Steelers Takeaways: Players Memories Through the Decades

by Ron Lippock

Overview

Steelers Takeaways approaches the Pittsburgh Steelers organization and players in a way no other book has spanning across seven decades of Steelers players, the book is comprised of personal and on-field stories. Author, Ron Lippock has conducted over 400 interviews with former Steelers from those that played in the 50's, through ones that just recently retired.

These stories and memories are amassed not only from the household names like L.C. Greenwood, Donnie Shell, Antwaan Randle El, Rocky Bleier, and Tommie Maddox, but also from the hundreds of players who fought just to make the practice squad. Their contributions and struggles, successes and failures, all helped to define the Steelers as an organization just as much as the many Hall of Famers.

These players discuss the adversity they faced the physical impact of the game, the stress of making and keeping one's position on the team, mentoring younger players even as they sought to take their roster spot, moving from team to team, and more.

Players reveal the humor behind the game and how it affected them from the jokes teammates played on one another in the locker rooms, meeting rooms, and hotels, to the on-field pranks and antics fans are otherwise not privy to.

This is the insider's history of the organization, a very personal view shared from the players perspectives. There is something for every Steeler fan here - and these stories simply can't be found elsewhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681570075
Publisher:	Blue River Press
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ron Lippock is the Publisher of the Pittsburgh Sports Daily Bulletin , a daily newsletter that covers Pittsburgh sports new. Over the five-plus years of publishing the newsletter, Lippock has interviewed hundreds of former Pittsburgh athletes, coaches, media, artists, and more, focusing on their more personal experiences and insights.

Table of Contents

Foreword Terry Hanratty vii

Intro ix

It Starts at the Top 1

The Rooneys 1

Coaching 13

Leadership 53

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Riverfront 65

The Times They are Changing 109

Race 109

Innovation and Changes to the Game 117

Mentors 131

Sometimes it is About the Money, Sometimes it's Not 159

The Business Side of the Game 159

Religion/Spirituality 211

The Fans and City of Pittsburgh 222

Team Culture 236

The Longest Yard 257

Adversity 257

Physical Impact of the Game 304

Steelers Quiz 321