Snapping away

These were not the Same Old Steelers. They had hinted at that all season, going 11-3 and winning the division, and now they were showing it to a national audience.

The defense had held the Raiders for nearly 59 minutes, and the Steelers clung to a 6-0 lead. But with 1:13 left, Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler scrambled and slipped away for a 30-yard touchdown run, giving Oakland a 7-6 lead.

“After Stabler scored,” recalls Harry Cabluck, an Associated Press photographer that day, “I think everybody just held their breath in the stadium.”

Art Rooney Sr. had seen enough Steelers football to know he’d better go ahead and head down to the locker room to tell his players they’d had a great season. He left his box and got in the elevator.

On the field, as Rooney Sr. descended, Cabluck was thinking about the next great shot. He figured that if anything worth capturing happened it would be near the goal line, so he positioned himself there.

With 22 seconds left, the Steelers faced fourth-and-10 from their own 40-yard line. In the stands, it felt like the game was already over. Some fans were too distraught to even watch. But Cabluck had about a half-roll of film left in that camera, and he was going to use the rest of it on this last play, just to be sure.

When Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw came under center, Cabluck moved his finger to the shutter button. Bradshaw yelled his cadence, took the snap from Ray Mansfield, and, just 17 seconds later, a city would never be the same.