Remembering Ernie 'Fats' Holmesprod.static.steelers.clubs.nfl.com/assets/images/... · Holmes fell asleep at the wheel. Mr. Holmes, an ordained minister, lived on a ranch in Wiergate

Remembering Ernie 'Fats' HolmesSteelers lineman provided characteristic, uplifting moment Saturday, January 19, 2008 By David Fink, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

This article first appeared in September 2000

This year marks the 25th anniversary of a major event in my life. No, I'm not talking about an anniversary or any other family milestone. I'm talking about the only time in my 36-year career in the newspaper business that I was attacked in a physical manner.

It was a September morn in 1975, and I was covering the Steelers for the Post-Gazette. As far as I could tell, it was a routine day until ...

The memory is clear in many ways; so much so that the event could have happened yesterday. I had arrived at Three Rivers Stadium a few minutes earlier and was talking with Steelers quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Terry Hanratty at a front corner of their locker room. It was a lively, three-way conversation before Ernie "Fats" Holmes chose to interrupt it.

Holmes was a loose cannon, whose somewhat checkered background included shooting and wounding a pilot of a hovering helicopter in Ohio. He once had his head shaved so that the only hair remaining was shaped like an arrow. I had the distinct impression that Fats not only intimidated opponents with his vicious head slaps and considerable strength but also put some of his teammates on edge with his unpredictability and temper.

About 10 days earlier, in advance of an exhibition game between the Steelers and Cowboys in Dallas, I had asked the starting defensive linemen about playing against the Cowboys' new and much-publicized offensive formation, the shotgun. Today, the shotgun is an integral part of almost every offense, but, back then, it was part aberration, part gimmick.

But rushing a quarterback who started the play so far away did not figure to be a pleasant task on a late-summer Dallas night when temperatures figured to be in the upper 90s if not triple digits.

Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood and Dwight White, the other defensive linemen in The Steel Curtain, offered some insights on that as did Holmes, who also said he thought the shotgun formation was like a "schoolyard offense." I had used that quote quite prominently in a story and never thought about it again until that morning.

All of a sudden, my feet were no longer on firm ground. I was suspended in midair by two

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huge hands, one attached to each of my arms just above the elbows. And before I had any clue how I had gotten into such a precarious position, why I was hanging there or who my tormentor was, I was gently turned around so that I was face to face with Holmes.

Holmes stood about 6 feet 3 and probably weighed about 270 to 275. Most of his frame was molded in steel. Me? I stand closer to 5-9 than 5-10, and my weight at the moment of impact was about 160.

"Was I scared?" some players asked. Not initially because there was no time to be scared. But a few nasty thoughts raced through my mind:

Was there drool around Fats' lips? How was I going to get down? Was I about to be body-slammed by one of the Super Bowl champions' strongest players? Was my insurance paid up? And how was my obituary going to read? No, I'm kidding about the last one. I think. I was at Fats' mercy for more than a minute, likely closer to 90 seconds.

He never raised his voice, never hurt me in any way, used no profanity. He repeatedly insisted that I should not have used the quote. Notice that he never said he was misquoted.

Finally, he lowered me to the ground. Gently. I silently checked for scratches, bruises and missing body parts. There were none. Meanwhile, the hush in the locker room, so palpable a few seconds earlier, quickly gave way to laughter and loud conversation.

I quickly resumed my business, interviewing several players, each of whom wanted to see if he could emulate Fats' feat. Several tried but none could do it for 90 seconds, and only Bradshaw, whose strength always was underestimated, managed to do it for a minute.

Since no bodily harm was done, we had a few good laughs about it and, until now, I have never written about it.

I never had any more run-ins with Holmes. He always was cooperative, usually quotable. Neither of us ever brought up the incident.

Later, a few players assured me they would have rushed to my defense if it had appeared to them that I was in serious danger. My reply to them: "Thanks, but how many of you would it have taken to pull Fats off me if the situation had turned ugly?"

I never got an answer.

David Fink can be reached at [email protected] or 412-263-1464.

First published on January 19, 2008 at 12:00 am

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Obituary: Ernie Holmes / Rugged member of Steelers' SteelCurtain July 11, 1948 - Jan. 17, 2008 Saturday, January 19, 2008 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

John Heller Post-Gazette

Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, right, greets Ernie Holmes at the Senator John Heinz History center for the opening of its sports museum in November 2004.

Ernie Holmes played next to Joe Greene as the two defensive tackles in the famed Steel Curtain defense, and some believe he was his equal.

"Ernie was a tremendous football player," said Dwight White, who played right defensive end, next to Mr. Holmes. "Not taking anything away from Joe -- we know where he is -- Ernie was as good, and, in some cases, even better."

Mr. Holmes, who died at age 59 Thursday night in a one-vehicle wreck in his native Texas, made only two Pro Bowls and never was a serious candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But those who played with him for the Steelers of the 1970s knew how good he was.

"Joe Greene got a lot of attention and rightfully so,'' said Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham, "but Ernie was a great football player. We all knew it on the team. Our teammates knew how important he was to the team and maybe didn't get the recognition he deserved."

Mr. Holmes, known affectionately as "Fats" because of his tremendous size for the times, was driving alone Thursday night when his SUV left the road and rolled several times near

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Lumberton, about 80 miles from Houston, a Texas Department of Public Safety dispatcher said. He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, the department said. Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said yesterday he was told Mr. Holmes fell asleep at the wheel.

