On Thanksgiving Eve, Ben announces the fifth and sixth grants of the 2015-16 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will be distributing grants to the Renton and Bellevue Police Departments, just south and east, respectively, of Seattle where the Steelers will play the Seahawks on Sunday, November 29th.

The Renton Police Department is planning to add a narcotics trained K-9 to their existing team of three tracking K-9s with their Patrol Division.

Renton Chief of Police Kevin Milosevich said, “This donation allows us to start a new canine program that will greatly improve our ability to investigate narcotic crimes in Renton. We are pleased to be selected for this grant, and appreciate the ongoing support the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation provides to police departments for their K9 programs.”

The Bellevue Police Department requested the grant to outfit their newest K-9, Ozzy, with a ballistic vest. K-9 Ozzy just completed his training in May of this year.

Bellevue Chief of Police Steve Mylett said, “We are very appreciative of this generous grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, which will help provide a ballistic vest for K-9 Ozzy. Just as our officers wear ballistic vests when they are on patrol, this vest will help protect Ozzy while he is serving the people of Bellevue.”

During the 2015-16 NFL season, The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation will be distributing grants to K-9 units of police and fire departments in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers. The Foundation will also distribute several grants to the Pittsburgh area and will consider a grant to a non-NFL market city in the United States for each playoff game in which the Steelers compete. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invited police and fire departments across the country to submit proposals detailing their needs.

This marks the ninth season that Ben’s foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units. His mission is to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States, with a particular emphasis on support for service dogs in Pittsburgh, PA. Ben also supports Make-A-Wish.

The Foundation distributed more than $130,000 in grants to K-9 units around the country during the 2014-15 NFL season and […]

on “A Football Life: Bruce Arians” which premieres December 11th on NFL Network.

Watch the preview below:




More about the show and it’s scheduling through the month of December here.

Just in case you missed today’s show, here’s a recap courtesy of 93.7 The Fan:

Ben joined The Cook and Poni Show on Sportsradio 93.7 The Fan for the #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show as he does every Tuesday morning at 11 am during the Steelers season.

The Steelers, at 6-4 are coming off their bye week. They will return to action Sunday in Seattle to face the Seahawks at 4:25 pm.

Being well rested coming off the bye, Ben talked about his health and said he’s not quite at 100%.

“As healthy as you can be this time of year,” Ben said in describing himself. “The foot is getting better, the knee feels good, you know it will take an offseason probably to get 100% but I feel well enough to hopefully play some good football.”

While Ben may not be 100%, he’s at least still playing, and that’s more than you can say for Baltimore Ravens Quarterback Joe Flacco as he suffered a season ending knee injury this past week. This is the first time in Flacco’s career that he will miss a game and Ben gave us his thoughts on that run coming to an end.

“When you talk about guys that haven’t missed a game, you can say what you want about that person being tough, and it definitely is toughness, but you have to be lucky…There’s some of the toughest guys that have ever played the game have missed games, so you definitely have to get lucky.”

Looking ahead to their first game back coming off the bye, Ben talked about going into Seattle and dealing with their rowdy fans, The 12th Man.

“It’s the last stadium I haven’t played in and heard a lot of amazing stories about Seattle and their fans and how loud it is there, so excited to go up there and play a great football team,” Roethlisberger told us.

When looking specifically at the Seahawks fans, Ben talked about how loud they can be, but adds that he’s not so sure you won’t see some Terrible Towels in the stands.

“That’s all I’ve heard is it’s the loudest place,” Ben said. “I’m excited, I know their fans are passionate. I’ll be interested to see how many Steelers fans, if there’s any Terrible Towels up there, I know […]

….for “Miss Erin” and he wants to share it.

Yes, Benjamin Jr, who turned 3 this past weekend, wanted to wish his website manager (who also works for his dad) a “Happy Birthday” as well.

So, with his little sister Baylee by his side – who is not quite ready to be a back-up singer just yet – and without further ado….

Benjamin Jr’s serenade:

Best birthday gift ever!! Thank you Benjamin Jr. & Baylee!

Yippee!!! Look who’s 3!!!


I sure had a crazy-busy time since my last birthday: picking out a Christmas tree, Baylee’s first Christmas, hanging out with Aunt Carlee, going to see Sesame Street Live with Mom and Dad, and sitting still long enough for my first hair cut…and that was just during the winter months!

Spring was all about being with my family at the beach, then it was Dad’s football camp and golf tournament in June, going to Idlewild Park with Baylee and my cousins in August, rootin’ for the Steelers and having lots of fun at a carnival in September…oh, and all that waving to my many fans while showing off my moves on stage at the Steelers Fashion Show. And finally, a GREAT time on Halloween with Baylee and Hercules!

Oh gosh! I almost forgot! I also learned the months of the year this year!

Whew! I can only imagine how busy THIS year is going to be now that I’m 3!! I hope you’ll be along for the ride once again, Steeler Nation! — Benjamin, Jr.

From Jeremy Fowler, at ESPN.com:

Carson Boyle is such a Ben Roethlisberger fanatic that he once designed a “Ben Roethlisturkey” for a school holiday arts and crafts project. He collected football cards and scouted the Pittsburgh Steelers while other kids played in the snow.

Fittingly, when he got his hands on a set of signed Roethlisberger cleats last week, the 9-year-old protected them like a left tackle.

“He wouldn’t let hotel room service in our room,” said Jennifer Boyle, Carson’s mother.

The Boyle family, from Minersville, Pennsylvania, visited the Steelers last week thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Last November, Carson was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. After several surgeries, Carson has been cancer-free since January, but for a few more years, there’s a one-in-three chance the cancer will surface in his lymph nodes.

Carson’s wish was obvious to those who know him — meet Roethlisberger. So a limo transported the Boyles to the Steelers facility, where they met the coaches and players. They spent about 20 minutes with Roethlisberger, who had signed cleats waiting for Carson.

“To Carson, there’s nothing bigger than meeting him and getting something autographed,” Jennifer said. “He literally couldn’t even speak. He was speechless. The look on his face, he was just in total amazement that he was there. [Ben] was really, really nice.”

Carson did muster the courage to ask a few questions about Roethlisberger’s favorite team growing up (49ers) and his favorite player (Jerry Rice). Roethlisberger signed autographs for Carson’s brothers, too.

Running back DeAngelo Williams also stopped to talk with Carson for a while. Make-A-Wish had told the Boyles that Williams — an outspoken breast cancer awareness advocate — was great with kids.

“He spent probably as much time as Ben Roethlisberger,” Jennifer said. “Carson was shy, so he said, ‘Well, let me ask you some questions?’ Carson definitely started to warm up after that.”

After a rough few months of treatment, Carson is healthy and living happily, especially after this weekend, which included tickets to the Steelers-Browns game.

“He said this was kind of like a storybook — it had a really rough beginning and a really happy ending,” Jennifer said.


You can read more from Mr. Fowler’s blog here.