Hall of Honor Alumni Show, 2025

Rob King & Wes Uhler are joined by several Steelers legends during their live broadcast from the 2025 Hall of Honor dinner.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We bleed black and gold. This is the Pittsburgh Steelers
Audio Network.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good evening, Steeler Nation, and welcome inside the UPMC club
here at Akersher Stadium for a special broadcast and a
special evening here on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers
Audio Network. Wes Shuler and Rob King with you at
the Steelers Hall of Honor Dinner as we have a
very special trio of Steelers that will get enshrined, will

(00:34):
get immortalized into the Hall of Honor, the Hall of
Honor Museum tonight, those three, of course being Joey Porter
Senior who ride, Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger and friend of ours
from Dublin, Marquise Pouncy, Rob King. This is our second
time doing one of these shows here this year. The
first time was for the Alumni dinner or part of

(00:56):
the anniversary dinner for what has now been twenty year
to celebrate that Steeler Super Bowl forty team. Tonight, it's
Hall of Honor night and a pretty cool trio of
men that are gonna be immortalized as Pittsburgh Steelers forever.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, and it's cool that it's Monday night football. You
know so many It's such a great football weekend, right.
I mean you have the snow right, snow chere. Yes,
we had a trunch through some weather here, you had
fields like football weather. And you know, we have all
the games that happened this weekend and everyone all of
a sudden, everybody in Pittsburgh's the Cincinnati Bengals stand.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
You know, Bengals, let us down. What else is new?
They left the city of as well, thanks enough.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
The Chiefs are out of the playoffs, you know, I mean,
the Bills beat the Patriots in a great game. There's
great games going on now. I mean, just so much
fun football. And then you get this Haul of Honor.
And then tomorrow night, these guys are gonna go out
on Acrosher Stadium's field for Monday Night football, crucial game
against the Dolphins. They'll be recognized, of course tonight they're

(01:58):
gonna be recognized as well here at the Hall of
Honor dinner. And it's just a phenomenal, fantastic from the
weather to the other football games around the league, to
this event to Monday night football, it's just a great
weekend to be.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
In Pittsburgh and be a football fan, and be a
Steelers fan.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Certainly is you could say that most weekends, Kinger, but
I think especially this weekend, yeah, specially you got.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
The snow falling. Christmas is not too far away.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Steelers are in first place in the AFC North and
a really cool trio for this year's Hall of Honor class.
We're gonna be joined by potentially by some of those guys,
by some of their teammates. We'll see what happens here
over the next ninety minutes or so that Rob King
and I will be bringing you this broadcast. But we
are at Akroscher Stadium in the UPMC club. They got

(02:49):
the live band set up across the hall from us,
a beautiful stage and a bunch of different tables. The
or dervs are going around. You know, everyone is dressed
to the nines. Are Bob Labriola was over here a
few minutes ago. I'll suit it up and ready to
go for this evening where Merril Hodge correct will be
mceing the event. So a familiar face, a familiar name

(03:12):
being a part of this action as well. And this
is really cool, you know, I I typically enjoy these
type of things. It is, you know, an organization that
just oozes, that just drips history and Hall of famers
in all pros and Super Bowl champions everywhere you go.
But you know, Kinger, I think I said this to
you a couple months ago, whenever you and I were

(03:32):
doing the dinner for the you know, the radio broadcast
the celebration dinner for the Steelers' Super Bowl forty team
that was being honored for their twentieth anniversary. I love
it when it's the Me and Joe Greens that are around,
you know, and the Donnie Shells and the Mel Blunts
and and those guys are incredible. They laid the foundation
for this organization. They're Hall of famers. They've got enough

(03:55):
rings on their fingers that they can even share some
with some other people. But these Trio A guys, this
is a little more of my wheelhouse.

Speaker 5 (04:02):
You know.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
I'm gonna be thirty five here in February, all right,
about two months away from being thirty five. I mean,
I was fifteen years old in high school when Joey
Porter said they shot me in Denver, Indianapolis cult's locker
rooms after the Steelers Divisional round, when they were getting
ready to go face the Broncos in the AFC Championship
I was a senior in high school Kinger, almost eighteen

(04:24):
years old when Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers down the
field along with our guy Max Starks in Tampa Bay
against the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl forty three and
found Santonio Holmes in the back of the end zone
to get that sixth Super Bowl, that six Lombardi and
of course Pouncy, a guy who just revolutionized the position,
played it with such athleticism and really truly deserving to

(04:48):
go into that brotherhood, that fraternity of Steelers all time
center grades with guys like Webster, guys like DERMANI Dawson,
even someone like Jeff Hardings who we talked to here
a couple months ago. Again, these type of things are
always cool, but with these guys who you can still
freshly remember those those thoughts, you know, I don't need
our buddy Bob Labriola to come over here and tell

(05:10):
me how much fun it was to watch me and
Joe and Franco. I watched these guys, and so that
adds some extra excitement to this evening, at least for me.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Parsons, well, I watch both. There you go. That's right,
So you got the best of both worlds.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
I can identify with most of the generations, Oh, John
Henry Johnson, and some of the earlier guys.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
No, I didn't see those guys play.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
But you know, the one of the great things about
and we'll talk about these individual guys going in for sure,
but one of the amazing things about this is, you know,
Ben Roethlisberger is going to be heading to Canton at
some point. Marque's count Pouncy, if there's any justice at all,
will one day be headed to Canton as well.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
These are all time great players.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
You know, in other places, you might have three or
four Hall of Famers, you might have somebody in the
Hall of Honor who made a couple of Pro Bowls.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
You know, the Steelers have a long way to go.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Before before a guy who gets has been a couple
of Pro Bowls, which by the way, makes you a
pretty darn good player and a guy to be honored
and revered in many other places. And and they're still
honored and revered here, you know, I mean, you know, uh,
you know, Aaron Smith's in the Hall of Honor. He's
I don't think he's gonna make it to the Hall

(06:26):
of Hall of Fame in Canton because of the fact
that he played in a three four. I think if
he played in a four to three, he would have
put up a Hall of Fame worthy career as far
as the voters are concerned. But you know the way
that people are treasured and honored here and how much
it means because the organization has been so incredible for

(06:47):
you know, better than a half a century, just team
after team, player after player, contender after contender. It's just
the way the players pile up on each other, the
great ones. It's it's incredible, really, And you know, I've
shared this story before, but if people are listening for
the first time several years ago, I don't remember. It

(07:10):
was a Hall of Honor dinner, or it might have
been the one of the alumni dinners, but I was
doing the show with Wolf Sam Davis sat down and
Markue's Pouncy sat down, and Sam Davis, who's in the
Hall of Honor great player for this year, that's lineman
in the seventies and all those championship teams. You know,
he said to Marquis Pouncy, you could have played with us, right,

(07:31):
And that was the greatest honor.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
It is in other organizations.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
I can see somebody thinking to themselves, you know, a
player of today saying, of course we could have played
with you, old man. We would have run you off
the field. You know, we're bigger and stronger more.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
Exactly.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
You know, by the way, that's a that's something Moon
Mullins brought up.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
He said, man, we were we were smaller, but we
were faster back at our day anyway, you know. And
and Moon Mullins is in this Hall of honor as well.
But you know the fact that it's passed on from
you know, mother and father to daughter and son to cousins,
generations of fans. It's and you know who revered the

(08:14):
great ones. It's also passed on within the brotherhood of
the Steelers players. And it means something, just like it
means something to a kid to hear his probably grandfather
talking about me and Joe Green and you know, frank
O Harris like you said, and Lynn Swan and Jack
Ham and Jack Lambert. It means something for these players

(08:37):
to be compared to the greats in the history of
this organization.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
And I think that's.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
Extremely special and probably does not exist in most places.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
It's special it's rare.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
It definitely doesn't exist in most places, Kinger, I mean,
and that is what you just described, which I think
is spot on, is what everyone is trying to build, right,
you know, every every team in the National Football League,
every team in professional American sports. They want the type
of lineage, they want the type of history as uh

(09:09):
as the Pittsburgh Steelers have. And it's uh, it's been
something that we've all been all been blessed to witness.
It's been something that we've all been blessed to be around,
to be a part of, to be fans of, to
be covering professionally, you know, whatever aspect that you might
be involved in it, because it is it does. It
certainly does not happen everywhere. It doesn't even happen. Uh,
it doesn't even happen most places. But it absolutely has

(09:33):
and it absolutely does here in Western Pennsylvania for the
Pittsburgh Steelers. We are now joined by one of the
trio of men who is going into the Hall of
Honor tonight, the center Markus Pouncy Pounce. What's up, Maga,
first time I've seen you since Dublin. How you doing
You still still looking good? We're gonna get the We're

(09:54):
gonna get the brothers. We're gonna get the brothers. Pouncy
in here. Now, this is a true this is a treat,
double trouble. What's up, gentlemen, Welcome back and congratulations.

