Ben Roethlisberger Biography

In the era of the big quarterback, no one is bigger than Ben Roethlisberger. Without question, the Pittsburgh play-caller has the physique, confidence and Super Bowl résumé to warrant the nickname "Big Ben." Off the field may be another matter. There, he has a tendency to be a big jerk. Indeed, the leadership qualities Ben exudes between the sidelines are often absent out in the real world. In spite of his transgressions, he has managed to find the unconditional love that eluded Terry Bradshaw in the Steel City. As any Steelers fan will tell you, Ben is a big-time talent who comes up huge when it matters most. This is his story…

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GROWING UP
Benjamin Roethlisberger was born in Findlay, Ohio on March 2, 1982. parents, Ida and Ken, were struggling wit their marriage when Ben entered the world. The two divorced when he was 18 months. His dad got custody, with Ida taking him on alternate weekends. Ken soon remarried. Ben got along well with his stepmother, Brenda. A sister, Carlee, came along later.
When Ben was eight, Ida was involved in a car accident. Waiting to be picked up by her, he was shooting baskets when the news was delivered. Kept alive for several weeks, Ida never regained consciousness. Her family decided to end her suffering and told doctors to let her go.
Ben rarely talks about this episode but acknowledges Ida by pointing to heaven after every touchdown. By the time she passed away, he was referring to Brenda as "Mom," so the adjustment to life without his biologocal mother was not as hard as it is for most kids in this situation.
Findlay, a working-class suburb of 40,000 about an hour south of Toledo, had a real hometown feel to it. In fact, the town's eventual mayor, Tony Iriti, was Ben's football coach in the fifth and sixth grade. Iriti later became a volunteer assistant at Findlay High School.
Ben was a bright, happy kid despite his parents’ breakup and his mother's tragic death. He was a good student and an excellent athlete. His heroes were John Elway (whenever he could snag Elway’s number 7 in any sport, he did—all the way up to the NFL) and Joe Montana, though basketball was his best sport. Ben inherited his athletic abilty from his dad. Ken was a student-athlete at Georgia Tech in the 1970s, playing quarterback and shortstop for the Yellow Jackets.

Ben was a big movie buff. He particularly enjoyed James Bond films, and in junior high he decided he wanted to be a secret agent—or at least an FBI agent—when he grew up. That is, after his NBA career was done. Ben’s undisputed #1 sport by his teen years—and his consuming passion—was hoops.
Tall and well-coordinated, Ben understood the rhythm of basketball and could think two passes ahead when other boys were still thinking about dribbling. When he entered Findlay High in 1996, he quickly won a starting role on the varsity hoops team, took over the point-guard job, and ultimately set the school’s career scoring record. Ben also became the Trojans' varsity shortstop and was a dependable .300 hitter with good range and a nice arm. He captained the Findlay squads in both sports, and made All-League and All-District teams.
Ben was also a pretty fair football player. As a freshman or sophomore, he played on the varsity as a reserve quarterback, displaying a strong and accurate arm in practice, but did not get into any games. He seemed ready to lead the varsity as a junior, but still rode the bench. The first stringer was Ryan Hite, whose father, Cliff, was Findlay’s coach. Hite ended up playing Division-III ball for Denison—ironically, as a receiver—but was an excellent quarterback for Findlay. He led the school to the league title in 1998.

Ben always envisioned himself as a quarterback and knew the job would be up for grabs in his senior season. That kept him interested in football. Otherwise he would have skipped his final year to concentrate on winning a Division-I hoops scholarship.
The summer before the 1999 season, Ben and some friends attended a summer camp on the campus of the University of Miami (Ohio). A RedHawks assistant spotted Ben tossing the ball around and alerted head coach Terry Hoeppner. He was furious that a local kid with that much talent did not appear on any recruiting sheets in their office until he discovered the young man had never taken a snap. Hoeppner made a note to follow Ben’s progress back in Findlay.
Ben could hardly believe how easily quarterbacking came to him. He threw for six touchdowns in his first start for Findlay. Miami of Ohio offered him a full scholarship the next day.

When Ben arived on campus in Oxford in August of 2000, he realized he had a lot of learning and growing to do. Ben weighed just 185 pounds, and quarterback was still a relatively new position to him. He watched his first season from the sidelines as a redshirt while he bulked up.

