In the Locker Room: Tales of the Pittsburgh Steelers from the Playing Field to the Broadcast Booth

ISBN-13: 9781629375021

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Triumph Books

Publication Date: 10-09-2018

Pages: 240

Product Dimensions: 4.30(w) x 7.00(h) x 1.10(d)

Tunch Ilkin played offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1980 to 1992, appearing in two Pro Bowls. He has served as a Steelers broadcaster and analyst for the past 20 years and is the host of the long-running "In the Locker Room" radio show with Craig Wolfley on ESPN 970. Scott Brown is an author and freelance writer who has written for ESPN.com, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Florida Today. Brown has authored or coauthored several sports books, including The Pittsburgh Steelers Fans' Bucket List and Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story.

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CHAPTER 1

Chuck Noll

Chuck Noll was the consummate teacher. Every day with him was a lesson. Sometimes it was a lesson in X's and O's. Sometimes it was a lesson in technique. And sometimes it could be a lesson in history, vocabulary, or life in general. It was not unusual for Chuck to stop practice during team drills and address us by saying: "Understand what we're trying to do here. Don't just learn your position. Learn the entire offense. You don't have to be the biggest, strongest, or fastest guy to make plays. If you understand the game, you will put yourself into a position to make plays." That advice is something I heeded as a player and still follow as an analyst. It is part of what make Chuck one of the greatest coaches of all time. If you played for Chuck, you knew the game. I think that's why so many of his former players went into coaching or broadcasting.

The first time I met Chuck was before the 1980 NFL Draft when the Steelers brought three guys — Nate Johnson, Ted Walton, and me — in for physicals. I was just intimidated, awed and I wondered, Is there really a chance I could get drafted here? They're the four-time Super Bowl champs. What would they want from an undersized guy from Indiana State?

The Steelers drafted me anyway, and my first encounter pretty much matched what it was like playing for Chuck — even after I had established myself. Noll could look at you and make you piss down your leg. You were just always uncomfortable around him because he was Chuck Noll and you had this image of him and you were trying to please him. Every time he looked at you, it was like he could see through you. He had that steely gaze, that stare, if you will, but he was a great coach, and I loved playing for him.

Our practices were brutal, and Chuck even had us cut block in practice, which is unheard of today. Training camp was a battle of attrition, and you figured they would back off once we got into the season. But we would be in full pads, and Chuck would be pushing buttons, and guys would be frothing at the mouth.

The thing about the game — it is one-upmanship. You win one, and I'm going to come back and win the next one. One day in my fourth season, Keith Gary and I were going at it, and it was a brutal practice. He would push me, and I would push him. One play he grabbed my facemask and he twisted it. I went ballistic. I was screaming, "I'm going to f'n kill you!" We were fighting and it got broken up, but I had snapped. Guys were trying to separate us, and all I saw was Gary over there and I was trying to get to him.

It seemed like the more guys that got in my way, the more my temper just went. I was going crazy and then I heard this voice, "All right, now I'm pissed off because you just punched me in the mouth." I looked at Chuck, and his lip was split. I said, "Oh. My. Goodness."

All of the sudden I went from a million miles an hour to Uh oh. I'm gone. Back then my wife, Sharon, and I lived in a townhouse complex in Bethel Park, and John Goodman, a defensive end, lived right across the street from us. John always beat me home from practice because I'd get in a lift and I had to watch a ton of film. A lot of times Sharon would see him coming and she'd ask him if he wanted to come to dinner because she always wanted to help people, and he was a bachelor. Here is the exchange that ensued after that practice:

Sharon: "J.R., do you want to come over for dinner?"

John: "I don't think so. I don't think you are going to be living there much longer."

Sharon: "What do you mean?"

John: "Tunch just hit Chuck. You guys are probably going to get cut."

Here is the conversation that took place after I got home:

Sharon: "You punched Chuck?"

Me: "I wasn't trying to!"

Sharon: "Did he come and talk to you after practice?"

Me: "No, he didn't say anything to me."

Sharon: "Oh my gosh, what do you think is going to happen?"

