Mean Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris played major roles in the 1970's Steelers dynasty. On assignment for the Washington Post, in 1981, Gary Pomerantz interviewed them to see if the dynasty was in decline.
Years later Pomerantz interviewed these players and others to see how football had formed their bonds of friendship on and off the field. What he discovered is chronicled in his new book, Their Life's Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, Then and Now.
In the novel, Pomerantz is able to talk about how he saw the Steelers as “armored gods” as a 20 year old intern interviewing them for the Washington Post. But now as he has aged along with the Steelers, Pomerantz has seen “the gifts and costs” of football. The gifts occurred during the playing days when the Steelers attained glory and fame. The costs are the pains and aches that the former players deal with each day.
But after all of the interviews Pomerantz had with the players in their older age, they agreed unanimously that the costs were worth the gifts and that if given the opportunity, they would do it all over again.
The novel’s national launch will be at the Heinz History Center Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum Oct. 30, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
