V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette Longtime Steelers fan Ethel Merle, 99, left, and her daughter, Laverne Mechem. Click photo for larger image.

JOHNSTOWN -- Ethel Merle doesn't see why anybody would make such a big deal about turning 100 years old, as she will on Sunday, Feb. 5.

"It's just another year gone by," she said, knitting her hands in front of her on the kitchen table.

The real big deal on Sunday, Feb. 5, as she sees it, will be the coinciding Super Bowl matchup featuring her beloved Steelers -- the team she has followed ardently for 30 years.

In the living room of the mobile home Mrs. Merle shares with her daughter and son-in-law, Laverne and Jim Mechem, hang two Terrible Towels and a hand-knit Steelers scarf. Steelers caps, beer Koozies, dinnerware and paper products form a small shrine to the team, with a Steelers jersey-wearing plush dog that dances jerkily while playing the hit song "Who Let the Dogs Out?"

Around her neck hangs a battery-powered Steelers pendant with flashing red and blue LED lights, intertwined with the plastic medical tubing that delivers oxygen to Mrs. Merle, who suffers from congestive heart failure.

As a devout Jehovah's Witness, Mrs. Merle is prohibited from celebrating her birthday. But a week from tomorrow, relatives and friends will flock to the Camoset Village Country Living Mobile Home Park in Johnstown to attend a Super Bowl party that just happens to feature ice cream and cake.

"That's why we're calling it a Super Bowl party," explained her son Bob Merle, 73, who lives just five trailers down the road.

"We don't celebrate birthdays, but we have to celebrate 100 years," said Mrs. Mechem, 78. "That's an accomplishment."

Nonsense, said Mrs. Merle. "All I did was raise six kids," she said. "I raised 'em through the Depression. We pulled through."

Born in Ferndale, Cambria County, the third of six children, Mrs. Merle has never lived anywhere but Johnstown. She married Milton Merle in 1926 and had six children of her own. Today, she is the last surviving sibling. Her sister Dot died at age 92.

She had never really been much interested in football. But she started watching the Steelers around 1973 or 1974, after her husband, a former steel worker, passed away. Around that time, Johnstown's steel industry was in decline, said Bob Merle. Football just seemed to raise everyone's spirits.

Mrs. Merle watched Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris and Lynn Swann, and soon became a devoted fan. She never misses a televised game.

She says she would have liked to attend a game once in her life, but now, at her age, "I'm happy I can set and watch it in a nice, warm house."

The 2006 Steelers are a better team than their 1970s counterparts, in her humble opinion. She has her favorite players, but most Jehovah's Witnesses recognize a thin line between admiration and idolatry. None of the Steelers merchandise around the house features any of the players' images.

Mrs. Merle still goes to meetings at the nearby Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall. She did door-to-door proselytizing, or "service work," up until last year at age 99.

"She likes Bettis, but she doesn't want to make an idol of him," said Bob Merle. "She just enjoys watching Bettis run, watching Ben throw, watching Hines make the catch."

Still, Mrs. Merle has her priorities in order. On the day of her 100th birthday, after the "Super Bowl" party is over, she will make her son Bob put up a sign out front reading "No Visitors After 6:30 p.m."

She's just kidding about that last part.