Sitting on the couch with my Dad, watching my very first NFL football game I can still hear him cursing the day that the Steelers had drafted “The dumbest quarterback in history….”Bleepin” Terry Bradshaw! I remember more colorful language as he proclaimed that they Steelers should fire Chuck Noll, That Terry Hanratty or Joe Gilliam should be in a QB and on and on and on
.
Dad was from an area just outside of Pittsburgh, in a town called Washington, Pennsylvania.
2 minutes later…all was right with the world, as Franco Harris scooped up a deflected pass off of Frenchie Fuqua and ran into football history with the immaculate reception.
From that day on, I was a Steelers fan.
Growing up in the Cincinnati and Dayton region, I used to win a lot of lunch money on Steelers vs. Bengal’s week. I had a Steelers lunch box, rain coat, note book and a whole host of Steelers swag. On the rare occasions that the Bengals would win and my classmates would hit me with “Score Board, Rush!”, I could always retort with “Trophy Case!”
I’m also a fan of Bart Starr.
In 1993, as I was getting my Amway business started, I became good friends with an Amway Diamond by the name of Larry Winters. Larry was one of my business mentors. At the time I probably only had about 50 people on my team and wasn’t really on the radar as a future success story.
Larry’s team was about 3-4000 people strong at the time, and as a result, he was running his own “Major Functions”.
In January of 1993, Larry brought legendary Green Bay Packer quarterback Bart Starr in as a guest speaker for the weekend.
I had the honor of being asked to host Bart while he was in town.
As a result I got to drive Bart around, take him to dinner and spend about 5 hours with him. It was one of my most memorable events I ever participated in. Bart was a truly genuine, down to earth human being and one of the nicest guys I ever met. He taught me a few valuable lessons about leadership, compassion and people skills that I still hold tight to today. And he also signed a football and a helmet for me.
As a result I became a semi-Packer’s fan as well as a Steelers fan.
So today on Super Bowl Sunday, while I root for the Steelers, I remain a Bart Starr fan. And no matter the outcome of Super Bowl 45, I can always find comfort in the trophy case.
Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!
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