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Pittsburgh Steelers Training Camp: 50 YEARS AT SAINT VINCENT


Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell signs items for fans after practice.


WELCOME

A MESSAGE FROM THE ARCHABBOT OF SAINT VINCENT

T

he year 2015 marks the 50th summer that we have welcomed the Pittsburgh Steelers and thousands of their fans to Saint Vincent. A lot of memories and images come to mind when you think about those 50 years: great players, great plays, six Super Bowl victories, seeing old friends, making new friends. My favorite image of training camp is that of the fans surrounding the practice fields on all sides. Families have even arranged vacations to coincide with Steelers training camps. It’s fun to see the excitement of kids trying to get autographs of their favorite super-heroes whom they have seen on TV. All of those images evoke a sense of satisfaction and gratitude. I hope the spirit of hospitality will always be a hallmark of Saint Vincent. That welcoming spirit is rooted in a central teaching of Saint Benedict in his Rule written for monks in the sixth century. By that time, the security provided by the Roman Empire had disintegrated. Thus, hospitality offered to travelers by Benedictine monasteries had often become a matter of life and death. There is no doubt about the importance Saint Benedict attaches to hospitality: “Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly, Christ is received. Our very awe of the rich guarantees them special respect” (Rule, 53:15). Saint Benedict’s goal was to capture, in a practical way, the essential teachings of the entire Bible. For example, he applied the most radical parable of Jesus about the last judgment (Matthew 25:3146), not only to the mandate of hospitality, but also to all aspects of life with others in a community. In this parable, Jesus reveals his mystical identity with every human being, particularly the least of these human beings . . . the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, the naked, the ill, those in prison. Then his astonishing statement that what we have done for one of these least brothers or sisters, we have done for him. May the Lord be with us and guide us in the way of his care and concern for others in all aspects of our lives. Douglas † Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B.

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Head coach Bill Austin (left) with Mike Clark and a staff member in 1967.


THE BILL AUSTIN ERA 1966 – 1968

THE BEGINNING

I

t took the Pittsburgh Steelers 40 years to win a division title in the National Football League. They were lovable laughingstocks as losing season after losing season piled up. Since then, as the franchise improved the quality of its teams and solidified its relationship with Saint Vincent College as its annual training camp home, the Steelers have become one of the premier organizations in the game. The annual pilgrimage to Unity Township for the Steelers and their thousands of fans hits an historic mark this year when training camp is held here for the 50th time. Only the Green Bay Packers have held training camp at the same location longer. The Packers have been going to St. Norbert College, in DePere, Wisconsin, since 1958, a span of 58 years. 3


Placekicker Mike Clark receives a divine hold from a local nun.

4


The Steelers and Minnesota Vikings, who train at Minnesota State University, Mankato, have the second-longest streak at 50. It took some convincing from Art Rooney Jr., the son of the team’s legendary founder and owner, Art Rooney Sr., to get the Steelers to Westmoreland County. Rooney Jr. graduated from Saint Vincent in 1957 and thought the college would be a perfect site. And as the years went by, it has turned out to be a perfect site. After bouncing around from Moore Field in Pittsburgh to Hershey, Waukesha, Wisconsin, to St. Bonaventure College to Slippery Rock and the University of Rhode Island, the Steelers first came to Saint Vincent on their way back to Pittsburgh in 1966. They worked out for a couple weeks before opening the season. Latrobe Bulletin sports editor Steve Kittey made the first public mention of the Steelers’ arrival on July 5 that year. “It seems summer has just reached us, but already all the National Football League teams are about set to open their

FROM TOP: Running back and Jeannette, Pennsylvania, native Dick Hoak signs autographs; A view of the Chestnut Ridge from the hill overlooking the practice field; Benedictine nuns prepare and serve dinner to a hungry group of campers.

training camps. For our pride and joy in the NFL, Pittsburgh, the moment of truth is fast approaching for it and new coach Bill Austin,” Kittey said. “This Friday, Austin will hold an early week of workouts for 51 players, most of whom are rookies. Next week, the entire squad will gather under the auspices of Austin’s watchful eye. Site of the training camp is the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I. The final two weeks of the Steelers’ training camp will be held on the campus of Saint Vincent College.”

