ok. I disagree with what people have said about him recently. Who he is is exactly and why he got the job – he must have nailed the interview. I just think if not for a couple of guys creating problems in the locker room, he’d probably have won more Super Bowls.
Any memories stand out to you of your time there?
Dan Rooney was the only guy I was starstruck by. When I worked there, I don’t know how it happened but I ended up working in the deep back offices. I looked at the walls and thought, “I think I’m in Dan Rooney’s office!” I was worried he’d throw me out when he came in.
I was a 6’3″ offensive guard at Duquesne. I dropped my weight down to 255 by then, but here I am, this big guy and boxer who was scared of this little old man. He walked in and, before he said anything, I put my hand out and said “Hi sir. I’m Robert Healy the third.” I couldn’t believe I said the “The third” and used my surname. I was just intimidated. He just looked at me like “Bob would have been ok”. and walked away. My grandmother told me if I met Dan to tell him Toxie Bentz said hi. It must have been someone she thought he knew. So as he was walking away I told him that awkwardly. He said”Alright then” and walked out the door. I was just too intimidated. This was the guy that hired Noll, Cowher, and Tomlin and built those 70’s Steelers teams. It wasn’t a very good first impression! Oh well.
Any other guys?
I know Ike Taylor used to sleep on Dan’s couch.
And I remember meeting Joe Greene. He was doing some scouting for them then. Meeting him was cool. The hyperbole was that he could still play. Nevertheless, I remember shaking his hand and my hand just disappeared in his. It was like a catcher’s mitt. And I’m 6’3″!
Any information about the Duquesne Sports Information and Media program?
Duquesne has a sports information and media program that could not be a better fit for those looking to get into the career prep that I was able to do with the Steelers. We have such a nice partnership with our athletic department at Duquesne. You can rub elbows with a legend like Ray Goss who is a legend in broadcasting and Dave Saba who worked at the University of Texas. Bill Hilgrove is an alum. And we set up internships every year with the Penguins and Steelers.
We’re now on the map with basketball too with the hiring of Keith Dambrot who coached LeBron James. LeBron may come to a game this year too.
Any care/er advice as a professor for people trying to get into the sports journalism and communications industries?
Even if you are in high school now – even if you are just interested in sports and want to cover sports events, you have the ability now to do what we couldn’t when we were growing up. You can start a blog for free on WordPress and open up a Twitter account. If you write for your school paper you should write about that on your blog and spread the word about your articles on Twitter and create your brand now. When you get to college you’ll have an audience and can move on from there. That goes for professionals too. Anyone interested in a career in sports journalism and communications should be doing that – building their own brand.