Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll holds Super Bowl trophy aloft before fans who greeted the team at Pittsburgh airport on its return from New Olreans Monday, Jan. 13, 1975. The Steelers won the first National Football League Championship in their 42 year history by defeating the Minnesota Vikings, 16-6 in Super Bowl IX on Sunday. (AP Photo)
Success was never a destination for Chuck Noll. It was not a road that had an ending, rather always a new beginning. It was a journey, a path that never allowed for complacency or made room for satisfaction. Along the way, the lesson he instructed was always the same, whether it was life or football: Getting to the top is not nearly as difficult as staying there.
No head coach in National Football League history has ever enjoyed as much success as Charles Henry Noll, the only coach to win four Super Bowl trophies. And he did it in a six-year span of the 1970s in which the Steelers, the franchise he transformed from doormat to dynasty, became one of the most dominating teams of any NFL era.
Mr. Noll died in his sleep Friday night from natural causes in his Sewickley home, leaving behind a legion of admirers that include former players, coaches and thousands of black-and-gold worshipers. He was 82 and had been in ill health for a number of years with Alzheimer’s disease, a heart condition and back problems.
“He will go down as the guy who helped create the mystique that exists now with the Steelers,” said former coach Bill Cowher, who replaced Mr. Noll in 1992 and accumulated 161 victories and one Super Bowl title in 15 seasons with the Steelers, second only to Mr. Noll’s 209 victories in 23 seasons.
Indeed, the late broadcaster Myron Cope once dubbed him the “Emperor,” the leader of what eventually would morph into Steelers nation. And his professional journey eventually landed him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, alongside nine of the players he coached during their Super Bowl halcyon days.
But, along the way, Mr. Noll always traveled with the same dose of humility and purpose, never seeking attention and always trying to prepare his players for a career after football – a stage he always referred to as “their life’s work.”
“He had a really interesting perspective on life,” said former linebacker Andy Russell, who was in his fourth NFL season when Mr. Noll became head coach in 1969. “He’d tell us life is a journey and you never arrive. He was always telling us at some point to find our life’s pursuit. I love the guy. He was a tremendous mentor in my life.”
Read more: http://137.117.100.210/sports/steelers/2014/06/13/Former-Steeler-coach-Chuck-Noll-is-dead/stories/201406130225#ixzz34bvo24zt
No comments:
Post a Comment