Mr. Holmes, an ordained minister, lived on a ranch in Wiergate in Southeast Texas.

Mr. Greene, selected as the best player in franchise history as part of the Steelers' 75th anniversary season celebration last year, remained friends with Mr. Holmes and talked to him often, as did other teammates. Mr. Holmes last appeared publicly in Pittsburgh when he served as an honorary co-captain for the team's Nov. 11 game against Cleveland at Heinz Field.

"We're going to miss ol' Ernie," said a somber Mr. Greene, now a scout for the Steelers who lives in the Dallas area. "We'll miss him a lot."

Mr. Holmes was an eighth-round draft choice from Texas Southern in 1971 as part of what many consider the Steelers' second-best draft in their history, one that included Mr. Ham, Mr. White, Larry Brown, Frank Lewis, Mike Wagner and Gerry Mullins.

He helped form the most famous front four in pro football history -- L.C. Greenwood at left end, Mr. Greene at left tackle, Mr. Holmes at right tackle and Mr. White at right end.

That group dominated Oakland in the 1974 AFC championship, holding the Raiders to 29 yards rushing. In Super Bowl IX two weeks later, they limited the Minnesota Vikings to 17 yards rushing.

"That run we had in '74 and through the playoffs and our first Super Bowl, he just had a dominating performance, especially against Gene Upshaw and the Raiders in Oakland in the AFC championship game," Mr. Ham said. "I think they rushed for 29 yards in that game. It was the most dominating performance against a great offensive line. He's a big reason why we ended up winning that game.

"And what they did against Minnesota, the entire front four!"

The Raiders, with two Hall of Fame offensive linemen in Mr. Upshaw, a guard, and tackle Art Shell, were heavy favorites to beat the Steelers in Oakland in that title game of '74.

How good was Mr. Holmes that day?

"Ask Gene Upshaw, and Gene was good,'' said Mr. White, also a Texas native. "I had Shell, he had Upshaw and he made a long afternoon for Gene and that made it a much easier afternoon for me."

Mr. Holmes was listed at 6-3, 260 pounds, but really weighed much more. He constantly was trying to lose weight in training camps at a time in which there was little organized offseason training in pro football.

"He was really a good guy, played extremely well for us," said Dan Rooney. "He was one of those guys who really was important to the team and the Steel Curtain. He played in the middle and was really tough to get out of there, which gave Joe a chance and the other guys to get to the quarterback."

Mr. Holmes played through the 1977 season with the Steelers, earning two Super Bowl rings,



but was released when his play fell off because of weight and other physical problems. He played for New England in 1978.

During his time with the Steelers, he developed a reputation for being "stone crazy," he told Time magazine in 1975. That came partly from a case early in his career when he pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon following a bizarre episode in which he fired a pistol at trucks and a police helicopter in nearby Ohio. He was sentenced to five years' probation.

He later was declared not guilty of possessing cocaine in a trial in Texas. During the 1974 season, he shaved his head in the form of an arrow before the Steelers played a game at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. He kept it that way and told people it was to remind everyone to go forward toward the Super Bowl.

Mr. Rooney said yesterday that Mr. Holmes was out of sorts during the incident in Ohio because he took high doses of caffeine.

"He was hallucinating,'' Mr. Rooney said. "He was taking those No Doze pills and didn't even know where he was. He was released in my custody. I got him into a hospital, and he spent a number of weeks there. He came out OK."

Mr. Rooney and Mr. Holmes' teammates say that's precisely how his life turned out as well. They say he stopped drinking years ago, lost weight and was devoted to his ministry in a Baptist church.

"Ernie came through a lot of struggles, and it looked like he was out ahead of it and living the way he wanted to live his life," Mr. Greene said.

"Ever since I've known him, Ernie always was a guy who read the Bible and wanted to be close to God. In lieu of all of his actions that we've experienced with him, Ernie was always a good man.

"He overcame a lot of those life struggles. Just last year he had a knee replacement and was coming along good with that. He lost a lot of weight and looking good and feeling good about it."

Opponents and sometimes his own teammates feared him.

"Oh, Ernie was definitely an enforcer,'' Mr. Greene said. "I suspect that a lot of guys were kind of afraid of him, not so much what he did on the field but what they read about him off the field. He'd probably do anything to win."

Mr. Holmes, though, was mostly mild-mannered and thoughtful off the field.

"I just wish he could have gotten more recognition for the job he did,'' Mr. White said. "The positives far outweigh the negatives of Ernie Holmes. For all the things and stories and antics that went on 30 years ago, Ernie ended up being a very, very inspiring person, one you could respect and admire."

Mr. Greene remembers one Steelers Christmas party in which, on his own, Mr. Holmes bought presents for the kids, dressed up like Santa Claus and handed out the gifts while the kids sat on his lap.

"Everybody has an Ernie Holmes story,'' Mr. White said. "Obviously, Ernie was a very colorful person back in the day. He did have what I call distractions. But there's an old Texas



saying, it's all about where you end up. I can honestly say over the last few years, Ernie made major changes in his life."

Ed Bouchette can be reached at [email protected]. The Associated Press contributed to this story.




Steelers Notebook: Colbert -- 2007 season a first step forTomlin Saturday, January 19, 2008 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mike Tomlin received another thumbs-up for his first year on the job as Steelers coach. Not two thumbs-up, though.

Kevin Colbert, the team's director of football operations, felt 2007 was a good first step for Tomlin and that the organization was positive about it -- to a point.

