Noll fondly recalled as coach, teacher
A diversified, caring, intelligent man who didn't care for publicity — only about teaching and winning.
That's how Butler graduate Terry Hanratty and Butler resident Paul “Red” Uram described Chuck Noll, the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers coach who died Friday at age 82.
Uram was a conditioning and special teams coach with the Steelers from 1973-81. He was part of all four of Noll's Super Bowl championship teams.
“No, he never got the recognition he deserved,” Uram said. “But Chuck hated the spotlight. He just felt he was one of the guys lucky enough to coach in the NFL.
“He didn't care for the publicity. When he was offered a speaking engagement, he always passed it down to the assistant coaches.”
Hanratty was one of the first quarterbacks Noll worked with and played on the Steelers' first two championship teams.
“They had him do a local TV show when he first came to Pittsburgh and he hated every minute of it,” Hanratty recalled. “The first chance he had, he opted out of it.”
Noll achieved fame through football. His interests went far beyond the game.
“His No. 1 love was flying,” Hanratty said. “And he was a wine connoisseur. Paul Zimmerman was a sports writer out of New York who also wrote a wine column for The New York Times.
“Whenever he'd come to town, he'd get an hour with Chuck. They'd talk football for 30 minutes and wine for 30 minutes. He knew how to get to him.”
Emphasizing how much Noll loved to teach, Hanratty said that “if he wasn't a football coach, he would have been a college professor.”But Noll went down as one of the best football coaches in NFL history. He is still the only coach to win four Super Bowls.“That man knew everything about every position on the field,” Uram said. “He was in on everything at practice.“Look at how he learned the game. He played for Paul Brown in Cleveland. He coached under Sid Gillman (San Diego) and Don Shula (Baltimore). Along with himself and Tom Landry, those might be the five greatest pro football coaches ever.”The Steelers were 1-13 in Noll's first season. A season-opening win over Detroit was followed by 13 straight losses.“He had a plan and he carried through with it,” Hanratty said. “In this day and age, he never would have had the chance. That 1-13 season would have gotten him fired.
“Credit should go to the Rooney family for their patience. They knew what they had in him.“Chuck never won Coach of the Year and that was insane. Yet he didn't care,” Hanratty added.The quarterback described the rift between Noll and Terry Bradshaw as badly overblown by reporters at the time.“His quarterbacks called their own plays. That's how he wanted his offense run,” Hanratty said. “Chuck counted on that position heavily in that regard. There are always disagreements between the quarterback and head coach in the NFL. What went on between Chuck and Terry was nothing out of the ordinary.“He (Noll) never said anything to me when the Steelers drafted Bradshaw (No. 1 overall). He said it was a basic competition. That was it.”Uram emphasized Noll was “an intelligent man who did things his own way. He was about family, religion and football, in that order.”Uram recalled one Friday night when Noll and he were reviewing some special teams films in preparation for the game that Sunday.“We were sitting there watching the opponent's kickoff coverages when he turned to me and said, 'You know what this game is all about? People,'” Uram said. “He was a man of few words.“We're in the locker room before our first Super Bowl against Minnesota. Chuck was never into pep talks. He never gave them. But he told the team that all of the TV, radio and newspaper reports about how good the Vikings were and that the Steelers, as a first-time Super Bowl team, may not belong on the same field with them ...
“He said the best team in pro football is standing right here. Nobody said a word. There was no jumping around, no hooting or hollering. The team just walked out onto the field. They respected that man so much. I remember that like it was yesterday,” Uram added.Hanratty said he was grateful for the head coaches who worked with him.“I was fortunate that my high school (Art Bernardi), college (Ara Parseghian) and pro (Noll) head coaches are all in the Hall of Fame,” he said. “I was taught by the best.”