Speaker 6 (10:03):
I've been an honor man, honestly catching the flight up here,
just trying to take it all in. I tell people
all the time, man, when you play long enough man
and go so fast, and when you come back and
you know, kind of take in all the stuff that
we did together. Man, it's just a special moment, right.
I got my family up here, some of the some
of the football kids that we coached now down there
in Florida. So it's gonna be a really cool moment
to take in, for them to see it, for them

(10:24):
to know how hard you got to work to be
able to come something great in life, and the note's
nothing given to you.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
So it's been a cool thing for us to happen
for this weekend.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
So you know, I just brought up the story I
was with Craig Wolfy and never doing the show a
couple of years ago when Sam Davis was here and
you sat down with him, and Sam Davis said, you
know you could have played with us, and I that
story stuck with me because I don't know how much
that would mean in other organizations, But that means something.
It means a lot. I asked you the commercial and
you're like, it means something. What is it like to

(10:52):
be here with this lineage of just amazing tiers.

Speaker 6 (10:57):
Until you're really a part of the program here and
the you know, the franchise, you don't truly understand what's
going on, right, And I think the history that the
Steelers have built throughout the NFL, everyone tries to mimic
him follow right, So the guys that played back in
the days, man, they set us such a precedence. And
to hear some of the you know, the coaching staff
and some of the players that played back then to
say that, you know.

Speaker 5 (11:14):
The pouncies could did that, you know what I mean? Yeah,
that's pretty cool, right, because all.

Speaker 6 (11:17):
You guys know y'all been following this still is a
long time and talking about the players a long time,
so y'all understand.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
What it is to be a true stealer here.

Speaker 6 (11:23):
So for the older guys to say that, man, I
don't know the newest generation understand it.

Speaker 5 (11:27):
But trust me.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
No doubt, and you got your brother Mike here with you. Mike,
thanks for for sitting down with us. How awesome is
it to be here with your brother in this moment.
And I got to think for both of you guys
growing up together, the competitiveness, the fire like you guys
wouldn't have made it to this point without each other.

Speaker 5 (11:46):
Awesome. Just so proud of him. He's the hell of
a football player.

Speaker 7 (11:49):
My whole life, I've tried to be the football player
that he was, and uh, he pushed me to be great.
You know, you got a brother that that's a great
football player, that's gonna be a Hall of Famer. Uh,
the standards, the standard. And so I'm very thankful what
he's did for me throughout my life and my career.

Speaker 5 (12:02):
And I'm just proud that we get to share this
moment together.

Speaker 6 (12:04):
You know, that's crazy that Mike says that though because
I always chased him, I always thought my brothers better.
When I watch him on film, I'm like, why can't
I do that? So I just you known, might you
know we love each other for man, Mike are in
business together, so I mean we're we're them twin brothers
that love each other for life. Man, we came in
this world together, we're gonna leave it together.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
So yeah, I love it. You should have been a Steeler.
I wish you know what.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
You know, it's really cool and I'm sure you've been.
I've been over to the south Side facility. But you know,
other places will they'll have like a couple, you know,
they their most famous.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Quarterbacks or whatever.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
You know, there's like a place for the centers steel
there's history like the centers are like you know, I
mean you might be hey, we had some good Yeah, okay,
you had some good running backs, but how about those centers.

Speaker 6 (12:52):
I used to walk past that picture them pictures every
since that meetings. And then I retired, and uh, and
then Mason was crazy. Mason sent me a picture of
him standing next to it, next to my pitcher in
the hallway, and I just like, man, that's crazy. I
walked down that hallway for eleven years and stuck the
other guys and they finally, you know, thought of me
enough to put me up there, and I just mean
it just hit me like, wow, this is crazy, you know,
I mean like and.

Speaker 5 (13:12):
I trust me, you're very very right about that.

Speaker 6 (13:14):
Right, And I'm very, very lucky to play with the
path behind them guys with you know, Demani and Webster
and you know, the guys that kind of led the
way right, so to be up there and you know
that Mount Rushmore, the centers here in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Every organization is not like that. This organization is built
out totally different. But be a part of that Mount
Rushmore is unbelievable feeling, trust.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Me, without a doubt, last one for you before we
let you guys get back and enjoy the evening. Your
quarterback number seven, Ben Roethlisberger going into the Hall of
Honor tonight as well too. Just what was it like
to get to play with that guy who's you know,
gonna be wearing a gold jacket here in just another
year or two.

Speaker 6 (13:44):
I mean, I think I think the whole Steller nation
sees how special he was, right for him not being
here the last five years, the things he brought to
the city, the organization, How great a football player he
was to just go out there and just play football, right,
Some people go out there and they know it book
by book, and they know other things, and he was
just kind of like the wild wild Western football. You
know you enjoyed watching him play, taking on the hitch,
throwing touchdown passes, being there for his teammates. And I

(14:06):
will say Ben took me onnath this wing. We we
learned and grew together right over our years here. But
very very thankful for everything he did for me. And
trust me, I used to argue with Mike all the time.
And it's so crazy, like when you play that person
as the it factor, man, it just it hits. I'm
different right that one second before just the balls out,
you know, that perfect pass you just like, damn, I
just got beat on his play. The dude been supposed

(14:27):
to get sacking. All of a sudden he made a
touchdown pack coach ain't gonna mad anymore, you.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 6 (14:31):
So it's just that that that there to be able
to ride the way with him and to be able
to get inducted, there's still a hall with him. I mean,
trust me, I feel I feel like I'm blessed right now.
Like I know, I know it's a moment for me
as well. But he had to go in with a
guy like that, the one two suit bowls that everything
he's you know, did over his career. The accolades is
just unbelievable, you know what I mean, so beyond thankful.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
Trust me.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
I can't wait for you to get that cool jacket tonight.

Speaker 6 (14:54):
This isab this one, this one, this one got hit
a home a lot more, you know what I mean.
But mister Rooney, the organization did me. They changed our
lives forever.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
Right.

Speaker 6 (15:02):
My family's here, some of our kids are here, so
that part there is way bigger than the Canton one.
To mean, I mean what they did for our family,
that that changed our lives tremendously over the years.

Speaker 5 (15:11):
I mean, I can't be beyond thankful. This means a
lot more to me. I can tell you that.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
Man that is so great to hear, love to hear
his brother Mike.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Give us gentlemen, thank you, enjoy the evening, have fu congratulations,
Thank you for the time.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
How about that? How about that Rob? Pretty cool? Have
fun boys?

Speaker 3 (15:30):
Understandable when you hear people just say how well liked
and well respected Marky's count both, I mean, just you know,
what a wonderful man and uh and you know great
to see I just I just like I said, I
had an I'm glad to remember that that moment with
Sam Davis and and Wolf and myself and it just

(15:50):
that just blew me away. And you can see how
heartfelt it is for him. Yeah, like this is more
important than can't How cool is that? Name me another
organization more that's the case the New York Yankees.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Maybe, I mean that's about it, you know, Yeah, to
go into that monument park.

