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Posted on February 10, 2013 - by ChuckFinder

My Bo Jackson experience

Watching this ESPN “30 for 30″ for the second time, it sent me back to the archives….

On Oct. 22, 1985, the Post-Gazette published a story after my visit to Auburn, Ala., about Bo possibly being a No. 1 pick in both football and baseball, where — of course — the Pirates owned that first pick. (Jeff King, anyone?)

Now, remember, I came home to Pittsburgh after spending two years in the South covering Georgia and Alabama football. I had seen Bo Jackson play SEC football. I had seen Bo play SEC baseball. I knew Bo and Bo’s peeps. Heck, I still remember the baseball game at Alabama where some hecklers brought a beer truck and sat in folding chairs atop the truck, jeering the Tigers outfielder from some 450-475 feet away beyond the fence in right center-field.

I know Bo, all right.

So when I visited him the next October as a reporter from Pittsburgh instead of Birmingham. . . well, it’s fun today to read about the Vincent Edward Jackson mythology, the dual-sports legend in the making.

Ah, Bo-stalgia: Oct. 22, 1985 Post-Gazette story

Posted on January 10, 2013 - by ChuckFinder

Short leashes, and other Steelers tidbits

When the Steelers appeared so unSteelers-like last April in picking up Mike Adams and Chris Rainey and their baggage, people wondered.

When fellow rookie Alameda Ta’amu was arrested early in the season on a dozen charges related to drunk driving, eyebrows raised.

The actions of Thursday proved one thing: The Steelers accept only so much baggage on their plane.

The club ridded itself of Rainey Thursday after he was charged in Gainesville, Fla., with battery against a woman — the second such arrest for Rainey in two years’ time. Upon drafting him last April, after checking with the same Maurkice Pouncey who lived with Rainey for a time, the Steelers talked about second chances and examining closely a player’s behavior, personality and makeup. On Thursday, Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert was quoted in a news release: “Chris Rainey’s actions this morning were extremely disappointing. Under the circumstances and due to this conduct, Chris will no longer be a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

Adams, who personally begged the Steelers for forgiveness for testing for marijuana at last February’s NFL Combine, got an opportunity with them — although he had to meet unspecified “conditions.”

Ta’amu got a second chance after his arrest and wound up on the practice squad, though he never played a 2012 game. However, it was his second DUI arrest since 2009, the other coming while at the University of Washington.

Rainey’s second arrest — this on simple battery — cost him his Steelers place. No matter his 1,035 yards in kickoff returns and opportunity to move into a larger 2013 role if, as expected, Rashard Mendenhall isn’t re-signed.

The Steelers will have to make qualifying offers to leading rusher Jonathan Dwyer and Isaac Redman, and figure to do so with both restricted free agents. Expect them to locate another back, though perhaps not expending a high draft pick on one. They played most of last season almost exclusively with that pair, a sixth-round pick and an undrafted free-agent.

Most important, though, is the off-the-field standard: Second, or third, chances end at violence, or even the arrest/charge for it. Leash lengths may vary, but they don’t seem long, do they?

* If the Jets nab Omar Khan as general manager, man, it’s a bad time to be $10 million-plus over the Steelers’ cap. He made their abacus hum, their calculators smoke. . . and the pieces fit.

* If Todd Haley gets the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job, and interesting how his Kansas City term increasingly looks better in hindsight, here’s an interesting name as a possible offensive-coordinator replacement: No, not Ken Whisenhunt. . . not sure that would work with Ben Roethlisberger and even Mike Tomlin. (Good for Wiz if he gets the Browns job.) Rather, how about. . . Mike Mularkey? He’s a onetime Steelers player, a former tight ends coach and still one of the best offensive coordinators (2001-03) the club has employed in the past generation. In fact, Wiz admitted he learned a bunch from Mularkey, fired Thursday after one season as Jacksonville’s head coach.

* Dan Rooney will lose the “emertius” title and return to his chairmanship with the Steelers, the Post-Gazette reported. Sounds as if he’s ready to go back to work.

* Sad to say, CBSSports.com’s venture with Rapid Reports came to a close last Friday, so you will no longer see this byline there. It was a blast while it lasted.

Posted on December 23, 2012 - by ChuckFinder

Immaculate Reception turns 40, and a grand man passes

One happy item, one sad:

This weekend marked a celebration of the Immaculate Reception hitting the middle age of 40. It was a rollicking time, with Frenchy Fuqua in his I’ll Never Tell T-shirt and Franco Harris posing and a conspiracy theory from a playful Raiders’ Phil Villapiano (whom the Steelers almost drafted instead of Jack Ham, as the “Steelers Encyclopedia” relates). Our friend Sharon Levosky, who helped to name football’s most famous play, received special attention from Franco Friday and got her turn at the mic at Saturday’s Immaculate Reception Memories event at the Heinz History Center.

Frenchy Fuqua Saturday, Dec. 22, just before showing the back of his "I'll Never Tell" 12-22-72 T-shirt

That memories event was followed by the monument unveiling Saturday afternoon and a live-TV party that night at Stage A&E. Sunday, they had a halftime ceremony, a Terry Bradshaw video tribute and Terry’s daughter Rachel singing the national anthem. Outside of a forced re-enactment with Frenchy and Franco, it was a memorable weekend.

