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Plenty of strange Super Bowl stories have surfaced over the decades, and that definitely includes the tale of a random guy who snuck into the locker room to shower with the Steelers after they won The Big Game.
Sports fans live vicariously through the teams they decide to pledge their allegiance to, and when you devote enough time and money to the squads you live and die with, it’s hard not to feel like you’re a part of them even though you know you don’t really play a role in their successes and failures.
I think most fans are aware it’s objectively stupid to be emotionally invested in the results of a game to the point where a particularly brutal loss can put you in a terrible mood for days on end, but most people who sign up for that experience are still willing to subject themselves to the lowest of the lows in the hopes of getting to experience the highest of the highs.
If you’ve ever gotten the chance to take in the electric atmosphere of a championship parade or have been lucky enough to see your team win a title in person, you know it’s hard to top the feeling that comes with sharing that euphoric moment with the players who made it possible.
However, one guy who was presumably a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers really took things to another level.
A random Steelers fan showered with the team after they won Super Bowl XIII
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The Steelers had already won a couple of championships in the 1970s when they earned the right to face off against the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII in 1979, and they were looking to end the decade on a high note when they headed down to Miami.
Dallas was hoping to defend its title against a Pittsburgh squad that headed into the contest as 3.5-point favorites, and the Cowboys found themselves on the ropes when what had been a pretty tight contest turned into a borderline blowout when the Steelers took a 35-17 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Roger Staubach did what he could to mount a comeback, and while he helmed a couple of touchdown drives, they weren’t enough to stop the Steelers from walking away with the 35-31 victory.
In 2010, Steve Sabol—one of the men who helped get NFL Films off of the ground—spoke to The Los Angeles Times about the scene inside the Steelers locker room after the game and relayed a tale about a “a pasty-white little bald guy” who apparently stuck out like a sore thumb.
The man in question “had gotten into the locker room, taken off all his clothes, and was in there showering with the players” even though it was pretty obvious he wasn’t one of the people who’d just spent a few hours spilling their blood and sweat on the gridiron.
Sabol said “Mean” Joe Greene told him he had no idea who the rogue showerer was, and even though he bore no resemblance to Larry Brown—”a 6-foot-4, 260-pound, big, muscular African American guy”—he had no reservations about sitting down the player’s locker to field some questions from reporters who eventually realized something was amiss.
It seems like the party crasher knew he’d overstayed his welcome, as Sabol said he put his clothes back on and made his way out of the locker room before disappearing into the night.
His identity remains a mystery to this day.