Ben’s debut for the RedHawks came against Michigan in Ann Arbor in September. With 100,000 bloodthirsty fans exhorting the Wolverines, he held his own under a brutal pass rush. At one point, Ben broke his nose on uncalled spear, which gave him a slight concussion, but he stayed in the game. After Michigan opened a 10-0 lead, Ben connected with Eddie Tillitz for a 21-yard touchdown. The RedHawks kept the game close into the fourth quarter, but a scoring pass was nullified by a holding call and then Ben threw an interception in the end zone. Michigan scored twice to take a 31-6 lead, and won 31-13. Ben connected on a meaningless touchdown with eight seconds left.
Named conference Player of the Week three times, Ben also passed for five touchdowns against Ohio University, in a week when he wasn’t honored. By season's end, he led all freshman quarterbacks in nearly every statistical category.
Perhaps the highlight of Ben’s season was a game-winning 70-yard Hail Mary pass to Tillitz against Akron. The play was called “Big Ben.” and from that day on so was he.
Although he had a year of college eligibility remaining, Ben felt there was little left to prove in college ball. Winning the MAC title was his primary objective with Miami, and now that he had accomplished that goal, he decided to enter the NFL draft and begin his pro career.
At the February scouting combine, Ben opened a lot of eyes. Compared to other MAC players, he had looked big and fast. Next to the top NCAA talent, he looked just as big and just as fast. He also impressed teams with his personality. He took he game seriously, but also showed he could relax and enjoy his situation. This quality was filed under the intangibles category—an important one for prospective quarterbacks.
As the 2004 draft approached, Ben believed he was the best quarterback coming out of college. Although Eli Manning and Philip Rivers got more ink—and were ultimately selected ahead of him—a lot of scouts agreed with the 22-year-old. That included the Green Bay Packers, who wanted Ben as a protege for Brett Favre. They held the 24th pick, but he wouldn't last that long.

The Steelers—who hadn’t selected a passer in the first round since 1970—were pleased to find Ben on the board for the 11th pick. Pittsburgh was confident that he would be an NFL-ready backup to starter Tommy Maddox, especially after a summer of total immersion in the club’s run-oriented playbook.

Ben’s first exhibition action came in a 38-3 win over the Houston Texans. He zipped the ball around the field and led three long scoring drives. Demonstrating poise and patience, he made something out of nothing on a couple of occasions and avoided major mistakes.

As Ben soon demonstrated, however, he was nothing like your average NFL rookie—although his first start, on the road against a superb Miami defense, started disastrously. On his first play from scrimmage, Ben forced a sideline pass to Kreider that went right into the hands of cornerback Patrick Surtain of the Dolphins. The collective response on the Pittsburgh sideline was a big “Oh No.” Then it started raining (thanks to the tail end of Hurricane Jeanne), which only added to the anxiety. A classic rookie el-foldo seemed to be in the making. But Ben held it together, and the Pittsburgh defense kept the Dolphins out of the end zone. A fourth-quarter touchdown pass by Ben sealed a 13-3 victory. Pittsburgh was 2-1, and doctors said Maddox was only four or five weeks away from returning.
In Ben’s fourth start, against the Cowboys, the Steelers trailed 20-10 in the fourth quarter. Ben produced an impressive scoring drive to cut the deficit to 20-17, and then got the ball back and drove again into Dallas territory. As the two-minute warning approached, Pittsburgh crossed up the Cowboys with a pair of pass plays. Ben completed both, and three rushes later Pittsburgh had the win. That was the game that convinced Ben's teammates they had a special player. Dallas coach Bill Parcells was also a believer. He compared Ben to Dan Marino after the contest.
Initially, the Steelers simplified their playbook for Ben. More runs were called than with Maddox, and Ken Whisenhunt, Cowher’s first-year offensive coordinator, focused a lot on play-action passes. That gave Ben an extra second of protection and only a couple of receivers to choose from. But after the Dallas win, it was starting to dawn on Whisenhunt that Ben could probably handle a lot more. By November, he bgean entrusting his rookie passer with the option to call multiple audibles at the line. As Ben got a better feel for the league and saw how many playmakers he had to work with, his game continued to flourish.

With the exception of the Dallas game, Ben rarely had to make do-or-die plays for the Steelers. That changed against the Jacksonville Jaguars, as Pittsburgh trailed 16-14 with time running out. The team turned to Ben to engineer a clutch drive, and he came through, putting the Steelers within field-goal range in the final seconds for a 17-16 victory. He was 14 of 17 for 221 yards on the day, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Steelers drew the New York Jets in their playoff opener. The two teams had met earlier in the year, with Pittsburgh gutting out a 16-6 win at home. The big question heading into the contest was whether Ben could handle the pressure of his post-season debut. He opened the game looking shaky, but the Pittsburgh defense stepped up, and the Steelers grabbed a 10-0 lead.

