From Nowhere to the Super Bowl: Ben Roethlisberger
You might not expect those things, but Ben Roethlisberger, of Findlay, Ohio, did all of those things, as his Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XL 21-10 over the Seattle Seahawks with the Ohio native at the helm of the winning team.
Ben Roethlisberger was born March 2, 1982 and grew up in Findlay, Ohio, about 40 miles south of Toledo. Ben still calls Findlay, a city of less than 40,000, home.
In 1998, as a junior at Findlay High School, the coach, Cliff Hite, chose his son, Ryan Hite as the starting quarterback, and Ben Roethlisberger was a wide receiver. Roethlisberger was a .300 hitter for the Findlay High School Trojans, in addition to playing football, and also averaged 26.5 points per game as a senior on his school basketball team. As a senior Roethlisberger started at quarterback and threw six touchdowns in his first game as a starter. He was a runner up for the Mr. Football Award, annually given to the best high school football player in Ohio, as he threw for 4,041 yards and threw 54 touchdowns during his senior season, as well as rushing for seven touchdowns. He led his team to a 10-2 record and a state playoff berth.
In college, Ben Roethlisberger played for the Miami (Ohio) University Redskins and rewrote virtually every passing record in the three years he played. He completed 854 of 1,304 passes for 65.5% and 10,829 yards. He also set a record for total offense, with 11,075 yards. He was only the eighth player in school history to be named an All American. He was only the third play in conference history to throw for more than 3,000 yards for three seasons. In his final season he led Miami, which had often done well in the conference but came from a conference not recognized as a football power, Ben led his team to a top ten finish.
Having established himself as a winner in high school and college, some football experts might have still wondered about Ben Roethlisberger, because of his lack of experience, and where he played in college. They did not need to wonder.
In his first year Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers to an unprecedented, at least for a rookie quarterback, 15-1 regular season mark. He became a starter when Tommy Maddox was injured and went on to lead his team to 13 wins while he started, an unheard of accomplishment for a rookie.
He set the mark for the highest passer rating for a rookie at 66.4% and the record for highest rookie quarterback rating at 98.1 He led his team all the way to the conference championship game, before the team lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
Ben Roethlisberger was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year for his accomplishments during the 2004 season. He was also named the AFC Rookie of the Month for October and was given the Joe Greene Award, which is annually given to the Steelers’ Rookie of the Year. While he passed for 66.4% during the regular season, he also passed for 57.4 % during the postseason, including three touchdowns and five interceptions.
One of his greatest feats was leading the Steelers to a 34-20 regular season victory over the New England Patriots, who had won the Super Bowl the previous year and would later win it for that season. The win snapped the Patriots’ record 21 game winning streak. He completed 18 of 24 passes for 196 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. He also led the Steelers to a victory over the previously undefeated Philadelphia Eagles.
Some might have wondered how Ben Roethlisberger would do in his second season, after such success in his first season.
After the Steelers played their first 12 games in 2005 and accumulated a mediocre 7-5 record, Ben Roethlisberger led his team to a surprising eight game winning streak, which included four regular season games, three playoff games, and the Super Bowl win. Roethlisberger had missed four games because of injuries during the 7-5 start. To accomplish the feats, Roethlisberger and the Steelers had to pull off big wins in the playoffs by beating the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis and the Denver Broncos in Denver in the AFC championship game.
In the Steelers first playoff game against Cincinnati, Roethlisberger led the Steelers to a 31-17 win, after his team fell behind 10-0 and 17-7.
Against the Colts, Roethlisberger threw for 197 yards. His biggest play of the game, however, and possibly of the season, may have been a game saving tackle he made after Colts’ tackle Nick Harper recovered a Jerome Bettis fumble and almost went for a touchdown late in the game. The Pittsburgh win marked the first time ever a sixth seeded team had beaten a number one seed.
Against Denver on January 22, 2006, Ben Roethlisberger completed 21 passes in 29 attempts for 275 yards and a 124.9 passer rating, as the Steelers beat the Broncos 34-17. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.
In the Super Bowl, Roethlisberger completed only 9 of 21 passes, with a 22.6 passer rating, the lowest in Super Bowl history for a winning quarterback. He still made several key plays, however, that helped the Steelers in their 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Ben Roethlisberger became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
The Findlay, Ohio resident’s career NFL statistics include 27 games, with 364 passing completions in 563 attempts, for a 64.7 percent completion rate. He has thrown 34 touchdowns and had 20 interceptions. He threw for 2,621 yards in 2004 and 2,385 yards in 2005.
Ben Roethlisberger is also very open about his Christian faith. He wore the words, “Play for Jesus,” on his cleats until the NFL forbade it, citing uniform rules.
Some might have not expected someone with the background of Ben Roethlisberger to have so much success. A lot of people from Findlay, Ohio, however, are not surprised.
