MEMOIRS OF AN O.B. F. (OLD ‘BURGH FUCK)

or SHUT THE FUCK UP…..’LEAST I STILL REMEMBER

By Swissvale72

Chapter 1:  PITT STADIUM MEMORIES

Was a lad of 10 for my first trip, taken with my 19-year-old brother Tony on the morning of September 19, 1965.  It cost $4 to sit in the lower end-zone, where we watched the dynastic Green Bay Packers whip the Steelers 41-9 in the opener.  Steelers had held a 9-7 halftime lead, John Henry Johnson went down for the season on his 3^rd or 4^th carry.  I remember the cigar smells, the signs around the 10 yard line that said “Paydirt” with an arrow pointing toward the goal line, the band playing “Fight On.”  There were no Terrible Towels, no Steeler Fight Song, no “Here We Go Steelers…Here We Go.”  Tony  & I skipped the streetcar….walked home, Oakland to Swissvale.

My next trip back was on Halloween, Steelers versus Dallas Cowboys.  Steelers had won their first game a week earlier, behind Jim Bradshaw’s 3 picks, after 5 consecutive losses to start the season.   The most painful of these losses was a loss to the Browns at Cleveland in the final 2 minutes on the Saturday night of World Series weekend, a Steelers-Browns tradition.

This was my first experience with a wonderful Steelers practice of the times….”Youth Day.”  It’s amusing following ticket sales now on E-Bay.  Steelers would regularly draw less than 20,000 fans in the mid-60s.  Youth days were offered about 4 times a year, where fans aged 16 & under, could buy a ticket for one dollar at the Steelers downtown ticket office during the week.  My problem was finding someone who would be downtown and willing to pick up a ticket for me. These tickets were in the North End Zone, and sold full price for $3, less than the South End Zone, as it required the fan to traverse the full length of Cardiac Hill.  What  a walk!!  My dad dropped my 10-year-old ass off on at the foot of Oakland’s DeSoto Street….and I though I’d never make it up the hill.  For future games, I convinced Dad to drop me off at the top of the stadium.  I gave him two bucks for gas at season’s end….half  a tank of gas back then. Stop…and think about this.  Ten years old…by himself at an NFL game!!  I was rewarded that day with the Steelers 2^nd straight victory…it would be their final win of the season.  They almost made it 3 in a row the following week, but lost a lead over the Cardinals in the final two minutes on a long-TD to Billy Gambrell.  This was the game where Larry Wilson, playing with a pair of broken hands, picked a pass & took it in for a TD.  Tony was away at school.  Brothers Ron & Ralph, fair-weather Steeler fans in the making, teased me…said they’d feed the Steelers to Fuzzy, our dog.  I cried my first Steeler tears.

I went back again with Tony a few weeks later to see the Steelers battle the Washington Redskins.  It wasn’t much of a battle; Redskins won 31-3 in a driving rainstorm.  Tony and I  sat faithfully in our North End Zone seats, not leaving until 9 seconds remained.  My brand new coat shrank.  Mom gave Tony hell.

My final Pitt Stadium trip of the season was for the finale against the Eagles.  Highlight of a 47-13 loss was Marv Woodson taking a pick back for a TD for the Steelers.  We saw a record setting performance that day, as Tommy Wade threw 7 interceptions for the black & gold.  He was yanked, and somebody else (…must’ve been Bill Nelson) threw another pair.

The ’66 season opened to a promising start under new coach Bill Austin.  Steelers lead the Giants by 11 in the 4^th quarter, but then Homer Jones caught a 98-yard TD and did something novel…he spiked the ball, the first practitioner of this act!  Steelers trailed by 3 late, but got a FG to salvage a tie.  After a win the following week, Steelers were undefeated after 2 games!!  Five straight losses followed.  The ’66 season was my first of 3 straight seasons of attending all 7 games, usually by myself as Tony was off studying at Penn State.   With the 4 youth days, it cost me all of $13 .from my paper route. That’s $13….total!! After 5 straight losses, I attended my first Steelers-Browns game….experienced the busloads of drunken Browns fans hanging from the windows as they neared Pitt Stadium.  One old bastard (…probably about 35!)  had his full upper body out the window, “You sonsabitches…we’re gonna kick your ass.”  I experienced the fights in the bleachers, the fires.  Steelers upset the Browns, 16-6, that day.  Lou Groza missed an extra point; I held a sign saying “Bomb the Browns.”  I was back the following week carrying a “Cut the Cards” placard and the Steelers beat St. Louis.  Steelers concluded a 5-8-1 campaign with two road wins, scoring 104 points.  Roy Jefferson caught 4 TDs in the season finale against the expansion Falcons.