"We are what we are," Colbert said. "We're a 10-6 team, there's no hiding that. It's all well and good but it's not good enough. This season, we knew it was going to be a new season for everybody. I guess you could say that it was a season of transition. We went from a very successful head coach to a brand new head coach and we still have a lot of players left over."

Having those players left over from their 2005 Super Bowl championship, however, should not hypnotize people into thinking they can live in the past.

"We're not the team of 2005," Colbert cautioned. "We're two years removed from that now. We're new, we're different, we have to keep getting new and keep getting better.

"We had to go through a whole year -- me personally, I'm learning Mike and Mike's learning what we do. And every day, every event was something new. Now we've come to an end of that. We will have completed that whole cycle. We've gone through free agency, we've gone through draft preparation, [spring practices], minicamps.

"Now we see where we are. We're not happy where we are, let's take the next step.''

Stepping ... backward?

Last year, Colbert said one area the Steelers needed to improve over 2006 was their pass rush, noting it was a personnel issue and had nothing to do with the defensive scheme.

The Steelers had 39 sacks in 2006. After a fast start, that number dwindled to 36 in 2007. They went backward, not forward.

"Being that we did not improve, that's unsatisfactory," Colbert said. "I always said that it was a personnel issue. I said we're not happy with our pass rush and that to me is a personnel issue."

Fewer sacks on defense and more on offense is not a good combination -- Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 47 times, one more than in 2006 and the second most of a Steelers quarterback.

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Big Ben makes picks

Roethlisberger broke no new ground when he predicted Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will win another Super Bowl. But his heart lies with Brett Favre.

"There's a difference between who I like and who I want to win," Roethlisberger said. "I want Brett Favre to win it all, that would be the ultimate. I'd imagine 90 percent of the population has to."

Roethlisberger picked Favre's Green Bay Packers, coached by Greenfield native Mike McCarthy, to beat the New York Giants in tomorrow's NFC championship game, and the Patriots to beat the San Diego Chargers in tomorrow's AFC championship game and then win the Super Bowl.

The Steelers quarterback did not meet Favre until the Steelers played a preseason game against Green Bay in Heinz Field last summer.

"I asked him on the field if I could get an autograph," Roethlisberger said. "He said if I sent him a jersey, he'll sign it for me."

The jersey will soon be on its way, and so, too, are the New England Patriots, Roethlisberger said.

"When you watch the Patriots, you don't ever see them play a bad game," Roethlisberger said. "You don't see a weakness. If the do play bad for a quarter, they step it up for the rest of the game."

Parker starts rehab

Willie Parker returned to Pittsburgh last week to begin rehabilitation after breaking his right fibula Dec. 20 at St. Louis.

Colbert said Parker should be as good as new before too long.

"That injury will heal. It's not the weight-bearing bone," Colbert said. "All indications are that he should be fine. Had he done that early in the season, we would not have put him on injured reserve because he could have, at some point, come back."

Colbert compared Parker's injury to San Diego fullback Lorenzo Neal's fractured fibula, which was broken Dec. 9. Neal is expected to play in tomorrow's AFC championship game.


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Life's reality setting in for Super SteelersSaturday, January 19, 2008 By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Are we getting old or what?

They're starting to die off a little more frequently, you know? The Super Steelers. It's frightening, really.

Ernie Holmes, who died Thursday night in a one-car accident in Texas, makes it nine from the Super Bowl teams of the 1970s who have died, joining Mike Webster, Ray Mansfield, Steve Furness, Jim Clack, Joe Gilliam, Steve Courson, Theo Bell and Ray Oldham. Holmes was 59, right around the same age, hard as it is to believe, as the many Hall of Famers -- Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert, etc. -- from that fabulous era.

Has it really been 33 years since they handed Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. the first of the four Super Bowl trophies that his team won in a glorious six-year period?

It just doesn't seem possible.

If the passing of Iron Mike Webster at 50 in 2002 from complications after a heart attack was shocking, so, too, was the death of Holmes. This was a man who was much too tough to go out so quickly, without so much as a good fight. He was pronounced dead at the scene after his car went off the road and rolled several times in Lumberton, Texas, about 80 miles from Houston.

Holmes wasn't just a charter member of the Steel Curtain defense, he might have been its most ferocious player. As nicknames go, "Fats" might not have been as terrifying as "Mean Joe" and "Jack Splat," but Holmes was every bit as intimidating as Greene and Lambert in the mid-1970s, before his eating and drinking eventually drove him out of the NFL after the 1978 season.

The only thing Holmes ate up in the 1974 AFC championship game was Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame guard Gene Upshaw. Holmes was immovable; think Casey Hampton from today's team. The Steelers won, 24-13, on a day they limited the Raiders to 29 rushing yards. Holmes was back at it two weeks later in Super Bowl IX, when the Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 16-6, holding them to 17 rushing yards and 119 total yards.

It helped that opposing players considered Holmes to be nuts, a maniac if you will. He scared them before he even got down in his stance. It wasn't so much the shape of an arrow that he had cut into his scalp, although that was truly bizarre, at least for that kinder, gentler, pre-Dennis Rodman, pre-Mike Tyson era. That was just good fun.

"It points me to the quarterback," he often said.

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It was an incident before the 1973 season that earned Holmes his unstable reputation. He snapped while driving on the Ohio Turnpike -- allegedly because of the breakup of his marriage -- and fired shots at trucks and then a hovering police helicopter. That was during a time when the Steelers were able to get him off with five years' probation and the promise that he would get help. He was admitted to Pittsburgh's Western Psychiatric Hospital.

