Earlier this year, I wrote about how future NFL Hall of Famer and fellow Woodland Hills High School graduate Rob Gronkowski returned to our high school for the reopening of the school's weight room. Gronk's foundation contributed a significant amount of money to make this happen.
Earlier this week, another Pittsburgh sports legend visited Woodland Hills for a different endeavor. Cameron ("Cam") Heyward was the Steelers' first round draft pick in 2011. He is the son of the late Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, who was a legend at the University of Pittsburgh, had a successful NFL career, and is the star of one of my favorite commercials of all time.
Cam has been the anchor of the Steelers defense over the last decade plus, made the Pro Bowl multiple times, and won the 2023 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award for his philanthropic contributions and community impact. One of his initiatives is Craig's Closet, which provides free dress clothes to high school boys throughout Western Pennsylvania. Cam, his mother, and members of The Heyward House visited WHHS on Tuesday for the opening of a Craig's Closet at the high school. This is a very cool project, and I'm glad that Heyward is helping the Woodland Hills community. It also might be the only time where Heyward, a fellow graduate of The Ohio State University, can proudly say Go Wolverines!
More information about Craig's Closet is available here. You can also learn more about Cam's visit to Woodland Hills with additional pictures here and here.
I'm proud of
being from Pittsburgh and am quick to praise and point out people with
Pittsburgh ties especially when it comes to sports and entertainment. However,
even though Rob Gronkowski, a future member of the football hall of fame,
graduated from the same high school as me, I never seem to include him as
someone from Western Pennsylvania. The Gronkowski family moved to my school
district from Western New York just in time for Rob's senior year of high
school. As kids say these days, the move was "sus" as there were
several eligibility meetings by local and state athletic organizations. Gronk
was eventually allowed to play and graduated. His one year in Pittsburgh is why
I don't include him with other successful Western Pennsylvania athletes like
Jason Taylor and Dan Marino. It might have been different if Gronk went to
college at Pitt or Penn State or played for the Steelers, but he went to
college at the University of Arizona, completely off the radar for Pittsburgh
sports fans, and spent the bulk of his NFL career in New England and Tampa
Bay.
Less than two
weeks ago, Gronkowski returned to Woodland Hills High School to celebrate the
reopening of the school's weight room. His foundation donated $200,000 and
partnered with U.S. Steel and State Senator Jay Costa in this endeavor. I
never heard of him spending time in and around Pittsburgh after high school,
and I wasn't aware that he still had any ties or allegiances to WHHS. I'm
really happy that he's supporting the Wolverines!
In case you're
wondering, as a 3-sport athlete at Woodland Hills (soccer, tennis, and
swimming/diving) and weighing 120 pounds at graduation, you might be shocked to
learn that I spent very little time at the weight room!
More
information about this (the weight room, not my high school workout routine)
including pictures and a time-lapse video are available on the Woodland Hills School District website.
Oh, and where can I get one of these Team Gronk T-shirts?
Many Pittsburgh sports fans are rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs to win the upcoming Super Bowl. Sure, part of this is because KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes is likable, so fun to watch, and appears in commercials with Steelers legend Troy Polamalu.
However, the bigger reason some Steelers fans will support KC is because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers employ the most decorated QB in NFL history (and frequent Steelers tormentor) Tom Brady and former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown. Although Brown was arguably the best WR in the NFL over the last decade, let's just write that he did not depart from Pittsburgh and Steelers on the best of terms.
Have you looked at the Tampa Bay organization though? And yes, I'm talking to Pittsburgh sports fans here. If you did, you'll see a lot of familiar names. Let's start with the obvious. Head coach Bruce Arians served as the Steelers wide receivers coach from 2004-2006 and offensive coordinator ("OC") from 2007-2011. The Steelers reached the Super Bowl twice when Arians was the OC, winning the title in the 2008 season. Then, after the 2011 season, he "retired." I still don't think the retirement was fully explained as he joined the Indianapolis Colts the next season.
Looking at the roster, there are several players with Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania ties. The biggest name is obviously fellow Woodland Hills High School graduate Rob Gronkowski. Gronk and I have a lot in common besides graduating from the same high school. Gronk is going to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. I've visited the NFL Hall of Fame. Gronk appeared on The Masked Singer and CBS' Game On! I've watched both of those shows. I mean, there's a lot more, but I'm getting off topic.
Starting safety Jordan Whitehead is from Monaca and had a successful career at the University of Pittsburgh. While LeSean McCoy is now a back-up and hasn't played much this year, Pitt fans will also remember him well as part of an excellent crop of running backs in Panthers history. Deep on the depth chart is WR Justin Watson who went to South Fayette High School. And reserve cornerback Russ Cockrell played two years for the Steelers. Oh, and while not Pittsburgh, WR Chris Godwin, tackle Donovan Smith, and center A.Q. Shipley (though on injured reserve) went to Penn State. This matters to a lot of people in Western PA.
