In 2014, Chuck Noll was mentioned in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It was the year of his death with the issue coming out as a beautiful homage to the late coach. Or, to be more precise, it would have been a beautiful homage if his name hadn’t been spelled wrong. How was it possible that someone who built a legacy and transformed Pittsburgh's athletic identity could become overlooked almost immediately?
Forgotten by the wider public, perhaps his work didn’t stand the test of time when flashier football coaches with larger personalities came onto the football scene. He wasn’t one for flashiness, wasn’t even one for high fiving his players on the sidelines of a game when they made a good play. Chuck Noll, however, led the Steelers to win Super Bowl IX, X, XIII, and XIV. He won four championships in just six years and made complete legends out of his players.
Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers had watched Chuck Noll lead them to victory with his multiple Super Bowl wins in a row and the nine future Hall of Fame athletes that he coached. He believed strongly in winning because of good habits that his team learned, and growing from teaching moments. He never believed that the Steelers won because of their performance, but because of the other team’s poor habits. Chuck Noll thrived as a football coach because he was a chronic preparer. He constantly watched and rewatched game footage and proclaimed that he found a new detail even the twentieth time that he watched a film. His need to over prepare went down to even the post game remarks he would make when being asked about the Steelers’ performance. Chuck Noll did not care to talk about his offense or defense, but instead how he chose to run his team.
The way he ran his team is what made them winners. He believed in his players, and though he wasn’t the type to express that he was proud, he was the type to leave a player better than he was found in every aspect of his game. Chuck Noll believed that we don’t remember days, but moments. Though he is forgotten, I’d be willing to bet that there isn’t a single Steelers fan to not remember what it was like to win their fourth Super Bowl after being the joke of the NFL. And despite this, he proved and epitomized that nothing defines a man like the passion for something that makes him tenderhearted.
I’ve heard it said that after Chuck Noll’s final press conference, which he harshly ended by telling everyone that they had enough, as he was nearing tears, he was asked how he wanted to be remembered. I’ve read this story a few times and the answer seemed clear: he didn’t care to be remembered because Chuck Noll never begged for attention. His job was about the sport, the players, and the Steelers. He has never been described as a particularly quotable man, but as a response, he simply said, “Leave nothing on the beach but your footprints.”
Now’s the time for full transparency. I’ve toggled with how to write this article for months. However, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more poignant quote given at such a fitting time than Chuck Noll’s comment about leaving nothing but footprints. Here is a man that has never asked for attention for what he can do and has frankly never wanted it.
Here is a man who walks past a wall of trophies for his accomplishments without looking at it and exits the Steelers building without a second thought. Those may be considered by Steelers fans to be his footprints but for the players he coached, what they learned from their fearless leader was all the proof that they needed that someone had been there, that he mattered to them, and that he was unforgettable.
Lizzie Skaggs
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