The Pittsburgh Steelers wanted a display worthy of their record sixth Super Bowl Trophy, so the NFL champs turned to budding stars from another great team: the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.
As they have in the past, the Steelers asked the UBC to build the wooden pedestal upon which the Super Bowl trophy will be permanently displayed at the team’s practice and training facility, the UPMC Sports Performance Complex in Pittsburgh.
This time the task fell to the apprentices of the Greater Pennsylvania Regional Council, who constructed the pedestal—and a matching display easel—at the council's training center on Neville Island, near Steel City.
Previous pedestals had been built by contractors who used UBC journeymen for the task.
So Wayne Babjack, the Council’s mill-cabinet coordinator instructor, admitted that he was a bit apprehensive when given the task by Ray Vogel, director of training for the Council.
“It was such a fast-paced job,” said Babjack. He and his fourth-year apprentices had less than a month to produce the pedestal in time to be displayed for the team’s crop of 2009 draft choices. “There was a lot of coordination that had to be done.”
Working from architectural drawings, Babjack helped with the layout. Then the class took a trip to the Steelers' complex to view and measure the real thing. And to have a meal.
“We went down to get the grand tour of the facility,” Babjack said. “Some of the players sat next to us at lunch. It was pretty neat.”
Those sentiments pretty well describe the feelings of the apprentices who worked on the pedestal. Their children took special note.
“They went nuts,” said apprentice Jeff Svetkovich who attends all the Steelers games with his 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter. “They kept asking if they could touch it, or if I would be seeing any Steelers. It will be nice to know that I had a part in the team.”
Apprentice John Kowalo got a similar reaction from his 8-year-old son.
“Man, I was a hero for a whole week,” Kowalo said. “He’s a big football player and plans to be the Steelers running back some day. This is great. I can take my kids to see the trophy when it’s all finished and say ‘I built that.’ ”
In the end, the pedestal—composed of white oak and black plastic laminate—was finished on time and to precise specifications.
“They’re exactly the same as the others,” Babjack said. “Our training director, Ray Vogel, has always said that we want to be on the cutting edge, said Babjack. “So whether it’s been done in one of our other union shops or, now, here at the school, we’re going to use the state-of-the-art technology to keep up with the demands of the industry.”
Tapping the apprentices to do the job was the idea of Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Jack Brooks, who has had a longstanding relationship with Steelers officials.
“I think it’s just great for the apprenticeship program and the kids who are working on it to be part of the process,” Brooks said.
And while winning the NFL title is hardly routine, even given the Steelers’ history of success, the team will go into training camp this summer looking to bring home more hardware from next year’s Super Bowl in Miami. That suits Babjack.
“I’m not telling anybody whether I’m preparing for the seventh one,” he said. “But, if need be, I’ll have a pedestal whipped out in no time. Don’t you worry.”