SUPER SCENE: A 2005 St. Marys High graduate got the chance of a
lifetime in February as a college intern working the sidelines at
the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl victory over the Arizona
Cardinals in Tampa Bay, Fla.

University of Pittsburgh senior Steve Gaul, son of Tom and Lynne
Gaul of Curwensville, has been an intern with the squad since
throughout much of the last football season – capped off, of
course, by the Super Bowl game.

A newspaper article about Steve, an athletic training major,
talked about the long hours put in by the Athletic Training Staff,
arriving hours before practice to get everything prepared for the
day and staying long after it was over to prepare for the next
day.

Once the players arrived for the day, Steve took part in taping
them and gave them pre-practice or pre-game treatment.

After the season got started and the players were facing more
serious injuries, the Athletic Training Staff worked with them in
programs much like a physical therapist would.

Different players went to different people for their daily
preparations, and Steve had the luxury of helping out two of the
more popular players in Heath Miller and Troy Polamula, who became
his favorite player.

Steve has many stories of off-field experiences, but his
favorite one to tell was when Polamula popped out of the laundry
bin to try to scare the workers.

“Not one of us jumped but I thought, “They’re just regular guys
trying to have a good time, and they’re just like us. Troy is a
goofball. He’s a funny guy and I love telling that story.”

Steve attended all the home games and split the road schedule
with an intern from Duquesne University, as he made trips to
Jacksonville, Washington, New England and Cleveland – all of which
the Steelers won.

Once the post season arrived and Pittsburgh claimed the AFC
Championship, Steve was off for one week in Florida.

“It was amazing,” he told the newspaper. “I went down a week
early with the team and missed a lot of classes, but it was
definitely worth it. It was pretty much the same as the regular
season, but you could feel the excitement was higher. It was an
hour, hour and a half before game before we walked out. It was
really something else.”