You're not convinced yet. I get it. Well, let's look at the coaching staff.
- Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich played 4 seasons as the Steelers back-up QB. I've always had a soft spot for Leftwich. When I attended the Steelers-Washington Football Team game in 2008, Leftwich led the Steelers to victory after Roethlisberger got injured.
I also love the video of his Marshall offensive linemen carrying him down the field when he basically played on one leg. You want to play for or with Byron Leftwich!
- Assistant Head Coach / Running Back Coordinator Harold Goodwin worked with Arians as an offense assistant with the Steelers from 2007-2011.
- Offensive Assistant Antwaan Randle El was the most exciting offensive player on the Steelers over the last 20 years. You never knew what could happen when he had the ball.
- Defensive/Special Teams Assistant Cody Grimm. This one is a bit of a stretch since I'm not sure how much time Grimm spent in Pittsburgh. However, his dad Russ was the Steelers offensive line coach for five seasons and was part of some elite Pitt teams in the late 70s and 1980.
- Outside Linebackers coach Larry Foote played 11 seasons with the Steelers. He was so solid, dependable, and a team leader. He was also part of one of my favorite post-Super Bowl pictures.
- (I missed this one before.) Safeties coach Nick Rapone is from New Castle, was a grad assistant at Pitt in 1979-80, coached at Pitt in 1989-1992, and worked at New Castle High School in 1993-1994.
- The final Pittsburgh connection is a bit surprising. Tampa's Speed & Conditioning Coach is two-time Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom. How would you like to be coached by arguably the greatest 110m hurdler of all time? Oh, he's also a Pitt graduate.
Look, I understand that the dislike of Brady and Brown is strong. However, if the Bucs win, I think you can be happy for all of these other people with Pittsburgh connections.
It’s quite possible that this commercial has aired for months, but I only saw it recently.
I have so many thoughts on this commercial.
- First, why is the Kiss Cam guy or girl showing these two? They definitely don’t appear to be a couple.
- The Steelers fan is way out of the Pats fan’s league.
- Rob Gronkowski attended Woodland Hills during his senior year and is a WHHS graduate. Perhaps this Pats fan is really a Steelers fan but is friends or family of Gronk, so that’s why he’s wearing the #87 jersey. Therefore, the two really struck up a rapport before the Kiss Cam came along.
- Okay, that last point seems highly unlikely.
- There is no chance that the Patriots crowd would support this kiss. There would be many more jeers and boos than cheers.
- Smart move by Head & Shoulders by having the Steelers fan wear a JuJu Smith-Schuster jersey than an Antonio Brown one.
Thanks again to Head & Shoulders for providing me with blog content for nearly a decade. (And if you click on the link, you'll see that some of the posts are so old that the videos no longer work.
Woodland Hills High School, just outside the Pittsburgh's city limits, is probably best known for two things: football where the team has been to the WPIAL playoffs for 22 consecutive years and produced nearly a dozen NFL players including Jason Taylor, Rob Gronkowski, and Steve Breaston and musical theater where the school has won countless Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. About 7 years ago, someone who graduated from Montour High School started working at my organization. Upon learning that I went to Woodland Hills, he bitterly conceded that Woodland Hills always won at the Gene Kelly Awards.
Anyway, during my sophomore year of high school, I was on the stage crew for the production of Guys and Dolls. The fact that I actually helped build a set is funny since I have no building or repair skills whatsoever. (As a tangent, I really need to replace the fluorescent light bulb in the laundry room. I'm going to have to make a Home Depot trip, aren't I? Ugh.) During my junior year, I decided that I wanted to be on stage and not be behind the scenes. Although my singing audition probably went poorly since I have an awful voice, I killed in my dancing audition. Probably more importantly, the show needed a few more male cast members, so I earned the role of Government Man and part of the chorus in the production of Lil' Abner.
Recently, videos of the (gulp) 1992 production of Lil' Abner were posted on YouTube. While it's interesting (at least to me) to check out the videos, I wanted to share a few today.
The first is a scene before, during, and after the song Unnecessary Town. I'm wearing a suit and hat seated at the U.S. Army table. The last 30 seconds or so of the video shows my true acting range.
Oh, feel free to enjoy a Pittsburgh Steelers joke around the 1:10 mark. (The Steelers were coming off of a 7-9 season.)
There are/were some really, really talented people involved in this musical. Fortunately, they carried me!
The second video shows the cast dancing/singing to Rag Offen The Bush. Again, I'm wearing a hat and tie, and you can find me at the front right (scene left).
