Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

First off – what are you put to now? Any upcoming projects/work?

I have several exciting roles coming up in the video game world. There are about to take off but I can’t talk about them – they have strict NDAs! They like slow releases and big build up. It will be cool when they are all revealed.

How did you get tied into the video game work?

It’s been an interesting journey. My background has been in classical acting – and I’m a certified fight director as well. I moved to New York and established myself as an actor and fight director there. Then I went to L.A. and there was this new technology called C.G.I. It was traditional animation then. They did voice over with older actors with good voices and separate actors for the physical side. I was trained in both so could get a lot of side work that way.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Actor/Fight Director Mark Deklin”

First, can you talk a bit about some of the influences you had as a coach over your career?

Well, I started off in Detroit in ’74. We had such a great staff of assistant coaches there. We all learned form each other. Raymond Berry was the wide receivers coach – Bill Belichick was an assistant coach. And Jimmy Carr was there – he was a great secondary coach. Rick Forzano was the head coach and we called the coaching staff the Detroit Mafia.

Farzano started the idea that everybody uses today – that special teams would be treated as its own thing with its own coach . We made up that system – we revolutionized how teams handle special teams. We kicked people’s butts on special teams because we were the only ones to use that type of application.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Houston Oilers Head Coach Jerry Glanville”

As we close out 2025, the Steelers organization and surrounding community suffered so many losses of players, coaches, reporters, owners and more. A really tough year for the #Steelers community. Remembering them all here:

Continue reading “A Really Tough Year for the Steelers Community. Remembering All Who Passed Away in 2025:”

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your time the NFL – and how was the post-NFL transition?

Now I’m just investing in properties with any wife – we are in to real estate investing. Life is good.

The transition was extremely hard. When you play you miss time with your family but nothing can match the comradery you had after you leave the game. You can never have that again. You had it from Little League through the NFL. You can have a lot of friends after the NFL but nothing is like what you had in the locker room. I know they are trying harder now to get former players back together at events to help with that.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Bengals, Ravens Fullback Nick Luchey”

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

I’m working for a title company now. I was the Director of Player Development for the Browns then with regime change after regime change we were out. My father in law got me into this now and I’m doing this here in Ohio.

My oldest daughter is playing volleyball on scholarship at North Carolina and my younger daughter is in Florida. My son – we’re just trying to figure out where he’s going to go to high school!

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Browns Tight End Aaron Shea”

First off – you started off as a music and film writer – why sports, and sports history?

I grew up a sports nerd – I had a Sports Illustrated subscription when I was seven. I dreamed of being the starting quarterback for the Chiefs but by 11 or 12 I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

I was a Journalism major at Creighton. My last two years I had a job on the sports desk at the World Herald which was a very influential newspaper then. I noticed then that a lot of the people that covered sports got bitter and lost their love of sports. I didn’t want to do that. I was a sports junkie but I decided instead to cover movies and music – I didn’t want to cover Chiefs games.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Author Michael MacCambridge (Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work; More than a Game: The Glorious Present and Uncertain Future of the NFL and more)”

First off, what are you up to now?

I’m on tour in September – I’m playing in the Northeast and in Canada. I’m playing in Ohio, New York, Chicago….

I know you had an early start to playing by learning from guys like Hendrix – correct?

My best friend in my teenage years was Velvert Turner – he was a Black kid that knew Jimmy and took lessons from him. He’d come to my house since I lived close to Jimmy’s apartment. He would show me what Jimmy taught him. It’s hard to describe that to someone else – it’s about the vibration and electricity. John Lee Hooker one told me that the secret of learning how to play the electric guitar was to learn one string first. Play it up and down the neck and shake the guitar. He actually said to take all of the other strings off but I couldn’t afford to do that so I just played the one strong. I learned verticality.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Pittsburgh’s Own, Guitarist and Founding Member of Television, Richard Lloyd”

What are the latest works/efforts you want people to know about?

I finished my most recent book Dragstripping at the end of 2024 – that was my eighth book. I’m working on a new book of poems but I don’t have a name for it yet. I write about the same things as many writers do. In this case I’m writing more about the West. I was out there and love the mountains almost as much as I love steel mills. So I’m doing something to join those two.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Pittsburgh Award-Winning Poet Jan Beatty”