Comments on: “Chuck Noll, His Life’s Work:” Michael MacCambridge unlocks the riddle of Chuck Noll

By: hombredeacero

hombredeacero — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 12:54:41 +0000

Yes, Homer, the Steelers win in Buffalo would have done the Emperor Proud. A couple of 3 years back, over on BTSC, Neal uploaded a link to the 1989 Steelers game vs. the Bucs. As he pointed out, one of the first things that struck him was watching an offense where rushing the ball was clearly the first and foremost objective.

I understand where the game has gone, and I understand that Lombardi Number 7 only comes after some serious out of Number 7’s arm.

But if you wrapped a Wonder Woman magic lasso on me, I’d have to come clean:

At heart I’m a “3 yards and a cloud of dust” Steelers football purist.

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By: Homer J.

Homer J. — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 22:07:59 +0000

There’s a good deal of material about Tony Dungy in the book. Dungy’s intelligence and work ethic were evident to Noll from the get-go. And, like Noll, Tony began his coaching career at a very young age. Thanks to Chuck, of course. It was common knowledge when Dungy was still playing that he was considered to be coaching material. Not sure of the genesis of that, but you’d read it in the Press and P-G, and Cope and Fleming would say it on the radio when Tony was still on the active roster.

Today’s win against Buffalo was exactly the kind of game that Chuck loved, and he would often describe these games with two phrases that became Nollisms. “We possessed the football. And when you possess the football and move it forward, good things usually happen.” He simply loved to run the ball down the other team’s throat!

The other phrase, which he always said with a bit of a smile was, “we out-physicaled them.” Which was his civilized way of saying we kicked their butts, especially in the trenches.

The Emperor was unique in the clarity of his pronunciation.He would almost caress the word “possess,” saying it clearly and clearly savoring the word. In so doing, he was both teaching and celebrating.

Oh, how Chuck Noll would have loved today’s game! He might have said something about having out-Buffaloed Buffalo in the Buffalo winter….or saying we did fared better than Napoleon did on the road in such wintry conditions. Or something like that.

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By: hombredeacero

hombredeacero — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 17:20:12 +0000

Excellent review. When “Their Life’s Work” came out, Joe Starkey mentioned that this book was in production with the cooperation of the Noll family. I suspected that the Rooneys had been, at least in part behind this. So you’ve confirmed that.

It is nice to see that Noll is perhaps going to get his just due as a head coach after being ignored for so long.

I remember when Bill Walsh passed away, I sent out an email to a couple of three friends/family, all more or less Steelers fans, making the argument, that while Bill Walsh was certainly great, Noll was arguably better.

The response I got was a sort of adult version of a pat on the head, and reminders of all that Walsh had done, from the West Coast offense to his cadre of coaches known as the Bill Walsh coaching tree.*

So I did my part, and wrote a series on the two men. Anyone interested can read it here: bit.ly/2gpjDO5

But of course, Noll’s accomplishments on the field were only a small part of the larger man that was Chuck Noll. That story is just as if not more important. Heck, I was fortunate enough to be in Pittsburgh on the day he retired. I didn’t see the press conference live, but my Grandmother had told me he’d been moved to tears.

Later that night, on the news, the should a sound bite of Dan Rooney, admitting that his wife had told him that if anything had ever happened to them, he wanted Chuck and his wife to raise the kids.

That’s a pretty astounding statement considering that Rooney has four brothers.

I look forward to reading this book, although I’ll have to wait as Yenny Libros and Distal Libros don’t exactly stock a lot of English language sports books, let alone books on futbol Americano.

*And WHY in the hell are Tony Dungy and Mike Tomlin put on the Bill Walsh coaching tree….???? OK, I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it remains a pet peeve.

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