"How long I got to stay here?" team broadcaster Myron Cope quotes Holmes in his book, "Double Yoi!" "All the people here are crazy."

A lot of people around the NFL back then would tell you Holmes fit right in. So, too, probably would Cope, who frequently told the story on the banquet circuit how Holmes, during the night before a road game, asked him to join him in the hotel bar for a Courvoisier.

"If Fats had said to me, 'Cope, let's go down to the bar and have an enema,' I'd be down there having an enema," Cope would say.

But if you could ask Cope, who's hospitalized in intensive care and battling serious health issues of his own, to rank his favorite Steelers, Holmes surely would be high on the list. The man was more a gentle giant than a menace, extremely popular among his teammates. Although they were wary at times of his mood swings and many feared him because of his brute strength, they grew to love him because they knew he had that soft side. Certainly, they weren't afraid to tease him.

The story from training camp not long after the helicopter shooting is legendary. One day at Latrobe, the players and coaches noticed a helicopter hovering nearby. The silence was deafening until linebacker Andy Russell piped up, "Easy, Fats. Easy."

It's a good thing for Russell that Holmes had a sense of humor. Holmes could have snapped him in two with his bare hands. Russell will tell you that.

It's safe to say Russell, Holmes and the other players laughed at that tale many times over during their many reunions. News of Holmes' death had to hit his teammates especially hard because he seemed happy and looked good -- he had lost weight -- when he returned to Pittsburgh this season for the Steelers' 75th anniversary celebration, even if he was disappointed that he wasn't named to their all-time team. He was an ordained minister in Texas.

The news reports said Holmes wasn't wearing a seat belt and was thrown from his vehicle. Who knows? At one point, he weighed well over 400 pounds. Maybe he stopped wearing a seat belt because he couldn't get one around him. He was such an enormous man, a giant both in girth and on the football field.

Now, Holmes is gone, and the rest of us are left to feel just a little bit older than we did before we heard the sad news.

Ron Cook can be reached at [email protected].


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Steel Curtain's Holmes 'a great guy, a class guy' By Mike Prisuta TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, January 19, 2008

Ernie "Fats" Holmes was distinguishable by the arrow he once shaved in his hair, infamous for once firing a pistol at trucks and a police helicopter on an unforgettable ride across the Ohio Turnpike, and legendary to those who played alongside him on the Steelers' fabled "Steel Curtain" defense in the 1970s.

Holmes, a two-time Super Bowl winner as a defensive tackle with the Steelers, died in a car crash Thursday night near Lumberton, Texas. He was 59.

"If you look at that Front Four, it probably wasn't noted, but the real tough intimidator was 'Fats' Holmes," former Steelers defensive back J.T. Thomas said. "We, as players, knew that. 'Fats' was the one that would hurt you."

Holmes always took charge, said former Steelers defensive tackle "Mean" Joe Greene, another member of the Front Four, along with defensive ends Dwight White and L.C. Greenwood.

"When times were tough on the field, you'd look at the people in the huddle, and when you looked at Ernie and saw his face, you always knew he was in the midst of the battle. You didn't see that look that suggested he wanted to be someplace else," Greene said.

A dispatcher with the Texas Department of Public Safety said Holmes was driving alone when his car left the roadway and rolled over several times, about 16 miles north of Beaumont in southeast Texas.

Police said Holmes wasn't wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

An ordained minister, Holmes lived on a ranch in Wiergate, Texas.

Greene said he saw Holmes "quite a bit" during the past 10 years because the former players often met for personal appearances. Holmes, he said, often carried a Bible and had started to pursue his lifelong dream of being a preacher.

"He'd never miss an opportunity to pray for us and our families, whenever we got together," Greene said. "Things were moving in the right direction. He was happy."

But before the 1973 season, Holmes appeared troubled and on the verge of

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spiraling out of control. While driving on the Ohio Turnpike he began firing a pistol at trucks and a police helicopter, and eventually wounded an officer during a chase through nearby woods.

He pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to five months' probation. He spent two months in a psychiatric hospital.

Holmes discussed the most publicized of his several runs afoul of the law in a Time Magazine cover story about the Steelers' Front Four published in December 1975.

"Three trucks tried to drive me off the road," he said. "It was all I needed to snap. ... I was considered stone crazy until the Super Bowl last year (1974). Now, I'm back on the bases."

Greenwood described Holmes as a strong-willed player who loved the physical aspect of football. He wants people to remember Holmes not as the character whose off-field escapades generated headlines but as a friendly, generous person.

Holmes, he said, loved his fans.

"Ernie was a very good person," Greenwood said. "... Ernie was a people person. He always liked people. ... It was so good to hear that Ernie had become a preacher and had turned his life around. That was pretty much an inspirational thing for all of us to see."

Thomas said Holmes once brought a gun to practice following a 35-35 tie in Denver in 1974. During that game, the Steelers' defensive players engaged in several heated arguments and exchanged threats with Broncos' players.

But one of Greene's most vivid recollections of Holmes paints a much different picture.

"I remember seeing him at one of our (Steelers) Christmas parties, dressed up like Santa Claus, handing out presents he'd bought out of his own funds for the kids," Greene said. "When I think about Ernie, I think about times like that."

Holmes came to the Steelers as a No. 8b pick from Texas Southern in 1971 and made the team in 1972.