Me: "Honey, if I was going to get cut, I think they would have already done it. I don't think he's going to sit around and think about it."

I didn't get cut and played 12 seasons for Chuck, and, boy, was it a different relationship with him. One training camp we went to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to practice against the Washington Redskins. We had a really good practice against them, and Chuck was in a really good mood. That night after practice they got a bunch of pizzas for all of the players, and Chuck was hanging out with the guys. Jon Kolb, who had become the strength coach, Mike Webster, Craig Wolfley, and I were having pizza and just drinking a beer with Chuck, who was really affable and very gracious. It was really this great time and it was almost like the first time I connected socially with Chuck. I think we all felt that way, and everybody was feeling really good about themselves.

Early the next day, we returned to camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. It was a long bus ride, and everyone was tired. Chuck said, "All right, go get your pads on. We're meeting out on the practice field in 20 minutes." I thought, Where is the guy from last night? Social Chuck was short-lived. All of the sudden, it was back to basics.

We lost to the Seattle Seahawks in the old Kingdome in 1981, and in the postgame team address, Chuck said, "We got outhit today. We've got to get back to basics." Normally the coaches have their own locker room and shower room, but for whatever reason, the coaches were showering with the players after that game. Wolf and I were in the shower, and he just started going off, saying: "Back to basics! Oh man, that is going to be miserable. It's going to be like camp. Back to basics? C'mon! We're eight weeks into the season! We don't need to be back to basics."

Chuck had a way of popping up when you least expected him to. Wolf, who didn't know Chuck was there, was lathering his hair and he kept going: "Back to basics. Back to basics." Wolf was facing me, and I started subtly shaking my head, trying to get him to stop. He was still saying "back to basics," when all of the sudden Wolf turned around and saw the coach who Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope had dubbed "Chaz the Emperor." Chuck just gave him this look and Wolf said, "Yeah, we've got to get back to basics this week."

Wolf's Words

We were in the locker room after the game, and Chuck was holding court with the media because they didn't have the press rooms like they do today. I heard a couple of clips, and with Coach Noll, you knew it was just going to be a horrible week to follow because he was speaking words that meant you were getting back to training camp and you were going to have loads of one-on-one drills, loads of hitting, loads of fighting, loads of conditioning. I was already disgruntled about the game. I was also disgruntled about having to fly all the way back to Pittsburgh. I was in the shower, sudsing up, and Tunch was off to my right and I was just going off. Back to basics. Back to basics. I was really honked off. I said, "Do you know how bad this is going to be? It's going to be horrible!" As I was doing this, I noticed that Tunch was trying to shake me off. He wasn't pointing at anything, but he was just giving me this look. He was trying to cut me off without being seen by someone else, but I wasn't getting it. I was just going on and on and on. I turned around and I gave one more, "Yeah, back to basics" and I looked, and Coach Noll was showering behind me. I looked at him, and he was looking at me with the eyebrows narrow and up on the end. It all came together with this fierce look. It just froze my heart. I said, "I think it's a great idea, Coach." That's all I could get out.

Chuck got me like that once, too. The day before a game against the Indianapolis Colts in 1984, we were at the Hoosier Dome having a light practice. Chuck was a tinkerer and he was looking at my stance. He said, "You know what? Your stance looks a little awkward. Let's try something." He made one of my feet more staggered than the other one. It felt awkward, and he said, "Try that." I tried it, and he said, "Try it again."

Chuck loved to practice at the visiting team's field the day before the game to familiarize yourself with the locker room and field and, as he said, to get the road trip out of your system, to get the flight out of your system.

I got on the bus after we had showered and I was sitting in about the fourth row, and defensive tackle Gary Dunn was sitting a row up across from me. I said, "Can you believe Chuck is messing with my stance? He's got me changing my left hand. He's got me changing my right foot. Tomorrow I've got a couple of pretty darn good pass rushers — Donnell Thompson and Vernon Maxwell — and he's messing with me the day before the game!"

