Apr 10, 2015 4 min read

There are players in every sport who transcend what they do on the field or court.

They are readily recognizable by everyone, even those who do not follow sports.

Typically, those players are known by their first or last name. Nothing else is needed. You know who people are talking about when they mention Mario, Gretzky, Jeter, Wilt, LeBron, Jordan, etc.

But football has always been a little different. Because players wear helmets when they’re on the field, they aren’t always as easily recognized as competitors in other sports.

The few that are, well, you know they have to be pretty special.

Troy Polamalu is one of those football players. When Polamalu is mentioned in a conversation, everyone knows who you’re talking about.

We can still say he’s still one of those people because, at 33, he’s got a lifetime ahead of him despite his retirement from football Thursday.

But don’t expect to see Polamalu pop up on network television on weekends talking about football – though his passion and knowledge of the game and its history is umatched.

That likely won’t be the path he chooses.

Even when he was at the top of his game, he never courted fame. In fact, most of the time, he seemed embarrassed he drew the kind of attention he did – at least off the football field.

“He’s been a tremendous leader, really a leader by example, not only as a great football player, but as a great person,” said Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney. “He has influenced many people both on and off the field, which was really an important part.

“He did everything with dignity and responsibility, and it was special to have Troy be a Steeler his entire career.”

Soft-spoken and unassuming off the field, on the field, he was always the center of attention.

When Polamalu was in his prime – and what a prime it was – you could train your eyes on him and watch the game unfold. The ball had a way of finding him.

He would start on one side of the field, come up to the line of scrimmage, turn his back and drop 10 steps at the snap and still make a tackle in the backfield on a running back catching the ball in the opposite flat.

He could bait opposing quarterbacks like nobody else. Some called it instincts. Some called it luck. Some said he was freelancing.

The truth was Polamalu studied opponents and knew their tendancies. He could read a formation, listen to the quarterback’s cadence and know what was going to happen.

That mental aspect of his game was always underrated because of his ridiculous physical ability.

But 20-plus years of playing a high-contact sport coupled with the one opponent that no athlete has ever beaten – Father Time – made him a shadow of himself last season.

You could see it time and again that he still had an innate ability to diagnose quickly what was happening on the field. He was often just a step behind.

It wasn’t difficult to watch, because it was always a joy to see Polamalu on the field. But it wasn’t the same.

It might not ever be the same again.

The Steelers will line up with a strong safety in 2015, likely Shamarko Thomas. But finding a replacement for Polamalu, the man, in the locker room and off the field in his numerous endeavors, that will be difficult.

There have always been rumors of Polamalu’s charity work – rumors because he never sought attention for those things. Those stories of Polamalu picking up the tab for strangers at restuarants or sending food to homeless shelters are true.

And they’re just the tip of the iceberg.

As great as he was on the football field, he’s a better human being.

“His actions as a human being were just as impressive as any of the many inhuman plays he made on the football field,” said Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert. “We were very fortunate to have him be a part of our organization for the past 12 years.”

Fortunate indeed.

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.