In Loving Memory of the Steerlers' Mom.

Stephanie Porter was not a coach. She did not teach players how to take a handoff, how to run a fade pattern, how to make a tackle. She didn't condition their bodies, didn't condition their mind.
All she did was soothe their souls.
And she did it every day. Right from her perch at the end of the cafeteria line.
"If things were rough, she was always helpful," Bettis said. "That's a beautiful thing. She came in every day and she was always upbeat. That's not something you see all the time."
Many of the Steelers' players hadn't seen her in more than a month, since the end of minicamp. And they probably weren't going to see her again until they returned from training camp at St. Vincent College ... unless she came up to see her boys -- that's what she called them -- in Latrobe.
Since the Steelers' opened their South Side training/office complex in 2000, Porter was one of four full-time service attendants in the cafeteria. Sometimes she was behind the buffet glass, filling the plates for players, coaches and front-office employees. Lately, though, she sat on a stool and ran the cash register, her mobility limited by several knee procedures.
"To the guys she was more of a mother figure," Bettis said. "She looked after us. ... If it was something you weren't supposed to be eating, she stayed on you for that.
"She was the real deal," Stewart said. "She went to that length for everyone. It won't be the same around there, I'll guarantee you that. She was special. She always was in my book."
Stephanie Porter will be missed by all...but her boys will feel the emptiness of her presence.

posted by Anonymous @ 7:28 AM

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