All of the sudden, Dunny started getting lower and lower in his seat. Right over him I saw Chuck. He turned around and looked at me and said, "I'm just trying to make you better. Do you want to get better?" I said, "Ah, yeah, Coach." Boy did I feel stupid.

I felt worse after an encounter with Maxwell the next day. He headslapped me during one play, and I went crazy. We got into a fight, and he gave me the finger. I punched him in the face on the next pass rush, and he took a swing at me. I chased him down the field, yelling at him: "I'm going to get you! You're going to be wearing your ankle on your hip!"

Colts defensive tackle Leo Wisniewski, who is a buddy of mine and also a Christian brother — we've been in Bible study together — said, "Dang, Tunch, you better get that temper in check." The funny thing is that I later found out that the Colts were all rooting for me because Maxwell was not a very popular guy on their team.

Late in the game, we were leading by three points and driving, and Maxwell speared Frankie Pollard. I came flying in and I drilled him. I got the flag, and instead of first and goal on the 7-yard line, it was first and goal on the 22-yard line. We only ended up getting a field goal, and the Colts threw a Hail Mary after the kickoff. It ricocheted off four guys, and wide receiver Ray Butler caught it and sprinted into the end zone. We lost with the Colts scoring all of their points in the fourth quarter. We got into the locker room afterward, and Chuck said, "We've got one of our veterans, who should know better, starting a fight inside the 10. That makes no sense at all. Chuck didn't call me out by name, but everybody knew he was talking about me.

He was reaming me out. Then he paused and said, "I'm not trying to put this on one guy." I thought to myself, Oh, no? The guys are all ballbusters, so Gary Dunn and John Goodman said, "Hey, way to lose the game for us, Tunch." Then everybody started saying it jokingly.

I just remember how bad I felt, and later that season, it was almost déjà vu. We were playing the Denver Broncos in the playoffs, and Tommy Jackson speared Pollard. I went after Jackson and I nailed him. Flags went flying, and I thought they were on me. Tommy got up and said, "It was 62! Tunch, you should be out of the game, 62 out of the game, 62 out of the game!"

I thought, Oh no! If I'm out of the game, I'm just walking right off the field right to the locker room and I'm going to take my own flight home. I am not going to go face Chuck. Jackson was still going off, and I thought that I was out of the game. But he was flagged for the cheap shot, and they didn't flag me. I said, "Oh, thank you, Lord!"

Chuck didn't have a problem with one of the fights that I got into one game. Not surprisingly, Jerry Glanville was the head coach on the opposite sidelines that day — and the recipient of an infamous handshake. Our games with the Houston Oilers were always nasty — think Steelers-Bengals of recent years — and Glanville had his guys giving us cheap shots. Wolf and I retaliated, and a fight broke out. At the end of the game, Chuck was livid and he said to Oilers cornerback Steve Brown, "No. 24, tell your coach I'm going to meet him after the game and I'm going to kick his ass." Brown looked at him, and Noll said, "Who do you think is going to win?" Brown said, "My money's on you, Coach."

Chuck met Glanville at the end of the game and shook his hand and wouldn't let go. He was pointing, saying, "This shit's going to come back to haunt you." He was just going off on him. Wolf and I subsequently got fined — $500 for entering a fighting area and $500 for fighting. The next year we were playing a preseason game in New York, and we were appealing the fines. Chuck had brought the video, and Joe Browne of the NFL met with us. Chuck showed him the video and he said, "Listen, this is a bunch of crap. These guys were just defending their teammates. You know if you do not allow them to defend their teammates, you in essence emasculate them." Wolf looked at me and said, "Emasculate?" I said, "I'll tell you later." Chuck did this great presentation, like he was our attorney. I was like, Wow, Chuck's in our corner! We said, "We've got this locked." After hearing Chuck's defense Browne said, "Appeal denied."

Chuck's presentation and use of a 10-cent word offered a glimpse into something that was undeniable about the only coach to win four Super Bowls without losing one: he was much more than just a football coach. He was a wine connoisseur. He liked to cook. He flew airplanes. He loved classical music. He played the ukulele. Who plays the ukulele? One year the team brought the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to training camp for a night, and Chuck was a guest conductor. It was crazy. I think they closed with "Stars and Stripes Forever." They said, "We have a special guest conductor. Would you come up here, Chuck Noll?" He really was a Renaissance man, something that came through in some of his speeches to the team.