Although he was named All-Pro in 1974 and 1975, Holmes never earned the notoriety afforded Greene, White and Greenwood.

In 1974, Holmes shaved his head but left a clump shaped as an arrow pointing forward.

"That was Ernie distinguishing himself," Thomas said. "He was pointing the way, signifying that he was leading the way. We understood in our hearts that he was.



"Ernie would often be pulled from practices because he was busting guys' heads open. ... That's the kind of intensity he had."

"Ernie just ran over people -- that was his way of approaching the game," Greenwood agreed. "He loved the physical part of the game. That's what he did, and he did it very successfully."

Holmes played with the Steelers until 1977, and finished his career with New England in 1978.

After football, Holmes had minor acting roles. He appeared in an episode of the 1980s TV show "The A-Team" and dabbled in professional wrestling.

Thomas and Greenwood recalled Holmes' seemingly endless fight to control his weight.

"To keep Ernie at 300 pounds was a challenge," Thomas said. "We'd leave training camp on a Saturday and have to be back by Sunday night. They'd weigh Ernie before he left, and after he came back. He'd be gone for about 18 hours and (former head coach) Chuck (Noll) would be screaming, 'How the hell did you gain a pound an hour?' "

During games, Thomas said, "A lot of times we'd have 10 of us in the huddle, and Ernie was on the ball telling the opponents what he was going to do to them. (Linebacker Jack) Lambert used to scream for him to get back in the huddle. Finally, he'd say, 'The hell with it; let him stay out there.' "

Holmes had a penchant for mangling the English language, he said.

"Ernie always loved to use big words. We were leaving a party late one night, walking back to his car in the snow. He looked at me and said, 'J.T., people don't understand me; I'm cannibalistic.' I had had a few beers in me, and I didn't know what to think. To this day, I never did find out what he thought 'cannibalistic' meant, but I know it was complimentary in his mind."

Perhaps Holmes' greatest game was the 1974 AFC Championship Game in Oakland. The Steelers held the Raiders to 29 rushing yards and advanced to their first Super Bowl.

"He let the guys across the field know it was going to be a tough day," Greene said. "He said it, and then he delivered.

"It was just us and the Raiders who were aware of what was happening. If you were standing where I was standing, or where L.C. Greenwood was standing, you heard what he said. Maybe if you were standing where (free safety) Mike Wagner was standing, you heard what he said.

"It was very specific. It was to the point."

That was Ernie "Arrowhead" Holmes.



"He was a great guy, a class guy," Thomas said. "Obviously, he had some situations early in his career, but you still loved Ernie. His calling was really a calling of faith. I wouldn't have thought that in 1973 or 1974."

The Tribune-Review's Sandy Tolliver and The Associated Press contributed to the story.

Mike Prisuta can be reached at [email protected] or 412-320-7923.

Images and text copyright © 2008 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.

Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent from PghTrib.com



Fans recall Holmes for play, good spirit By Rick Starr TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, January 19, 2008

Fans remembered Ernie "Fats" Holmes as a defensive lineman who didn't just play the game, but waged war in the pits from 1972-77 while helping the Steelers win their first two Super Bowls.

"He put fear in everybody," said Carl Vitti, 72, a season-ticket holder from Stanton Heights.

"When he was in the lineup, you knew the Steelers defense was going to be there that day," Vitti said. "I saw him play many games in person, and I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the line when Ernie was in there."

Holmes died in a car crash Thursday night near Lumberton, Texas. He was 59.

A two-time Pro Bowler, Holmes said after his retirement that he never received his share of credit for his role on the star-studded "Steel Curtain" defense.

At Ike's Barber Shop on East Ohio Street on Friday, Holmes was remembered for more than being one of the toughest tackles in team history.

"I liked him as a person," said Tom Harrison, 73, a 50-year resident of the North Side. "He had a good spirit. I didn't call them the Steel Curtain. I called them the Iron Curtain because they were men of iron."

Feared for his strength and ability to find the ball in traffic, Holmes lined up next to 10-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Famer Joe Greene during an era when every star had a nickname.

The quartet -- Ernie "Fats" Holmes, "Mean" Joe Greene, L.C. "Hollywood Bags" Greenwood and Dwight "Mad Dog" White -- not only won the hearts of Steelers fans, they wound up on the cover of Time magazine early in their Super Bowl run.

For a two- or three-year span, some felt Holmes was the best of the bunch.

Looking out from behind his facemask, with his eyes as narrow as slits, Holmes, who wore No. 63, had a fearsome presence. He once held a pro football reporter about a foot off the ground so he could lecture him while looking him in the eye.

Page 1 of 2Fans recall Holmes for play, good spirit - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Practices were intense, and Holmes credited Hall of Fame center Mike Webster for getting him ready to play on Sundays.

"Easy, Fats, easy," more than one teammate said to Holmes while heading off potential trouble.

"Around the locker room, you could say Ernie was well-feared," said Al Vento, 80, of Vento's Pizza in East Liberty.

Vento had rare access to the Steelers locker room after he and Tony Stagno founded Franco's Italian Army in the early 1970s.

It's the brighter side of Holmes' personality that Vento vividly recalled.

"He was a fun guy," Vento said. "In a lot of ways, he was the spark of that group. Despite all the stories, he was very well-liked by his teammates.

"Ernie was the guy everybody depended on for laughter in the dressing room," he said.

