Home >  Sports >  Steelers

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

For 18 years, Jeanne Hanchett rode the waiting list for Steelers season tickets. For 18 years, she got a short note from the team asking her to wait a little longer.

	Jeanne and Jim Hanchett of Oakland will be among the Steelers faithful at Saturday's game against the Titans in Nashville, Tenn. They had to buy 50 game tickets to get there, and they're making the other 48 available at face value tomorrow. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

Finally, when Heinz Field opened in 2001, she got close enough to the top of the list for her and her husband, Jim, to buy two seats in the north end zone.

With that kind of patience and persistence, it's little wonder that Hanchett got on the phone in her Oakland home yesterday morning and did not give up until she had gotten tickets to the Steelers' AFC playoff game Saturday against the Titans and made plane reservations to go to Nashville, Tenn.

Because of her success, four dozen other Steelers fans willing to travel to the game will be able to buy tickets.

Hanchett didn't just get seats for herself and Jim. She got "hospitality" tickets that include admission to a stocked tailgate tent before the game. And she didn't get two of those tickets. She bought a block of 50.

She no doubt could sell her extra 48 tickets outside The Coliseum Saturday in Nashville, and make a bundle doing it, but that's not her plan. She wants them to go to Steelers faithful.

Steelers fans who would like to buy the tickets from Hanchett can do so -- at face value, $150 each, cash only -- at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Vento's Pizza in East Liberty.

"I'm not a scalper," Hanchett said. "I'm not interested in making money. I'm not going to charge any extra."

Hanchett is imposing a two-ticket limit per person to discourage scalpers.

She and her husband lived in Nashville for a time in the 1960s but have been in Pittsburgh for about 30 years and have no mixed emotions about the game.

The Hanchetts had a great time Sunday at Heinz Field when the Steelers came from behind to beat Cleveland, 36-33, in a wild-card playoff game.

"The Steelers need fans there to cheer for them," she said of the game in Nashville.

Steelers spokesman Ron Wahl said he doubts there will be any other tickets available for Steelers fans.

Tony Hall, ticketing/hospitality and club manager for the Titans, confirmed that Hanchett's purchase was legitimate. He said Hanchett should receive the tickets in time for her pizza shop sale tomorrow.

"Mrs. Hanchett has been a customer here for years, so when she called we were more than happy to help," said Al Vento Jr., who runs Vento's at 420 N. Highland Ave., in a Home Depot parking lot.

Vento's has a history with the Steelers. Al Vento Sr. helped start Franco's Italian Army, a fan club for running back Franco Harris when the team was winning Super Bowls in the 1970s.

Hanchett didn't set out to buy 50 tickets.

She first called the Steelers, who told her they had no tickets for sale and believed the game was sold out, but referred her to the Titans.

She called there, and was told the game had been sold out for some time, but kept asking to speak to someone else and finally got bounced to Hall.

About five minutes earlier, someone had forfeited the 50 hospitality tickets because they did not meet a deadline to get approval on their credit card for the $7,500 purchase.

The tickets could not be sold separately. Hanchett -- who declined to give her occupation or place of work for fear of being bombarded for requests before tomorrow's sale -- was convinced it was her only chance to get into the game, so she decided to buy the lot and then worry about how to pass on all the extra tickets.

"I didn't even ask where the tickets were," she said. "I just hope it winds up being at least as good a game as [Sunday]."

According to Hall, they are good seats not very high in the upper level.

Hall needed to know what the name of Hanchett's group was called so he could post it on their tent outside the stadium. The Steelers Travel Club was born. The tent will have its own security, linen-covered tables, food, soft drinks and beer.

"Do you have Iron City?" Hanchett asked Hall.

His answer was a resounding no, but because of Hanchett's efforts to sell the tickets in Pittsburgh, she's confident the tent will have a definite Steelers atmosphere.