5


The Laurel Mountains loom in the distance as the Steelers practice in the summer of 1967. 6


Austin’s tenure as Steelers’ coach was short-lived as his

oftentimes brutal, coaching philosophy of the legendary

teams struggled to an 11-28 record before he was fired after

Packers’ coach, Vince Lombardi.

the 1968 campaign. But while his teams didn’t benefit from

“I liked Bill,” said former Steelers’ running back Dick Hoak,

their stay at Saint Vincent in terms of wins and losses, team

who played for Austin in 1968 after playing at Penn State. “He

officials and school administrators quickly agreed that training

put in the I-formation and I ran out of that. I made the Pro

camp would become a regular happening on campus.

Bowl and gained almost 900 yards and didn’t play the first

The parties also agreed on something from the start of their relationship that remains in effect today: There has never been a charge for admission or parking and most likely never will be. And even that first year, practices were a big draw, as chronicled by Bulletin assistant sports editor Bob Osborne on Aug. 30, 1966. “The

Pittsburgh

Steelers

officially

opened drills at Saint Vincent College yesterday by hosting a press day which was fully attended by members of the press, radio and television of the Pittsburgh district,” Osbourne said. “The ‘new look’ Steelers went through a light exercise drill which consisted of running plays against a mock defense for the benefit of the hundreds of spectators who lined the hills surrounding the practice field . . .” Austin came to the Steelers from

The Steelers scrimmage the Cleveland Browns for the benefit of the hundreds of spectators who lined the hills surrounding the practice field.

the coaching staff of the Green Bay Packers and brought with him the tough,

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Gerard Hall dormitory provides the backdrop in 1967 as quarterback Richard Badar steadies a tackling dummy while an amused George Izo and John Foruria watch. 8


three games or so. When it came time to practice, you couldn’t. You were too tired. Like all the guys who came from Lombardi’s staff, they weren’t themselves. They tried to be like Lombardi. None really did that well.” Nobody knew it at the time, but in those early years when the building blocks were being laid for one of the top training camps in the National Football League, the team itself was on the verge of becoming one of the most dominant franchises in history.

TOP: Quarterback Ron Meyer calls a play in the practice huddle during the 1966 camp. LEFT: Rookie linebacker Ray May attacks the blocking sled in 1967.

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Head coach Chuck Noll (left), and running backs coach Dick Hoak survey the team in 1987.


THE CHUCK NOLL ERA 1969 – 1991

THE GLORY YEARS

T

he Chuck Noll era will forever be known as the glory years of Pittsburgh Steelers football. When he came to the Steelers in 1969 from his assistant coach position with the Baltimore Colts, he took over a rag-tag team that posted losing seasons 38 years in a row. That number reached 39 in Noll’s first year as the team struggled to a 1-13 record. That record was achieved with a win in the opener and 13 consecutive losses. And then the Steelers lost the first three games of the next season; Noll held the dubious mark of the worst start by a coach in the history of the team. Improvement took place with records of 5-9 and 6-8 the next two years.

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Quarterback Terry Bradshaw jogs to the practice field past a group of fans.

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As the team’s record improved, so did the interest in the Steelers when they arrived on campus at Saint Vincent College for training camp. The Steelers went 11-3 in 1972 and made the playoffs. After that, the nice crowds that attended camp sessions turned into huge throngs that clogged Route 30 in both directions. The hillsides around the practice fields were jammed with people. Those sunny, humid, suffocating July afternoons became even more so with 10,000 people getting riled up about a practice of what was the beginnings of an NFL dynasty. “I remember the crowds,” said longtime Pittsburgh radio and television personality Stan Savran. “The first day was always a big event for fans and players. They always had the “Oklahoma drills” on opening day and the crowds went wild watching the players go wild in that drill. Coaches would go at each other. It was one of the most intense practice drills every year. The first day of two practices a day was also popular.” No one knew it at the time, but those fans who kept coming to Saint Vincent during the Noll era were watching players who would go on to have Hall of Fame careers. Fans knew players like Jack Ham, Joe Greene, Mel Blount, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert, Mike Webster, Lynn Swann and

