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Bill Cowher makes his first visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
CANTON, Ohio — Bill Cowher grew up two hours away from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Crafton. He began his coaching career in Cleveland, which is just up the road. He brought one of his Steelers teams here for the Hall of Fame game in 1998. He built some time into the schedule for his players to visit, but he never entered the building.
Tuesday, Cowher finally stepped inside the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where his legacy as an NFL coach will live forever.
“This is really the first time I walked in here and saw it,” said Cowher, who spent the day here in preparation for his enshrinement ceremony in August. “The history, what they do here, preserving the game, the legacy of the people. I’m forever a number. I’m 330. I’ll always remember that number. It’s a team you will always be a part of for the rest of your life.”
Cowher toured the building and later reflected on his 28 years in the NFL as a player and a coach. He’ll be back Aug. 8, when he’ll be enshrined along with former Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and eight others. The other 10 members of the Centennial Hall of Fame class, including former Steelers safety Donnie Shell, will be enshrined Sept. 18.
“You visit Canton and hear about the history of the game and the artifacts they have,” Cowher said. “I started thinking about all the stuff I still have. You see the men. You see their makeup. It’s so humbling. As time goes on, as you watch the game evolve, to realize you had a small place in that along the way and the people you influenced, the lessons it taught you … I really am that kid from Crafton. It’s one of those things you reflect on — from Crafton to Canton.
How did that happen?”
For Cowher, his path to the Pro Football Hall of Fame started early. His father, Laird, signed him up for football when he was 8 years old. He was a center and linebacker in those early years. He eventually became a tight end in high school. N.C. State gave him a scholarship, and he played there for four years before embarking on a sixyear playing career with the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles.
But Cowher made his mark in the NFL as a coach. He was an assistant coach under Fort Cherry’s Marty Schottenheimer for seven years before the Steelers hired him in 1992. He won 161 games and coached in six AFC championships and two Super Bowls. He coached the Steelers to their fifth Super Bowl victory in 2006.
“It’s one of those things where it was instilled early on by my father, the coaches I was around, the teachers I was around,” Cowher said. “Those are the ones that are very influential on who you turn out to be. The ones that pulled you back when you crossed the line; the ones that pushed you when you needed to be pushed; the ones that patted you on the back when you were disappointed and discouraged.
“I go back to the culture of the city I grew up in. To be able to go back there and to live that dream … to be taught to coach by Marty Schottenheimer, to be able to go to an organization like the Steelers. I came there at 34, probably brash. Dan Rooney was my boss, my father, my friend, my mentor. I became a better person and, consequently, I became a better coach.”
As part of his tour, Cowher walked through the Hall of Fame gallery, where the busts of all the Hall of Famers reside. He came across Rooney’s, the man who hired him to replace four-time Super Bowl-winning coach Chuck Noll, whose bust is nearby. He came across many of the players he coached and many of the coaches who helped him get here.
“I could do three or four laps,” Cowher said. “It’s so special because there are so many levels of it. You see people like Dan Rooney. You see people like Derrick Thomas. I coached Derrick Thomas for the first three years of his career. He was a special player. You see Dermontti [Dawson], you see Rod [Woodson], Joe [Greene], Franco [Harris], Chuck [Noll]’s in there. It’s overwhelming at times. It’s humbling to know you’ll be in there.
“I think it will be great someday for my family — for the kids, for the grandkids and their grandkids — to say, ‘This was your grandfather. This was my father. This is who he was. This is what he represented. Look at these other people — the last team he was on.’ I’m still processing it.”
Former Raiders head coach and Hall of Famer John Madden once said the busts talk to each other at night. That got Cowher thinking: Whose bust will be next to his for eternity? Six months from now Cowher will find out. He’s already making plans for a big celebration with family, former players and the fans from Steelers Nation.
“I’ve already called some of the guys,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Rally the troops. We’re all going to Canton.’ I told Potsy [James Farrior], I don’t know where Hamp’s [Casey Hampton] at. Find him. Get his butt up here in August. We had a great run with a great bunch of guys. We had great coaches — coach LeBeau, coach [Ken] Whisenhunt, coach [Dom] Capers. God bless Ron Erhardt, Mike Mularkey, Darren Perry, Dick Hoak, Kent Stephenson, Russ Grimm.”