Speaker 4 (16:08):
Ruth Garrick. But I mean, that's that's the short list.

Speaker 5 (16:11):
It is.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
It is amazing. And see we have markis Poutcy going in,
Joey Porter. You know, a couple of years ago, Uh,
when Aaron Smith went in, I did an interview with
him and asked him about other teammates that I thought
might eventually be coming in, uh to the Hall of Honor.
It's just in case we wanted to use those, you know,
Nate Hogan and the crew.

Speaker 5 (16:30):
You know.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
Of course, of course some of these.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Feature packages and uh, and I I had somebody to
go back and check because I wanted to make sure
my recollection was correct. But Aaron Smith said Joey Porter
was the best teammate he ever had, and.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
That is saying that's saying something. He said he's the
best teammate I ever had.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
And so when you think about the emotional leader, and
you wonder sometimes, okay, how much of that is for
the cameras, how much of that is real? You know,
you never really know. It's harder and harder to tell,
because people can play out what they want on on
Instagram or whatever. They put a TikTok, they put it
outa taka. I once complated, uh, Facebook and my Space together,

(17:12):
I said, why would anybody want to watch you on
my face?

Speaker 2 (17:15):
I think whatever whatever they are, that sounds about whatever
about are you sound like all the seventy something year
old football coaches talking about snap face.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
That's exactly right, Joey Porter, I mean to be singled out,
as you know, that's pretty darn amazing, in my opinion,
pretty darn amazing. So uh, and of course we have
the great Ben Roethlisberger, enough said, without looking sharp, by the.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Way, he's looking real nice, and that in that suit,
getting getting slept everywhere by the great Teresa Barley.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Briskly moving him through the traffic here. But Ben's gonna
draw a crowd. I mean, you know, it's funny that
it's watching the videos of these guys and what Mark
he said about Ben having the factor?

Speaker 4 (18:01):
Yes, you know there, he just he just had it.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Whatever that is, right, You can't it doesn't figure in
your quarterback rating, if it doesn't figure in your touchdown
interception rating, but it figures in wins and big wins
and big moments.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
And he just had it. He sure did, He sure did.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
And you know, we need to we need to talk
about all these guys individually, and and we'll continue to
do that, but just to touch on that what you
what you had there? You know I used to for
for seven or eight years. I did a show with
Arthur Motes every day on Steelers Audio Network, and he
was a defensive guy for the Steelers for four years
and the Ben era, so he wasn't in the huddle

(18:44):
with Ben, but he would talk all the time about
how when I got to this because he played his
first four years with Buffalo and then you know, and
then his next four here in Pittsburgh. And he would
say just being on the sideline, just being in the
locker room with Ben Roethlisberger, when he would look around
at everybody and be like, we got this. When he
would look around on everybody and say we're gonna get
this done. When he would look around at everybody and say, relaxed,
don't panic, We're fine, you really believed it. He was like,

(19:06):
it was such a it was such a difference for
me of my four years in Buffalo and then coming
here with a guy like Ben.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
He was like, it didn't matter the situation.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
It didn't matter the venue, it didn't matter the opponent,
it didn't matter the weather, none of that stuff. When
Ben Roethlisberger kind of stood up and clapped his hands
and said all right, we got this, let's go get
it done, everybody thought, all right, we're gonna go get
this done.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
Let's go get it done.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
And there is, without a doubt, there's something to be
said for having that guy in your organization, and especially
when it's the quarterback. I mean, that's just that's the
perfect kind of you know, balance that you could ask for.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
There.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
I think as a fan, you know, as a fan,
you always felt like you were gonna win when he
came in and oh, here hear it, boy.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
I'll tell you what, man, the suits, the suit's amazing.
Hey Ben, how are you nice to see you?

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Oh congratulations Ben, Thank.

Speaker 5 (20:00):
You very much.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now number seven in your programs,
number one in your hearts, signing some footballs and some pasters.
As he's putting on the headset here, asking two time
Super Bowl champion and Hall of Honor inductee Benjamin Roethlisberger, Ben,
what's happening?

Speaker 4 (20:19):
Thanks for taking the time, this.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
Is not him?

Speaker 4 (20:24):
Good doing man, good good, congratulate, congratulations.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
What did it mean? How did you get the call?
What did it mean to you to go into the
Steelers Hall of Honor? Mister Rooney called me, Art called me,
and we actually I rather call him Dan first, and
I was like, mistern has my number? Why is he
not calling he or take me?

Speaker 8 (20:46):
But then you know, I got it and I was,
you know, he said we want to induction in the
Hall of Honor this year, and I was just really
obviously honored by that. And I asked him, uh, who
else was going in this year?

Speaker 4 (20:57):
Would be cool? And he's like, well, I can't tell you.

Speaker 8 (20:59):
And I'm like, okay, that's fine, because he was still content,
and I had this sneaky suspicion that it was like
a pouncy just because he couldn't tell me. And I'm
like maybe there's some sort of secret thing going on,
but you know, it really means a lot. And and honestly,
it's the tradition, the history of the people that are
in this already.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
And then to go in with pounce.

Speaker 8 (21:20):
I mean, obviously Joey is who Joey is and that's
but but to go in with Marky's pouncy is extra special.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, very cool.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
And uh by the way, like Marquis Pouncy bent, you
look great, man, you look like your you look like
you're in fantastic shape or he did to pick the
basketball back up again, not Philip Rivers.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Shape to go back you know. Uh no, you look great.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
To you, you've you've kept yourself in good shape. By
the way, the suit, I wish you could see the
suit on radio. Look good, shark. And to my wife,
listen when you have when you have wife is beautiful
as mind. You got a really man, well done, well done.
Uh so, what what is that relationship like with Marque's pouncy.
By the way, I can't wait, you know, listen to that.
I don't want to get past tonight. I can't wait
for both of you guys to get into Canton. And

(22:05):
that that's gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
But what is it? What does it mean for you?

Speaker 3 (22:09):
And I don't want to take any away from Joey,
but special relationship, you know, between you and Marquise.

Speaker 8 (22:14):
You know, I'll give a little sneak peek, so you know,
writing a speech. Typically I do a speech, I just
do it from the heart. I don't write anything down
because I think you got it's got to be special
to come from your heart. This time I did because
I didn't want to time those ones. You don't forget
anybody and you don't want to, you know, do this
whole thing. So the only part I haven't written down
is Pouncey's because I want I'm gonna say something about
Pouncy and I haven't wrote anything down because that part

(22:36):
will be from the heart and it'll probably, uh, there'll.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
Be some I have a feeling sneaky suspicion. There might
be some tears.

Speaker 8 (22:44):
But that's what he meant to me, you know, And
that's what he means to me. I mean, he's my brother.
Centers and quarterbacks have to have a special relationship. But
just what it is, you guys, I mean, I'm my
hands on his butt.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
Like that's sixty times a day.

Speaker 8 (22:57):
You know, it's a little weird, but you know, he
just is a special football player and I was blessed
to play with him and to be able to do
this with him is just man means so much.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
Before we let you get back to it.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
The other guy that you're going in with, Joey Porter Senior,
of course, I mean, I think one of the more charismatic, sure, right,
one of the more entertaining guys in franchise history. What
was it like to come in and I mean he
was kind of that guy who would stand up in
front of the team, in front of the media.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
He'd be the voice of the team.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
He'd kind of take the bullets everything super Bowl Week,
you know that the back and forth with Jeremy Stevenson
kind of becoming the focal point of that attention. I
remember him talking about how he wanted to take the
pressure off the rest of his teammates and just have
everybody focus on him. What was it like to have
a leader like him while you were trying to, you know,
get acquainted and make your way in the National Football League?

