Bill Cowher returned to Pittsburgh late last week to interview Steelers QB Russell Wilson for CBS’ The NFL Today pregame show.
He stayed longer than he had planned, making a surprise appearance Saturday night at the Steelers’ Hall of Honor dinner.
While addressing around 500 people in the UMPC Club at Acrisure Stadium, Cowher connected the Steelers’ past – or at least his – to the present.
“It was a dream for me unlike any other,” he said of coaching his hometown team. “The memories, the relationships. We had a brotherhood. We had each other’s back. You committed. You sacrificed, and you excelled. Let’s embrace it because I think it’s happening again over in that locker room.”
Cowher spent extended time at the Steelers’ practice facility last Friday. And he if he is a little tired today while working a full shift as a CBS NFL studio analyst that is because he intended to be back in New York City well before the Steelers feted their Hall of Honor Class of 2024.
He told a funny story about GM Omar Khan asking if he was staying for the Hall of Honor dinner. Cowher said he couldn’t because Saturday would be a “school night” with such a long day ahead of him on Sunday.
Then he asked Khan who was going into the Hall of Honor this year. Khan told him Jason Gildon, Casey Hampton, Willie Parker and Dick LeBeau. All have a strong connection to Cowher and the 15 seasons he spent as the Steelers’ head coach.
And in those few seconds from when Khan started with Gildon and ended with LeBeau, Cowher changed his plans.
“I said, ‘What time does this program start?’” he said.
Not only did Cowher attend the ceremony, he asked Steelers owner Art Rooney II if he could address the crowd. Rooney happily obliged and Cowher spoke for a little over 10 minutes before leaving to presumably catch a flight back to New York City.
He gave his recollections of each of the four men who mean so much to him. He finished with a nod to what the 9-3 Steelers are doing this season.
“There’s something special happening with this team,” he said. “As us who have been there before, let’s embrace it, support it. Give wisdom when needed because that’s what we do. We pass it along.”