FROM TOP: Steelers Ray May and Jerry Hillebrand arrive to camp in style and in full uniform; Ernie “Fats” Holmes bulldozes through two blockers; Wide receiver John Stallworth is timed in the 40-yard dash by Tom Donohue.

John Stallworth stood out on the practice field, but probably didn’t anticipate eight of them standing on the steps of the Hall of Fame in Canton.

The campus has grown in size and quality of facilities as a direct result of the Steelers presence. 13


Defensive coordinator George Perles (standing, far right) poses for a unit photo framed by Alfred and Aurelius Halls. 14


Noll’s teams compiled a record of 193-148-1 during his 23-

physicians’ space, quality of the grass and air conditioning

year career. His teams in the 1970s won back-to-back Super

in the dorms (there was none during my time there) are

Bowls twice in a span of six years, becoming the first team to

improved by an order of magnitude 10.”

win four Super Bowl titles.

In the early years of the Steelers’ long run of encampments

Longtime Steelers’ radio commentator, Myron Cope,

at Saint Vincent, amenities were scarce, but a Spartan-

dubbed Noll “The Emperor” and there was never any question

like existence was deemed perfect for players to learn the

about who was in charge.

Steelers way.

Pittsburgh

Post-Gazette

beat

writer

Ed

Bouchette

One Steelers great put it perfectly.

remembered a time near the end of Noll’s career when the shotgun formation was coming into the game. Noll wanted nothing to do with that.

“One year there was a problem with some skunks

and they had to call someone to come out and shoot them and take them away, which they did,” Bouchette said. “Jim Kriek, who was covering the team for the Connellsville Courier, said they had to shoot them with a .22 because Chuck wouldn’t allow a shotgun at training camp.” That dynasty had its infancy in the dirt and grass of the practice fields at Saint Vincent; things began to change at the college as well. As the team grew to greatness, the college grew as well. Bill Asbury was a running back for the Steelers from 1966-68, a time when they won 11 games total. On a visit back to Saint Vincent several years later, it didn’t take Asbury long to notice how things had changed. “The campus has grown in size and facilities-quality as a

Merril Hoge signs autographs for fans during the annual media day in 1991.

direct result of the Steelers presence,” he said. “Weight room,

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Linebacker Jack Lambert and defensive tackle Joe Greene, whose acquisition was seen as key in taking the Steelers from a perennial loser to a championship franchise, make the run from dorm to practice field.

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“I look at training camp a lot different from other

Noll was obviously a great molder of men and is

guys,” said the late, great L.C. Greenwood in author Jim

regarded as one of the great coaches in the history of

O’Brien’s book, “Doing it Right.” “I don’t come here to

the game. But he made a different impression on his hosts

have a good time or to be out with the boys. If I have

at Saint Vincent over the course of his career.

to leave home to go to Saint Vincent, I’m coming here to work on football. I really get into football here. I put everything else out of my mind. Saint Vincent is a great place to get ready. You can go through hell for five weeks and then come back to the big city.” During most of the Noll years, the dorm rooms the players called home for a few weeks were not airconditioned, creating a spectacle on the day the players reported. Here were Lambert, Greene, Ham, Harris and all of the other great players of that time hauling portable fans and little televisions to make their time at Camp Noll a little more pleasurable. The Chuck Noll era was the zenith in the history of the team. A collection of the greatest players to ever put on a uniform started each season at Saint Vincent. But Noll was more than a Hall of Fame football coach. He was called a renaissance man for how he brought the Steelers back from the depths to a historic

“He had a spirit of humility about him that really was

winner. He flew airplanes, loved to be on a sailboat, was

so characteristic of his behavior in the years he served

a classical music devotee, loved to scuba dive among

as coach,” Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B.,

coral reefs, knew a great deal about wine and enjoyed

Chancellor, said when Noll died June 13, 2014. “He was

growing rose bushes. Noll even directed the Pittsburgh

able to experience defeat without being defeated. He

Symphony Orchestra’s playing of “Stars and Stripes

was able to experience victory without letting it go to his

Forever” during an outdoor concert in 1989 at Saint

head.”