Speaker 8 (23:48):
Yeah, I mean it was intimidating, to say the least.
Even though he's on my side. You know, he just you.
I mean even like the Browns game, right, I don't
mean what year that was, when he gets in the
fight pre game, right, it's a door for debot, which
is pretty awesome. But yeah, just just all the energy
that he would bring every day of practice as a
young guy coming in was like, is this what the

(24:09):
NFL is about? I mean, I guess I would say
he got me ready for ray Lewis. So it's he
is a heck of a football player, and so just
an awesome honor for for all of us to go
in together. You know, the one thing I would say, Ben,
and this would be the last thing here, because we
know you got to get going. You know, when I
look at your career, I think of a guy who

(24:30):
you know, everyone here has been describing you Marquis did.
And it's on the video here of having the it factor, right,
like you know, it doesn't show up as I mentioned before,
he came and doesn't show up in quarterback rating, then
show up in different ratios.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
It just shows up in the wins and losses.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
And I would throw on top of that if when
I think of your career, I think of a winner, right,
and I think I think everybody would to me that that.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
Would be a pretty cool description to have.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
I mean, and you know, and to win a couple
of championships and be thought of that way is, you know,
by your teammates and my fans, my opponents.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
I think that's it's a good way to be. That
means a lot.

Speaker 5 (25:07):
You know.

Speaker 8 (25:07):
I've always said it wasn't about that, it wasn't about
the stats.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
I didn't, you know.

Speaker 8 (25:13):
I've had this conversation with my white kids now just
just trying to teach them things, is like I would
rather have an absolutely horrible game and win than have
a great game and lose. I just I can't fathom.
I hate to lose, and and it would drive me nuts.
And and I think that's why I've said so many times,
especially late in my career, it was I wasn't and

(25:34):
for right or wrong, better worse, however people want to
say about me, I wasn't out here to make friends.
Like I felt like, if you wanted a friend, you
go to the Boys and Girls club. And I'm not
trying to win championships, and you know, and that that's
what it.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
You know.

Speaker 8 (25:46):
I just wanted to go out and win football games.
And that's what meant the most to me, is that
at the end of the of the day, people ask
me how many touchdowns do you?

Speaker 4 (25:53):
I truly cannot tell you my stats.

Speaker 8 (25:55):
I tell you I won two Super Bowls, and I
tell you I won a lot more games than I
ever lost.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
Yeah. Thank congratulations, BENI thank you so much for taking
the time. Enjoy the evening.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Two times Super Bowl Champion Hall of Honor inductee Ben Roethlisberger.
Pretty cool, Thanks Ben, Thank you Ben. Are we We're
gonna take a break here. Yeah, let's let's let's let's
do that real quick. Let's take a break here real quick.
We'll be back with more and more guests. More happenings
here from the Steelers Hall of Honor dinner, West Huler

(26:25):
Rob King on the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Steelers Football happens here the Pittsburgh Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
I'm here at the up MC Club.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
It's our special Steelers Hall of Honor broadcast here on
the Steelers Audio Network, and we have another outstanding guest
here with us, Rob King. It is former Steelers linebacker
Jason Gilden. Jason, thank you for taking the time and
thank you for being here with us.

Speaker 5 (26:49):
Oh, no problem, Thanks for guys for having me.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
You know, Jason, we were talking to Marquise Pouncy about
being part of the unique club of great centers. That's
celebrating you know, it's not celebrated in many other places,
but the center position is celebrated. The other position I
think that is celebrated more perhaps than it is in
other places is linebacker, and particularly the rush linebacker. And

(27:15):
you were one of the early guys with that, with
the Dick lebou scheme, you know, Kevin Green and some
other guy. But I mean, what's it like to be,
first of all, before we get into the Hall of Honor,
a Steelers outside linebacker, you know, pro bowler at three
Pro Bowls, one all Pro. To be part of that
lineage of a position that's celebrated in this town. It's

(27:39):
the expectation is if you were an outside linebacker, edge
guy for this year theres you are going to get
double digitsacked. And you're one of those guys that laid
down that foundation.

Speaker 9 (27:49):
It's amazing club to be a part of. I think
the legacy here at that position speaks for itself. It
goes back to even before I got here with you
mentioned Kevin Green and Greg Lloyd. Greg, those are the
guys who were before me, and then it just it
is to continue then up to where we are now
with TJ. So it's an amazing club. It's amazing legs

(28:12):
to just be a part of.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, of course one of those guys as well too,
getting inducted into the Hall of Honor tonight, former teammate
Joey Porter Sr. What do you remember first impressions of
when you met him when he first became a Steeler.

Speaker 9 (28:24):
Well, Joey is one of those guys. To know him,
you gotta love him. He's very charismatic, full of energy,
and you know, from day one I could tell he
was just a young guy. He was willing to do
whatever it took to get out there and be a
part of what we were doing. And that said a lot,
you know, because coming here, like you said, playing this

(28:46):
position can be intimidated and you got to realize that
the expectations are high and you're held to a certain standard.
But from day one, he was just willing to do
whatever it took to go out there and be a
part of it from the beginning. So I applaud him
on that, and he's always just been a great teammate
as well.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
You know, I just want to step away from this
for a moment and put this as part of this weekend.
Like I just couldn't help but think with the snow
and all the important games today and then the Hall
of Honored tonight. These guys are gonna be honored tomorrow
on first place is back on the line on Monday
Night football. It's gonna be eighteen degrees to kick off.

(29:26):
I mean it just what a great weekend, man, and
this is the center of it. For what an awesome
weekend it is.

Speaker 9 (29:31):
This turned out to be a real great weekend, like
you said, And I'm walking in I'm thinking, I don't
think it's been this.

Speaker 5 (29:37):
Cold here in Pittsburgh in a while.

Speaker 9 (29:38):
Yeah, And so remind me to have to come in
on a weekend like this and play with so much
on the line. I think it's gonna make for a
great atmosphere and hopefully it makes for a great win
for us in the end.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
When we were flipping ont of the channels, they're like
one of the coldest days ever in Cincinnati, one of
the coldest days ever in Chicago. Yeah, like every single
place they went to, he was one of the one
of the absolute coldest places.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
And I think Pittsburgh's gonna be It's not gonna be
minus four like it was a few years ago against
the Raiders, but it's gonna be.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
It's gonna be pretty cold. It's gonna be good football weather.
Should it is exciting.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
Did you always feel like there was an advantage when
those teams came up here, whether like this.

Speaker 9 (30:17):
Oh, definitely, definitely. And it really played to our hand
whenever we had those teams from warmer climates come in
this time of the year, and uh, we look forward
to it, and you know, we go out and no
sleeves on and those guys all bundled up, and you
know it was just something as part of being this team.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
You just fed off of it.

Speaker 5 (30:36):
So yeah, we look forward to things like that. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
Can we ask you what you're up to now? Yes?

Speaker 9 (30:41):
Okayes I worked for Jasmine Nrie campus and the strange
thing about it's not strange, but our CEO is actually
Christy Porter, and so working with her and we don't
we don't see we don't see Joey that much. Working
with her is a blast. Uh, she's a great boss

(31:03):
and uh, she really has a warm heart. And uh,
I think when she started this project. I've known Christy
for a long time, and when she started this product,
she asked me and my wife to be a.

Speaker 5 (31:14):
Part of it.

Speaker 9 (31:15):
And just talking to her and seeing her passion to
serve this community, it meant a lot, and then you know,
I was all on board. But that's what I'm doing now.
I work for Jasmine Marie Campus, a nonprofit here in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
One of the great past rushers in student's history, big
part of Glittsburgh. Thank you very much, appreciate thank you
coming on. Enjoyed the rest of the evening. Huh you too, Okay, yeah,
thank you, you know, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
Appreciate it. Joining us now, we'll keep it.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Keep the a list of guests here rolling another part
of that linebacker fraternity. Levon Kirkland with us now. Levon,
thank you for taking the time and welcome back.

