Former Pittsburgh Steelers RB Jerome Bettis has one of the most iconic nicknames in NFL history. “The Bus” rolled through defenses and punished defenders who got in his way with unrelenting drive.
But how exactly did Bettis get that nickname? It’s really a story in two parts. He originally got the nickname during his playing days at Notre Dame courtesy of the student newspaper. Bettis even said Tuesday on the Pivot that his special teams coach at Notre Dame would call him “Bussy.” But it went dormant when he went to the Los Angeles Rams.
But a chance meeting during Bettis’ first preseason with the Steelers brought his college moniker back to the forefront.
“The first preseason I was in Pittsburgh, we were playing Green Bay,” Bettis said. “And the coach, his name is Jay Hayes. He had a brother that was the tight end in Pittsburgh named Jonathan Hayes. What happened was he brought his kids to see their uncles. So he sees me in the lobby, and he says ‘Bussy’ ’cause I hadn’t seen him in years. He said ‘Bussy, what’s up, I ain’t seen you?’ Well, the Steelers broadcasters were sitting there, and they heard the interaction, and they were like, ‘Bussy.’
“And then we had a famous broadcaster named Myron Cope. He’s the originator of the Terrible Towel. And he had a very distinctive voice. And he was like ‘That Bus, look at that Bus go!’ And that’s kind of his stick, right? ‘Ah, the Bus!’ And then he said on that preseason game, ‘He kind of looks like a bus, right? That’s his nickname, the Bus!’ And so it stuck.”
So, how did Jay Hayes know of Bettis’ nickname from Notre Dame? Well, Hayes was the special teams coordinator for Notre Dame from 1989 to 1991 who gave him the ‘Bussy’ nickname in the first place. So, Hayes not only gave Bettis the original nickname, he was also instrumental in Cope hearing the nickname for the first time. And Cope evidently did not hesitate to deploy the evocative nickname at the first chance he got.
And now, it’s hard to imagine not calling Bettis ‘The Bus.” They are synonymous, really. As Cope put it, Bettis’ size and the yellow and black colors certainly could give you the idea that Number 36 was a runaway bus more than a running back.
And Bettis spent 10 years in Pittsburgh driving it home. During those 10 seasons with the Steelers, he carried the ball 2,683 times for 10,571 yards in the regular season. That’s a lot of wear and tear on The Bus’ tires, but he always got where he needed to go. He finished with 78 regular-season rushing touchdowns.
Bettis added another nine postseason touchdowns, including three in the 2005 playoffs that helped get Pittsburgh to the Super Bowl in Bettis’ hometown of Detroit. And to think Bettis nearly parked himself in retirement after the 2004 season. Instead, Bettis and Steelers fans got one more magical bus ride together.
And the only reason we got to know Jerome Bettis as ‘The Bus’ in Pittsburgh was thanks to a chance meeting with a former Green Bay coach overheard by Myron Cope, the man who brought us the Terrible Towel. Football can indeed be a beautiful thing. Even when a football player is being compared to a bus.
