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Bill Cowher is the ultimate Yinzer. Like just everything about him personifies the city of Pittsburgh. The way he acts, talks, and even how he looks. During his Hall of Fame presentation for Cowher, Art Rooney II talked about how Cowher's football life in itself resembled the common Pittsburgher.
"One of the great parts of the Bill Cowher story is that he grew up in Western Pennsylvania," Rooney said. "He has that set of values – full of grit and toughness. He brought that to his coaching. We knew it was going to be a difficult job to replace Coach Noll, and when the list (of candidates) was finally put together, Bill was the youngest person on the list."
During Troy Polamalu's Hall of Fame speech last night, he also touched on how Cowher's principles and core values embodied the Steel City.
"Coach Cowher would teach us to embrace misery, by forcing us to practice outside, no matter the weather," Polamalu said. "Recalibrating us to love the hot humid camp days and bask in the bitter cold frost of game days. His struggle is to embody the Yinzer spirit of hard work, humility, and toughness, coupled with loyalty so that we can accurately represent the city of Pittsburgh. Thank you, Coach."