Speaker 10 (31:52):
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
It's always good to be back at the Burg seeing
guys like Jason Gilden. But this weather, I mean.

Speaker 4 (32:02):
This little chilly for where are you now?

Speaker 10 (32:04):
I'm in South Carolina. I'm in Greenville, South Carolina at
Clemson University. So it's a little different. It's good place
to be, it's a great place to be than you.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
So we were asking Jason about just the lineage of
great linebackers and being part of it in those early
days of what has become a position of high expectations,
a position in which.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
You're almost we're talking about this with Mark Heist.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
It's almost literally the passing of the mantle at the
center position, and almost literally the passing of the of
that mantle lin from one from one generation to another,
that position for the Steelers.

Speaker 10 (32:42):
Yeah. Absolutely. When I first got there, I just remember
the legacy of Jack jack Ham and Zack Lambert and
the guys, you know, guys in front of me like
David Little, Hardy, Nickolus, of course, Greg Lloyd and Kevin Green.
But I was remember when I was picking my jersey

(33:03):
number ninety nine. I had a few choices between fifty
eight and fifty nine, fifty six and ninety nine, and
I went to the equipment room and I'm like, there's
no way in hell I'm wearing fifty eight. There's no
way in hell I'm wearing fifty nine, and I thought
about it. I was like, you know what, ninety nine
is a pretty cool number. I like, I was forty
four in college. I picked that. And I really felt

(33:27):
that when you came to Pittsburgh and you plan that
linebacker position, you have to represent what it was in
the past and you have to pass that along. So
I was just very fortunate to play with some great,
great players, and I really think that that's what it is.
I don't think it was just, you know, I was

(33:48):
such a hard worker and I did this and I
did that. I think it's all about being with the
right people, being in the right environment. Pittsburgh provided the
right environment, the right pros that you can learn under
even if you tell them are not. I usually look
at Demani Dawson all the time from a distance, and

(34:08):
you know, I understand what he The reg low was
in my in our room, our meeting room.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
All the time.

Speaker 10 (34:14):
Him and Kevin and those guys really boosted guys like myself,
Seth Brown, also Jason Gilden, and it just kind of
went on with Joey, it just it just kept growing,
kept growing, and it's good to have veterans like that
he can teach you how to be a pro.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
How rewarding is it when you get to come back to,
you know, events like this, nights like this. You know,
we've spent a lot of time talking on these shows.
We were talking about it with Pouncy, the decades, the
generations of greatness and expectations, and Pouncy telling us that
this is like the greatest honor to him, even more
so than potentially getting into Canton one day. What's it

(34:54):
like to to, you know, look back in the time
he got to spend with this organization and what it
means to be part of nights like tonight.

Speaker 10 (35:00):
Well, it's excellent because this organization really represents the best
professional sports, no matter if it's NBA MLB. Everybody understands
Pittsburgh and the culture that they have here. And the
thing is the players that played here, they always feel

(35:21):
like they're part of the Steelers. Therefore, once a Steiler,
always a Stiler. So I think that whole family atmosphere
that we get with the Rooneys. You know, also winning too.
I mean there's a lot of teams, a lot of
teams that have been around in the NFL, but they
don't win so the great thing is you win. Also

(35:44):
for a linebacker, it's a defensive culture as well. I've
been to Seattle, I've been to Philly, and it's more
so offensive quarterback that right, Pittsburgh, it is more defense.
So you got a lot of love being a linebacker,
and it's a lot of responsibility as well.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
You know, I wanted to look it up because I
wanted to make sure I got it right. Okay, seventy
as a player, right, I mean.

Speaker 10 (36:14):
Yeah, I came in lighter than that. I came in
probably like maybe to forty. But what people really didn't
recognize in that defense with a buck linebacker, you're taking
all a lot of fullbacks, guards, You're taking on a
lot of physical heats, and then also you gotta be
able to run with a tiny end, going straight up

(36:35):
down the field.

Speaker 5 (36:36):
Right.

Speaker 10 (36:37):
I was bigger than most, I admit that. But what
I thought, I thought my I thought my weight was
actually an advantage for me.

Speaker 5 (36:47):
You can move. I can move.

Speaker 10 (36:49):
I can move as well as probably most running backs, right, exactly,
everybody would probably it was always you know, everybody was
always surprised the other team. They were all like, dude,
how do you move?

Speaker 3 (37:02):
Like that.

Speaker 10 (37:03):
But what I would tell anybody, I came from a
small high school, and being from a small high school,
you did everything. You played football, you played basketball, you
man track, so you cross trained with it, not even
realizing that you're actually cross training. And I just happened
to be probably a lot quicker than if you looked

(37:26):
at me. Uh, then most people would probably think they're like, man,
you you're pretty quick. And it really helped me. I
was just an outlier. Yeah, I would never suggest anybody
do what I did.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
Yeah, I would never ever see, well, we have like
Charlie Batch here.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
I bet you Charlie Batch wouldn't have like taken a
couple of steps back and being running to you at
full speed.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
Linebacker coming Charlie.

Speaker 10 (37:50):
Probably, No, Charlie. Charlie was a tough time man.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
Oh I know, I know, yeah, running complete No.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
I just I just I'm amazed by that because people,
you know, this year theres uh and when they when
they first got the three four, they were able to
find those guys that didn't quite fit at other positions
but were still great athletes.

Speaker 10 (38:16):
I was a tweeter.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
I went exactly, you're a tweeter.

Speaker 10 (38:19):
I came from Clemson as a defensive end outside linebacker,
and I probably wasn't tall enough or whatever to play
over the tidy end for the pros, and so they
moved me inside. I had no clue how to play
inside linebacker none. So when I started doing, I was like,
let's go to the ball and you'll get it. You know,

(38:41):
it'll come to you. That's all I did. And I
remember my second year, I got the job. I got
the first strange job, and Coward comes to me and
just like you have to You're gonna have to control
the huddle, you have to own the defense. I'm like,
I got Greg Lloyd on one side, I got Kevin Green,

(39:03):
I got Rod Wilson, I got Cardill Lake. I'm like,
I'm just a second year. Yeah, you want me to
just take over? I don't know how to do that.
But what I started doing was I was just like,
hey man, just be that guy. Just be the captain
that you're not yet. And it just kind of grew
on me and I learned the position. It was It

(39:24):
was great. I love playing the position. And like I
told you guys before, I think it's all about having
great teammates. And I had great teammates.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
Yeah, I also made a couple of provos and.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Thank you, Thank Thankanks for braving the winner, for being
here with us, and uh.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Charlie Batcher with us. Now, Charlie, first of all, how
did the uh? How's the best Batch Foundation going here
in this holiday season?

Speaker 11 (39:50):
It is going well. We are in the middle. We
are in the middle of everything. This year, we adopted
four hundred families, which is eighteen hundred and eleven kids
this year. So while we are in the process of
collecting unwrapped toys, we spent all last week rapping, so
about halfway through that with that, and then we have
a busy week here, so it's gonna be extremely busy.
But again we are in dire need of still ages

(40:11):
ten to eighteen. So if anybody still want to be
interested and possibly putting a smile on the cake his
face this holiday season, you can go to Batchfoundation dot org.
You'll see all the drop off locations around the city.
But also if you're not in the area and can't
make it to one of those drop off locations, we
do have clicking ship options on our website that was
shipped directly to us.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
So Charlie, your guy Ben Roethlisberg going into the Hall
of Honor.

Speaker 11 (40:34):
What do you think I didn't think he'd earned that
we're talking about, Like, No, I didn't realize he was
going in. No, man, it's been was phenomenal, man. I mean,
just to have the opportunity. Really, you know, we're seeing
a lot of people are celebrating him as the end result,
but I was there at the beginning, watching him and
sitting in those meeting rooms back in two thousand and
four when he was just trying to figure out what

(40:56):
his career was going to look like, and the work
that he put in behind the scene. He didn't get
a lot of credit for it because back then people
were always saying his backyard football, these things aren't going
to work, he's making things up.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
But man, he put the time in.

