Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work Free

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Chuck Noll was the best coach, and perhaps the finest man that we never knew. Had Churchill ever met Noll, he might have described him as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But, as Churchill would then speculate, perhaps that was a key. Noll was an intensely private man, never given to Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work. He was a gentleman, and would give a young reporter the needed soundbite or quote, but there was never any swagger, never any bulletin board stuff. Year after year, I would be assigned to interview him before the playoffs, and I was told by my bosses to ask him his thoughts about the upcoming opponent. His answer, each year, was the same. He would offer it up with a Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work smile and a chuckle. But then, he might offer up his thoughts about how great it was that you could always get fresh high quality ocean fish in Pittsburgh, even though it was an inland city. Or how California wines were so underrated and this was even before the legendary Judgement of Paris of when a blind taste test proved he was right. Or the results some obscure scientific or medical study. Or the Battle of Thermopylae. Noll believed reporters should be treated kindly, but still treated like mushrooms. Keep us in the dark, and feed us bullshit. Keep Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work close to the vest. No bragging. His idea of a perfect touchdown celebration was John Stallworth handing the ball to the Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work. Say as little as possible and let your actions speak for you. The paradox of Chuck Noll was that he was both a teacher and a moral exemplar, but he was so intensely private that he remained a mystery. Dan Rooney Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work the key to unlock the riddle. And, in this great gift to Steeler Nation, he used that key, so that now, at last, we are able to gain the full measure of Charles Henry Noll. Dan Rooney hired Noll in Dan and Pat Rooney became close, lifelong friends of the Noll family. Noll, he believed, was one of the four or five greatest coaches in NFL history, but was Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work treated as an afterthought in NFL films and publications. He took his concerns to the league office, and sought out highly respected author and biographer Michael MacCambridge. Dan Rooney even helped commission the book, although MacCambridge had complete editorial control. MacCambridge spent three years researching and writing this book. He conducted more than interviews and countless follow-ups. He began his work while Chuck was still alive, interviewing the Nolls at their homes in Florida and Sewickley. He had the full cooperation of the Noll family. They are private people, but they were kind enough to let MacCambridge into the private sanctuary of their lives. The Steeler organization worked closely with the author. He gave MacCambridge the road map, the contact information, and helped in many other ways. It is clear that this book happened because the Rooney family believed that it was time for the world to get to know the remarkable man that they knew, respected, and loved, and Dan Rooney deemed that Michael MacCambridge was the writer best able to tell his story. Didion was writing about John Wayne, and yet this is — in a few sentences — the key to unlock the riddle of Chuck Noll. His father battled serious health problems for many years and — when he was unable to safely drive a car — his mother had to drive his Dad to his job as a parking lot attendant. But Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work Noll worked to provide for his family. The Nolls did not take pity on themselves, but did what they had to to scrape by and move forward. Chuck Noll grew up in a changing neighborhood on the East Side of Cleveland. Once an ethnic mix of Germans and Eastern Europeans, the neighborhood was becoming increasingly African-American. At one point, the Nolls lived upstairs from Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work landlords, an African-American family. The team had 12 black kids and 12 white kids. Chuck treasured his one photograph of the team, keeping that picture in the top drawer of his desk at work. Chuck learned to be color-blind growing up. That was part of his code. Chuck wanted to go to Benedictine High School, but his family could not afford the tuition. So he took on a paper route and other jobs to find the money. He did not tolerate freeloaders. But many people reached out and helped this hard-working, ambitious young man, and he never forgot that it was also the kindness of others enabled him to reach his dreams. Chuck had epilepsy. He had a seizure in class at Benedictine. It was controllable with medication, but the medication left him groggy and affected him at football practice. He soldiered through, trying to limit the medication, but taking enough to keep the seizures away. He was an excellent student and a fine high school football player. Chuck dreamed of going to Notre Dame and playing for legendary coach Frank Leahy. He was accepted and was at practice his freshman year when he suffered a seizure. This was before the school year started, and Leahy said he did not want to take the risk of having an epileptic on his team. So Noll went home before attending even a single class at Notre Dame. His high school coach, hearing what had happened, phoned the Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work coach at Dayton, told him about Chuck, and arranged for Chuck to attend Dayton and play on their team. Again, Chuck excelled at academics and played well enough to be drafted in the 20th round by his hometown Cleveland Browns. All of these health and family-related factors may help explain why Chuck Noll was so intent on keeping his private life just that—private. It is clear that he believed strongly that one of our most precious rights is the right to privacy, the right to be left alone. They met on a blind date in Cleveland. And, from that day on, Chuck never had another seizure. Their devotion to one another was whole and complete. Marianne was an independent woman before her time, and Chuck was perfectly fine with that. She might handle their business affairs, and he might cook their gourmet meals. They shared their successes, raised their son and helped raise their nieces and nephews, and savored the joys, surprises, and adventures of more than half a century of married Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work. Hold my watch and ring. Like the Gehrigs, their love Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work over illness and even over death. You already knew that Chuck Noll was a great football coach. MacCambridge chronicles the story of his career and success in Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work detail, but you have read much about his career elsewhere. What this book does is solve the riddle of Chuck Noll for you, and prove that this Hall of Fame coach was an even greater human being. That he lived by his own code: family, faith, football, hard work, no short cuts, modesty, charity, decency, and teaching those virtues to others. Buy it. Read it. Give it to others as a gift. Pass it on. Whatever it takes. Excellent Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work. I suspected that the Rooneys had been, at least in part behind this. It is nice to see that Noll is perhaps going to get his just due as a head coach after being ignored for so long. The response I got was a sort of adult version of a pat on the head, and reminders of all that Walsh had done, from the West Coast offense to his cadre of coaches known as the Bill Walsh coaching tree. So I did my part, and wrote a series on the two men. Anyone interested can read it here: bit. That story is just as if not more important. Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work, I was fortunate enough to be in Pittsburgh on the day he retired. Later that night, on the news, the should a sound bite of Dan Rooney, admitting that his wife had told him that if anything had ever happened to them, he wanted Chuck and his wife to raise the kids. Like Like. And, like Noll, Tony began his coaching career at a very young age. Thanks to Chuck, of course. It was common knowledge when Dungy was still playing that he was considered to be coaching material. And when you possess the football and move it forward, good things usually Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work. The Emperor was unique in the clarity of his pronunciation. In so doing, he was both teaching and celebrating. He might have said something about having out-Buffaloed Buffalo in the Buffalo winter…. Or something like that. As he pointed out, one of the first things that struck him was watching an offense where rushing the ball was clearly the first and foremost objective. 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Perhaps Noll's luster has dimmed because he appeared to have the demeanor of Bob Newhart without the shtick: a low-key, almost stoic professional who saw himself as a teacher. His teams weren't gimmicky; in fact, Noll had to be prodded into using the shotgun formation. In "Chuck Noll: His Life's Work," veteran sportswriter Michael MacCambridge revisits the milestones while also revealing facets of Noll's life that even a Pittsburgh native like yours truly didn't know about, such as his passion for hobbies including photography, wine and flying airplanes and his medical challenges, first with epilepsy and then with Alzheimer's disease. Born in in Cleveland, Noll's memory and sharp intelligence made him successful in school, but his passion was football. Noll played well enough in high school to walk on at Notre Dame, the dream school and team for a Catholic lad. But an epileptic seizure at practice led coach Frank Leahy to dismiss him from the squad. Noll served as an assistant coach under innovative Sid Gillman and then Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work Don Shula before the Steelers hired him inmaking him the youngest head coach in NFL history at that time. His hiring began the turnaround of a family-owned franchise that had been a football joke for decades. MacCambridge appears to have talked with every living member of the Steelers family about Noll except quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who refused to speak about his former coach. Drawing on Bradshaw's past sometimes contradictory accounts and third-party interviews, the biographer Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work the picture of a talented but insecure QB and a Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work who didn't coddle. At the onset of the season, which would end with the Steelers' first Super Bowl Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work, Noll benched Bradshaw in favor of strong-armed Joe Gilliam, making Gilliam the first African- American QB in the post-merger era to start a season opener. After a few good games, Gilliam's performance fell off, likely affected by his substance abuse, leading to Bradshaw's return. While teammates split on the merits of the QBs, wide receiver John Stallworth told MacCambridge there was no dissension in the locker room, because players knew Noll's decisions weren't based on race. In that spirit, MacCambridge devotes considerable words to Noll's family life. After medical tests confirmed that Noll had Alzheimer's inMarianne broke the news to him. Facebook Twitter Email. Chuck Noll a football coach who also made time for life. Share your feedback to help improve our site! Chuck Noll: His Life's Work by Michael MacCambridge

Chuck Noll: His Life's Work. Submitted by admin onJune 27 - Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls and presided over one of the greatest football dynasties in history, the Pittsburgh Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work of the '70s. Later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his achievements as a competitor and a coach are the stuff of legend. But Noll always remained an intensely private and introspective man, never revealing much of himself as a person or as a coach, not even to the players and fans who revered him. Chuck Noll did not need a dramatic public profile to be the catalyst for one of the greatest transformations in sports history. In the nearly four decades before he was hired, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the least successful team in professional football, never winning so much as a division title. After Noll's arrival, his quiet but steely leadership quickly remolded the team into the most accomplished in the history of professional football. And what he built endured well beyond his time with the Steelers - who have remained one of America's great NFL teams, accumulating a total of six Super Bowls, eight AFC championships, and dozens of division titles and playoff berths. In Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work penetrating biography, based on deep research and hundreds of interviews, Michael MacCambridge takes the measure of the man, painting an intimate portrait of one of the most important figures in American football history. He traces Noll's journey from a Depression-era childhood in Cleveland, where he first played the game in a fully integrated neighborhood league led by an African-American coach and then seriously pursued the sport through Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work school and college. Eventually, Noll played both defensive and offensive positions professionally for the Browns, before discovering that his true calling was coaching. MacCambridge reveals that Noll secretly struggled with and overcame epilepsy to build the career that earned him his place as "the Emperor" of Pittsburgh during the Steelers' dynastic run in the s, while in his final years, he battled Alzheimer's in the shelter of his caring and protective family. Noll's impact went well beyond one football team. When he arrived, the city of steel was facing a deep crisis, as the dramatic decline of Pittsburgh's lifeblood industry traumatized an entire generation. The famous urban renaissance that Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work can only be understood by grasping what Noll and his team meant to the people of the city. The man Pittsburghers could never fully know helped them see themselves better. Chuck Noll: His Life's Work Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work the story of a private man in a very public job. It explores the family ties that built his character, the Chuck Noll: His Lifes Work that defined his course, and the love story that shaped his life. By understanding the man himself, we can at last clearly see Noll's profound influence on the city, players, coaches, and game he loved. They are all, in a real sense, heirs to the football team Chuck Noll built. Michael Maccambridge. University of Pittsburgh Press. Featured Items. Collegiate Bike Bell.