![]() ![]() “He didn’t want anyone ever thinking I got special treatment.”īesides, Roethlisberger turned out to be a pretty fair receiver at Findlay. ![]() “Playing for your dad, anybody who has ever done that, you don’t get any benefits of the doubt,” Hite said. It wasn’t until Hite was in college at Division III Denison - and Roethlisberger was setting records at Miami (Ohio) - that he heard charges of nepotism, which he denies to this day. Hite kept it as a junior and again as a senior, winning a competition over the summer with Roethlisberger, who shifted to wide receiver. Hite, son of former Findlay football coach Cliff Hite, earned the starting quarterback job late in his sophomore season, when Roethlisberger was a freshman. Although it made him a dominating if not oversized point guard on the basketball court - he averaged 26.5 points a game as a senior - it also made him an inviting target on the football field. Roethlisberger had the height, measuring about 6-foot-4 at the time. “If anybody had said Ben was going to play a pro sport, I’d have said he’d be playing in the NBA,” said Hite, who was a grade ahead of Roethlisberger at Findlay High School in Findlay, Ohio, a city about two hours west of Canton. In high school, Ryan Hite believed Roethlisberger had what it took to play professionally - just not necessarily football. ![]() “I’m interested to see if he picks it up and runs with it,” said former Steelers tight end Vance McDonald, who was one of Roethlisberger’s closest friends before McDonald retired after the 2020 season. Roethlisberger already funds K-9 units for police departments, and he has told friends he wants to host father-son retreats on property he purchased in the Pittsburgh suburbs. Others think Roethlisberger’s future will involve charity work and faith-based endeavors. “I think his kids will navigate the direction he goes,” said Charlie Batch, the former Steelers quarterback and Roethlisberger’s teammate from 2004-12. And he offered little 11 days later when he posted a 2-minute, 16-second video on his website to formally announce his retirement from the NFL.įormer teammates believe retirement for Roethlisberger will involve settling into a coaching role for his kids’ youth teams. Roethlisberger didn’t have those answers. His immediate future, he said on that cold January night, was to take his kids tubing and sled-riding after he returned to Pittsburgh. “I’m going to do everything I can,” he said, “to be the best husband and father I can be and try to expand God’s kingdom.” What’s the future hold for Roethlisberger aside from knowing his bust will reside in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, when he is eligible in 2027? What’s in the cards for a husband and father of three who earned more than $265 million and retired with the fifth-most yards, completions and victories, eighth-most touchdown passes, second-most game-winning drives and third-most fourth-quarter comebacks? What’s next for a 39-year-old quarterback who won two Super Bowls and appeared in a third, providing the longest era of sustained success for the organization since the 1970s? As he stood at a podium, located in a tiny room inside the bowels of Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, Ben Roethlisberger was reflecting on what would be the final loss of his 18-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers when he was asked about his future. ![]()
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