Speaker 11 (41:08):
But he knew exactly where to go with the ball,
and he was improvising, and those were things that made
him special because the things that we saw in practice
that we didn't think.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Was going to work actually worked in the game and
he was.

Speaker 11 (41:17):
Able to do it. And you just see the rest
of it, you know, his history from there.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
And then Markus pouncing. I mean, how much of a
benefit is it for a quarterback to have a center
like that, the athleticism, the game, brain, the full package.

Speaker 5 (41:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (41:31):
I mean as watching him as soon as he came
in from day one, you're just like, Wow. The only
question mark that you had was the fact that he
was playing guard in college and then came in was
playing center right, and people were how is that maturation
process going to happen? But literally within the first week
of OTAs, you're like, I don't know how they're going
to keep this guy off the.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
Off the field, be best offensive lineman already on the team.

Speaker 11 (41:51):
Yes, And they're going through it, and you know at
that point you're trying to have rookies earning and not
give him the job at that particular point. But the
moment that we got the training camp in twenty ten
said no, they want it's yours and he ran with it.
And just to see the way that he commanded the
huddle when he stepped in there, it didn't matter if
he was a rookie or a vet. People respected the
work that he put into it and they rode with

(42:11):
him all the way through. And you can see all
the Pro Bowls later on what he was able to do.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
And we can cross over with you and Earl Holmes,
who's joined this year another line great Viewers linebacker Joey
Porter going to the Hall of Fame. And and I've
said this a couple of times, but you know, doing
an interview, Aaron Smith a couple of years ago called him.

Speaker 4 (42:29):
The best teammate he's ever had, Joey Porter.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
That's that just blows my mind when I think of
all the great players that Aaron played with, just to
come out and say that says a lot about Joey
Porter junior or senior here now, right, I just you
know what I got to see him on Well, I
think I just tossed toron I'm calling the game. I
think I just called him Joey Porter. When I want
when I'm referred to, I just want to refer to
him as Joey Porter. We know which one's playing and

(42:53):
which ones' retired, don't we?

Speaker 10 (42:54):
Absolutely?

Speaker 12 (42:55):
You know?

Speaker 11 (42:55):
I think you know, and I think ultimately I think
you know for me and obviously have to step away,
but I think when you see where he was at,
and of course I got here in two thousand and two,
so he was already now getting established and becoming that
leader of the team which I saw at that particular moment,
and it didn't matter what side of the ball you
were on. When you are a leader, people are going
to gravitate to you. And that was one of the
things that Joey was able to do. And whatever happened,

(43:17):
you saw offense and defensive guy and including special team
guys all rally and it was he was the main
reason why people.

Speaker 13 (43:22):
I didn't want to cut you off, but it didn't
start like that guy into it.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
I would give you the two thousand and two year
when I got here.

Speaker 11 (43:32):
Now he could take it.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
This is a Benjamin Button show. We're working backwards. Appreciate
it so so Earl what those early years? I thank you, Charlie.
What were those earlier years?

Speaker 13 (43:44):
Like, I was talking to Joey last night and I'm
gonna totally be honest with you guys. When I first
met Joey, Uh, there's some things, of course, you don't
know until until you sit there and actually go through
training camp with a guy and just go through the
nine yards becoming a professional. And I my only problem
with Joy was a good problem was I'm like, how
are you so big, so fast.

Speaker 5 (44:05):
So strong? And you und to stand you a third
round draft pick.

Speaker 13 (44:08):
So in the back of my mind, for some reason,
I wanted to say I was being negative, but I say,
something's wrong.

Speaker 5 (44:12):
There's no way this guy, this big, this fast, is strong.

Speaker 13 (44:15):
I knew, seriously, I knew from day one that this
kid had you know, ray talent.

Speaker 5 (44:20):
I mean, he was that.

Speaker 13 (44:22):
So some ofn the guys you still along the line,
but when you see that guy who has that ick factor,
Like when I first saw Rockenburg, the first time I
saw him in training camp.

Speaker 5 (44:30):
I knew he had the ig factor.

Speaker 13 (44:32):
And come to find out, Jody played offense in college
for two years, play receiver, and then he converted over
to a defensive and then you know, then the linebacker.
So he just was in experience, but as far as
a triathlete and a guy who was willing to do
whatever it takes to learn the game and actually had
to learn it on a fast level pace because again
he did two years in college as an offensive player.

(44:54):
But once that light came on, it was it was
the kicking to the stands type thing.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
But quick, are you talking about a young you seeing
young players? So Ben Roethlisberger came into our studio when
he was drafted, did a show with Stan Savage, the
late great Stan Savage, and came into our studio and
I remember the first time I saw him, and there's
somebody else with him, but he hadn't arrived yet. He
was about, uh maybe three or four minutes behind a
later draft choice in that same draft class. When Ben

(45:20):
walked in, I thought, man, you got this guy in
the weight room.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
He's like offensive lineman. Yeah right, I mean a guy.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
And then the next guy walked in it was Max
Max Stars and I was like, oh, now that's all
and that's quarterback anyway. Sorry, I don't want to want
to cut you off there ahead, No, just what's the process?

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Like, You've got all the talent and the ability, right
you get to the National Football League to you mentioned
with Joey as soon as that light went on, he
took off. But what does it take to build the
confidence to have the game slow down, to get that
light to go.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
On for it?

Speaker 13 (45:54):
And I can only speak for myself when to come
to this, because I came under the Greg little Levon
Kirker and the Jason Gilding guys, and once I got here,
Bill Coward by my coach, and he told us what
it takes to stay in the NFL. Believe it or not,
it looks like the best but the worst conversation I
ever had with the head.

Speaker 5 (46:13):
Coach because he let us know the NFL means not
for loan.

Speaker 13 (46:17):
If you get complacent, if you don't try to get
better each and every day. You know, it's a process,
but once you think you have arrived, it's really starting over.
It's just like when you're a young kid. You start
an elementary school, then you go to middle school. You
gotta start on make a name for yourself. Then you
go to high school, you gotta start on making a
name for yourself. So it's a continuing thing. So and
once you get to the NFL, the highest of the

(46:38):
high you just have to understand that these guys from
different walks of life you're looking at phenomenal athletes can
do it all. Bid fast, strong, intelligent, there's nothing that
you haven't seen before. But you can always get better
just working on yourself. When it comes to a little
bit more film watching, a little bit more just spending
time so the game slows down for yourself and maximiz

(46:59):
jore ability within the scheme of what the coach is
asking you to do so that that was the big thing.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
You know. One of the things that I think is incredible,
and I certainly think it exists in this organization.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
I can't speak for others.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
I think sometimes it exists only in other organizations with
people and not organization wide. Is the fact that the
expectation has long been you get drafted, you'll wait behind
a great player for a year or two, and then
eventually you might replace that great player, and then you're
gonna be the guy that that that is expected to

(47:31):
you know, when you get to be the guy, the
next guy has been drafted to take your place, right,
and the fact that you're selfless about it and helping
those people out, Uh, it seems to happen a lot
in this organization. Uh.

Speaker 5 (47:45):
And let me tell you this not to cut you off.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
Yeah, it's not.

Speaker 13 (47:47):
That's not a common thing in this business, right, it's
not a common thing. But here's some of the things
you learn when you go to different organizations, whether it's
you know, a business thing or what have you.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
You know, phrase to come up, it's a part of it.

Speaker 13 (48:00):
But once the's stiller, always a stiller that really means something,
you know, speaking from personal experience. I actually pay for
two different organizations besides the Stellers, but I promise you this,
it's totally different here and this family owned and his
family orientated. That really it starts from the head all
the way to the bottom. And that's what you have
and that's what you need as a player because at

(48:21):
certain organizations sometimes you feel like, well, why this guy
first round draft pick or second round draft pick, he
hasn't turned it on.

