News that the Steelers’ charter flight had an unscheduled stop in Kansas City early Monday morning, on the way home from Las Vegas, brought back memories of my days traveling with the team.
That was during my time covering the Steelers as a sports writer for the Tribune-Democrat, which was most of the 1980s. It was common back then for many media members, ranging from the big names of Pittsburgh television, to writers from podunk newspapers like Johnstown, to fly on the team charters.
Going on the charter flight with the players was convenient. You got on the plane at Pittsburgh’s airport, landed at the destination, and buses were waiting on the tarmac to whisk you to the team hotel.
After games, buses took you from the stadium to the airport, again often directly onto the tarmac. Remember, this was pre 9/11. Airport security was, shall we say, flexible.
I remember the players getting together small pots of money to tip the drivers, encouraging them to outrace the competition to the steps descending from the rear of the Boeing 727s the team often used. Think of skyjacker D.B. Cooper and his parachute jump from the rear stairway.
The reason for this haste was the team usually used four buses and there were no assigned seats on the planes, other than first class being for coaches and ownership. Getting to the steps quickly meant freedom to pick your favorite seat location. The media always sat at the rear.
Sometimes the flights didn’t go as smoothly as planned, with a notable example being the 1984 return trip from San Francisco. This one flight gave me new appreciation for what players can face.
The game itself was dramatic, with the Steelers coming from behind to hand the Joe Montana-led 49ers what would be their only loss in a Super Bowl championship season.
It was the final career game for veteran Steelers offensive tackle Larry Brown and rookie tight end Chris Kolodziejski, both of whom suffered catastrophic knee injuries.
Their injuries tempered the elation of the win. It got worse when weather conditions in the east forced the team’s flight to land in Cleveland. Buses had been lined up to make the drive to the Pittsburgh airport, where everyone’s cars were parked.
But the Buffalo Bills faced similar weather problems on their return flight, also landed in Cleveland, ahead of the Steelers, and commandeered the buses.
Eventually, more buses were procured. I was on the bus that held both Brown and Kolodziejski, each sitting up front to give them room to stretch their injured legs. As the bus went over a seemingly never-ending supply of train tracks leaving the airport, both moaned in pain, eliciting painkilling injections from the team doctor.
Imagine blowing out a knee and then having to endure a transcontinental flight back home, with a bonus layover in Cleveland and bus ride to the Pittsburgh airport.
There were many other notable flights, including the 1981 Seattle trip. The Steelers lost to the Seahawks, then emerged from the Kingdome to find a pea soup fog. The return trip was postponed and the team and media were checked back into the hotel we thought we’d exited for good hours earlier.
The next day dawned with more fog and a bit of news – backup quarterback Cliff Stoudt, who had become famous for qualifying for a pension without ever playing in a regular season game, had gone out on game night and broken his right arm attempting to smack a bar room punching bag arcade game.
Traditionally, media rode in the fourth team bus and head coach Chuck Noll sat in the front of the first bus. Stoudt, wanting to avoid Noll, attempted to slip onto the fourth bus where he found – glaring at him from the first row of seats, one Charles Henry Noll.
The plane eventually took off with the airport still closed. Word was the Steelers said they’d pay the fine Pan Am got for this breach of procedure.
And then there was a return trip from San Diego, when the plane was rushing down the runway to take off and suddenly slammed on the brakes, returning to the terminal area. A flight attendant told us there had a been a warning light possibly suggesting an engine problem.
Because the city of San Diego had expanded to encompass the airport, there was a curfew for takeoffs due to noise. That curfew was near as technicians on a cherry picker used flashlights to examine the engines.
Quipped broadcaster Myron Cope: “They’re out there running a two-minute drill with my life and I don’t like it.”
Eventually, the plane was cleared to take off, the Steelers supposedly agreed to pay the fine, and the team successfully winged back to Pittsburgh.
There are other memorable flights, like a return from Cincinnati and attempting to land in brutal wind, causing the plane to pitch and yaw wildly. Linebacker Jack Lambert, a notorious white knuckle airline passenger, was moved to scream to a closeby passenger to shut up during a hairy moment.
Once, coming back from Buffalo, the team plane circled aimlessly, somewhere around New Castle we estimated, so that the players would have time to eat their meals on this short flight.
And then there was a flight to Seattle that took about seven hours due to intense headwinds necessitating a refueling stop in Milwaukee.
But all these flights, like this week’s example, ended safely. To quote Shakespeare, all’s well that ends well.
Sam Ross Jr's site 