Ben emerged as a team leader in the offseason when he convinced Bettis to un-retire and play one more year. The young quarterback promised the Bus he would lead him to his first Super Bowl. At times, it looked like Ben wouldn’t make it, even if the Steelers did. He was bothered by knee problems and had to sit out four games. When Ben was healthy, he was effective, guiding the team to nine victories. He finished third in the conference behind Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer in quarterback rating. Ben’s final numbers were 168 completions in 268 attempts for 2,385 yards and 17 touchdowns. He rallied the Steelers to three fourth-quarter comebacks.
Despite his leadership and clutch playmaking, there were still questions about Ben’s inexperience as Pittsburgh returned to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1990s. Their opponent, the Seattle Seahawks, was not an overly physical team. Like the Steelers, they were fast on defense, which the experts figured would give Ben problems.
Ben's numbers were nothing to brag about, but he could now claim the mantle as the youngest winning quarterback in Super Bowl history.
With a great defense and a confident young quarterback, Steeler fans were crowing about a new Pittsburgh dynasty during the off-season—until news of the unthinkable hit the airwaves. Ben was involved in a serious motorcycle crash and suffered multiple injuries, including a broken nose, a broken jaw and a ruptured blood vessel that could have killed him. He was not wearing a helmet at the time. Some questioned whether Ben would ever be the same again. He healed in time to join the team in training camp, but was then felled by appendicitis.
Ben missed the season opener and was rusty upon his return. He finally got it going in Week 6, but against the Atlanta Falcons the following Sunday, Patrick Kerney nailed him. Ben wobbled to the sidelines with a concussion. He returned to the lineup and continued his up-and-down play. Because the Steelers often trailed in games, Ben was asked to throw the ball a lot more than in years past. This resulted in a career-high 3,513 passing yards, but also 23 interceptions
Naturally, questions surrounded Ben as he began his fourth NFL season. By all measures, 2006 had been a disappointment. In 2007, he showed he was a big-time NFL passer. Ben began the season with four scoring strikes on opening day and finished it with a team-record 32. The highlight of the year came against the stingy Ravens in Week 9. Ben tossed five touchdown passes andscored a perfect 158.3 QB rating in a 38–7 victory.

The following week, Ben showed his cool under pressure. With the Steelers trailing Cleveland by 15 points, he engineered a thrilling comeback that was capped off by a 30-yard TD scramble to win the game. In Week 16, he posted his second perfect QB rating of the year against the St. Louis Rams.
The Steelers needed every last big play from their quarterback. Their defense was undependable at times, as witnessed by four gut-wrenching losses in games when Ben had led them back from double-digit deficits. Still, Pittsburgh made the playoffs, and Ben earned his first Pro Bowl selection
In a Week 10 showdown with the Colts, Ben tried to play through the pain of a sore shoulder and was miserable for the third game in a row. He had stated on many occasions that he was not an “I Guy,” meaning that win or lose, the Steelers were a team. He made an exception after the Colts game, telling reporters, “I lost this game.”
The defeat proved to be a turning point, as Ben got healthy and reeled off victories in six of Pittsburgh's final seven games to finish 12–4. He did so from ahead, behind, in good weather and in the muck. His comeback victory against the Cowboys in early December was the 49th win of his career—the most ever by a quarterback in his first five seasons. Pittsburgh's only late-season loss was to the TennesseeTitans. In that game, Ben threw his first interception in 131 attempts—the longest streak of his career.
The game that had everyone holding their breath was the finale, against the Browns. The Steelers won in a 31–0 rout. For 15 minutes at the end of the second quarter, however, Ben lay on the field following a sandwich hit by Willie McGinest and D'Qwell Jackson. He was diagnosed with a spinal cord concussion. He would have two weeks to rest before he took the field again.

Pittsburgh's game plan against the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII was fairly simple. On defense, the Steelers hoped to pressure Kurt Warner and limit Larry Fitzgerald's opportunities to make game-changing plays. On offense, Ben and his teammates looked to control the ball and capitalize on turnovers. The recipe worked in the first half--though it was a scintillating 100-yard interception return by James Harrison that gave the Steelers a 17-7 lead.
The second half opened much like the first. Ben orchestrated a time-consuming drive that result in a second Pittsburgh field goal. That's when the game shifted into a new gear. Arizona went to a hurry-up offense and put the Steelers on their heels. Warner finally got Fitzgerald involved, and he made Pittsburgh pay. Late in the fourth quarter, he caught a pass in stride on a quick slant and outran the defense for a 64-yard touchdown. The Cardinals led 23-20.
Ben stepped back on the field with less than three minutes remaining. His poise under pressure was remarkable. As he had done all game, Ben bought time in the pocket with pass rushers in his face and zipped one completion after another. The Steelers started their final drive on their own 22-yard-line and marched methodically down the field. With 35 seconds left, Ben hit Santonio Holmes, his favorite target of the day, in the back right corner of the end zone for a touchdown. The catch was as good as the throw. Pittsburgh held on for a 27-23 win, and the franchise's sixth Super Bowl
Unfortunately, the next headlines Ben made were the wrong kind. First, he was accused of forcing himself on an employee in aa Las Vegas hotel. Then, during a birthday celebration, he was accused of doing the same to a young woman in a Georgia nightclub during an alcohol-fueled incident for which Ben ultimately was not charged. Ben's bodyguards allegedly ran interference for him. The Steelers were furious. One of the companies Ben worked with tore up his endorsement deal. Ben was mocked on the cartoon South Park and in the lyrics of the Eminem song "Almost Famous."

