ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Saturday Morning News

Steel Curtain Comes Down at Three Rivers

Aired December 16, 2000 - 7:53 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We were just talking about this earlier. This is going to be a reunion that will bring some people back, like you and me, some memorable moments for the Pittsburg Steelers.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. If the stands could talk there, they'd tell you stories about Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris and the Steel Curtain Defense.

PHILLIPS: That's right.

O'BRIEN: All of it's going to be over.

PHILLIPS: It was the seventies, the hot time in the seventies.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Vince Cellini has a look back for us at Three Rivers Stadium.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VINCE CELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Near the confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela Rivers sits hallowed football ground, where men of steel gathered before people of iron will, where three decades of football Sundays became something close to a religion.

LYNN SWANN, PITTSBURGH STEELERS: Walking out of that tunnel, coming up out of the locker-room and knowing what to expect, knowing what you'll see once you hit that door, and once you hit the field. And the feeling that the fans give you. That's what makes it home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was never a feeling that was greater than walking out through that tunnel and, you know, you could hear in the background, "Defense, defense".

CELLINI: Defense. It set the Steelers apart. And the dynamic of team and fan set Three Rivers Stadium apart from the cookie-cutter venues of the early-seventies. The Steel Curtain. Franco's Italian Army. The Terrible Towels and Lamberts. All symbols of this football fortress, which in it's heyday overwhelmed it's visitors.

JACK LAMBERT, PITTSBURGH STEELERS: And when they yelled "Defense" out here, a lot of time the quarterback, and a lot of times you're anticipating rush from our great front quarter we had, but a couple of times when maybe they got blocked a little bit, he's just anticipate pressure that wasn't even there and get of the football.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defense was, it was the appropriate thing for people to rally behind because I guess Pittsburg had a reputation as smoky, smelly, dirty, city. You know, the armpit of the NFL, if you will. And I guess they were very defensive about it, you know, and so, you know, defense was more of a physical, kind of earthy, visceral-type of part of the game and that's the way this city was. It was very earthy, a very blue-collar town.

CELLINI: Certainly, defense was the foundation. But the singular galvanizing moment in Steeler history was an offensive play. It happened two days before Christmas in 1972.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: And there's a collision (INAUDIBLE) the ball is pulled in by Franco Harris. And here comes this ball out of the sky, woah (ph)! Harris is going for a touchdown for Pittsburgh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCO HARRIS, PITTSBURGH STEELERS: Get into the end zone.

CELLINI: The Steeler's first play-off victory at Three Rivers came against the open Raiders in remarkable fashion. One play set in motion an NFL dynasty.

CHUCK KNOLL, FORMER HEAD COACH, PITTSBURGH STEELERS: It did, in a sense, because that's when, I think, we had a group of guys that believed their destiny was to be champions. And sometimes it can happen on one play.

SWANN: You have a guy like Franco Harris come in as a rookie and make the Immaculate Reception. I mean, big time.

HARRIS: It's been wonderful every since.

LAMBERT: A lot of people feel there were about 90,000 fans here for the Immaculate Reception. Everybody I talked to was here for that play.

CELLINI: Everybody wasn't. But everybody remembers. The Steelers went on to lose to eventual champion Miami that year and didn't reach a Super Bowl for two more seasons, winning the first of four rings. The town, the team, the time, unmatched. A core of seven future Hall of Fame players. Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Joe Green, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, and Mel Blount. Steelers stars stayed in place and conquered the football world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are several other teams that got four Super Bowl rings, but they don't have 20 or more players that got those rings.

KNOLL: The fan, at one time, was able to identify with our football team. The players were going to be there. They were there carrying the load for the whole time. CELLINI: Now that time is gone. A glorious chapter in football history, over. Many years ago one man, Arthur Joseph Rooney, led and a team and city followed. Three Rivers, three decades of memories, and now a Steel Curtain closes.

I'm Vince Cellini.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.