After a Saturday practice before a game against the Raiders in Los Angeles, he said, "You know the Spartans were so committed to victory in 900 B.C. that when they sailed to the Corinth they burned their own boats. So, the only way they could return home was victorious on Corinthian ships. That's how committed we have to be."

Someone else joked, "Does that mean we're going to blow up our plane after we get to Oakland?" Someone else joked, "Corinthians? Spartans? What's he telling us college football stories for? This is the NFL." That's the way Noll was. His analogies and illustrations were deep.

Sharon saw a different relationship with Chuck one night when we were supposed to be out for a relaxing dinner. There was an Italian restaurant in Upper St. Clair — we lived right by it — and Chuck loved it. Sharon and I went there, and the maître d' said, "Your coach loves this place." I said, "That's what I hear."

A little later the maître d' came up to me and said, "Hey guess what? Your coach is coming." I looked around, and the place was packed. There was only one table, and it was right next to ours. I thought, Oh, please don't put him there! I was pulling out $20 bills just in case I needed to persuade someone to make other seating arrangements. Thankfully, the restaurant had a separate room, and I think it was a BYOB place. Chuck and Marianne, his wife, came, and they put them in the other room. I thought we were good, but as we were walking out, Marianne, who is very gracious, saw us. She said, "Tunch! Sharon! Come over here! Have a glass of wine!"

We went over to their table and Marianne and Sharon engaged in this conversation, and Chuck and I just sat there looking at each other. So how was practice today? How's your elbow? He was trying to make small talk. He was not ignoring me, but it was brutal. After three or four minutes, I said, "Oh, look what time it is! We've got to make a movie! C'mon, Sharon, let's go!" Sharon looked at me like, What's gotten into you?

We got outside, and Sharon said, "What was that all about?" I said, "What was that all about? I was sitting with Chuck! You were having this great conversation with Marianne. Guess what? My conversation with Chuck was not that great!" She said, "You looked like a jack-in-the-box. You were so uncomfortable." I said, "I was. You play for him and see what it's like." It was an uncomfortable feeling because you were trying to please him and it was uncomfortable being in a one-on-one situation with him.

Wolf, like anyone who played for Chuck, knows about wanting to please him.

One season Wolf's groin was messed up. He had pulled it but kept sucking it up and practicing. He finally said, "I can't practice today. I'm just going to tell Chuck I can't go." I said, "Well, tell him." He said, "I've been starting for years. I should be able to take a day off. Look at it, it's black and blue. I've earned a day off." I said, "You go, boy. Tell Chuck that you're not practicing."

We were in the training room, and I was sitting right next to Wolf. Chuck walked in and said, "Wolf, how is the groin?" He said, "Great, Coach, I'm ready to go." Noll walked out, and everybody started cracking up. I said, "Boy, you told him. You folded up like a cheap card table."

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Excerpted from "In the Locker Room"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Tunch Ilkin and Scott Brown.
Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 9

Chapter 1 Chuck Noll 15

Chapter 2 Lessons from the 1970s Steelers 33

Chapter 3 Mike Tomlin 47

Chapter 4 The 2017 Season 57

Chapter 5 Super Bowl Seasons 65

Chapter 6 Long and Winding Road to Pittsburgh 81

Chapter 7 Rookie Blues 93

Chapter 8 The Crucible of Camp 107

Chapter 9 Tunch Punch 121

Chapter 10 Turkish Temper 135

Chapter 11 Offensive Line: A Band of Brothers 145

Chapter 12 The Strike and Mr. Rooney's Honor 163

Chapter 13 The Rooneys 173

Chapter 14 Cowher Power and the End of the Line 185

Chapter 15 The Press Box and Myron Cope 199

Chapter 18 The Right Path Taken 215

Chapter 17 Finding My Way 225

Acknowledgments 235