Craig Wolfley: I Remember Steve

SteelersLIVE Xtra
Sunday, November 13, 2005

The tragic news of Steve Coursons’ passing came like a shot to the stomach. A phone call from Tunch Ilkin just before three o’clock on that Thursday afternoon set me back in my chair and my mind just reeled. How? When? Why? After the initial state of shock had passed, and I started to come to grips with this tragedy, I slipped into a nostalgic mindset and remembered this massive “Gentle Ben” type of man who had made such an impact on my life.

I remember the guy who performed incredible physical acts of athleticism on the field of play, like the time he freight-trained Reggie Williams, a linebacker from the Cincinnati Bengals. Steve pulled out on a sweep and turned upfield. He had this incredible ability to run full speed and stay in a crouched, or “hitting position” at the same time. He hit Reggie so hard, Williams feet skated six inches above the turf for three yards and when he hit the ground, the force of Steve’s hit caused him to flip backwards as if a gymnast doing a back hand spring. Think of a rodeo clown getting gored by a bull. Steve never slowed down and accidentally stepped on Reggie’s chest as he continued on his one man rampage downfield and creamed another Bengal. To this day I have yet to see a more impressive sequence of pillaging a defense than that single play by Steve.

I remember the guy who loved hunting, and went out on the first day of deer season the day after busting up his foot in a game, and walked miles running the deer and then made sure to come in for treatment, so as not to draw the ire of Chuck Noll in full hunting camouflage and tracking muddy footprints all the way through the Steelers offices and into the locker room and training room. Head trainer, Ralph “Plumber” Berlin had a fit over that one, I’ll tell you!

I remember the guy who sat down and ate so many ribs at a rib joint in one sitting that it was commented that the plate looked like “death valley” from the number of bones that lay on the plate and the surrounding table area.

I remember the guy who always had time to sit and talk, who never turned away someone in need, such as we sometimes referred to his condominium in South Fayette as the “Hotel Courson”.

I remembered the good natured guy that laughed along with everybody else as the trickster, Mike Webster, had filled his cowboy boot with shaving cream after practice one day and it spilled out when he shoved his foot into the boot.

I remembered the guy who drove a fully camouflaged four-wheel drive truck with a corvette engine that broke down and was hauled away by a mechanic friend of ours who “repaired” it, causing Steve to call him and tell him what a great job he had done in fixing it up. Paul the mechanic laughed in an uproar as he told Steve that filling it with gas was the only problem with it. And Steve laughed right along with the boys as he re-told that story.

I remembered the “Amazing C” as we used to call him, playing on the Steelers off-season basketball team who would dribble the ball down the court and screech to a halt from a full sprint like Fred Flinstone putting the foot brakes on while driving his car, and jump up to two hand dunk a basketball, because this incredible athlete just couldn’t seem to time a one leg takeoff very well.

I remember the guy who would talk for hours about all the great historical battles across the centuries and summarize them like a university professor.

I remembered the guy who never complained once about his physical problems, or attempted to blame someone else for them. Who so beautifully eulogized his wife after her untimely death a few years ago and showed the strength and character in his personal suffering that has always been a Courson trademark.

This giant of a man who so tenderly cared for his two dogs Rufus and Rachel, like they were his own children. Who yearly spoke to hundreds of young people about the ills of drug use, and impacted the lives of so very many, I, along with all his former teammates, remember.
I would like to thank every person who took the time to read this, for remembering Steve.

Craig is co-host of "In The Locker Room with Tunch and Wolf" which can be heard weekdays from 7-10 a.m. on Fox Sports Radio 970. Wolf is also the sideline reporter for the Steelers Radio Network and played for the Steelers from 1980-89.