The Kid's Alright
RIDING THE WAVE OF NEWFOUND FAME AND FORTUNE, PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK BEN ROETHLISBERGER GETS STAR STRUCK, LANDS A ROLE IN A MUSIC VIDEO, MAKES TIME FOR CHILDREN…AND GETS REAL ABOUT HIS ACCIDENT.
Walking off the field at St. Vincent College's Latrobe Memorial Stadium after the first day of training camp, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger plucks elated 7-year-old Zachary Williams out of the crowd to carry his shoulder pads. The pads are almost as big as little Zachary, but when Ben asks if they are too heavy for him, he says no and picks them up with ease. If I had to speculate, I'd say it was the highlight of the little boy's life so far.
"I was walking up and I thought, 'If I was a kid and I was at training camp, what would be the best thing you could get from a player?' An autograph would be cool, but how cool would it be for a kid to carry my pads?" Roethlisberger says. "Plus, it helps me sign autographs -- I don't have to set my pads down every time!"
This is Ben. It's a familiar situation to watch him in. A year and a half ago following the Leukemia Lymphoma Society's Breakfast of Champions at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center, where he was the keynote speaker and honored as the 2005 Athlete Champion, I watched as he befriended a 4-year-old boy who asked for his autograph.
"Every day at Camp Cowher this summer, he made one lucky kid's day. He is commonly the last player remaining to sign autographs after practice in Latrobe, and he usually focuses on the children in the crowd," says Ryan Tollner, Roethlisberger's agent. He has made a Latrobe tradition of sorts: pulling a child out of the crowd, talking to them. He's even signed one of his cleats for the child to keep.
He's the Fan's Man. Humble. Modest. The Derek Jeter of football, if you will. He is quick to give his credit to his teammates, to his family, to his upbringing. This attitude wasn't surprising when I first interviewed Ben. He was just coming off of his rookie year with the Steelers, still shocked at the series of events that led him to the starting quarterback position. A lot has changed since then --- except for Ben's attitude. He's the quarterback of the Super Bowl XL Pittsburgh Steelers, yet he still remains as grounded as a third string high school player.
Despite everything that's happened to him, he's still that down-to-earth guy I met last year, still easy to talk to, still quick to think of his fans, especially the young ones. Last year, while he was recognized on the street and out on the town, he said that he was still able to live a normal life. Now? He laughs when I ask the question. "I try and keep it as normal as I can, but it's pretty hard," he says, calling from training camp six months to the day after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL over the Seattle Seahawks.
Normalcy is something that's hard to achieve when you've got the media scrutinizing every move you make, on and off the field, and when you've got crazed paparazzi following you around, not to mention the obsessed fans that take it a bit too far: "I'll be driving down the road and people will just come up and bang on my windows. People come up to my front door, they walk by and try to take pictures of my house, and I get crazy fan mail," he explains.
Ordinary life is something that flew out of Ben's window the second the Steelers won the Super Bowl. The 24-year-old describes the week following the win as a "whirlwind". The next day he was on a flight to New York City to get his beard shaved on The Late Show with David Letterman (He refused to shave it before the Super Bowl, one of those good luck things. It worked.). The day after that? An appearance on shopping network QVC, pitching the sale of autographed footballs. That same day, February 7, Pittsburgh welcomed back it's Championship team with a parade that boasted an estimated attendance of 250,000. Roethlisberger, of course, was there. The following day, he was in Los Angeles, introducing the performance of who he called "another champion," Kelly Clarkson, at The 48th Annual Grammy Awards. It was there, at the Staples Center, that he ran into the likes of Jay Z, Ludacris, Kanye West, and more. And here's where he exudes more of that cool, unassuming Ben character. "The Grammy's were a blast! I got to meet a lot of celebrities that I enjoy watching on TV or whose music I listen to, and it was really cool that they all knew who I was."
Not only do those celebrities know who he is, many got to watch the win live at Ford Field in Detroit, possibly sporting his lucky No.7 jersey to the game. But while the pop stars may have been a bit star-struck to be in Roethlisberger's presence, he was probably more so to be in theirs.
He's done a commercial for Nike, and more recently, he did a photo shoot for Campbell's Chunky Soup print ads. Normal guys --- and gals --- wear Nike and nosh on Campbell's Chunky Soup, but "normal" folks aren't the face of these products. More endorsements are in the works, but for now, those are the two big ones.
Working with charities is another thing keeping Big Ben busy. He makes a lot of appearances at events, donates memorabilia to various causes to be auctioned off, and he's a big supporter of the Ronald McDonald House, going above and beyond the call of duty for the charity. "Ben provided Christmas dinner for the families at the Ronald McDonald House," says executive director Bill Gratten."He had the Club at Nevillewood cater it. We're very pleased that he is involved and supportive of the charity and families."
