Welcome to Steelers Takeaways! – Page 5 – More than 1,000 interviews of Steelers players, coaches, front office staff, media and more with those that played in the 50’s through today’s current roster.

Exclusive with Former Steelers Running Back Dwyane Hooper, 1985-1986

First, can you let me know what you’ve been doing with yourself since the NFL?

I’m doing full-time ministry now. I started off in banking and finance after football but was very active in the church at that particular time. So it seemed like a natural progression.

In the mid-80s everyone stayed with their company forever. It’s funny, when I told my best friend I wanted to talk to him about a change in career and told him I was going into the ministry, he wasn’t surprised. He thought I was going to get into coaching or something. That he said would have been a real surprise!

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Exclusive with Pittsburgher/Actor Manu Narayan

First off, what projects should we be aware of that you’re working on now?

Well, I just finished shooting season one of an Apple series. I signed an NDA so I don’t think I can give away the name of the series or many details yet, but it includes Olivia Munn, Jon Hamm and Amanda Peet. I have a re-occurring character. It’s a great series directed by the same person who directed Banshee.

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Exclusive with Danny Chew, Ultramarathon Cyclist and Co-Founder and Promoter of the Dirty Dozen

First off, what are you doing now – are you still riding?

It’s my eight-year anniversary of the accident that changed my life and left me paralyzed from the chest down.

Now the only exercises I can do are with my arms. I push a wheelchair on the street in my Manchester neighborhood – it’s a flat street so I can do it easier. It’s been excellent exercise for me. I use a safety flag so I’m visible, and do about 3-6 miles a day – at about two miles an hour.

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Exclusive with Former Browns Quarterback Mike Pagel

First off, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

I’m just raising my kids now. I worked for a telecom company – a small one you may have heard of – AT&T! A friend of mine from church talked to me after I retired from the NFL. I was in Ohio and was looking to move to Indiana for a job with Ameritech and the Yellow Pages when he told me he was looking for someone there in Ohio. So I ended up working for them.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers Defensive/Offensive Lineman Mike Finn, 1992-93

First off, what have you been up to since your time playing football?

Currently I’m working as then Deputy Shift Supervisor for the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office. I’ve worked in law enforcement now for over 22 years and started basically because of former Steeler Dwight Stone.

How did that come about?

He was a guy who took me under his wing as a rookie and talked to me about the transition away from sports. He was the main reason for me to get involved in this.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers (2000), Ravens and Bengals Tight End Jason Gavadza

First off, what have you been up to since your time in the NFL?

When I left the NFL, I was rehabbing my shoulder. Surgery fixed it and I was running every day and stayed in shape, and ended up playing in the CFL. I still wanted to fulfill that chapter as a player. I went to the Gray Cup with British Columbia but unlike Baltimore, we didn’t win the championship. We lost to Toronto by one touchdown.

A couple of years later I went and played for Toronto and British Columbia won it!

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Exclusive with Former Bengals/Ravens Offensive Lineman Willie Anderson

First, tell us about your work as a trainer for offensive linemen? What are you doing exactly?

My Academy is the Willie Anderson Linemen Academy. I am based in Alabama but we go all over the country training high school, college, and young NFL offensive linemen. My main focus is on working with high school kids and up, developing young guys.

As a trainer and coach. what experiences and coaches from your playing days helped shape the way you approach training now?

We focus mostly on the techniques Paul Alexander and I worked on and developed when we were in Cincinnati together. He was a great technique coach – I was his first round pick and he was still a young coach with the Bengals then.

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Exclusive with Former Browns/Ravens Defensive Lineman James Jones

First off, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

After football I spent most of my time raising my daughter. My wife had some health issues – so I helped take care of her and homeschooled my daughter. I was a field-trip dad – going with other homeschooled kids. I did that until she was a Senior, then we moved to Arizona where she went to high school her Senior year.

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Exclusive with Pittsburgh’s own Emmy Award-Winning Comedian, Writer and Producer Ed Driscoll

First off, can you let us know what new projects you’re working on?

I have a new book coming out on November 14 called Cracking Up – it’s a companion piece to the one man show I’m taking on the road next year. It’s a reflection on my 25-plus years in Hollywood – the weird stuff that went on behind the scenes. These are reflections over my career – the memories gestated over time and when the hamster wheel stopped – after multiple strikes in 2023 – I figured I should start writing about all those projects – those weird things that happened over my career.

At first I thought it would make for a good show – then I thought it would make for a good book too.

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Exclusive with Former Ravens Quarterback Tony Banks

First off, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

I was a high school football head coach for the past few years – I’m taking a year off this year but I coached my son for a few years and fell in love with coaching.

Were there coaches who helped shape the way you approached coaching?

For sure, Nick Saban, Dick Vermeil and Dom Capers too – they all influenced me. For a long time I didn’t want to be a coach – I was close to my father growing up and my son and I are close. As a coach you don’t usually see your family a lot – I watched the coaches I played for and saw they had no lives. I just got bad vibes from it.

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