Holmes made no secret of his dislike for former coach Chuck Noll's military-style approach to training camp. Holmes was almost impossible to block for 5 yards around the line of scrimmage, but probably couldn't run a 40-yard dash in six seconds. Running before and after practice wasn't what he did best.

It says something about Holmes' impact on the team, however, that Noll and team president (now chairman) Dan Rooney testified as character witnesses when Holmes went on trial for firing a shotgun at a police helicopter.

Holmes had gained a considerable amount of weight and walked with the use of a cane during his last visit to Pittsburgh in 2003.

He described his knees as bone rubbing against bone, and said he suffered from constant headaches, all a result of his playing days.

"Ernie probably didn't get the notoriety he deserved," Vento said. "But he was like a lot of the guys on that defense. They changed the whole concept of football."

Rick Starr can be reached at [email protected] or 724-226-4691.

Images and text copyright © 2008 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.

Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent from PghTrib.com

Page 2 of 2Fans recall Holmes for play, good spirit - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Column: Holmes was finally getting life in order By Mike Bires, Times Sports Staff

It was with immense sadness Friday that the Pittsburgh Steelers learned that Ernie Holmes was dead at age 59. Sadness not only because a former Super Bowl hero had lost his life, but also because a man haunted by so many demons over the years died just when it seemed that he had finally put his life in order.

“It was nothing short of a miracle,” Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Blount said of the turnaround the often-troubled Holmes made before dying Thursday night when he rolled his SUV in southeast Texas. “I’m so happy that at some point in his life, he got his life together.” Of all the legendary Steelers of the glorious Super Bowl era in the 1970s, it was Holmes, that massive right defensive tackle of “Steel Curtain” fame, who was the most volatile. He literally and figuratively lived life on the edge. Thirty-two years ago, when Time magazine featured the Steelers’ famous front four on its cover, Holmes admitted that “I don’t know what my life is except there is something pounding in the back of my head.” Sadly, demons probably haunted “Fats” for much of his life. To be sure, he’ll always be remembered as one fourth of that fabulous foursome that also included Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood and Dwight White. Like Holmes, they all had nicknames — “Mean Joe,” “Hollywood Bags” and “Mad Dog.” Unfortunately, Holmes’ accomplishments have always been and may always be overshadowed by his dubious off-the-field troubles. He’s the guy who was so distraught over the break up of his marriage in 1973 that he started firing a pistol at trucks on a highway in eastern Ohio and then at a police helicopter that was chasing him. At that point in his career, the Steelers could have easily severed ties with Holmes, one of the team’s two eighth-round picks in the 1971 NFL Draft. Instead, the Rooney family and coach Chuck Noll stood by Holmes. They served as character witnesses on Holmes’ behalf and managed to get him off without having to do any jail time. Diagnosed with acute paranoid psychosis, Holmes spent two months in Western Psychiatric Institute. But he returned to the Steelers that summer and solidified his starting job. He remained a starter through the 1976 season. But when he struggled to maintain his weight and level of play, he was replaced in the starting lineup in ’77 by Steve Furness, who was also since passed away. In May of ‘78, the Steelers traded Holmes to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 10th- and 11th-round draft picks. He was cut by the Bucs, played three games with the New England Patriots that season and then called it a career. Until recently, Holmes was rarely seen in Pittsburgh over the years. In fact, team officials often didn’t even have an updated telephone number for him. He was an admitted alcoholic who also battled substance abuse. Four years ago when he returned for the Mel Blount Youth Home Celebrity Roast, he weighed close to 400 pounds and walked with a cane.

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But two years ago, Holmes did reunite with Greene, Greenwood and White to film a “Chunky” soup commercial. All things considered, he looked great. And this past November, Holmes was back in town to serve as one of the honorary co-captains before the Steelers’ game with the Cleveland Browns. On that day, Holmes said he was an ordained minister living near the southeast border of Texas. “I am into my spiritual being,” he said. On that Nov. 11 day at Heinz Field, Holmes did indeed look like he had his life in order. But now, his life is over. We can only hope that he’s at peace. Mike Bires can be reached online at [email protected]

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LUMBERTON, Texas (AP) — Ernie Holmes settled into a quiet life as a preacher in rural Texas after his "stone crazy" days with Pittsburgh's "Steel Curtain" defenses.

Holmes, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Steelers, died Thursday night after his car left a road and rolled several times near Lumberton, about 80 miles from Houston, a Texas Department of Public Safety dispatcher said. He was 59.

Holmes, driving alone and not wearing a seat belt, was ejected and died at the scene, the department said.

The Steelers remembered him as a devastating and intimidating force on a defense full of them. He also had his moments off the field.

Holmes told Time magazine in 1975 that he was "stone crazy," mostly because of a case early in his career when he pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon following a bizarre episode in which he fired a pistol at trucks and a police helicopter. He was sentenced to five years' probation.

"Ernie was an original. He was out there," said former Steelers receiver Lynn Swann, a teammate on Super Bowl-winning teams following the 1974 and '75 seasons. "In today's environment, he may have spent a few hours in the commissioner's office."

Nicknamed "Fats" for most of his life, Holmes played for the Steelers from 1972-77 before being released because of ongoing weight problems and spent part of the 1978 season with New England before retiring.

He was part of a famous front four that included "Mean" Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood and Dwight White.

"Ernie was one of the toughest players to ever wear a Steelers uniform," Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said in a statement. "At his best, he was an intimidating player who even the toughest of opponents did not want to play against."

Holmes, who was about 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds during his career but weighed as much as 400 after he retired, also told Time he was attracted to the violence of football.