Running back Franco Harris grabs the attention of young fans.

Vincent.

17


Head coach Bill Cowher


THE BILL COWHER ERA 1992 – 2006

A RENEWED FIRE

O

n Jan. 21, 1992, the face of the Pittsburgh Steelers changed, literally. For the previous 23 years, the stoic Chuck Noll had patrolled the sidelines at Steelers’ games, occasionally becoming animated. But for the most part his emotions came through in a serious glare and occasionally a tight smile. After Noll retired, he was replaced by a much more fiery, explosive character in Bill Cowher. The new coach was a native of Crafton, a Pittsburgh suburb, and he rarely left any doubt as to exactly what was on his mind. When he was hired, he was the youngest (34) head coach at the time.

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20

The 2005 Super Bowl Champions drew large crowds to the hillside surrounding the practice fields.


Unlike Noll, who had to build the dynasty that became part of his legacy from scratch, Cowher’s cupboard was not bare when he was named the head coach. Cowher’s teams were able to put together a 149-90-1 record in his 15 years at the helm. Just think about this: Cowher became the 15th coach in Steelers’ history, but only the second head coach since the NFL merger in 1970. Eleven of Cowher’s teams finished with winning seasons; they won a Super Bowl in 2005 as a sixth seed, an AFC title in 1995 and eight division championships. Even more impressive is that 10 of those 15 teams reached the playoffs, played in six AFC Championship games and played in the Super Bowl twice. “History will look back on Bill Cowher as one of the great coaches of all time,” Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said. Teams in the Cowher era had their ups and downs and their frustrations; among those were losing to the New England Patriots twice in the AFC Championship. And Cowher found no better place to deal with those frustrations and get ready for the NFL season than at Saint Vincent. Even after the team opened its practice headquarters on

FROM TOP: The Steelers Experience provides football-related activities for fans; Linebackers Jason Gildon and Joey Porter, and cornerback Chad Scott pause to rest; Former trainer Ariko Iso administers therapy in the campus facility.

Pittsburgh’s South Side in 2000, Cowher said he hoped the Steelers would never stop going to Saint Vincent for training camp. During one particularly wet and stormy summer that forced schedule adjustments and moving practices to a couple of high school fields around Westmoreland County, the question was put to Cowher about perhaps it being

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Jerome “The Bus� Bettis looks for an opening during drills. 22


more beneficial to working out at the South Side where fields had artificial turf, and a state-of-the-art indoor facility existed. “I’m an old-school guy. (Going away for camp) is a necessity,” he said. “This (the inclement weather) does not change my belief on where training camp should be held. There are so many pluses in being away and eliminating as many distractions as possible.” Cowher’s

training

camps

mirrored

his

high-tempo,

high-energy personality. His players got caught up in the emotionally-charged atmosphere and made practices entertaining as well as grueling for them. Cowher had a brief playing career in the NFL, competing in 45 games as a linebacker and special teams player. One of the drills he was big on during training camp was a blocking drill for running backs against linebackers. Joey Porter, one of Cowher’s most physical linebackers, recalled

An attentive Heath Miller stops to engage with fans.

how important that drill was to Cowher at Saint Vincent. “That was a fun drill because Bill Cowher ran it,” Porter said. “We knew how important it was. He drilled you so much to

would get up for it. We would get up for it. We took it seriously

win that drill so when you got in a game, it was expected.

every day because we were working to get better.”