Gayle Sayers took the opening kickoff of the ’67 season back for a TD, but the Steelers crushed the Bears, 41-13 that day.  The following week though, I saw Jim Bakken kick an NFL record 7 FGs in the Cards 28-14 win over the Steelers, the first of 5 straight Steeler losses (5-game losing streaks were popular in those days for the “Rooneymen”…as dubbed by the Pittsburgh Press).  I made my way down to the field in a rainstorm at the conclusion of the season finale, a loss to the Redskins.  I said “Good game,  Sonny,” to Mr. Jurgensen, to which he replied with a snort.  The following week, the Steelers concluded the season with a win over the champion Packers, the last team to beat a Lombardi-coached Packers team.  D-lineman Ben McGee & Chuck Hinton both picked off Bart Starr passes.  Steelers finished 4-9-1.

The ’68 season opened with 6 straight losses.  Steelers faced the Eagles in the “O.J. Simpson Bowl.”  Eagles gambled on 4^th & 1 from their own 10 with 2 minutes remaining in a 3-3 tie.  The Steelers rose up, stopped them, and kicked a FG for a 6-3 win.  Of course, neither team got O.J. Eagles, picking 2^nd or 3^rd, took Leroy Keyes from Purdue.  Steelers drafted Joe Greene from North Texas State with the 4^th pick.   Joe Who??

The ’69 season brought us Chuck Noll.  The Press switched from Rooneymen to Nollmen, and the Steelers opened with a win over the Lions.  Everyone knows the rest of the story.  Thirteen straight losses followed.  I was now a high school sophomore, trying to emulate my play after the rookie tackle, Mean Joe Greene.  I did get my ass kicked out of a game that year against Duquesne,  as did Mean Joe did several times during his initial campaign.  My attendance record was broken that year.  Tony ( now a college graduate) & I made a decision to attend the Steel Bowl basketball tournament, held every December at the Civic Arena with Pitt , Duquesne and two other foes, and skipped the season finale, a loss to the Giants.

Pitt Stadium memories concluded as far as the Pittsburgh Steelers were involved.  Some college football memories were concurrent and subsequent.

I fondly remember a number of Pitt-Penn State battles….seemed like they played every year at Pitt Stadium for awhile.   Being a Penn State fan, I spotted a friend Pitt & 44 points for a  mid-1960s bet…and won….as PSU trounced the Panthers, 65-9.  I remember Joe Paterno berating backup QB Mike Cooper for throwing a TD pass when he was under orders not to throw.  I remember the PSU contingent chanting, “Shitt on Pitt.”  I remember the Franco Harris-Lydell Mitchell duo beating Pitt 28-7 in 1971.  I remember watching Tony Dorsett of the National Champion Panthers keying 2 close victories against Syracuse & West Virginia in ’76.  I remember, my lime green Plymouth losing its transmission fluid in the middle of Oakland just before one of those games.   I remember making it to the game; I don’t remember what happened to the car.  I remember watching Notre Dame beat Pitt on a hot-as-hell day to open the ’77 season.  Finally, for me, was a Penn State upset of Pitt, 15-13 in ’78 as Pitt failed on a late 2-pt. conversion try.  Wasn’t there for this one, but who could forget Penn State falling behind a heavily favored Dan Marino-led Pitt team in ’81, then storming back for a 48-14 shellacking!!

I remember some of the ’65-’69 Steelers individually.  I remember Willie Asbury breaking loose on a 70-yard run his rookie year.  I remember a punt snap bouncing off the leg of rookie Cannonball Butler, who was in motion, with there being some notion that the Steelers were precise enough to attempt a bankshot off the rookie’s leg to another player!! I remember one of my favorites, DB Brady Keys, coming off a Pro Bowl season, being cut after giving up a late score against Minnesota in ’67.  I remember Dick Hoak running 80 yards for a TD against the Saints in ’68.  And finally, I remember the Steelers’ alumni game in ’69….all of these old-timers being introduced to the crowd.  But  wait….here comes a young guy…walking with the aid of a cane…it’s Rocky Bleier…as thunderous an ovation as the meager crowd could muster!

Pitt Stadium….splinters in the ass, spit on the ground, fires in the bleachers….a few memorable wins….quite the place for a 10-year old!!