"I don't mind knocking somebody out," Holmes said. "If I hear a moan and a groan coming from a player I've hit, the adrenaline flows within me. I get more energy and play harder."

After football, Holmes had minor acting roles. He appeared in an episode of the 1980s TV show "The A-Team" and dabbled in professional wrestling.

Eventually, though, he settled down on a ranch near tiny Wiergate, a town of 461 close to the Louisiana border. He was an ordained minister, had his own church and told the Steelers he was a more "spiritual being."

The Steelers took note of the difference in Holmes at reunions and autograph shows. Former linebacker Andy Russell said Holmes had taken "meaningful steps in improving his life" and seemed to be a "much more thoughtful kind of person."

"Ernie seemed to be doing well in recent years and was always one of our most popular players whenever he returned to Pittsburgh for team events," Rooney said. "Our prayers go out to Ernie's family and loved ones. He will be missed by the entire Steelers family."

Greene, the Hall of Fame lineman who played beside Holmes, recalled the two sides of Holmes.

To motivate his teammates, Holmes purposefully strayed into the Raiders' warmups to tell star lineman Gene Upshaw before the January 1976 AFC championship game what the Steelers would do to him and Oakland. The Steelers went on to win 24-13. But at a team Christmas party, Holmes surprised everyone by dressing up like Santa Claus and handing out toys.

"I don't recall anybody telling him to do that," Greene said. "That was Ernie."

White said he was in "deep grief" Friday.

"Ernie was a very colorful person that you couldn't help but like off the football field — a little different on the field as we well know," White said. "Ernie had gotten into the ministry and ... was a true inspiration to Joe, L.C., and myself when we were together. You know, it's all about where

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you end up, and Ernie blossomed into an individual that I respected, admired and will miss."

Holmes, drafted out of Texas Southern, was part of a defense that held Minnesota to 17 yards rushing and 119 total yards in the 1975 Super Bowl. The Steelers won their first title, 16-10. They were back a year later, beating Dallas 21-17 for the championship.

The 1976 Steelers defense was one of the best in NFL history, shutting out five opponents — three in a row — during a nine-game, season-ending winning streak. The Steelers allowed only 28 points during those nine games, an average of slightly more than a field goal per game.

"He was devastating and would just destroy the opponent across from him," Russell said. "Sometimes I had to remind him to tackle the guy with the pigskin. He was a brilliant player. He played all with his heart."

He used his head, too. Besides "Fats," he was also known as "Arrowhead" because in 1974 he shaved his head, leaving only an arrow-shaped pattern of hair on his skull.

"I asked him, 'What the hell did you do that for?"' longtime Steelers director of communications Joe Gordon said. "We were getting ready to play the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium. He said, 'That's to point me to the quarterback.'

"He had a split personality. He was a maniac on the field and a teddy bear off it. But he was a terrific guy."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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A complicated soul

Holmes' fierce demeanor hid a charming underbelly Posted: Friday January 18, 2008 6:49PM; Updated: Saturday January 19, 2008 1:44AM

Once I saw Ernie Holmes pick up a sportswriter by the shirt and hold him, with one hand, against the wall while he lectured the poor guy on the finer points of covering the Steelers. There were people who were scared to death of him, others who didn't want to have anything to do with him, still others who liked him as you would a big, galloping Great Dane puppy.

Count me among the last group ... well, not exactly, because there was always the underlying fear of the unknown with Ernie. You never knew when he would go off.

He died Thursday night at 59 when his car went off the highway and flipped. Many people thought he'd never make it that far, but his former teammates were happy that he seemed to have gotten his life together and was attending Steelers alumni functions.

"He's a reverend now, and he does work with kids," former Pittsburgh linebacker Andy Russell told me a few years ago. "That seems just right for him because he always liked kids."

And, for some reason, Ernie seemed to get a kick out of me, the idea that here I was coming all the way from New York, just to hang out in the Steelers locker room and talk to him. Even after that incident when he pinned the writer to the wall, he turned, saw me, dropped the guy and gave me a big smile. His eyes, which appeared almost shut to begin with, got narrower, the broader his smile got, and now they were just about shut.

"Ah, there he is," he said, "my man from New York."

The world discovered that the 6-foot-3, 280-pound Holmes, who one can safely say was the most feared member of the Steel Curtain defense of the 1970s, was a bit unbalanced when he made headlines by firing his pistol at trucks on the highway. Traffic made him nervous, he explained later. Besides, he said he was careful not to aim at people, just vehicles. When a police helicopter arrived on the scene, he turned his fire skyward.

He was hauled off to prison, and both Chuck Noll the coach, and Dan Rooney, the president, went down to the jail that night. They made a strong case for him. They got his sentence suspended, with a provision that he undergo psychiatric treatment, which he did. When's the last time the coach and team president went down to the jail where one of their players was being held?

The always intense Ernie Holmes helped scare his Steelers to a pair of Super Bowl titles in 1975 and '76. Walter Iooss Jr./SI

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Anyway, it gives you a good idea of how important "Fats" Holmes was to their defense. He rejoined the team, and ironically, he was the only Steel Curtain Steeler who never made the Pro Bowl.

"Nobody would line up against him in practice," said Tom Keating, a former Raiders defensive tackle who joined the Steelers for a year in '73, the year before they began their Super Bowl run.

"I got a tremendous kick out of him. I remember one day at practice, a helicopter flew over the field. Ernie stopped and looked up, and this big smile came over his face.

