Elbie Nickel Dead at 84

Thursday, March 1, 2007

By BOB LABRIOLA
http://media3.steelers.com

You've heard about the Immaculate Reception. The star of that one was Franco Harris. But there was another spectacular offensive play earlier in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers, one that helped the team pull out a critical victory against a bitter rival. The author of that play was Elbie Nickel.

Elbert Everett Nickel, better known to family and friends as Elbie, died peacefully on Feb. 27 with his family at his side. He was 84.

Born on Dec. 28, 1922, in Fullerton, Kentucky, Mr. Nickel learned the value of hard work during the Depression, and he combined those lessons with a natural talent for athletics to carve out a career as a professional football player good enough to be remembered as one of the best in Steelers history.

After graduating from McKell High School in 1940 as a celebrated scholastic athlete in both football and basketball, Mr. Nickel attended the University of Cincinnati and played on the university's football, basketball, and baseball teams. Beginning his sophomore year, he was a starter on the basketball team, a starting left end on the football team and a star pitcher and left fielder for the baseball team. For those multiple talents Mr. Nickel earned the nickname, "Nick the Slick."

After serving his country in World War II, Mr. Nickel returned to the University of Cincinnati. In the fall of 1946, he was elected captain of the football team and led it to a victory in the Sun Bowl following a regular-season upset of defending Big 10 champion Indiana.

Upon graduation, Mr. Nickel was offered contracts by the Cincinnati Reds and the Steelers, and he chose football because it was his true passion. He played 11 seasons with the Steelers, including a then-record 125 consecutive games. His 329 career catches was a franchise best until the late 1970s, and Mr. Nickel also played in three Pro Bowls. In 1982, he was named to the Steelers' 50th Anniversary Team.

"Elbie was a great player, a better player than people really know," said Steelers chairman Dan Rooney. "In those days, there wasn't a position called tight end, but he really was a tight end. He could block, and he caught the tough passes over the middle.

"And he was part of one of the most famous plays we ever had, probably the second most famous after the Immaculate Reception."

That play doesn't have a catchy name, but it has been memorialized in a different way. When the Steelers moved into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970, Sally Anderson presented the team with a handmade stitchery of a diagram of the play, and this still is displayed prominently in the team's current practice facility.

It was 1954. There was plenty of optimism for the start of that NFL season, and the Steelers did not disappoint.

After a one-point win in Green Bay, the Steelers routed the Washington Redskins, 37-7. A 24-22 loss in Philadelphia left the Steelers 2-1, but then the franchise was energized by its first-ever win over the Browns, and the victory was a decisive one, 55-27. That win over the Browns drew a Steelers record 39,075 fans to Forbes Field.

The Steelers were 3-1, and the next game was a rematch against the Eagles, who were bringing their league-leading 4-0 record to Forbes Field for a game on Saturday night, Oct. 23.

"We were playing the Eagles," said Rooney, "and the Eagles had beaten us in a very controversial game earlier that season in Philadelphia where they broke Jim Finks' jaw. He was our starting quarterback, and Ed Kiely, our publicity guy at the time, was screaming and yelling when that happened, and Bert Bell, who was the commissioner then, walked up to Kiely and said, 'You're fired.'

"Kiely said, 'You can't fire me. I don't work for you.' Bell said, 'You're fired anyway.' Of course, my father got Kiely's job back, and I can't say anything about the officials that day because (current NFL Commissioner) Roger (Goodell) will fine me again. But Kiely was right."

That bitterness carried over into the rematch at Forbes Field, and the game was a physical affair. Ed Kissell's 24-yard field goal in the second quarter provided the only points of the first half, and the Steelers took a 3-0 lead into their locker room at halftime.

The second half was a continuation of the first, with both teams playing tough, hard-nosed football. Then came the pivotal play of the game, and it would become known as the second-most dramatic play in Steelers history, after the Immaculate Reception.

It was fourth-and-1 at the Eagles 40-yard line, and Steelers coach Walt Kielsing decided to go for the first down. In came fullback Jim "Popcorn" Brandt for the Steelers, and the Eagles defense reacted by crowding the line of scrimmage. The fight for this yard of Forbes Field turf was shaping up to be a fierce one.

But the Steelers fooled everybody. Finks took the snap and faked the ball to Brandt, who drew the attention of the Eagles defense, and that allowed Mr. Nickel to slip behind their secondary. Finks dropped back into the pocket and threw the ball to Nickel, who raced 40 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 Steelers lead.

The momentum from the play created an energy the Steelers used to go on to post a 17-7 win that day and surge into a tie with the Eagles and New York Giants for first place in the Eastern Conference. That was a highlight for a team that had a losing record in 14 of its first 21 seasons.

"Elbie was a good friend of my father's, and he used to go to the Kentucky Derby with him every year," said Rooney. "Elbie lived in Chillicothe, Ohio, which was on the way, because they drove to Louisville. So on the way, they'd pick up Elbie, and they always had a great time."

After retiring from football, Mr. Nickel lived with his family in Chillicothe, Ohio, and worked with his father in the construction business. He lived for over 50 years in his home on McKell Road, and spent his last few years in Cincinnati near his son and grandchildren.

Donations can be made in Mr. Nickel's name to the Alois Alzheimer's Foundation, 70 Damon Rd., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45218.