Speaker 5 (48:28):
What he's missing something.

Speaker 13 (48:30):
But in Pittsburgh, you see that guy like you at
your turn, then it's your turn because you have the
people in the front office as well as the gms.
Things like that, they really know what they're doing. Sometime
to come by can be eye can into a lot
of gms and they jump on a guy not really
for what they need. It's like the Stillers get it right.

(48:50):
I'm not saying there because I played here. They get
it right. Like I sat behind Levon, I sat behind
Jerio until it was my time, or Joy sat behind
Collins m and Jason Gilden until it was his time,
and so on and so forth.

Speaker 5 (49:02):
And that's how it works.

Speaker 13 (49:03):
Because Kurt was telling me how he's sat behind David
Live I believe before it was his time. But to
have that kind of connection, to understand that and to
wait your turn the billing character, it's like they tear
you down and be you a stiller. But it's the
best thing for you because LONGEVDA has its place. And
why you becoming that guy whatever the offensive lineman, defense lineman,

(49:25):
but becoming that steller you understand what's been asked of
you and how to do it, and it's a certain
manner they want you to do it in and that's
just being physical.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
I just wanted to add one more thing than I
think the Stege do that other organizations don't. That family
run and stability means is that they're not out there.
No one's saying, hey, we took this guy in the
first round. We got to protect and make sure he plays. No,
you could be undrafted, you could be a first rounder,
you could be a seventh rounder, you could be a
third rounder. If you are the best guy, you will play.

(49:55):
And I don't know if that's true. And after the
organization either.

Speaker 13 (49:58):
Well, that's what I mean, and it's not because some
people again stuck on the Okay, we got this money
invested in him, right, it's still a saying we have
time invested in you, and we see something in you.
That's why we draft you, or you can't. We ask
you to come as a free agent. We know that
we can help you take you where someone that's camp.
And that's what I appreciate about the Civil Organization. They

(50:18):
take you place where you can't take yourself beautiful, especially
when you you know, you're young and you just trying
to figure it out. You know, I'm I'm a Florida guy,
never seen snow before, and we're watching film and Bill
cownt stop practice when they say, hey, I mean you
stopped meeting when they said, he you see that white
stuff on film, that snow, so you know, but he
knew that from my background and things of that nature.

(50:39):
So you appreciate that, you really do. And I appreciate
being a part of this family because it's a lifetime.
It's a lifestyle, and that's what it is. And you
appreciate that because but it's not like this at any
other organization, it really is not.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
What's it like to see Joey you talked about him
in the early days. What's it like to see him
be part of this incredible honor get you.

Speaker 13 (50:57):
Know what, and h and I told her, I'm so
proud of you, Jeorge, because again he was a kid
who didn't have an idea about defense.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
Let long was Steller linebacker, you know what I mean.

Speaker 13 (51:09):
So you our receiver, Jordan, so we had to do
so much, you know. But at the same time, you know,
he put his best foot forward. He worked hard, He
was a team leader. He was the first who was competitive,
very competitive, and now he just he worked his butt
off and so everything that comes with it, he deserves
it because he worked to get this.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
He really did.

Speaker 4 (51:32):
Thank you so much. We're gonna take another break here.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
When we come back, we're gonna have Joey Porter Junior
talking about his dad and some other guests and some
other moving and shaking down here at Akroshure Stadium as
we continue live from the Steelers Hall of Honor Dinner
here on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Steelers Football happens here the Pittsburgh Steelers Audio.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
Network back of the Steelers' Hall of Honored dinner. West
Shuler and Rob King here broadcasting from the UPMC club,
and we've got a couple of porters here with us
now Joey Junior and Jacob of course pas sons kind

(52:12):
of enough to give us some time here on a
special night for your entire family. All right, guys, everybody
knows the persona of your dad, the energy, the face,
the who ride.

Speaker 4 (52:22):
Right, what's it like growing up with that guy?

Speaker 12 (52:25):
I know you guys hit my voice a lot, so
I'm gonna let my younger brother actually.

Speaker 5 (52:28):
Kick it off a little bit with that.

Speaker 7 (52:30):
Uh, I'm gonna just try to be a little quick
and sweet. But uh, my dad is a he He's
taught us so much and growing up when I used
to play ball, I used to always get the comparison.
I'm sure Joey can attest to this as well. The
do you ever feel the fear of growing, you know,
living up to his legacy? And I never felt that
because I had an older brother and I had my
dad who are always confident in me and paved a

(52:51):
certain way. But the things that my dad has done
off the field is where that fear kind of creeps
in a little bit, you know what I mean. The
man that he is and he has shown us to be,
it's just it's amazing and so filling those shoes that
that's where that's where it gets a little risky. So
I think that that that's type of thing I can
tell you.

Speaker 5 (53:06):
About my dad.

Speaker 4 (53:10):
That was a fantastic answer.

Speaker 5 (53:11):
I agree with that.

Speaker 4 (53:12):
You guys are both looking very sharp too.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
By the way, Jacob's got the boat tide tuxedo going on.
It's you know, this is where we need to be
on TV instead of radio. You guys could be be
showing out a little bit better. Uh, what's his speech
could be like tonight? Knowing him, it's gonna be a
good one. You know, he likes to talk, so he's
gonna it's gonna be very entertaining. He's going to get
the people going for surely. Yeah, you know, I've shared

(53:38):
the story a couple of times tonight, but one of
his former teammates, Aaron Smith, called your dad best teammate
ever had. That's I I mean, I don't know how
you could get much more praise than that, you know, Yeah.

Speaker 12 (53:51):
You know, you know, being around the stills for a
long time, even playing, just having guys come in the building,
that's not the first time I actually heard people say that. So,
you know, they all say he just a culture guy.
The way he worked the way he cared about the
way the Stellers looked and played. You know, you just
cannot respect that. So I feel like that's where everybody
comes from with that, just his respect level of holding

(54:12):
everybody accountable.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
What memories do you guys have from your NFL dad's
NFL career, Like we've all seen the pictures of you
guys when you were little with him in training cabs
or at Ford Field and Detroit and all these different things.
How clear are those memories any that stand out for
you guys?

Speaker 12 (54:28):
Well, his playing days, I just remember just being in
the locker room with Clark Kagan's son Damon, and just
as being around, just them taking us under their wing really,
and as we got older when he came back as
a coach. I mean, my brother was lucky enough to
be ball boys in training camp nice So we had
to stay in the dorms and wake up early in
the morning, scrub the footballs and put the tarp over

(54:49):
the field when it was raining. So it was a
fun experience for both of us just to be able
to see what it looks like from that point of
view as a as an NFL player, especially when I'm
trying to Chase that, Joe.

Speaker 4 (55:00):
I suspect anybody listening to this program knows what you're doing. Jacob,
why don't you fill this in on what you're doing.

Speaker 7 (55:06):
I'm a political science major down at Duquane and hopefully
I can go to law school about a year or so.

Speaker 4 (55:09):
Fantastic, Well you sure, are you a junior? Then a senior?
Actually senior, a young senior? All right? Hitting the books hopefully, Okay,
all right, Uh.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
Fantastic and so so guys getting dressed up, coming down
here tonight for a different occasion.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
Excited.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
I mean it's kind of fun to you know, probably
you know some of these players. Rights, I think I
saw you Earl Holmes. I think was over saying hi.
So I think you know you know some of these players.
But what's this night like for you? You know, it's
kind of special for your dad obviously.

