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The Story Behind Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh
- 14 October, 2024
- Tom Olenic
I’m a yinzer, through and through. I’m not from Pennsylvania; I’m from Pittsburgh. There’s a difference, at least to me.
My educational and professional paths have taken me around the country, from down south to the west and back to the east again. Wherever life takes me, however, one constant remains: I’m a yinzer from Pittsburgh.
Growing up in Pittsburgh in the 60s and 70s is something I’d never trade. Sure, it wasn’t the easiest of times. In fact, during the 70s, it was a pretty difficult time. But, my two brothers, my sister, and me always had love, shelter, and belonging in our Pleasant Hills home. For that, I”m grateful.
My family was always involved with sports—my uncle is legendary baseball Hall of Famer “Stan the Man” Musial. Of course, growing up, we played all the sports, year around. But, we also watched all the sports, reliving the big moments out on the playground.
We were all Steeler fans, naturally. And, in my early childhood, that wasn’t always an easy thing to be. For the first thirty-nine years of their existence, the Steelers were … Well, they weren’t particularly good. But, they were ours.
The Steelers were a reflection of the people of Pittsburgh, at the time dominated by steel workers. The team was a gritty, hard-nosed, bring your lunch pail to the job, shower after work instead of before work kind of team. And we loved them!
In 1972, rather suddenly to us fans, the Steelers became a very good team. In the two seasons before, they had won a total of eleven games (the year before those two seasons, they had just one victory against thirteen losses). Then, in 1972, the Steelers went 11-3 and won the AFC Central Division title. Their reward was the first-ever home Steelers playoff game.
On December 23, 1972, the Steelers hosted the big, bad boys of the National Football League, the Oakland Raiders. That game was won by the Steelers in the most improbable manner. The Immaculate Reception is still professional football’s most memorable play over fifty years later.
That 1972 season saw the Steelers on a rise, and they would later win four Super Bowls in a six-year span, becoming the NFL’s first dynasty of the Super Bowl era. And the Steelers’ success came just in the nick of time for the people of PIttsburgh.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, a variety of factors conspired to cripple the United States’ steel industry, and no one suffered more than the city of Pittsburgh. That time sparked, out of necessity, the city’s deindustrialization transformation. That time was, in a single word, painful.
But, Pittsburgh came out the other side better for it all. The city became known world-wide as a leader in academia, healthcare, medical research, and technology. The city began showing up on lists of the “most livable cities,” and not just those in the United States, but those in the world. Pittsburgh became a “New Economy” success story.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s “Rust Belt” cousins, cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Gary (Indiana), and others struggled through their deindustrialization. Why?
I firmly believe that when times got tough for the people of Pittsburgh, when they needed to display resolve, persistence, and commitment, they found their inspiration in their football team, the Steelers. When yinzers needed heroes, they needed to look no further than Three Rivers Stadium.
I talked about that thesis of mine for years, decades even, telling my family and friends, “It would make a great book!” Over time, they all got sick of me talking about it.
One of those friends who may have been sick of me talking about the potential for a book was Ray Hartjen. In 2019, Ray was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable, yet treatable, blood cancer. Ray likes to speak to how his cancer diagnosis awoke him to the perils of taking time, people, and relationships for granted. Quickly, he adopted a simple motto to combat taking too much for granted. It was: “If not now, When?”
One day as I was droning on and on about this book idea, how the Steelers saved Pittsburgh, Ray turned to me and literally asked, “If not now, when?”
As a writer, Ray encouraged us to start the book, to start writing. After all, what was the risk? If the book strayed off from my vision, we could always retreat back and change course a bit.
A funny thing happened. We never had to change course. In about eighteen months, we had a completed manuscript, and soon after, we had an honest-to-goodness book on the shelves of bookstores everywhere.
I’m proud of Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh. And I’m thrilled the response the book has received from readers—it has a 4.7 rating after seventy-three ratings on Amazon and a 5.0 rating on thirty-three reviews on Barnes & Noble. And I love connecting with Steelers fans everywhere through the book and various events related to the book.
We’re now in the middle of another football season and I’m super excited to see what it brings for the Black and Gold. Here we go, Steelers!
#BeLikeFranco
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