Saying farewell to a local coaching legend and four-time Super Bowl champion
Paul “Red” Uram was all about dedication.
The former Butler High School football and gymnastics coach, who went on to win four Super Bowl rings as a conditioning coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers, died Friday morning.
He was 91.
“Paul Uram was small, soft-spoken, so quiet, but a mountain of a man,” former Butler gymnast Steve Heasley said.
“He was someone who made you go above and beyond what you ever thought you could do,” said Chuck Rock, another former Golden Tornado gymnast.
It was Uram who turned Rock into a gymnast in the first place.
“I was playing basketball. He saw me in gym class doing a drill and told me he wanted to see me at (gymnastics) practice.
“I went to check it out and next thing I knew, I was a gymnast. He was dedicated to kids. He got a lot of people scholarships.”
When Uram took his first teaching job at Millvale High School in 1949, he didn't have a car. He hitchhiked to work.
He recalled he had a quarter to spend for lunch back in those days.
But Uram gave and gave. He started gymnastics and track and field at Millvale, co-founded youth baseball, football and basketball programs there.
And he turned Butler gymnastics into a legend.
Uram won 108 consecutive dual meets as coach of the Golden Tornado, including multiple state championships.
Also an assistant football coach at Butler for 18 years, Uram “embraced the football players at gymnastics practice,” former Tornado gridder Ed Codi said.
“He never told us to get out of the gym and we had a half-dozen football players on the gymnastics team,” Codi said. “He had football players climbing rope and doing gymnastic exercises for flexibility and conditioning.
“We didn't have much in the way of weights back then, so he improvised. Paul Uram would help any athlete. He just had a fantastic way with kids.”
Dave McKinnis followed Uram as Butler gymnastics coach and was a member of his team as a high school senior.
“He was an original, a creative teacher,” McKinnis said. “His teaching skills were very human.
“He grew up knowing the struggles of everyday life and helped people to deal with similar struggles. He reached and touched people, always with the capacity to teach something positive.”
Longtime Butler football coach Art Bernardi described Uram as “a pleasure to work with” and someone “who was very knowledgeable and could work with anybody.”
“He never screamed or hollered,” Bernardi said. “He worked with kids in terms of step by step. He knew every kid had to be taught differently, in a way they could understand.“He was very gifted that way. I'm heartbroken right now. He was just a great, great man.”Former Butler High School and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Hanratty knew Uram as a coach for both teams.“He was instrumental in developing young athletes,” Hanratty said. “It's sad that he's gone, but he led a helluva good life.“He taught me how to grip a football, how to throw it properly. He was so soft-spoken. I don't think I ever heard the man raise his voice.”Hanrartty praised Uram's efforts as flexibility coach with the Steelers.“He was fantastic,” he said. “His flexibility and conditioning program ... We had far less injuries than any other team and we recovered quicker. Paul was instrumental in all of that.“Chuck Noll wasn't one to keep around excess baggage. If you weren't productive in his program, you were gone. Paul Uram stayed around a long time because he was productive for a long time.”Veteran Butler broadcaster Jim Lokhaiser remembers Uram as a “great teacher and even better person. He was the ultimate as a coach.“He never lost his temper with any ballplayer and I always respected him for that.”Olde Stonewall golf professional Sean Swidzinski was in elementary school when he met Uram. Swidzinski credits the coach for getting him into golf.The two played golf together for years afterward.“The man was like a father figure to me,” Swidzinski said. “He taught physical education to kids in kindergarten and first grade. He got to know me and others that way.“My mom would drop me off at elementary school an hour or two early every day and Coach Uram would work with me. He got me involved with gymnastics, punt, pass and kick, all of that matriculated over to golf.“He was the true definition of a coach. He found joy in working with kids and watching them grow and benefit from their own hard work,” Swidzinski said.Heasley said Uram was revered in every sport he coached, whether it be gymnastics, elementary track and field or football.“When he was coaching high school gymnastics, he'd have the younger kids come up and practice with the team,” Heasley said. “He called me over one time and I was scared to death I did something wrong.“He said he had been watching me and wanted me to try a particular skill on the floor. He showed me it once and I did it. I remember how thrilled I was, almost honored that he recognized me and knew my name. He had that special connection with kids.”Swidzinski said Uram's knowledge of flexibility “benefitted the NFL and athletes nationwide.”He also said that athletes from Bill, Rich and Ron Saul to all of his gymnasts to all of the Steeler greats from the 1970s would say the same thing about Paul Uram.“They would say they never wanted to disappoint him in terms of our performance,” Swidzinski said. “He did so much for all of us that we owed giving our best to him.“Paul was truly a salt of the earth type of guy. I feel truly blessed to have known him.”
