TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -Tony Dungy, the first black coach to win an NFL title, calls it progress that Mike Tomlin is being asked more about his age than his race as he prepares the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Super Bowl.
“We’ve come a long way,” said Dungy, who six years ago was one of just two black coaches in the league. There were seven during the 2007 season and currently six.
Two years ago, Dungy and Chicago’s Lovie Smith became the first blacks to coach in a Super Bowl. Both spent much of the week before the game, won by Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts, answering questions about their race.
Dungy said Friday he attributes much of the progress to the “Rooney rule” named after Steelers owner Dan Rooney, for whom he once played and coached. It requires every team with a coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority for the job.
hat even though there’s been progress in minority hiring, the rule should be retained. The 36-year-old Tomlin is a graduate of the NFL’s minority internship program and got his first pro job in 2001 when Dungy hired him as Tampa Bay’s defensive backs coach.
“I think it’s great that he’s being asked about his age but not much about his race,” Dungy says. “It shows how far we’ve come.”
Dungy, 53, announced his retirement as coach of the Colts this month after taking his team to the playoffs for an NFL record 10 straight seasons in Tampa Bay and Indianapolis. He reiterated plans to spend time working with disadvantaged young men and with prison ministries.
He said he doubts he will coach again, but added: “I always said I would never write a book and now I’ve written three. So I’ve learned to never say never.”
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COIN TOSS: Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, will toss the coin in a special ceremony before the start of Sunday’s Super Bowl. He will be joined on the field by John Elway, Roger Craig and Lynn Swann, stars of the NFL title games of 10, 20 and 30 years ago.
The NFL also plans to recognize the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 for helping rescue 150 passengers after an emergency landing on New York’s Hudson River last month.
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FRIENDLY WAGERS: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has accepted a Super Bowl wager from her Pennsylvania counterpart Ed Rendell to have the losing team’s state provide a three-day vacation to a resident of the state with the winning team.
Meals and accommodations would be donated by private companies, but travel is not included, according to Brewer’s office.
An Arizonan would go to Pittsburgh to stay at a hotel, go to a home game of the Pirates, Steelers or Penguins, and visit attractions such as the Andy Warhol Museum. A Pennsylvanian would stay at a resort, play golf and go to a game of the Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Coyotes or Suns.
Meanwhile, there’s also a friendly bet between the Pittsburgh Opera and Arizona Opera. The loser’s artistic director and board chair must wear the jersey of the winning team.
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SACKS FOR CF: Former quarterback Boomer Esiason is set to announce the top 10 winners of “Sacks for CF” scholarships awarded by the Boomer Esiason Foundation to students with cystic fibrosis.
Esiason’s foundation raised money for the scholarships through a partnership with Solvay Pharmaceuticals, which donated $1,000 to “Sacks for CF” for each time a quarterback was sacked during select NFL games broadcast on Westwood One Radio Network this season.
A total of $180,000 was donated, and scholarships presented to the top 10 winners will be worth $10,000. Additional students will be awarded smaller amounts.
Esiason will announce the top 10 Sunday during Westwood One’s radio broadcast of the Super Bowl.
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BULLET BOB: The late Bob Hayes is one of 17 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and former Dallas Cowboys teammate Roger Staubach hopes this is the year Hayes finally gets elected,
“We’re pulling real hard. If I was voting he’d have my vote,” said Staubach, a Hall of Famer himself.
Hayes, once known as the world’s fastest human, won two gold medals in the 1964 Olympics and had 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns while playing for the Cowboys from 1965-74 and the San Francisco 49ers in 1975.
“I came out of college in 1965 and we were playing in a college all-star game. Dick Butkus and I were the captains of this college all-star game, and Bob Hayes was there. When you threw the ball to him you had to release it much quicker than anybody else,” Staubach said.
“We had Jack Snow on that team, Roy Jefferson. We had some good receivers. Today, Bob Hayes would be the fastest guy in the NFL. Back then it was absurd.”
Staubach said Hayes, whose speed revolutionized the passing game, was not a track guy who played football.
He ran kind of like a running back almost,” Staubach said.
“But his speed was the difference. You couldn’t play man to man. … They started playing half zones with him where they’d double him and you’d play man on the other side. Then they started playing full zones where the two safeties would go back and more sure you couldn’t go deep.”
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NFL CHARITY: The NFL is donating $1 million to the Tampa Bay NFL Youth Educations Towns to assist expansion of two YET centers that offer tutoring, mentoring, career training, computer education and recreational activities.
There are 14 YET centers located in 11 cities where Super Bowls have been played. There are two centers in Tampa, Jacksonville, San Diego and Houston. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Detroit, and Atlanta have one each.
Honolulu, where the Pro Bowl has been played since 1980, will be the site of a 15th YET center.
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PLAY IT AGAIN: Television viewers hoping to take another look at advertisements running during Sunday night’s game will be able to view them shortly after they air by going on line to NBC.com, Hulu.com and SuperBowl.com.
Tuesday.
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