Steelers Now
There are a lot of aspects of football that aren’t what they used to be. With Rod Woodson‘s help, take a look inside the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker rooms of the late 1980s for proof.
“So I remember coming into my first game, I come in at halftime and I’m like, ‘It’s smoky,'” said Woodson, who got his NFL start in 1987, on Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast. “In the locker room. I go into the training room, (John) Stallworth is sitting on the training table with a Coors and Malboro Light or whatever it is, smoking it. And I’m like, ‘This is crazy. This dude is smoking at halftime!’ After the games, they would give you two beers in a trash can, or they had them in a bag full with ice water, and they would have them in there, and you could take the beers with you.
“I remember coming out after the first game, I was like, ‘What is this?’ And they’re like, ‘That’s beer.’ I’m like, ‘For us?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, well, I guess it’s not college anymore. Shoot.'”
Woodson, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, finished his novice campaign having played in eight games, accounting for 20 tackles and an interception, which he returned for a touchdown.
He finished a 17-year career in Oakland — his fourth pro stop — in 2003. Woodson spent his first 10 NFL seasons with the Steelers, growing into a five-time Associated Press first-team All-Pro and the 1993 AP Defensive Player of the Year as Pittsburgh transitioned from Chuck Noll to Bill Cowher.
It’s safe to say there aren’t any more beers or cigarettes in the Steelers’ halftime locker room anymore.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Great Rod Woodson Recalls the NFL Culture Shock That Greeted Him
