All for a Good Cause
A teacher at Butler Area School District teamed up with former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier to raise $1,400 for a local charity.
The Outreach Teen and Family Services charity reached out to Erich Campbell, chairman of the art department at Butler Area for more than 20 years, over the summer and asked if he would donate a painting that could be sold at an upcoming charity auction.
Campbell said he would be happy to use his talents for a good cause and asked what kind of painting they wanted.
When the charity mentioned that Bleier, a four-time Super Bowl champion with the Steelers in the 1970s, was involved, he knew what he wanted to paint.
Campbell, 49, first got interested in art as a senior at Mount Lebanon High School.Born in 1971, Campbell said he remembers watching the Steelers winning all four Super Bowls in 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980.“When they won their last one, I was around 8 years old, and I remember losing my mind,” Campbell said.Working off and on for a couple of weeks, Campbell said he finished the portrait of Bleier at the beginning of August, and Bleier signed it later in the month.The signed painting sold for $1,400 at the Outreach Teen and Family Services art auction Sept. 10.
This was not the first time Campbell worked with a former Pittsburgh athlete for a good cause.Campbell said that last year he went through a similar process with former Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemieux, with Lemieux signing a portrait that Campbell made and donating it to charity. “It was an honor too,” Campbell said. “I start painting it and I'm like, 'Wow, this is one of the top-three hockey players of all time.' It was the same thing with Rocky. You kind of forget how great these people are, not just on the field, but what they do in the community as well.”Campbell said he likes to try and make one painting for charity every year as a way to do something good.“Anytime you can use your talents to help people, that's a good feeling,” Campbell said.
