As the Steelers were set to host another big-time matchup Sunday against Cincinnati at Acrisure Stadium, appreciation emanated from behind the scenes for those who make it all happen. And have made it happen, week in and week out, year in and year out.
Because this Week 3 AFC North collision is also the Steelers' Hall of Honor game, formally inducting the Class of 2026 — former general manager Kevin Colbert, cornerback J.T. Thomas and offensive lineman and broadcaster Craig Wolfley — with a halftime enshrinement ceremony.
"This kind of solidifies the foundation of what the Rooney family is all about," said Thomas, a first-round draft pick in 1973 out of Florida State, by way of Macon, Ga. "I had an opportunity to spend a lot of time with The Chief, riding around … learning a lot about him.
"That legacy carried and transferred to Art [Rooney II]. Art is walking that same story. After all these years, the same traditions, same respect, same dignity, the integrity that I experienced in 1973."
Thomas was floored — not quite speechless, he admitted, but as close as he can come with his loquacious tendencies — when team president Art Rooney II presented him Friday night with a ring for Super Bowl XIII. That was a season Thomas missed with an injury.
He made it back for the following year, when the Steelers won their fourth Super Bowl, but in the meantime he had done some scouting work. Rooney realized Thomas' contributions had slipped through the cracks that season, and made it right during this special weekend.
Thomas was doing some unofficial scouting during that 1978 campaign, but a little more than 20 years later, Colbert was heading up the scouting department for the Steelers. It was a serendipitous path that led him to working for his hometown team, and as he's immortalized in franchise lore, he reflected on that route to leading the front office in Pittsburgh.
"I probably would've been coaching at the high school level, but the Rooney family used to give high school coaches part-time jobs in scouting," Colbert explained. "A lot of those coaches went on to become pro scouts. Jack Butler would hire them through Art Rooney Jr. and Ron Hughes, my high school football coach, was one of those folks. Ron got me involved, and that's how it ended up happening. I would've been in sports somewhere, somehow."
Instead he ended up building teams for one of the most storied organizations in all of sports. Colbert didn't help acquire Thomas or Wolfley, but they all are cut from the same cloth when it comes to fitting in as Steelers.
Wolfley, who died of liver cancer in 2025, loved it here so much that when his Pittsburgh playing tenure ended in 1989, he played a couple of seasons with Minnesota before coming back to his adopted home. A native of Orchard Park, N.Y., Wolfley poured his professional self into the Steelers Radio Network from 2002 until his final days.
"The Steelers, they were everything" for him, said Wolfley's wife, Faith. "Craig always said, 'The Steelers, they're just first class. They set the standard. They don't just set the standard on the field and by the players, but behind the scenes, what they do in the offices, what Mr. Rooney and the Steelers do for the players and their families. Never needing accolades, never needing recognized, they just help people in a way that no one ever knows.' That's just amazing that we are a part of that family."
