Quote

My mother was a huge Steelers fan, so they were my team growing up.

My first season with Pittsburgh was 1969. We were still in the old NFL. My second year, we moved to the AFC when the leagues merged. I went to the Pro Bowl that season, and there must have been nine Raiders and nine Chiefs. I got to know all those guys.

As I and the rest of my Pittsburgh Steelers teammates prepared that week in late December 1974, we knew one thing: The road to the Super Bowl in the AFC went through Oakland. To achieve your dreams as a team, you had to slay the Oakland Raiders. They were the barometer of what it took to be a championship team.

Winning the Super Bowl was obviously a great one, but the joy I felt of going to the Super Bowl, it was what I felt about the Pittsburgh Steelers and where we came from, the history of us to that point.

Pittsburgh felt like the perfect size of a city to me. There's enough to do, but it's not like living in a circus. I also really loved how sports-enthusiastic Pittsburgh people are: how proud of their sports they are.

The single most important thing we had in the Steelers of the '70s was the ability to work together.

The Oakland A's, I loved all my teammates there. I loved all the coaches. They gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues. And for that, I thank them. I mean it was a dream come true for me.

The people that I was working with made it all good for me - made it important to me - made it special. I will miss everyone in the Steelers organization.

I would always reserve a special place in my heart for Pittsburgh.

Indianapolis proved to be the perfect Super Bowl city, accommodating in the truest sense of the word.