The Grim Reaper continued his relentless run through the month of February by claiming the life of former Pittsburgh Steeler Jim "Cannonball" Butler last week at the age of 70.
If you are a Steelers fan under the age of fifty or so, your only memories of the Steelers are of a team that has a glorious history in the Super Bowl Era and is a perennial playoff, if not Super Bowl, contender. However, if you are an old gink like me, you know that the prior to the hiring of Chuck Noll and the drafting of Joe Greene, the Steelers were more often than not, perennial doormats in the NFL, and it was guys like Cannonball Butler that came to symbolize the general ineptitude that surrounded the Steelers in those days.
The obituary in the Post-Gazette the other day emphasized the one play that pretty much epitomized Butler's tenure with the Steelers. When running on to the field late to get in position in punt formation, Butler ran in front of the punter and was hit by the center's snap to the punter. A botched play that I have never seen happen in a football game in the fifty or so years since it happened that day at Pitt Stadium. And, yes, I can say that I was in attendance at Pitt Stadium that day and saw this play unfold. No jumbo-trons at Pitt Stadium back then to enable us to see a replay of this epic play. Probably a good thing.
After spending three seasons with the Steelers, Butler played five seasons in Atlanta and made the Pro Bowl in 1969 while playing for the Falcons. In fact, the obit in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution refers to him as "former Falcons great, Cannon Butler".
RIP Jim "Cannonball" Butler.
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