Bill Saul loved his football, loved his family and loved his hometown.

Most of all, he loved being Bill.

The former Butler, Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker died Sept. 12 at age 65 in Baltimore. A memorial service for him will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Young's Funeral Home on East Jefferson Street.

"I played tackle and he played end," said former high school teammate Jim D'Antonio. "With Bill playing next to me, I never had any problems.

"All week long, he'd give 100 percent in practice, the games, anything he did. He was such an intense person."

Butler was undefeated in Saul's senior season in 1957, going 5-0-3. He went on to play in several bowl games at Penn State.

"Bill and I took a campus visit to Penn State as high school seniors," D'Antonio said. "We stayed at a fraternity house and the two of us outdrank all those college guys that night.

"We joked about that for years."

While with the Steelers, Saul was one of the team's regular poker players, along with quarterback Bill Nelsen, tackle Jim Bradshaw and others.

"Bill was just a fun-loving guy," close friend Bill "Digger"Young said. "He was such a physical player. ... When he hit you, he hurt you. Bill Cowher would have loved him.

"Everyone who knew him has Bill Saul stories — you just can't print them."

Young served as the ambulance driver at Steeler games for 31 years.

"Bill kept me busy," he said, laughing.

While at Penn State, Saul made the dean's list three years out of four.

"Bill was a smart guy,"said former Notre Dame lineman and fellow Butler graduate Mike Kelly. "He was just a guy you grew up admiring."

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Saul returned to Butler often during his NFLcareer.

Longtime Butler radio broadcaster Jim Lokhaiser grew up with the Saul brothers on Institute Hill in Butler. The Saul family lived on Pearl Street.

"Bill came from a large family and was the first one to play sports,"Lokhaiser said. "He was a tall, lanky kid in high school, a good guy, so genuine. He was very unassuming, much like (Butler native and major league pitcher) Matt Clement in that respect.

"He was good in all sports. Had he wanted to pursue a pro baseball or basketball career, he probably could have."

Young coached Saul's West Sunbury American Legion baseball team and Lokhaiser pitched against Saul one day.

"I hung a pitch high and Bill hammered it into a tree beyond the center field fence, about 450 feet away,"Lokhaiser said. "He had incredible power."

Saul played in the first PONYWorld Series in Washington, Pa., and set Butler basketball scoring records in high school.

And he stood out on the football field.

"During his era, nobody picked up a football until around Aug. 10 and nobody saw any of his coaches until then,"Lokhaiser said. "It's an all-year thing now with high school players training all year long.

"Bill Saul looked like one of today's standout players back then."

Saul was a second-round draft choice of the Baltimore Colts as a linebacker in 1962. He was a ninth-round selection of the AFL's Buffalo Bills as a center that same year.Traded to the Steelers for kicker Lou Michaels in 1964, Saul played for head coaches Buddy Parker and Bill Austin through 1968.The Steelers had a combined record of 16-37-3 — 7-20-1 at Pitt Stadium — during Saul's years with the organization. He moved on to the New Orleans Saints in 1969 — when Chuck Noll took over as Steelers coach — and ended his pro career with the Detroit Lions in 1970.The 1968 Steelers media guide described Saul as "always a tough competitor who hits high and hard. Has developed into an intelligent ball player who has a knack for being where the ball is."Saul's younger twin brothers, Rich and Ron, played in the NFLas well. Butler resident Paul "Red"Uram was the Steelers' strength and conditioning coach in January 1980, when the team played the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl.Rich Saul was the center on that Rams team."Bill was in the stands that day,"Uram said. "Rich was on the field stretching before the game and I walked over to him. He took off his helmet and gave me a big hug."There were 100,000 fans in the stands and we didn't care. I didn't care who won that game. There were two Butler guys in the Super Bowl and we loved it. I know Bill loved it."Retired Butler football coach Art Bernardi said every time Saul returned to Butler, "he'd give me a call and ask how the boys are doing. 'How are the boys?' he'd say. And he wanted a serious answer because he cared."Longtime Butler Area Midget Football League coach Harry Leyland described Saul as one of the true characters in Butler sports history.While with the Steelers, Saul became the first NFLplayer to wear a microphone during a game. It was attached to his hip pads during the team's 15-10 loss to the Washington Redskins Dec. 10, 1967.Most of Saul's verbiage during that game had to be bleeped out by NFLFilms."He was a pretty loose cannon,"Leyland said. "Yet he commanded respect at the same time."Bill Saul was the perfect role model for any kid wanting to grow up to be a football player,"he added.