Dick LeBeau did not leave Pittsburgh before spreading his unique brand of Christmas cheer.
While speaking at a luncheon honoring football and soccer teams that won Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) championships, LeBeau treated the hundreds in attendance to his inimitable recitation of ’Twas The Night Before Christmas.
A tradition he made famous during two coaching stints in Pittsburgh, it seemed oh-so-fitting for LeBeau to break it out again Tuesday — two days after getting recognized with the rest of the 2024 Steelers Hall of Honor inductees at Acrisure Stadium and two weeks before Christmas.
> I was invited to the Dan McCann Coached Corner Luncheon. The speaker was former NFL Legend Coach Dick Lebeau. He read “A night before Christmas for us as he did for many of the Steeler teams right before a Christmas game. A great time listening to his many stories. Great time! [pic.twitter.com/EqF8fRrahT](https://t.co/EqF8fRrahT)
>
> — Alexander David Panormios (@redzoneal) [December 10, 2024](https://twitter.com/redzoneal/status/1866562088274890808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
“Everybody was at the edge of their seats. They were mesmerized,” said Bill Priatko, LeBeau’s close friend and former Steeler who booked him as the keynote speaker at the Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center. “He doesn’t miss a word, and he says it so emphatically.”
Just like when LeBeau coached for the Steelers from 1992-1996 and then 2004-2014.
The legendary defensive coordinator so regularly transfixed the most alpha of alpha males that Bill Cowher talked about it last Saturday night during the Steelers’ Hall of Honor dinner.
“The last game before Christmas, the Saturday night before we broke meetings and went to bed, Coach LeBeau would recite ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas to the whole team,” said Cowher, the Steelers’ head coach from 1992-2006. “That was part of the culture, part of what we established in the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Priatko had no idea that LeBeau would work the iconic Christmas poem into his talk to high school athletes and others that included Jim Render, the WPIAL’s all-time winningest football coach.
And he did not end there. In keeping with his overall theme of perseverance, LeBeau told the (abridged) version of James Harrison’s story.
Cut a handful of times, Harrison was seemingly down to his last NFL chance when an injury sustained by Clark Haggans just before the start of training camp in 2004 prompted the Steelers to sign him again. Under LeBeau’s tutelage, Harrison made the team and became a full-time starter in 2007.
A season later he won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, and in Super Bowl XLIII, well you’ve probably heard about that.
Harrison’s pick-six helped the Steelers win their sixth Super Bowl. And his rise from obscurity to stardom is a story that LeBeau never tires of telling. Connecting Jolly Old Saint Nicholas to (not so) Jolly Old(er) James Harrison is quintessential LeBeau in so many ways.
So is the message he still spreads after spending 59 seasons in the NFL as a player and coach.
“He wanted to emphasize not to give up, not to ever lose sight of your goals,” Priatko said. “His message was so uplifting, so rewarding. I don’t think those kids will ever forget it.”