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Dick LeBeau: Renaissance man
2009 Dapper Dan Lifetime Achievement Award
Sunday, March 29, 2009
By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Peter Diana / Post-GazetteEach time the defense gathers before practice, Dick LeBeau greets his players by saying something like this: "Men, it's a great day to be alive."

It's his way of telling them to seize the moment, and like everything else about the Steelers defensive coordinator, it comes from his heart.

"I believe that. Each day is a gift. Let's not waste too much time complaining about things," LeBeau says. "Every new day is a great day to get something done. Tomorrow is promised to no man."

First as a player and then as a coach, LeBeau, 71, has been getting things done on a football field for five decades in the NFL. He has influenced the game to the extent that just about every team's defensive game plan incorporates some of his ideas.

Not only have LeBeau's defenses regularly ranked among the NFL's elite, he has been on the sidelines of five Super Bowl entrants -- twice with the Bengals and all three times the Steelers have made the big game since the Chuck Noll era.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, LeBeau has the utmost respect of his peers. Consider the words of Brian Billick, who operated his own highly acclaimed defense when he coached the Ravens.

"Virtually every team in the NFL runs some form or another of concepts LeBeau initiated," Billick said. "You can't help but be impressed with LeBeau and how the Steelers operate ...Dick LeBeau is what every player, coach, scout, owner and fan should aspire to be. His love and commitment to the game [are] pure and unselfish."

Billick posted those comments on his blog after the Steelers honored LeBeau last season for his 50 years in the NFL. But they just as easily apply to the Dapper Dan Lifetime Achievement Award that LeBeau will receive this week.

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A native of London, Ohio, in flat farm country about 25 miles west of Columbus, LeBeau played on a national championship team under Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1957.

In the NFL, he was an All-Pro in the suffocating secondary of the Detroit Lions, intercepting 62 passes in 14 seasons and establishing an NFL record for games played by a cornerback with 171.

Teammates Yale Larry, Dick "Night Train" Lane and Lem Barney were headed to the Hall of Fame. LeBeau stayed in the game as a coach who has been countering offenses for 36 years.

Dick LeBeau: Renaissance man