February 8, 2006
Congratulations to the Entire Steelers Organization
Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding.

First I want to start off by saying thank you to the city of Detroit for hosting the Super Bowl. I attended the Super Bowl with my 14-year-old son, and I can tell you it felt like we were in Pittsburgh. Not only were there Terrible Towels everywhere, but the weather felt like Pittsburgh weather, cold blustery weather. So I thank Detroit for making us feel so welcome and so at home, and thanks for ordering up that western Pennsylvania weather for us.

But I rise today to congratulate the Pittsburgh Steelers on an incredible season, an exciting road through the playoffs and a fantastic Super Bowl victory. I want to applaud the hard work of everybody on the team. They deserve that applause and respect.

I also want to congratulate the entire Rooney family. They are a great football family, and today they carry that tradition not just as one of the founding families of the National Football League, but as one of the leading families in western Pennsylvania who continue to give back to their community.

I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the hard work and dedication and achievement of one of the unsung heroes of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that is Coach Dick Hoak. Dick Hoak's name is not a household name, but he is one of the keys to the success of the Steelers over the years. Dick Hoak is the longest-tenured coach in NFL history, I might add. For the last 35 years, he has been a fixture on the Steelers sidelines and on the practice fields. In 1992, Bill Cowher named him the running backs coach, and he was the only coach retained from the previous staff. Over his 13 seasons under Cowher, Hoak's backfield has been able to compile over 28,000 rushing yards, which is the most in the NFL, and puts the Steelers alone at the top again as the only team to surpass the 28,000 rushing yard threshold.

Hoak's history with the Steelers started even earlier, though, growing up in the shadows of Pittsburgh in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. In 1961, he was the Steelers seventh-round draft pick as a Nittany Lion from Penn State. He went on to spend 10 seasons in Pittsburgh's backfield, earning a spot on the Pro-Bowl. Dick has been producing for the Steelers for over 45 years.

This Super Bowl victory is a great accomplishment for all those involved, and we are proud of our Steelers. Western Pennsylvanians can be proud of their native son Dick Hoak. And I know of three little guys who are especially proud of Dick Hoak, and they are my nephews and Dick Hoak's grandsons, Michael, Jonathan, and Daniel Shuster. Now they can all look to their grandfather, and he can literally put five rings on that one hand and get ready for the sixth one next year, because Dick Hoak literally does have five Super Bowl rings and one for the thumb.

So to the Steelers organization, congratulations. We are all very proud of everybody on that team and in the organization.

-- Bill Shuster, Member of Congress

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