We would do that drill every day in training camp. The crowd

Cowher’s career as a head coach got off to a flying start, the Steelers winning the AFC Central in 1992 for the first time

Even after the team opened its practice headquarters on Pittsburgh’s South Side in 2000, Cowher said he hoped the Steelers would never stop going to Saint Vincent for training camp.

since 1984 and then getting a wild-card spot the next year. It was the first time the team made the playoffs in consecutive years since 1983-84. The strong run continued in 1994 when the Steelers went 12-4 and made it to the AFC Championship game for the first time since 1979. They lost that game to San Diego, but all of that was just a great lead-in to 1995. Local media coverage increased as well as more of a national presence.

23


24

Coach Cowher gathers the team for a talk amidst the bucolic campus setting.


The team’s longtime radio color commentator for the team, the late Myron Cope, visited camp as much as anyone. As he got older, he couldn’t stand for the length of practice at Saint Vincent, so he improvised by bringing a small folding chair and sitting just beyond the corner of the end zone. “It didn’t happen very often, but there was an instance where a play ran long and players were headed right toward Cope. He didn’t know what to do, so he just toppled over,” his partner in the booth, Bill Hillgrove, said. “We looked over there and all we could see was his legs and chair in the air.”

Steelers chairman Dan Rooney strolls the sideline during practice.

The late Br. Pat Lacey, O.S.B., Saint Vincent Archabbey and College fire chief for more than 35 years, was a lifelong friend of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He became the unofficial groundskeeper, accepting responsibility for upkeep of the football fields for the Steelers’ summer training camps. An avid football fan, he remained a lifelong friend of the Steelers and the Rooney family.

25


Secondary coach Tim Lewis diagrams plays for safety Carnell Lake in 1996. 26


Cowher became the youngest head coach (38) to lead a team to the Super Bowl that year. The Steelers, on the strength of their “Blitzburgh” won their third AFC Central title in four years, made the playoffs for the fourth straight year but were beaten 27-17 by Dallas in Super Bowl XXX. The Steelers produced winning seasons and playoff appearances in Cowher’s first six years as head coach. He joined legendary coach Paul Brown as the only two coaches in the NFL to do that in their first six years. How did they do that, considering the team had finished

Br. Norman W. Hipps, O.S.B., president of Saint Vincent College, addresses the crowd during a media day event.

7-9 in Chuck Noll’s final season? There were good players – Rod Woodson, Jerome Bettis,

practice field at 8:45 a.m. for their normal walk-through. It

Hines Ward, Dermontti Dawson and Levon Kirkland to name

wasn’t until they gathered around him that he told the

a few. Dawson, Bettis and Woodson went on to have Hall of

players they were going to the movies.”

Fame careers.

Curiously, 15 minutes later, a thunderstorm hit the campus.

Much more of the credit goes to Cowher, whose

“I knew something was going on because I could tell the

competitiveness, his ability to get the best from his players

way the people in [the locker room] were taping,” said wide

and his obvious motivational skills made him so successful.

receiver Troy Edwards. “They weren’t too concerned about

While Cowher ran a tight camp, he liked to have some

getting people taped.”

occasional fun with his players. Post-Gazette sports writer

“It’s always nice because he’s always made it a point to

Gerry Dulac remembered Cowher saying he wouldn’t mind a

look out for us,” said linebacker Jason Gildon. “We wondered

little rain at Saint Vincent after a week of practices in steamy

if he was going to do it this year.”

conditions.

Said Cowher, “I think I got them this time.”

A storm hit one morning and Cowher cancelled his 9 a.m.

The Steelers made it to the AFC Championship game six

practice, although not because of the storm. He had already

times under Cowher and after near-miss after near-miss,

decided to cancel practice and take the players to the

finally made it to the Super Bowl in 2005, where they beat the

movies.

Seattle Seahawks, 21-10.

As Dulac wrote: “Cowher, though, let the players believe

Cowher retired Jan. 5, 2007, after 15 years as the Steelers’

they were going to practice. He had them report to the

coach.

