PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – We’re finding out more about Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey off the field since he announced his retirement Friday morning.
Pouncey was connected to several charities. Heavily involved with the Pittsburgh Police and their community involvement. One charity in particular that spoke to him was Urban Impact on the North Side.
It’s as much being a part of a legacy of Steelers’ centers that got him involved.
A couple of decades ago, then Steelers center Jeff Hartings became involved with the Play Ball for Kids program at Urban Impact. He got his replacement, center Justin Hartwig, to do it for a pair of years and then Maurkice Pouncey was drafted in the first round in 2010.
Pouncey then drafted again after arriving in Pittsburgh that spring.
The Florida native met with Hartings and Urban Impact founder Ed Glover at the Cheesecake Factory on the South Side and after a couple of minutes of Hartings describing what they do, Pouncey quickly said he was in.
The legacy at center continues to help in the community.
“Maurkice, if he said it,” Glover told the Fan. “He did it. That’s what I really appreciate about Maurkice. He was a leader. He didn’t just talk. He actually walked out what he said he was going to do.”
Pouncey helped recruit Steelers players every year for a free football clinic for a couple thousand kids on the North Side. The clinic not only allowed the children to meet Steelers and learn football. While they were there, Urban Impact leaders would introduce them to a number of other programs to assist in all areas of life.
“Maurkice was fun,” Glover said. “He was like the Pied Piper. He was a kid magnet. Kids just loved to be around him. He not only did that with the kids, I don’t think there was anybody-older people, my staff. It didn’t matter who you were, he could engage with you.”
Pouncey would be a part of a yearly fundraising dinner with local business people that raised millions over his time. Glover said Pouncey was a ‘warrior’ for helping children, especially those without a parent or marginalized in some way.
“He wasn’t out trying to do things publicly where everybody would say ‘Maurkice, you are such a great man’,” Glover said. “He was behind the scenes many times.”
“He was all about getting it done and making a difference in people’s lives. That’s what he was all about.”
Glover said Pouncey wanted to ‘put his hand in the pile’ and knew it was about actions, not words. So often people will talk a big game with charity, but not act. That wasn’t Pouncey.
He touched a number of kids, so much so, Glover recalls watching games with some of the children, and their reaction to seeing him playing for the Steelers.
“They would say, ‘can you believe Pouncey is playing ball for us?’,” Glover said. “That was huge for those kids. That’s what they had in there head that Pouncey’s out there on that field playing for us. Because of that, we get to do basketball. We get to do baseball. We get to do tutoring, arts, sing, play an instrument. We get to learn all of these things because he’s out there doing that and because of that, business people are helping us. They understood that.”
“They felt like they had someone out there not just playing football, but representing them.”
“That’s huge.”
The next Steelers center has quite a legacy to fulfill. On the field, too.