First, can you let us know a bit about you?
Well, I’m a communications professor at Penn State Greater Allegheny – just outside of Pittsburgh. I teach classes on mass media and culture. There’s never a lack of stuff to harp on there, for sure.
I love teaching – my main goal is to get students to pay attention to media and politics. I’ve also played in bands for 20-plus years, though not recently.
In reading a lot about your dad – one thing that seemed to stand out about his success was was his work ethic. What did you notice about that growing up?
I think it was a combination of things. He worked hard and was physically dominant and incredibly tenacious. My brother and I have spoken to many people who he coached – who told us about his coaching at Michigan State and elsewhere and how he’d headbutt guys by accident in practice when he was showing them drills, or manhandled younger guys in practice seven-to-eight years after he was out of the league.
He was also voracious in film study and in studying the playbook. He had a good sense of schemes and as a coach and player – a big proponent that you had to know what was happening around you to be successful. George Perles helped wth that too – but he taught players that you could be very talented but you could only be so successful if you didn’t understand the bigger scheme.
What memories do you have of his time in the NFL?
I was real little then – I was born in ’77 and he was traded from Pittsburgh in ’81. I have vague memories of being in the Steelers locker room and playing catch with Lynn Swann. I have a few more from when he later played for Detroit – when he was traded to Tampa Bay he was cut soon after then signed with the Lions. I just remember him telling me how upset and shocked he was at being traded by Pittsburgh.
What happened there?
He was the fifth guy on that line – he could have started on other teams. I think he was shocked. He found out when he came to camp and Webster told him how sorry he was to hear he was traded. No one told him before that. He never talked much about what they said to him about being traded though.
I think after he was done with football, he always had an eye on using his football experience to go into broadcasting or coaching. Unfortunately he died at a pretty young age – I think that would have been avoidable sadly if he had seen a doctor regularly to get his heart checked.
What do you remember about your time with him when he was coaching?
When he was coaching at Michigan State, we’d go to the facility together and I’d run laps while he was in the weight room, then we’d work out together afterwards.
Did he share the more poignant memories of his time in Pittsburgh with you?
One thing that he talked about enough that makes me think it meant a lot to him, was when he talked about what it felt like as a player to be in a stadium full of cheering fans. When he described playoff games and running out on the field to the “Here we go!” chants – with the entire place going bananas – you could tell how much he felt that experience affected players.
And in Pittsburgh, the first game he ever got in was against the Jets and Joe Namath. He said he always wanted to get a piece of Namath. He wanted to get to him so bad. Well, he got close enough to him that he was able to tear a piece of his jersey off. He probably busted a couple of fingers doing it, knowing my dad.
Who were some of the guys that he got close to there in Pittsburgh and did any really mentor him?
There were some guys he became tight with and lifted weights with. Webster, Kolb, Larry Brown, Courson, and later John Banaszak. That was his crew and they worked out together in the offseason. They all lived near each other in Washington, PA. They actually lifted in the basement of an Italian restaurant there – the Red Bull Inn. They went there to eat, and the owner was a stout Italian guy. Everyone loved to talk to those guys, and the owner of the restaurant told them he had a weight room in his basement that he used and invited them to use it anytime. It turned out it was an Olympic weight room – full of weights. So they’d go there to eat and work out together.They were super-dedicated to staying fit in the offseason – I think working out with those guys really pushed that message of needing to work hard to be successful.
You mentioned he was upset at being traded – but he did come back later and coach for Bill Cowher and the Steelers. What brought that on?
I remember the day he had to decide first about leaving the college coaching ranks to coach in the pros. He got an offer from Dave Wannstadt to coach with the Bears and also had an offer from Indianapolis. He really liked the idea of coaching for Wannstadt but chose the Colts, and a year later the Colts fired their whole staff after going 1-15.
I’m not sure how it happened, but Cowher hired him after to coach the Steelers defensive line. He was shocked when they fired him a year later – they were number one against the rush – you don’t see guys like that get fired. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn when I say that Cowher like most coaches had an ego. I think there was some jealousy and personality differences there. I know there was concern he was getting too close to players but they were playing very well.
What else did your dad talk about on his time in Pittsburgh?
I found a letter once in a scrapbook from the league telling my dad he was fined for getting booted out of a game versus the Browns. I asked him about that and he just told me sometimes games can get intense.
He talked most passionately I think about facing the Raiders’ offensive line. Seeing how he responded to those discussions – I think they were who he respected most – he knew those were the guys you had to beat to be a champion – guys like Shell and Upshaw.
I also have a picture of him standing next to Franco right after the Immaculate Reception. He was a kid just out of college then -he said that was one of the most surreal things he experienced.
What did you learn from his coaching acumen?
My dad wasn’t the type to dismiss players at first glance – if they looked too small or slow. He had an eye for spotting guys that were the ones you had to watch out for regardless of how they looked – the guys who played well beyond their size. He could recognize those guys as a coach.
When he was at Michigan State, he would have players come to the house for dinner once a year. That was really important for me as a privileged kid who grew up in the suburbs to meet kids and learn about them, Many came from families with little money – one-parent families with no money….It was important for me to get to know those guys.
Have you heard from any of the Steelers players or organization since your dad passed away?
I speak with Larry Brown – he’s my brother’s Godfather so I talk to he and his wise Vanessa often.
From the organization?
No.
When you look at how your father passed at such an early age, are there lessons you take from that and think the world-at-large would be better of learning?
The personal things I take from it – it’s immensely sad. He’s now been gone for more years than he’s been around in my life. Had he just gone and gotten his heart checked, he probably could have avoided an early death.
On the flip side, my brother and I have become even more in favor of people working towards solutions to dealing with and preventing head injuries. It’s not a positive that he passed away so early, but when I look at the issues other people had to experience with the head trauma issues like Mike Webster had, we at least never had to experience those.
Do you think your father was developing those issues?
Well, he used his head like a battering ram to gain leverage on offensive linemen. That’s why they nicknamed him “Buckethead”. I’m pretty certain he would have had those same issues. He did that for an entire decade – back then with those terrible pads they had. As I started learning about the symptoms – I’m sure he was in the early stages of all of that as well.
Any other thoughts about your dad and his career?
The reputation of the Steelers then – it was a blue collar team. The guys they brought in were blue collar guys – they weren’t from polished backgrounds. They were blue collar, hard-working guys. They were less about ego and more about the team. I think that’s why the team resonated so well with so many people – the reason they were so embraced. It was one of the few times where the myth and reality were pretty much the same.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
