These guys always did know how to show up for the big games.

Most members of the 1979 Steelers Super Bowl team will be at Heinz Field for a 25th anniversary celebration today when the 2004 squad plays undefeated Philadelphia, a matchup that's getting national attention.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Randy Grossman, a tight end on the championship team, is a financial adviser at Advest, Downtown -- "I spent my whole eight years in the league here. Both my children were born here. I never really considered going back [home] to Philadelphia." Click photo for larger image.

"It's kind of like a catch-up day. We'll be sitting around talking about how old and gray we are," said former defensive end L.C. Greenwood, who lives in the East End and runs Greenwood McDonald, an electrical supply company in Carnegie.

Steelers officials expect as many as 40 members of that team to attend the reunion. While some will be coming from far away, nearly half, like Greenwood, won't travel very far at all.

Of the 46 players who appeared in at least one game that season, 21 still live in Western Pennsylvania.

"It really is something that's unusual, that so many of us stayed around here," said John Banaszak, a defensive lineman who lives in Peters and is an assistant coach at Robert Morris University after a successful tenure as head coach at Washington and Jefferson College.

Although many players who were on one or more of the four Steelers Super Bowl championship teams in the 1970s remain in the area, it seems that the 1979 team is best represented.

"Particularly from that team, a lot of guys stayed close as a team and in where they chose to live," said Dwayne Woodruff, a rookie defensive back in 1979 who lives in the North Hills.

Woodruff, who went to Duquesne University and became a lawyer while he was still playing, has an office in Shadyside and an affiliation with a Downtown firm. He owns a minor-league basketball team in Charlotte, N.C. He recently became a sports agent. And he's running for Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge.

"It was kind of natural for us that you're successful in a football career here, so you end up here," said Jack Ham, a Hall of Fame linebacker who will miss the celebration because he's broadcasting the New England-St. Louis game.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette John Banaszak, a defensive lineman on the Steelers' 1979 Super Bowl team, is now an assistant coach for Robert Morris University. Click photo for larger image.

For Ham, it wasn't a big move. He grew up in Johnstown and played at Penn State. He now lives in Sewickley Heights, where one of his neighbors is Hall of Fame receiver and broadcaster Lynn Swann, another member of the 1979 team.

Still, Ham thinks it's rare for large numbers of players from an NFL team to stay in the town where they played, a trend perhaps limited to teams from the past that were highly successful.

"I was in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, and a lot of those guys [from the 1970s teams] were still there," Ham said. "I think in Oakland, a lot of those guys are in jail, so they would still be close."

For the 1979 Steelers, winning bred unity. Or perhaps it was the other way around.

"In order to win four Super Bowls, we had to have a lot of teamwork," Banaszak said. "We played hard. We partied together. We had a lot of things that you don't see these days. Then you had a lot of built-in friendships in the offseason and after our careers."

It wasn't just that the Steelers were winners, said former defensive back J.T. Thomas. It was that the team offered the city a lifeline, and the city responded by making the players feel comfortable.

"We were part of the community at that time," said Thomas, an entrepreneur who lives in Monroeville and recently sold a string of Applebee's restaurants. He is a transplant from Georgia.

"If you look at the fabric of the city then, Pittsburgh was on the rebound after some hard times, and the city embraced the sports teams. You were known by everybody.

"Most of us had left home after high school to go away to college. Then we were 22, 23, and we had no roots, so you try to form a sense of home and all of a sudden here's people drawing you in."

It was enough to make a guy want to stay and settle down.

"I came here in 1969 and played 13 years," said Greenwood, whose hometown is in Mississippi. "After 13 years, where do you go?"

Randy Grossman, a tight end with the 1979 Steelers, believes it was longevity more than success that induced players to stay.

"I spent my whole eight years in the league here. Both my children were born here. I never really considered going back [home] to Philadelphia," said Grossman, a financial adviser with Advest, Downtown.

These days, there isn't the same longevity. Through free agency, players often move from team to team, and many scatter during the offseason. In addition, players have the financial means to treat their NFL city like a home away from home for half the year. They also don't have to work in the offseason, and many don't have to scramble for a second profession after their playing days.

The 1979 team members just missed out on the rapid escalation of salaries.

"The money was different for us," Thomas said. "We hung out together in groups, like after games. We used to pool our money and buy beer. These days, they can buy the bar.

"For us, the lifestyle hadn't gotten to the point that you were an oddity because of your financial situation."

They were celebrities, but they also were just a bunch of guys who played football better than anyone that year and have continued to hang out.

When they do get together, it's not difficult to guess the topic of discussion.

"You talk about the kids, the wife," Woodruff said. "You get that out of the way, and then you talk about the team and the games. After a while, that just takes over the conversation."

The 1979 season opened with Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll's 100th career win, 16-13 over New England in overtime. That was the beginning of a four-game winning streak.

By the third week of November, the Steelers were 12-4, including 8-0 at Three Rivers Stadium, heading into an AFC playoff game against Miami.

"Before that Miami game, Joe Greene came over and said, 'Rookie, you're going to start seeing some real football,' " Woodruff remembered of the Hall of Fame defensive tackle.

The Steelers beat the Dolphins, 34-14, then claimed the AFC championship with a 27-13 win over the Houston Oilers.

In Super Bowl XIV in Pasadena, Calif., Franco Harris rushed for two touchdowns, Terry Bradshaw threw for two more, and the Steelers scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Los Angeles Rams, 31-19, for their second championship in a row and fourth in six years.

No wonder that's what they still talk about.

"It's kind of like a long-running reunion," Grossman said of the 1979 players' relationship.

It's not unusual to see them around town, often in groups. Some gather socially, perhaps to play golf in the summer. Many are involved in charities and attend each other's events.

Then there are the more official Steelers events, like today.

"We're like dirt," Grossman said. "You can't get rid of us."