Stevenson Sylvester: “My mother was the most significant influence. At a young age, she was a single mother who raised me and my brother, then when my aunt got into trouble, her six kids were going to be placed into foster care so my mother took them in as well. She was a social worker and knew how the foster system worked. So as a single mother she raised eight kids- we were tight. She took care of us without much child support or funds from the state. She made it happen and that instilled hard work in us at a young age.”
Matthew Sexton: “My mom and brothers – we’ve gone through a lot together. Without my mom I couldn’t have made it this far.”
Franco Harris: “The trainers and equipment guys- Ralph, Tony Parisi, Frank Shuley – they were special to us. Special guys. My mother the first time she met Tony – she told him in Italian – she didn’t ask, she commanded – “You take care of my son.” And he did.”
Chapelle Russell: “My mother was the queen of the house – she pushed us and led the way.”
Dwight Stone: “When you have a mother who never complained and never made excuses naysayers never bothered me…”
Mike Logan: “I was able to come home and spend time with my mother who passed away at the age of 51. She said one of her proudest moments was seeing her son play in the Super Bowl for the Steelers. I’ll always have that memory entrenched in my mind.”
Myron Bell “My mother reminded me of my childhood dream to play for the Steelers. I didn’t really focus on who was currently on the roster; I just set out to prove I was much better than all the safety’s taken before me.”
Craig Veasey: “I promised my mother I’d get my degree. She never cared if I played football – she wanted me to get my degree”
Hebron Fangupo: “Pete Carroll said it best – he wanted to recruit Polynesian kids when he was a college coach – he told my mother that. My mother asked him why, and he told her it was because Polynesian kids were taught at a young age to be respectful and listen. You only had to tell us once. “
Deon Figures: “ I wanted to come back quickly because my mother was dying of cancer and I wanted her to see me play one last time. She loved football! But she passed away the Monday before my first game back.”
Max Starks: “My charity work started when I was a kid. My mother took me to the Salvation Army every Christmas and Thanksgiving to serve food to the homeless and that’s where it started.”
Roy Gerela: “My mother didn’t want me to move but she knew it was my best chance – to go to the states and finish my education. It was my toughest move. “
Zoltan Mesko: “My mother told me the story about my first birthday. She wanted to make me a cake so she went to the sugar store first. Because that’s where you got the sugar. Then you went to the egg store. She had a coupon for three eggs and waited in line for three hours to get the eggs with her coupon. She ran home to bake the cake and tripped and broke the eggs. She couldn’t even get more eggs because she used her egg coupon for the week.”
Chris Kolodziejski: “I watched my mom transform from a single mother working two jobs into a real estate developer who retired early.”
Flozell Adams’: “We help with breast cancer prevention for low income families. We provide free mammograms – my mother passed away over 20 years ago from breast cancer so this means a lot to me.”
Chris Sheffield “My mother passed away in the Spring of 1999. I started looking at how my life had been destroyed and prayed – I didn’t want to die. “
Lupe Sanchez: “My dad passed away when I was only four and therefore my mother was Mom and Dad as I grew up. She raised us on her own and she is the reason I came back. I did have a brother fourteen years older than me and he was great to me.”
Jonathan Staggers; “My mother was the first in her family of nine to go to college but didn’t graduate until 15 years later…while growing up the longest we lived in one place was four years before I went off to college.”
Donnel Thompson: “I was fortunate – my mother was a principal and then a superintendent at a high school and my father was a football coach and PE teacher. They did a good job of rooting my brother and I – teaching us that football is only a short window even if you make it.”
Daniel Lee: “Someone asked me “ say man, a what kind of deodorant do you use”. I wasn’t thinking, but I did notice some snickering going on and some weird eye movements and whispering!!! I responded as I turned and looked at my arrangement of my stuff and immediately remembered and realized that I had picked up my mother’s deodorant. I started talking and stopped when I looked at the Deodorant stick that was named SECRET! I just dropped my head and the entire room burst into laughter.”