A RARE NFL FAMILY
THE CHICKILLO FAMILY IS HOPING TO SEND A THIRD GENERATION INTO THE NFL
The Chickillo family name does not rank up there with that of Rooney, Halas, Mara or Manning in football’s long history. Nevertheless, its family story is almost as old as the game itself.
As part of their rookie orientation, Steelers rookies toured the Pro Football Hall of Fame shortly after the draft. During the tour, Joe Horrigan, the executive vice president of museums and chief communications officer for the Hall of Fame, asked sixth-round pick Anthony Chickillo to step forward from the group.
“He said, ‘Where’s Anthony Chickillo?’ ” Chickillo recalled. “I stepped up, and then he told the story of my family.”
The Chickillo family’s story is already rare. It can become a still more special tale if Anthony finds a way to make the 53-man roster.
In the long and storied history of professional football in this country, there have been 217 documented sets of fathers and sons who played in the pro ranks. Nick and Tony Chickillo represent one of those families.
Nick played linebacker and guard for the Chicago Cardinals in 1953. Tony played defensive line for the Chargers and Jets from 1984-87.
If Anthony sets foot on the field in one NFL regular-season game, his family will be only the third to have three generations of fathers and sons play professional football.
Colbert arrived (2) than they have in the 15 years since (1). One losing season in the past 15 years is something only the Steelers and New England Patriots can make a claim to within a brutally competitive business climate where 24 of the league’s 32 teams have had a least four losing seasons in that span. Jacksonville, Oakland and St. Louis have had 10, Buffalo 11, Detroit 12, and Cleveland 13.
“When you lose, it’s devastating,” Colbert said, despite limited experience at it. “The worst is when you lose a game that ends your season, because the immediate thought that you have is about everything you have to do just to get back to where you were five minutes ago. It can overwhelm you.
“When you’re on the other side of it, and shoot we’ve only been on it twice, when you end it on a high note, that’s what you live for professionally.”
In Colbert’s tenure, only one team has been to the Super Bowl more than the Steelers, but the fact that New England has is something that drives him every day. The one thing that the millions of people in this region who generally manage the Steelers in their heads and all over social and traditional media actually share with Colbert might be that they all expect to win the Super Bowl, but none more than he.
He hears the noise and considers some awareness of it to be part of his millionand-one obligations.
“Not everybody is going to agree with every decision that you make; that’s reality,” he said. “You try not to let it affect you, but it does. You try to insulate yourself, but you still hear it. People say, ‘Well, I don’t read; I don’t listen to the radio.’ I think you have to so you can understand what your fan base is hearing and what’s being reported.
“You have to be aware of it, but you can’t let it beat you down, and it really doesn’t beat you down as much as you beat yourself down when you think you’ve failed.”
Colbert’s primary insulation device is pretty well established. When August comes, the days he’s available to talk Steelers football are fading fast. When the season begins, he doesn’t talk about his team. If only the fantasy owners would take his cue.
“That was something that was in place when I was in Detroit [1990-99] and Ron Hughes was our personnel director and he happened to be my high school coach and obviously he was my mentor. He always felt that once you get into the season, a team should only have one voice, and I really believed that was a solid philosophy.
“What am I gonna say contradictory to what the coach is saying anyway? I’m not gonna contradict him. We might contradict behind closed doors, but publicly you have to put on a united front. The coach is our mouthpiece. Owners can do whatever they want because they own the team, but for the most part I think you’ve seen our ownership during the season, they usually don’t get involved either.”
Colbert and Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney II and Dan Rooney do not sing four-part harmony every day, and while Colbert can get as angry as any of them, particularly on game day, he generally manages (as the general manager) to modulate the organization’s pulse.
“The wins and losses are so emotional, but they’re emotional for everybody, so if we lose a game, we lose it together and I’m there to support,” he said. “It’s honestly easier to support in that situation than it is to manage the runaway positivity, if that’s a word, when we win.”
This Colbert era in Pittsburgh would not at all be mischaracterized by that term, actually, runaway positivity. The club has won seven division titles while no other AFC North team has won more than four, and it has won three conference titles and, maybe you’ve heard, two Super Bowls. It has positively run away from much of the league in terms of the accomplishments that matter, and while it hasn’t run as far as New England, the Patriots’ great run isn’t looking all that positive at the moment.
Colbert can think about it that way next year at Hilton Head, but I’m pretty sure he won’t.