STEELERS LAUTEN HEADED TO HALL
Steelers director of communications headed to Hall
The Steelers are getting another member of their franchise in the Hall of Fame.
No, it’s not Troy Polamalu, Alan Faneca or Hines Ward, who are among the 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
It’s Burt Lauten, the Steelers’ director of communications, who is one of 10 new members to be inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in April. A native of Fombell who graduated from Riverside High School in 1995, Lauten has been involved in media relations since graduating from Westminster College in 1999 and has been with the Steelers since 2005.
“Look at some of the names, you look at the history of Beaver County in every sport, not just football and basketball, you look at track and boxing, you have a bunch of people who are proud to be from Beaver County,” Lauten said. “To even be mentioned with some of the names is actually a humbling honor.”
Before joining the Steelers in 2005 as assistant director of communications, Lauten worked on media relations staffs at Miami University of Ohio, where he first met Ben Roethlisberger; and the University of Pittsburgh, where he helped work on a Heisman Trophy campaign for receiver Larry Fitzgerald. He was named the Steelers director of communications in June, 2011, where, in addition to his normal duties, he worked closely with the late former chairman and owner, Dan Rooney.
“I can’t say enough about the opportunity the Steelers afforded me and how appreciative I am,” Lauten said. “To work for this organization, with Mr. (Dan) Rooney and now Art II, and everyone involved, is the best professional experience of my life.”
Lauten’s path to the Steelers was a curious one.
As a basketball and baseball player at Riverside, he knew he wanted to be involved in sports in his professional life. But his desire was to be a broadcaster, either on radio or television, when he went to Westminster. But he did an internship his senior year with the school’s sports information office and a career path started to form.
Lauten did a second internship one year later in the sports information office at Miami of Ohio, then spent another year at the school when he was hired as an assistant sports information director. That led him to returning to Western Pennsylvania in 2001 when an opening occurred at Pitt. He worked for four years under sports information director E.J. Borghetti before moving to the Steelers in 2005 as an assistant under Dave Lockett.
“It just worked out and fell into place that here I am today,” Lauten said. “It wasn’t like I went to Westminster wanting to be in sports PR. I wanted to be in radio or TV. But I love this side of the business. Love it.”
With the Steelers, Lauten is in charge of overseeing all media requests, whether from local or national outlets, in addition to working closely with general manager Kevin Colbert, coach Mike Tomlin and the Rooney family on all public comments made by the organization.
“Beaver County has a great sports tradition with so many great players, coaches and administrators coming from there,” said Colbert, who grew up on the North Side and attended North Catholic High School and Robert Morris University. “Sports has and always will be a big part of the county’s culture and folks like Burt Lauten do nothing but enhance that culture. Burt is very proud of his Beaver County roots and I am sure that the county is just as proud of him.”
The Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020 will be inducted on Sunday, April 26 at The Fez in Hopewell Township.
“Burt represents everything that is great about our profession,” said Borghetti, Pitt’s executive associate athletic director. “He is not only immensely talented but, and this is so important, he has a genuine interest in others and is invested in their success. Burt is a great pro and an even better person.”