"Looks just like the one I brought down," he said.

Woody Widenhofer, who coached the linebackers, said there were days when Ernie was just as good as Joe Greene. Noll scoffed at the idea that Holmes never earned any kind of All-Pro recognition.

"You want to know how good he was, how tough?" Noll said. "Take a look at the way the guy who had to play against him looks, coming off the field after the game -- if he was able to finish it."

I remember Picture Day before the '76 Super Bowl. Ernie grabbed me and said he wanted to explain what the game meant to him. I took six pages of notes in my 5 x 8 spiral. I didn't understand any of them. I am looking at them right now, and I still don't know what they mean.

"You think I don't care, it's like two iguanas climbing up a tree, which one gets higher, they want to piss on you, I'm not going to let them ..." and on and on, for six pages.

Well, I hope he found some kind of peace toward the end of his life. He was like a big kid. You felt almost protective about him -- but not too closely.

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Ernie Holmes latest of former Steelers players deaths since 2000 21 hours ago

PITTSBURGH - Some were accidental, some were tragic and others were inexplicable.

For some reason, former Pittsburgh Steelers players keep dying at an alarming rate, one that appears to be far higher than that for other NFL teams.

Former star defensive lineman Ernie Holmes' death in an auto accident Thursday night in Texas was at least the 34th death of a former Steelers player since 2000, with 16 of them age 59 or younger, as was Holmes.

Several of those who died are known to have used steroids, including former offensive guard Steve Courson - the first NFL player to reveal he used them. He died by accident in November 2005 following years of heart problems. Several others were long rumoured to have used steroids, although there has been no definitive proof they did.

Of those Steelers deaths, eight were in their 50s, five were in their 40s and two were in their 30s.

As with all NFL teams that joined the league in its early days - the Steelers concluded their 75th season earlier this month - Pittsburgh has lost nearly all of the players from its early teams. Five of the 34 who died since 2000 were in their 80s.

But it is the unusually high number of deaths among players who are relatively young that is uncommon. In 2006, a Los Angeles Times survey found that nearly one-fifth of the NFL players from the 1970s and 1980s who had died since 2000 were former Steelers.

"I can't explain it," longtime Steelers executive Joe Gordon said Friday. "Maybe it was something in the water."

Seven of the 34 died of heart problems before reaching their 60s: Hall of Fame centre Mike Webster (50), centre Jim Clack (58), defensive back Ray Oldham (54), defensive back Dave Brown (52), defensive lineman Steve Furness (49), quarterback Joe Gilliam (49) and offensive guard Tyrone McGriff (41).

Remarkably, all three of the regular centres from their Super Bowl days of the 1970s are dead: Webster, Clack and Ray Mansfield, who died of a heart attack at age 55 in 1996. Webster made the Pro Bowl nine times with Pittsburgh.

Webster had a series of medical problems after his career ended - some traceable to damage to the front lobe of his brain that occurred during 16 seasons' worth of violent collisions.

Despite playing on one of the best NFL teams of all time, both Webster and Gilliam were homeless at times before dying. Gilliam had cocaine and heroin problems and was once found sleeping in a cardboard box under a bridge in Nashville.

Terry Long, a post-Super Bowl era guard who underwent a dramatic and unusually fast weight gain while in college and the NFL, committed suicide 2 1/2 years ago at age 45 by drinking antifreeze. He tested positive for steroids while playing and once tried earlier to commit suicide by ingesting rat poison.

Justin Strzelczyk, a Steelers lineman from 1990-99, died following a high-speed chase with police on the New York Thruway in 2004. His truck crashed with a tanker truck while he was driving on the wrong side of the road.

Linebacker David Little died at age 46 after also having heart problems. He died while lifting weights when the loaded bar dropped onto his chest and neck, causing him to suffocate.

Other Steelers players deaths since 2000, their cause of death, if known, and ages at the time of death:

Courson (home accident, crushed by fallen tree, age 50), wide receiver Theo Bell (kidney and skin diseases, 52), defensive lineman John Baker (stroke, other health problems, 72), quarterback Ed Brown (prostate cancer, 78), lineman Leo Nobile (kidney failure, 84), defensive lineman Ernie Stautner (Alzheimer's disease and other medical problems, 80), defensive back Johnny Sample (heart disease, 67), quarterback Bobby Gage (heart attack, 77).

Running back Bob Ferguson (diabetes, other health problems, 64), linebacker Bob Schmitz (apparent heart attack, 65), wide receiver Gary Ballman (undisclosed reasons, 63), offensive

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tackle James Parrish (cancer, 35), linebacker Fred Small (auto accident, 39), defensive lineman Frank "Pop" Ivy (natural causes, age 87), wide receiver Ron Shanklin (cancer, age 54), kick returner Billy Reynolds (died shortly after hip replacement surgery, age 71).

Running back Leon "Muscles" Campbell (undisclosed reasons, 75), running back Fran Rogel (Parkinson's disease, other health problems, 74), running back Joe Geri (various health problems, 78), running back Bob Cifers (natural causes, 80), wide receiver Sam Boyd (natural causes, 86), tackle Billy Ray Smith (cancer, 66) and offensive-defensive back Lowell Perry (cancer, 69).

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Remembering Ernie 'Fats' Holmesprod.static.steelers.clubs.nfl.com/assets/images/... · Holmes fell asleep at the wheel. Mr. Holmes, an ordained minister, lived on a ranch in Wiergate