Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

First, can you let us know a bit about what you’re doing with yourself these days?

My dream as a player was always to retire out West. I am a passionate fly fisherman and I love the mountains, My wife and I near the end of my career went on a number of trips to Montana, Idaho…those great Midwestern states. By accident we went on a vacation a year before I retired to a town West of Calgary near the Rocky Mountains. It was one of the most beautiful places on the planet. By the end of the week all four of us agreed it was the most beautiful place we’d ever seen.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Gary Anderson, Steelers Kicker, 1982-1994”

First, can you let me know what you’ve been doing with yourself now since you retired from the NFL and how you got started?

I’m selling residential real estate in North Hills now. It’s been awesome – I like it more than I anticipated I would.

When I was done with football, I started thinking of what to do next. My mom was in real estate in Minnesota and my dad was in construction. I started weighing the pros and cons of the different ideas I was thinking about and it always came back to real estate.  It’s work but offers flexibility. I have a young family – two young daughters, so I liked that aspect.  You can set your own pace and schedule and control how busy you are.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Tight End Matt Spaeth, 2007-2010, 2013-2015”

First, tell me what you’ve been doing with yourself lately?

At the present I’m job hunting. I was at RMU for the 2016-2017 season as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach  We had a lot of work to do to rebuild the offense.  I only had one recruiting class there and we had to redshirt five of those players – it was the right thing to do for the program to help turn it around.

Continue reading “Exclusive with former Steelers Offensive Assistant Mike Miller, 1999-2003”

First, let’s talk about your coaching career – why did you decide to stay involved the game as a coach?

I think it was just how I was brought up to play. I just had good coaches and played in good cultures and locker rooms. I had really good high school coaches – Coach Wright, who’s in the Mississippi Hall of Fame, Coach Absen who was my track coach and even my coaches in Little League Baseball. Coach Haskins – they all set good examples.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Cornerback Deshea Townsend, 1998-2009”

So, let’s start from the start – how you got into acting after your time in the NFL?

Well when I stopped playing football I got a job as an architectural engineer at Bechtel. I was looking for freedom though – the nine-to-five hours and one hour for lunch didn’t fit me well. So I was watching TV and saw Dihann  Carroll show’s, Julia, and she had a new boyfriend every week on that show. So I said to myself, I’m better looking than those guys and can do that, so I went to Hollywood and BS’d my way into the studio and convinced them to give me the role. It only took my three weeks to make that happen.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Defensive Back Fred Williamson, 1960”

First, can you let readers know what you’ve been doing with your time since you retired from the NFL?

I’m in Fairfax, Virginia now. I got involved in corporate marketing and sales engineering with the Dupont Company then with some multinational chemical companies. I spent nine-to-ten years in the advanced national technologies business. But after the meltdown of the strategic arms business I moved back east. I was originally from New York City and ended up in the tradeshow/exhibition marketing business. That was very successful until 9-11. That tanked the entire tradeshow marketing business.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Wide Receiver Dave Smith, 1970-1972”

Lee Flowers: “It was just different. I missed the camaraderie with the guys I pretty much grew up with. We had a stable team for those eight years – a lot of the guys I was drafted with left or retired when I did. It was like leaving your family and I was just a stepchild in Denver.

I’d tell all the guys if I could now that in free agency, if you are contemplating leaving, it’s not going to get any better than Pittsburgh.

Earl Holmes: “To this day, the best time I had was in Pittsburgh. I offered some advice to Joey Porter when he went to Miami. It’s a business. The contract thing – you don’t always have to go for it. At the same time, I know I called Cowher after I left and told him I made a mistake. He told me it’s not like this everywhere – that I should think before I left to play for Cleveland. I didn’t understand then.

Continue reading “Former Steelers discuss regret in leaving in free agency”

So, first, let us know what you’ve been doing with yourself since your time in the NFL?

Well, I’m now expecting a son in July!

On top of that, I’m studying to get my MBA at the University of Miami. And I’m working for a no-profit – that’s my passion. I’m working with at-risk kids in Miami for a non-profit called Urban Promise Miami. I’m working on the day-to-day work to make it run.

A lot of people don’t realize what it takes to make a non-profit run. It’s still a business. You can’t just have a dream. You have to make it sustainable. We have family football days here in Miami – just to show the  neighborhood we  care.

Continue reading “Exclusive with former Steelers Cornerback Cortez Allen, 2011-2015”