Pittsburgh Steelers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau recently released a new book titled Legendary, and it made its way through the grapevine that T.J. Watt wanted a copy. When LeBeau heard that, he made sure to send a copy from his personal stash, complete with a signature and a private note to Watt.
Steelers Depot’s own editor, Scott Brown, along with his co-author George Von Benko, helped write this book. Von Benko told the story of LeBeau sending a signed copy via his Sportsline With George Von Benko on 590 AM WMBS radio yesterday.
“T.J. Watt had mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago that he would like to get a copy of Dick LeBeau’s book, Legendary, that I co-authored with Scott Brown and Coach LeBeau. And he said, ‘Do you think you could get me a copy?’ And I said, ‘I think I can arrange that,'” said Von Benko. “When I was talking with Coach LeBeau, I mentioned that T.J. Watt wanted a copy of the book and he said, ‘Let me send you a copy out of my stash.’ And Coach LeBeau wrote a very, very nice note in the book and signed it for T.J…He was thrilled to get a copy of the book.”
Talk about two legends in Pittsburgh, Watt is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career, and LeBeau helped orchestrate some of the best defenses in the history of the league during his time as the Steelers’ defensive coordinator.
You would think the two of them would have met or crossed paths at some point, but Watt told Von Benko in his weekly interview that they haven’t met before.
“I never got to meet him yet, but hopefully I do get to meet him someday,” Watt said. “And to be able to have him write a message in the front of the book, means a lot from a guy who means so much to the 3-4 defense.”
When Troy Polamalu gave his Hall of Fame speech, he mentioned how the greatest honor for a Steeler is to be told by the previous teams that you could have played with them in their era. I don’t know this for sure, but I am pretty certain LeBeau would have loved to have a player like Watt in his legendary defenses of the 2000s.
The subject matter of the book is primarily focused on the 2008 defense, and LeBeau calling it the greatest defense of all time. He dives into great detail on the statistics to back up that assertion. Funny enough, the 2024 Steelers are on pace with that great group through three games.
They obviously have a long way to go, but there is a lot of optimism that the current defense could be among Mike Tomlin’s best. It is a defense that would make LeBeau proud, and another in a long line of great Steelers defenses.
Dick LeBeau was announced as a member of the Steelers’ 2024 Hall of Honor class. Watt should finally get to meet LeBeau in Week 14 when the Steelers host the Browns and they honor the new class.