27


President Art Rooney II with head coach Mike Tomlin


THE MIKE TOMLIN ERA 2007 – present

GROWING TOGETHER

M

ike Tomlin doesn’t have the long, impressive National Football League coaching resumes of his predecessors, Bill Cowher and Chuck Noll. Of course, he’s only been the coach of the Steelers since 2007. But it didn’t take him long to become enamored with the training camp atmosphere at Saint Vincent College. His first stint at SVC was a physically and mentally draining camp as he attempted to make his mark on his new team quickly. Tomlin toned things down the next year because his team faced a difficult regular-season schedule. The work his team did at Saint Vincent paved the way for a Super Bowl-winning season with the payoff coming in a 27-23, last-second win over the Arizona Cardinals. 29


30

Perennial camp favorites quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) and safety Troy Polamalu (43) extend a warm hand to fans.


“Oftentimes we talk about being ready for camp. I think ready is an emotional thing,” he said. “I’m ready for camp as I sit here today because I love going to Saint Vincent for camp. I love the process of team building.” Tomlin became the youngest coach (age 36) in NFL history to win a Super Bowl title and did so in just his second season. His record of 82-46 is the best start by a coach in the history of the team and he’s not had a losing season. The Steelers have won four AFC North titles, two AFC Championships and the one Super Bowl. And while Noll, Cowher and Tomlin all have coached teams to Super Bowl titles, the Steelers’ current coach has done something the other two did not do, something that will endear himself to Saint Vincent forever. Three months after the Steelers won the Super Bowl, Tomlin delivered the commencement address at Saint Vincent. Tomlin’s speech was very popular with the graduates and families and received a prestigious award. National Public Radio did a study of commencement speakers at colleges and universities across the country going back to 1774 and Tomlin’s speech was one of “The Best 300 Commencement Speeches, Ever.”

FROM TOP: Players review practice photos from their seats in a Saint Vincent classroom; James Farrior (51) and Hines Ward (86) listen to scout Joe Greene (Benedict Hall stands above Chuck Noll Field); defensive end Brett Kiesel arrives at the 2012 camp in a tractor.

Among other speakers honored thusly were: Mother Teresa

(Niagara College), Kermit the Frog (Northampton), Ken Burns (Georgetown), John. F. Kennedy (Yale), Bill Cosby (Temple), Bill Gates (Harvard), Dalai Lama (Tulane) and Fred Rogers (Dartmouth). Rogers, a local icon, delivered addresses twice at Saint Vincent. Tomlin scored a touchdown with the audience when he talked about the graduates pursuing their dreams.

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Players stretch on Chuck Noll Field, also home to the Saint Vincent Bearcats football team. 32


“Dream and dream big. Don’t listen to the naysayers,

writer for ESPN, has fond memories of the college and training

because they’ll outnumber support 100 to 1,” he said. “It’s

camp.

elevator music. Like I tell my football team, you hear it but you

“I can remember 10,000 fans on the hills, surrounding

don’t. Hold on to your dreams. Make the daily commitment

everything,” Clayton said. “I think it’s as good as any training

to make those dreams reality. Play the game to win. Play

camp site in the league and better than most. It’s just the

the game the way it’s supposed to be played and you’ll live

perfect environment.”

successful, happy lives, lives that honor those who supported

Clayton was a regular at training camp from 1972 until

you.”

1995 when he joined ESPN.

The Saint Vincent experience has become revered over

the years by both the Steelers and the thousands of fans who

of time for the now-defunct Irwin Standard-Observer. In those

have made the journey to training camp over the years.

days, the amenities for players and media and fans weren’t

But the respect and admiration is also shared by those on

what they are today, but Ketchman was fine with that.

