Former Steelers all-pro guard Faneca retires
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Steelers guard Alan Faneca leads a block for wide receiver Hines Ward against the Falcons Nov. 10, 2002 at Heinz Field. Faneca announced his retirement yesterday.
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Alan Faneca, the greatest guard in Steelers history, left the game for good Tuesday without shedding a tear, quite different from how he left Pittsburgh.
His final game with the Steelers came 10 seasons after they drafted him in the first round from LSU -- a playoff loss to Jacksonville at Heinz Field after the 2007 season.
"I went to my locker and bawled for 10 minutes," Faneca said from his home just outside New Orleans Tuesday. "I knew it was over, and didn't want it to be over and it hurt."
Three seasons later, Faneca announced it was over for good, a 13-year playing career that included nine Pro Bowls, six All-Pro teams and may ultimately land him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He signed with the New York Jets as a free agent in 2008 and played two seasons with them and one with the Arizona Cardinals.
He earned a spot on the Steelers' 75th Anniversary all-time team in 2007, an iron man who missed only three career starts after he broke into the starting lineup on Oct. 11, 1998 as a rookie at Cincinnati. He missed one game and two starts because of ankle injuries in 1999 and coach Bill Cowher rested him for a final, meaningless game at Cleveland in 2001. Faneca started every game after that -- 144 consecutive, 201 total.
He did all that while suffering from epilepsy, a condition he had under control after his diagnosis at age 15.
His most memorable football moment came in a Steelers uniform at Ford Field in Detroit after the team's Super Bowl XL victory against Seattle.
"I have a picture of me on the field afterward with the confetti falling, I have the trophy and I'm screaming," Faneca recalled Tuesday. "I can look at that picture at any moment and just get chills, like I'm right back there. Without doubt that tops the list.
"Among other ones would have to be the first championship game we had at Heinz Field, coming out and the fans -- we always had a lot of Terrible Towels, but that day everyone had at least one and maybe two. That first initial rush of the big game, that's stuff you don't forget."
First Published May 11, 2011 12:00 am
