Justin Strzelczyk | Football

• All-Conference First Team and All-American
• Yankee Conference Champion (1987, 1989)
• Roger Ellis Outstanding Defensive Lineman Award winner
• 11th round selection by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1990 NFL Draft
• Played 10-years with the Steelers, appearing in 133 games with 75 starts
• Guided the Steelers to an appearance in Super Bowl XXX (1995)

Justin Strzelczyk might have wondered what the fuss is all about. Induction to the University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame was for the star players, the headliners, the exceptional athletes.

He believed he was simply doing his job the best he could when Maine football coaches put his name atop the depth charts. He wanted to earn the respect of his coaches and teammates. He wanted to have fun playing a game.

Strzelcyzk didn't need much more. He was the big, big man with the very small ego. He started his career at Maine as a tight end, became an offensive lineman and then a feared defensive lineman who had 10 quarterback sacks in two years.

He helped lead the 1987 and 1989 Black Bears to conference championships. A year later he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, playing from 1990 to 1998, starting 75 games. He played every position on the offensive line except center.

He was the bearded blue-collar lineman who endeared himself to Pittsburgh, the working class city. His work ethic was recognized by the Steelers and their fans. Strzelcyzk liked to go his own way but wouldn't put himself above anyone.

Unless they were trying to tackle his running back or get to his quarterback.

"Justin was a quiet and reserved type guy," says Sergio Hebra, the star wide receiver in Maine's quick-strike offense. "I don't think he would enjoy being honored."

Hebra last saw Strzelcyzk in the fall of 2002. Hebra was going into Maine's Hall of Fame and many of his teammates had returned to Orono to celebrate the achievement. Strzelcyzk, whose NFL playing weight was upward of 300 pounds over his 6-foot-6 frame, had slimmed down. The beard was gone. He looked happy standing on the sideline with his old teammates during the first half of a UMaine football game.

"Justin stayed true to his personality," says Hebra. "No bragging or talking about the NFL. If anything, he downplayed it. But then, he was showing a little bit of a limp when he walked. I'm sure the years in the NFL had taken its toll on him, physically and mentally. He probably didn't want to talk too much about it."

Hebra remembers the Strzelcyzk he first met. "He was a huge presence physically but also extremely athletic considering his size. He could have played any position, other than quarterback. But then, I never saw him throw a football.

"His athletic ability was always showcased on Saturdays but he also played intramural basketball with us. I believe he might have been able to play (men's basketball) at Maine as well. He could jam a basketball just standing under the rim and tomahawking the ball with two hands."

Hebra and others talk for Strzelcyzk. Two years after he laughed with Maine teammates on campus he was killed in a truck crash on the New York State Thruway that still can't be explained properly. Soon after, his family permitted slides of his brain issue to be given to research that was studying the effects of repeated concussions suffered by NFL players.

After death, Strzelcyzk was found to be suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). His story became part of the movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu who fought to link CTE to the deaths of a growing number of retired NFL players.

"When we (Maine teammates) set out on his nomination we knew the CTE diagnosis would be met by some negatively," says Hebra. "But as a result of what he suffered through, his death helped shed light on an unspoken truth in the game of football, especially in the NFL. His death helped change the game and it will be safer for others to come."

In many ways, Strzelcyzk was a giving man. In his sophomore year at Maine, he roomed with Chris Turgeon, a walk-on defensive back who was maybe third or fourth on the depth chart and whose primary goal was to make the travel team and suit up for road games.

When Turgeon got into games or scrimmages, the starters were done for the day. Many times they'd take a seat on the bench, relax, and put the action on the field behind them.

"Justin wouldn't," says Turgeon. "I'd see him, his helmet off, watching everything we did, listening to what the coaches were saying so he could tell me afterward. Hey, the coach liked that tackle you made. Or, the coach liked your coverage.

"Justin was the guy you wanted to have for a teammate." It's not lost on Turgeon that Strzelcyzk treated everyone the same, from the stars like Hebra, to the walk-ons. Strzelcyzk got his own apartment his junior and senior years but would frequently hang out with Turgeon and his roommates. Just before the NFL draft, Strzelcyzk gave NFL scouts Turgeon's phone number. Turgeon would know how to find him.

Tom Donahoe, the Steelers director of player personnel, said much the same thing to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a story after Strzelcyzk's death. Strzelcyzk knew everyone in the Steelers' front office right down to the groundskeepers. How? He'd talk with them. He spent time in Donahoe's office, talking about football but also things not related to the Steelers.

Donahoe discovered Strzelcyzk while studying video of the East/West Shrine Game."(Strzelczyk) jumped off the tape to myself and our scouts," Donahoe said in a letter to the M Club, supporting the Hall of Fame nomination.

"When we made our head coach Chuck Noll aware of Justin and asked him to watch the tape, he quickly came back and said we need to get this player. During my 16 years with the Steelers I don't know if we had any players who worked harder than Justin.

"There was never a question about his athletic tools or his desire. Coming from a smaller school and level of competition, it was not an easy road for Justin. It was about learning the (intricate schemes) and techniques to make it at this level of football. There is nothing that would get in Justin's way.

"In 50 years in football, a lot of players do come and go and some players you never forget. Justin was a unique character who loved life, his family, Maine and his teammates. There was nothing phony about Justin Strzelczyk."

Strzelczyk's widow, Keana McMahon and their children Justin Jr. and Sabrina are expected to be at his Hall of Fame induction. They have been invited to a luncheon hosted by the 1989 team the following day.

Strzelczyk will have come home.

-Steve Solloway-

------------

The 2019 UMaine Sports Hall of Fame class will be honored at an induction banquet on Friday, Sept. 13 at Jeff's Catering in Brewer. For more details, click here.