Steelers' latest loss in personnel may have a big impact
Behind every great team, lies a coaching staff and group of personnel that matters. But one part of the staff that seldom gets the shine they deserve is the medical department, particularly the Head Athletic Trainer. As of this week, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be searching for a new name to fit that spot. John […]
Behind every great team, lies a coaching staff and group of personnel that matters.
But one part of the staff that seldom gets the shine they deserve is the medical department, particularly the Head Athletic Trainer.
As of this week, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be searching for a new name to fit that spot.
John Norwig had been the Head Athletic Trainer in Pittsburgh since 1991. He decided that it was time to hang up his tennis shoes this week, officially announcing his retirement after over 30 years of work with the club.
"It's pretty hard to sum it up in just a few words what John has meant to us for 32 years," said Steelers president Art Rooney II. "He's been a consummate professional. And just on a personal level, he's had relationships with so many people. He handled himself the way you would hope everyone on the staff conducts himself. He's as good as it gets in terms of somebody that comes and stays for 32 years and provides us with that level of professionalism. I think our medical staff has been the best in the NFL for a long time, and he's part of the reason for that for sure. We're going to miss him."
Norwig is a Pennsylvania native, born in Hanover before attending Penn State-York, Norwig always had a passion for sports, but he didn't know that his enthusiasm would lead him to one of the most essential jobs in pro sports:
"I didn't know much about it, but I came to find out it involved being in athletics. I enjoyed sports. I grew up around them," noted Norwig. "My father was a big sports fan. Also, the healthcare part of it was of interest to me. As I got more and more involved as a student, it became my passion."
"I knew as an athletic trainer, the most demanding and most challenging sport was a contact sport, football. If you were going to be an athletic trainer and really loved being an athletic trainer, you wanted to work football," said Norwig. I thought coming out of college, I would work at a small college and maybe have the opportunity to teach. But my life took a different turn."
Norwig would go on to take the first opportunity he could, training the boy's basketball team at a local high school before landing a gig with the 49ers and then his first head job at Vanderbilt.
Norwig would then receive a call in 1991 from the Steelers, nail an interview, and as they say…
The rest is history.
Featured image via: © Michael Longo/For USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK
