Cleveland in Bill Cowher
By STEVE KING
Bill Cowher has long been described as “a Pittsburgh guy through and through.”
And, in his having grown up there, gone to high school there and returned there to become a great head coach – a Pro Football Hall of Fame coach — with the Steelers for 15 seasons, that is entirely correct.
But, as he has said himself any number of times, there’s a lot of Cleveland in Bill Cowher, too.
He played there for the Browns as a linebacker and special teamer during the Kardiac Kids era 40 years ago, and he got his coaching start there almost immediately thereafter as an assistant during head coach Maty Schottenheimer’s staff for the first four seasons of the Bernie Kosar era. He bought his first house in Cleveland, and his two daughters were born there.
Yes, a lot of Cleveland indeed.
And all that “Cleveland” came out in a wonderful, memorable conference call he did with the Cleveland media on Nov. 22, 1995, four days before he would bring his Steelers to Cleveland to face the Browns. It was Cowher’s – and the Steelers’ – last game against the original Browns franchise, as it had been announced only three weeks before that the franchise would be moving to Baltimore at the end of the season.
Cowher gave one of the greatest descriptions of what it was like to play – and coach – for the Browns at Cleveland Stadium. With that passionate voice of his, he talked about going down the narrow tunnel from the home locker room to the first-base dugout, “hearing the click-clack of the cleats on the concrete floor while traveling the same path that Jim Brown, Otto Graham, Lou Groza and all those other great players walked. As you got closer to the dugout, the tunnel started to get light and you could hear the fans roar as they saw the players in front of you popping their heads out as they walked up the steps and out onto the field. When it was your turn to finally get there, you looked up and saw that big, ol’ stadium full of people. It was really a great experience.
“I’ll be taking the same walk on Sunday from the visitors locker room to the third-base dugout for the last time. I will really miss that.”
It was chilling to hear. I miss that stadium, but when I do, I think of his words. It makes me feel better.
Thank you for that, Bill Cowher, and congratulations on being formally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend. You certainly deserve it.
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