You can see all of the videos here. 25 years later, seeing the Confederate flag displayed so prominently is a little creepy. I guess that's part of the art of the show. Overall, though, this brought back some fun memories, and I think The Moose enjoyed watching me perform.
The NFL released its 2016 schedule on Thursday night in a 3-hour show on the NFL Network. Here's your 2016 Steelers schedule:
The first thing that jumps out is the Steelers playing on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. However, the Steelers also play on other national holidays: Chocolate Milkshake Day (Sept 12), Fire Prevention Day (Oct 9), my half-birthday (Nov 13) and Bake Cookies Day (Dec 18).
September 12: I really thought the Steelers would play in Washington on the Monday night before election day like they did in 2008. Instead, the Steelers play in Maryland on the first Monday night of the season. I look forward to seeing all of the Metro outages and delays during a regular Monday evening commute, first home football game, and a 7:05 Mets-Nationals game. Might as well throw in a Presidential debate in DC that night as well as a World Bank meeting, Pope visit, or nuclear summit at that time too.
In a bit of a schedule quirk, the NFL scheduled the Steelers against all three other AFC North teams twice.
September 25: How many times do you think we'll hear the Battle of Pennsylvania the week of the Steelers-Eagles game?
October 9: Could the Steelers face the Jets the same time the Pirates play the Mets in the playoffs? (Probably not.)
October 16: Time for a repeat trip to South Florida for a Steelers game? The Dolphins group ticket guy has e-mailed and/or called me weekly over the past month. He also emailed me on Thursday to let me know the exact time the schedule would be released.
October 23: The return of Woodland Hills graduate Rob Gronkowski to Pittsburgh. Some quarterback named Brady will probably be there too.
November 13: Steelers-Cowboys. Let's go back to the days of Roger Staubach and Mean Joe Greene. Tom Laundry and Chuck Noll. Steve Pelluer and Mark Malone?
December 4: The Byron Stingily game. This will almost be as big as when Brett Favre returned to Green Bay as a member of the Vikings. Long-time Steelers offensive lineman Stingily, who we all remember for playing as many snaps for the Steelers as me, seeks revenge against his former team.
January 1: Steelers fans get to see first-hand the annual week 17 game of "Who Is The Cleveland Browns Starting QB?" RG3 has the early edge, but I think Bernie Kosar has a good chance to start.
I think this will be fun. Today, I want to read stories about the best athlete you ever saw play live before they were stars, if they even became stars at all. Maybe this was your brother or a kid you played against in Little League, but saying that you saw Troy Polamalu make an incredible interception as a member of the Steelers is not what we're looking for here.
Since this is my blog, I'll go first. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I was fortunate enough to see plenty of amazing athletes. My high school football team regularly competed for the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League ("WPIAL") Championship and included future NFL players like Steve Breaston, Ryan Mundy, Lousaka Polite, Shawntae Spencer and Rob Gronkowski (for one season), though these guys were after my time. Tirrell Greene was an offensive lineman for my high school and later became an All-American at the University of Miami, and although I feel that he paved the way for future Woodland Hills graduates to play in college, I don't remember seeing him play live.
While my high school produced numerous NFL players, it was an opponent that makes the top of my list. As a college freshman home for Thanksgiving break, I attended a playoff game between Woodland Hills and North Hills. North Hills had a freshman running back that seemed bigger and faster than everyone on the field and ran for over 200 yards in a victory over the Wolverines. He also played linebacker, ended up going to Penn State, was the #2 overall draft pick for Washington, a 3-time Pro Bowler and now co-hosts a radio show in DC. His name was and is LaVar Arrington.
Some people who know me probably thought my answer would be Jason Taylor who graduated a year before me. I remember Taylor as being an awkward basketball player who hadn’t grown into his body yet and made only a few catches as a tight end. I never thought he would inspire Giant Jason Taylor.
Honorable mentions:
Gerald Thompson, Woodland Hills RB, who I thought was going to be a star after running for 1,600 yards and 25 TDs.
Brandon Short of McKeesport HS who later played for the New York Giants.
Michael Keyes of Woodland Hills who was a really good basketball point guard. He wasn’t flashy, but was a great leader and always seemed to make the right decision. He played D1 basketball at Towson.
Nia S. – When I was in junior high, I was responsible for shadowing her for nearly an entire soccer game. I felt extremely fortunate that I held her to only one goal and my team won. I believe that she’s a doctor now.
Your turn. Share who the best athlete you ever saw live in the comments section below.
Welcome to Sean's Ramblings! If you're looking for thoughts on pop culture, music, fun and informative links, random DC and Pittsburgh info, sports (particularly Pittsburgh sports), and just what's going on in my life, then you're come to the right place.
Any questions, comments or links? Contact me at seanramblings[at]yahoo[dot]com.
Posts