The NFL came down hard on Ben, issuing a six-game suspension (which was ultimately reduced to four games) for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. In the ultra-competitive AFC, some felt this amounted to a death sentence—especially with Willie Parker and Santonio Holmes leaving the club. The Steelers had to make do with a quarterback-by-committee arrangement in September, shuffling Byron Leftwich, Charlie Batch and Dennis Dixon in and out of the lineup.
To the team’s credit, Pittsburgh beat three tough teams to start the season—Atlanta, Tennessee and Tampa Bay—and nearly upended the Ravens in Week 4. Ben stepped back into the starting lineup against the Browns after a fortuitously timed bye week and threw three touchdown passes—including a 50-yard bomb to Wallace—to win 28–10. A week later he engineered a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter against the Dolphins.
That didn’t mean all was forgiven in Pittsburgh. Teammates wanted to see contrition from Ben. Fans wanted much the same. Almost unanimously, they got their wish. Ben was more humble and more focused. This time, he truly appeared to have learned a harsh lesson.

Midseason losses to the Saints and Patriots proved to be mere hiccups on the road to a 12–4 record and the AFC North crown. Among the second-half highlights for Ben was a “statement” game against the Ravens. Playing on a sore foot and suffering a broken nose in the first quarter, he toughed it out and guided the Steelers to a fourth-quarter comeback win with a TD pass to Isaac Redman.
In 12 starts, Ben lost only three games—to the playoff-bound Saints, Patriots and Jets—and managed to throw for 3,200 yards and 17 touchdowns. His most remarkable stat was a career-low five interceptions.
After a first-round bye in the playoffs, the Steelers faced the Ravens. Things went badly for Pittsburgh in the first half, as Baltimore controlled the action and took a 21–7 lead. Ben came out of the locker room looking like a new man in the third quarter. He found Heath Miller and Hines Ward with scoring passes to knot the game at 21–21. After both teams traded fourth-quarter field goals, Pittsburgh took possession with time enough for one more drive—assuming the offense kept moving the chains. Ben faced a crucial third down prior to the two-minute warning. Hewent for broke, connecting with rookie wideout Antonio Brown for a stunning 58-yard gain. Rashard Mendenhall pounded it in a couple of plays later for a 31–24 victory and a trip to the AFC Championship Game.
Despite his considerable ability, Ben will porbably never put up the gaudy stats of other NFL quarterbacks. Not that it matters. He professes to have no interest in numbers. That’s not entirely accurate. He keeps close count of wins and wants desperately to add to his collection of championship rings. As Terry Bradshaw can attest, when push comes to shove, Pittsburgh fans don't settle for anything less than Super Bowl victories—no matter how many you've already won. So far, Ben has given the Steeler faithful exactly what they want.

Ben is normally at his best when he is under pressure. He stays in the pocket and has the ability to deliver the ball with strength and accuracy, even when he gets creamed. He also knows when it’s time to run. His composure in these situations—and his passing touch along the sidelines—turns countless broken plays into first downs. There are few players who can match Ben’s cool decision-making and execution when all hell is breaking loose.
That is not to say he doesn’t get scared. Ben is human, and you can see his eyes widen when a defensive end breaks loose and begins bearing down on him. The adrenaline surge quarterbacks experience under these circumstances can lead to panic, but in Ben’s case it seems to trigger a creative response. It is a quality that passers are born wit
h, and in Ben’s case, it emerged at a remarkably early age.
Ben understands that a quarterback must earn the respect of his teammates. He has done this by working hard, taking charge in the huddle, bouncing back from serious injuries, and performing when his team needs him most. Ben has also created problems for himself with questionable behavior off the field. Winning has earned him extra chances from his teammates and fans.

Excellent bio Steelr Covert! Thank you.