Lifelong Steelers Fan Has Big Wish For 90th Birthday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Next month, she'll turn 90. On that milestone, she wants the Steelers to help her check off something on her bucket list.
Josephine "Jo" Szwarc has been going to Steelers games since 1946.
Her family calls her the matriarch of Steeler Nation and maybe she is.
Szwarc is almost 90 years old. If she isn't at the Steelers game (she has season tickets), you will find her in her favorite chair watching the game from home in Cheswick.
Let's take a stroll down memory lane or in this case, Jo's driveway which is aptly named "Steelers Boulevard."
Jo has been to games at Pitt Stadium, Forbes Field, Three Rivers and now Heinz Field.
"In those days, women were dressed up, wore high heels, nylons and their finery and all the men wore coat suits and with a tie," she said. "You didn't see sweatshirts or anything that had the name. That came later."
When Terrible Towels appeared on the scene, Jo bought one. In fact, she still has the original one, but it only comes out for the playoffs.
Brenda Waters: What do you think the chances are of you pulling out that towel this season?
Jo: We got a good chance if all of our players are healthy. Ben got hurt.
Brenda: Were you heartbroken?
Jo: I got sick to my stomach. When I saw it, I said, "Not an ACL. An ACL, he could be done for the whole year."
Brenda asked for a little help to better understand the game of football. With a bit of sarcasm, Jo obliged.
"The first thing you need to understand is that there are two teams," she joked.
As she gets ready to turn 90, she has one big thing on her bucket list.
"I want to go and be on the field at the beginning of the game and watch the coin toss and give my boys a [kiss]," she said.
Jo hopes that can happen Nov. 8, her 90th birthday, and the day the Steelers play the Raiders at home.
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