Vic Ketchman covered the Steelers during the same period

the national level who have visited SVC. Five years ago Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King called Saint Vincent, the perfect training-camp setting. “If you’ve read my postcards in the past few years from here, you know I love the place,” King wrote. “It’s the perfect training-camp setting, looking out over the rolling hills of the Laurel Highlands in west-central Pennsylvania, an hour east of Pittsburgh. On a misty or foggy morning, standing atop the hill at the college, you feel like you’re in Scotland. The Arnold Palmer Regional Airport is across the state highway from the school. Classic, wonderful slice of Americana. If you can visit one training camp, this is the one to see. To me, walking around this place is one of the great traditions of the NFL camp tour.” Bill Hillgrove, the longtime voice of the Steelers, called Saint Vincent an idyllic setting. John Clayton, a native Pittsburgher who covered the team for the now-defunct Pittsburgh Press and is now a senior

Sy Holzer and Steelers chairman Dan Rooney with Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B. 33


Coach Tomlin addresses the squad surrounded by the natural beauty of the Saint Vincent campus.

34


“It was spartan, but that was OK,” he said. “Camp back then had a real good feel to it and the setting had a lot to do with that. It just had a good, old-time training camp feel to it.” Stan Savran, long-time observer of all things Steelers in his role as sports anchor at WTAE-TV and then radio host at ESPN 970, was always amazed, not only with how hot it was for training camp, but the scenes he witnessed early in the Steelers’ glory years at SVC. “Here we were, watching some of the greatest players in the history of the game, going into those little rooms and those little beds, lugging their own fans up the stairs hoping to stay a little cool,” Savran said. “And now when you go up there, you see guys carrying air conditioners and 50-inch TVs.” Carnell Lake played 10 seasons for the Steelers and is currently the defensive backs coach with the team. When he returned to the Steelers after being away over a dozen years he said, “It looks like Saint Vincent is all grown up.” All grown up indeed and ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of spending time with the Steelers each summer.

Camp was always a pleasure for the ever-smiling wide receiver Hines Ward.

I think it’s as good as any training camp site in the league and better than most. It’s just the perfect environment.

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Thanks to the Pittsburgh Steelers for their support and collaboration in the production of this commemorative publication. Text by Mike Dudurich; photos courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers and of Bill Amatucci (pages 10, 12, 13 (middle and bottom), 16, 17, 18, 20 and 25); design by George Fetkovich. Produced by the Saint Vincent College Office of Marketing and Communcations. Thanks always to the diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fans, who support the team both at training camp and throughout the regular season.

Go Steelers!

Fr. Paul R. Taylor, O.S.B., executive vice president of Saint Vincent College, and Pittsburgh Steelers offensive guard Ramon Foster share a laugh. 36

Š 2015 Saint Vincent College



PREPARE FOR GREATNESS

N

o matter the season, there is always a reason to visit Saint Vincent College where the campus is alive with concerts, lectures, theatre and special events throughout the year. Whether you want to see the world’s greatest cellist, scientist, astronomer or professional football team, plan to visit Saint Vincent and learn more about a college whose graduates are also prepared for greatness.

Saint Vincent College 300 Fraser Purchase Road Latrobe, PA 15650-2690 www.stvincent.edu

• Dr. Herbert W. Boyer, C’58, D’81, is among Saint Vincent College’s most notable alumni, having received international recognition throughout his career for the pivotal role he played in creation of the biotechnology industry and the founding of the pharmaceutical firm Genentech that utilized his DNA splitting technology to pioneer numerous lifesaving drugs. • Nationally-recognized astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson gives Threshold Lecture, calling the Dupré Science Pavilion “a symbol of the school’s commitment to science education.”

• International cellist Yo-Yo Ma receives Fred Rogers Legacy Award and gives recital in historic Saint Vincent Basilica, May 23, 2014, declaring “this is perhaps the greatest honor I have ever received…” • Head coach Mike Tomlin of six-time Super Bowl world champion Pittsburgh Steelers gave a commencement address at Saint Vincent College that was named by NPR as one of “The Best 300 Commencement Speeches, Ever.”

QUALITY EDUCATION IN THE BENEDICTINE TRADITION | Latrobe, Pennsylvania | www.stvincent.edu | 800-782-5549

7568–2.5M–7/2015


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