Speaker 12 (55:39):
It's really just like an uncle or you and your Yeah, yeah,
you know, just seeing anybody we grew up with and uh,
just been a time with them. So I mean it's
a fun event. It's overdue with him, and uh, we're
just all in the celebration for everybody that's made it tonight.
So it's gonna be a nice little event.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
We're gonna let you guys get back to the celebration.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Thank you so much for taking a few minutes here
and talking about your dad, Joey and Jacob Porter. All
the best, all the best with law school, and all
the best with the Miami Dolphins still tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
I have fun, guys. Thank you for the time. Guys.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Pretty cool there getting getting getting the two sons here
hanging out with us. We've had some awesome guests here.
Thank you, guys, have fun.

Speaker 4 (56:16):
Thank you. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
I mean, this is again you know we talk about
how the family atmosphere and the environment.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
That's a perfect example of it right there. How about
that have a like it's like a reunion with a
bunch of uncles. That's right. Cool? Is that? That's the
coolest uncle reunion ever? You know. Yeah, couple, Yeah, I'm
gonna go reunion. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
They're all in the Hall of Fame in the Hall
of Honor, and they've got super Bowl rings on the
Hall of famers.

Speaker 4 (56:41):
Yeah, very very cool.

Speaker 5 (56:42):
Man.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Uh, it's been fun. Well, it's been fun, and they're
starting to uh, as Hanks Trim would say.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Matriculate, matriculate, matriculate their way over to the stage.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
Over to the stage.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
Yeah, that means we got what probably about fifteen twenty
minutes or so left here for for you and I
kinger story time for all right.

Speaker 4 (57:01):
So you know, I grew up in western Pennsylvania.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
I actually lived in the ingemar Wexford area, not far
from the Porter residence, until I was I don't know,
like ten or eleven, I think, when my family moved
up to the Mars area. The impact that Joey Porter Senior,
that Pease had on youth sports in Western Pennsylvania in
the twenty first century cannot be overstated. If you from

(57:27):
about two thousand and three, two thousand and four up
until about two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine,
if you went around to any sporting event that involved
kids in Western Pa. Obviously football games, but I'm talking basketball, baseball,
you name it, you'd find some twelve thirteen year olds
breaking down in the huddle with.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
Who ride, we ride?

Speaker 5 (57:48):
Who ride? We ride?

Speaker 4 (57:49):
Who ride? Re ride? Let's ride on three one two three,
let's ride.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
I know, Rob King because I was one of those kids,
and every kid on every team and every sport across Pittsburgh,
did those chance to fire themselves up? Everybody wanted to
wear number fifty five. Everyone wanted to scream and hoot
and holler and be that charismatic leader like Joey Porter's senior.
And fast forward to today, twenty years later, twenty plus
years later, when TJ. Watt leads those guys out on

(58:16):
the field before him when it was Debo leading those
guys out onto the field. You know what chance that
they do in that linebacker room? Who right we right?
Who right? We right? Who right we Right? Let's ride
on three. You talk about charisma, you talk about impact.
Listen the Super Bowls. That's the end all be all
for the Steelers, right as you've mentioned to be part

(58:37):
of you know those guys that wear the rings and
in that exclusive fraternity. But sometimes I think you can
even transcend, you know, an area, You can transcend a
generation in a time period. And Joey Porter Senior not
only has the ring, not only has the success, but
when you can do all that and you kind of
have the personality that puts it over top, it's pretty cool.

(59:00):
And it's it's something that that lingers for a long time,
man and leaves a real impact.

Speaker 4 (59:05):
You know.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
It was also fun, you know, working for with Craig
Wolfley for about ten years or so doing high school
football games, which was just a blast, and going around
Western PA and calling different teams and all the great
players from this area. But to call Joey Porter Junior's
games at North Alleghany and now to be calling his games,

(59:25):
uh for the Steelers in the NFL level, that's that's
pretty the University of North Allegheny, Yeah, the you Uh,
that's that's pretty neat to see him and uh, I
had stopped doing games by the time Jacob was at
n A UH. But but to see him and and
to see uh, to see the kids, and to see
the family atmosphere and to hear guys talking about the

(59:47):
atmosphere that pervades throughout the Steelers UH purposefully is pretty
amazing and and and it's of course reflected here in
this prestigious Hall of honor tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
It is it's very cool, one of the coolest things
we get to do every year, and it is getting
ready to get started here shortly, We're gonna take our
final break and we will come back and wrap this
thing up.

Speaker 4 (01:00:10):
On the other side.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
West Shielder Rob King live at the Steelers Hall of
Honor dinner here at Akershar Stadium on Steelers Nation Radio,
on the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
We believe black and gold. This is the Pittsburgh Steelers
Audio Network.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
The right Rodgers and the shotgun gets a snap back.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
The pass rose to one of the right platf wide open,
scooting down the right sideline pathro there is nobody.

Speaker 12 (01:00:32):
There, and he's in for the score.

Speaker 10 (01:00:35):
Jell and Warn a.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Short pass out through the platform and he goes thirty
eight yards in for the touchdown.

Speaker 5 (01:00:41):
We are Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
Wesh Uller and Rob King back with you here for
just a few minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
At the Steelers' Hall of Honor Dinner twenty twenty five
and the proceedings officially getting underway, mister Rooney Merrill Hodge
at the podium, of course, to honor Joey Porter Senior,
Ben Roethlisberger and Marquise Pouncey. I tell you what, we
just had the who's who kind of cavalcade of Steelers
walking past us. That's better than red carpet at the Oscars.

(01:01:12):
Right here he had Jerome Bettis and Kevin Pohlbird and
the whole lineage of everybody walking past us here Kinger.
Pretty cool night, pretty special night. And everyone can watch
the live stream on Steelers dot com. They're doing the
dinner portion now and then the ceremony later and it
will be live streamed beginning at seven forty five that's
Eastern time here on Sunday night on Steelers dot com,

(01:01:32):
just about an hour from now.

Speaker 4 (01:01:33):
It will be worth checking out. I was here for
it last year.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
It was tremendous, the speeches, the way the guys gotta
had fun with each other a little bit, and and
obviously just a stellar, stellar class going in and you
know again to hear all the players, some of whom
won't be going into the Hall of Honor and may
never be going to the Hall of Honor, but were

(01:01:57):
great players themselves talking about what this to this organization means,
what it means to be part of the organization, what
it means for these guys to be going to the
Hall of Honor. To have Marquise Pouncy saying that this
would mean more to him than Canton crazy. It just
underscores what this night means and what a culmination it

(01:02:18):
is for these players to be honored by being members
of the Hall of Honor.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
I've said this a few times on these airwaves Kinger
over the years. I hope I'm fortunate enough to say
it again a few more times, you know, as a
kid who grew up here and was, you know, wearing
my Steelers jerseys to church and hanging my terrible towel
and rush into the car to listen to Wolf and
Tounch and Billy and Myron. I love the Pittsburgh Steelers,
but I love what the Pittsburgh Steelers mean even more.

(01:02:45):
And the Pittsburgh Steelers are Pittsburgh. They're bigger than Pittsburgh
in so many ways. And it's very cool for you
and I to get a to play a small part,
very small part in evenings like this. So congratulations to
the inductees. A big thank you to Teresa Arley and
Reagan Beruby for helping us pull all those guests throughout
the night, and to all those guests who took the

(01:03:06):
time to join us here on a special evening, and
to Nathan on site keeping us.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
Crisp and Brian La Martina back Ryan back at the ranch.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
Of those guys you know, working all the headsets and
the levels like they're mad scientists at the board. There
always a great job by them for Rob King Kinger
go rest the vocals, Big one tomorrow night, Let's do this,
Let's let's do this again, and is where all these
guys will be honored seven forty five. On Steelers dot
com you can watch the ceremonies of tonight if you
would like to see all the acceptance speeches and honoring

(01:03:35):
speeches from the three men going into the hall of honor.
That will do it for us this evening. Thank you
so much for listening. Take care and we'll talk to
you soon. On your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Gold. It's Steelers Nation Radio on the
Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
You're home for the Steelers. This is the Pittsburgh Steelers
Audio Network.