So now whaddya do for the 50th?

The sad moment: the death of former Steelers center and longtime coach Chuck Cherundolo, a fixture for a generation from 1941 on.

According to his daughter, Pat, Chuck passed Saturday in the Lakeland, Fla., where they lived. He was 96. . . and still a hoot.

Chuck gave the book a Buck O’Neil feel, an oldtimer with great tales to tell — though not containing the same social ramifications as O’Neil.Not many people can tell you colorful stories about “Bullet” Bill Dudley, of whom he said: “I was faster.” He was integral to the book, and a beloved teammate/coach — folks from Art Rooney Jr. to Hall of Famer Jack Butler couldn’t wait to get back in touch with Chuck.

I visited him in September and gave him two copies of the book, and had him sign one of mine. He had grown a beard since last I saw him, much to the chagrin of his daughter. He lived a grand, long life. But I’ll still miss him. As will many.

Posted on December 1, 2012 - by ChuckFinder

Pour House in D.C. Sunday for Steelers-Ravens

Steelers Nation members in the Baltimore, D.C. and NoVa areas, come on down to the Pour House and join us for trivia, Steelers talk and books starting at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2.

It’s the start of another busy Steelers Encyclopedia week (that actually started today, 12-1-12, at the Heinz History Center Book Fair with Andy Russell, Steve Blass of the Pirates and others:

* Thursday, Dec. 6: South Hills Village Barnes and Noble, 6-8 p.m. Coffee’s on me!

* Sunday, Dec. 9: Public House in Manhattan for the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut Nation.

* Sunday, Dec. 16: Fitzgerald’s Irish Pub in Charlotte. (Sorry, Dallas fans. . . but we figured most of the Steelers folks in the Metro area would get into Jerry Jones’ edifice to see the game themselves).

More to come.

Look for ads on KDKA.com, on The Fan 93.7 FM and on Patch.com, among other places.

Posted on November 22, 2012 - by ChuckFinder

The Perfect Christmas Gift … The Perfect Hanukkah Gift …The Perfect Kwanzaa Gift … oh, heck, it’s just The Perfect Gift for the Steelers fan in your life

It’s in bookstores from Barnes and Noble to the Pittsburgh International Airport to little shops in Dormont and Oakmont and any other local -monts. It’s online at Amazon and B&N and Temple.edu/tempress. And it’s on display at upcoming book signings/trivia contests in Steelers bars in D.C., New York and Charlotte along with Western Pennsylvania bookstores and television shows and more.

Just in time for the holidays, eh?

Yes, you may see a Steelers Encyclopedia advertisement here or there over the next month, possibly even catch a glimpse in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s ads for its own PG Store, yet another place where the book’s available. But the standard is the standard, and it is what it is, and you can call this present is holiday-capable: a pretty good gift for the black-and-gold faithful.

Mail it to our P.O. box, and we'll send it wherever you need -- inscribed!

Take the word of Steelers fan after Steelers fan last weekend at Mike Feinberg Co. in the Strip District: Each leafed through, bought a copy (or up to four!), and had it inscribed as ha oliday gift. From Florida to Toronto, from Germany to London to, yes, London, Ontario. From West Virginia to far west California.That was the aim of this book: to inform, to entertain, to make every Steelers fan say, “Wow, I didn’t know that” — thanks to the nearly 100 different voices of Steelers players, coaches, scouts, trainers and more, thanks to the 180-plus photos and 340-plus pages including the Steelers’ statistics from every NFL season.

(If you think you know everything Steelers, check out Jack Ham‘s move to middle linebacker, Jack Lambert‘s intelligence more than his fury, John Stallworth vs. Lynn Swann, Gene Keady, Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson over Jim Brown, Ingots, cheerleaders, the polka writer, Immaculate Reception tales, Hall of Famers you never knew and the ones you knew from Johnny “Blood” McNally to Jack Butler/Dermontti Dawson, the Chief and the Hall of Fame, behind the scenes Rooney tales, the Steelers station wagon, the importance of the horse-racing business and other Steelers-business/sale insights, the legacy of centers from Chuck Cherundolo to Bill Walsh to Ray Mansfield to Mike Webster to Dawson, Notre Dame stealing players, Joe Greene‘s maturity and support of Terry Bradshaw, Gabe Rivera as the next Joe Greene, draft-room tales of Stallworth over Lambert and others over Ham and more, . . . and on and on.)

Here’s the deal: For you folks so far-flung that book signings might be difficult, send your orders to our P.O. Box and we’ll inscribe those books personally.

Steelers Encyclopedia

P.O. Box 13379

Pittsburgh, PA 15243

Love that black-and-gold box enumeration: Steelers No. 1, born ’33 (remember the Rolling Rock bottle?) and ’79 for the final Super Bowl of Chuck Noll and the Super Steelers of the ’70s.

Anyway, drop a note inside the books, or send an email to Chuck@ChuckFinder.com with details.

And, most of all, happy holidays.