His penchant for the Ronald McDonald House goes back to his persona. "I love children and they [the Ronald McDonald House] do a lot of great things with children, making them feel as comfortable as they can. I think it's a great cause," he says.
Roethlisberger is working with his family on starting his own foundation. The details aren't ironed out just yet, and you can bet that it will involve children in some way --- something tells me he's going to make the perfect dad one day.
He's also added music video star to his impressive resume since the big win. Pittsburgh's biggest local --- bordering on national --- country band, The PovertyNeck Hillbillies' "Mr. Right Now", stars Roethlisberger. The two-day shoot took place partly at Heinz Field, where he threw passes with the band and walked away with the girl at the conclusion of the video. "It was a dream come true for us to throw the football around Heinz field and to look back and see that Ben Roethlisberger is the one throwing you the pass," the band collectively says. (Post-shoot, they also said that they would probably need to make a visit to the chiropractor after going long to catch Big Ben's passes.)
Not only is Roethlisberger a fan of The PovertyNeck Hillbillies, rocking out "Mr. Right Now"on his iPod, he's friends with them as well. "When we met for the first time, it was like we had been friends for years," he says. "We all hang out and talk; I had dinner at one of their houses last night; they come over to my house."
Despite the appearances, music videos, commercials, and interviews Roethlisberger has done since the win, he's managed to fit in some traveling as well, most notably a trip to Switzerland with his family in May to explore his Swiss heritage."Having my family with me was the best part," he says.
While there, he did a lot of sightseeing, including visiting the village where his great-grandfather lived and, of course, did a good bit of media --- not the best part of the trip, he says. All the same, Roethlisberger would love to return to Switzerland, though he’d like to do it without the press knowing --- he'll surely have more time to relax and explore the country on his terms, with privacy. But he did snag the ultimate souvenir while he was abroad --- "I got to bring a puppy back with me, so now I have a second son at home," Roethlisberger says. The 7-month-old Bernese Mountain dog named Hercules joins "other son", 2-year-old Rottweiler Zeus, and the two get along fabulously, playing together often.
He also took a relaxing fishing trip to Minnesota with his family, flew down to Jamaica for Jerome Bettis's wedding to Trameka Boykin and back to L.A. for the July 12 ESPN ESPY Awards, where the Steelers won the award for none other than "Best Team" at the famed Kodak Theatre. Never one to sit still, he took a quick jaunt up to Lake Tahoe, where he showed his flair for golf at the American Century Championship Celebrity Golf Tournament. Of course, he's a better football player than a golfer, tying for 47th place out of 80 celebrity golfers, including Charles Barkley, teammate Tommy Maddox, and talk show host Maury Povich.
On June 12, just after 11 a.m., he was involved in a devastating motorcycle accident near the intersection of Second Avenue and the 10th Street Bridge, Downtown. One of the first things that went through his head upon waking up in Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh was "sorrow for putting my family and friends through this."
It wasn't until after working through that sorrow that he thought, "Would I be ok? Would I ever play ball again? Just all kinds of things were going through my head."
Again, this is Ben. He knows that first and foremost, he's lucky to be alive and even luckier to have recovered so quickly without and permanent injuries. Not even two months after the accident, he's healed up and, ";I'm good to go."
My outlook on life is a little bit different," he says. "I thank God that I get to wake up every morning, take a breath, live a life, and it just makes me thankful for every second of every day."
And you know he is being genuine. Just like his comments on finding out after the fact that Mercy Hospital’s parking lot was full of fans tailgating and holding vigils for him.
"That just shows how much people care about me as a person," Roethlisberger says. "I send a thousand thanks out to those who sent flowers, cards, thoughts, and everything."
In interviews following the accident, he tackled the tough questions and comments from news anchors and journalists. The first interview he gave post-accident was to ESPN's Jim Rome on SportsCenter. On national television, he handled Rome's questions about his being a role model, riding again, and having a "responsibility" to his fans and team with utmost poise and confidence, and most impressively, he kept his cool.
There are noticeable differences in his appearance: his nose is a bit crooked, he's clearly lost some weight, and he sports a small scar on his forehead just left of center. There's also something else that's a bit different about his look, though I can't pinpoint exactly what it is. But he doesn't look bad; he doesn't look broken. It's like there's an added innocence and youth to his face.
And while his scars and change in appearance may be permanent, this media scrutiny isn't. "As soon as he goes out and throws an 80-yard touchdown pass, no one is going to remember the accident," says former Steeler Rocky Bleier. "People are really pulling for him."
And you know what? He's absolutely right.