Fifth Third Bank and #1 Cochran present the 2013 Ben Roethlisberger Football Camp!

“Let me just say that Ben’s camp was an absolute delight!! It’s a very well run and organized camp with never a dull moment. Ben is great with the kids! Once again he threw the football to every camper so they could have chance to ‘catch a pass from Big Ben’! Both of my grandson’s caught their passes! YEAH!! Thanks so much to Ben for a wonderful experience for my grandsons!!” – Anita Doddroe, June 19, 2012.

It’s not too early to sign your child up to join Ben this summer for some football instruction and fun at his Annual Football Camp, sponsored by ProCamps Worldwide! Spots are filling up fast!

The Camp is open to boys and girls, ages 7-14.

Ben will be joined by a selection of the top prep and college coaches from the area.

Each day, the campers will experience various stations, specializing in fundamental skills of football. Individual groups will be small to assure that each camper gets maximum instruction.

Ben will give daily talks highlighting the finer points of the game of football and beyond. Parents and guests will be able to listen to camp guests in designated areas at each location.

And you never know which of Ben’s teammates will show up to help out #7! Kids that attend Ben’s Camp have had the opportunity to meet and get instruction from Brett Keisel, Charlie Batch, Willie Colon, and even Coach Tomlin!


Dates: June 17th and 18th, 2013

Times: 09:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Place: Seneca Valley High School, Harmony, PA

Cost: $199.*

*If you use the code BigBen7 when you register, you’ll receive a $20 discount off the registration fee, courtesy of ProCamps!

“We took our granddaughter, age 12, and our grandson, age 7, to Ben’s Youth Camp. What organized Chaos! It was an awesome experience for both. Both caught Ben’s passes. They talked about the camp all the way back to Northern Ohio. They have already decided to come back next year…at our expense! We also really enjoyed the experience!” — Linda Hawk, Ohio

Each camper will receive –

• Camp T-Shirt
• Autographed Camp team photo with Ben
• 7 Hours of expert instruction
• Opportunity […]

…with a collection of new photos from Steeler Nation!


Garrett Koch’s third-grade class project? Big Ben Roethlisberger of course!


Students in Mrs. Stahlman’s third grade class at Big Walnut Elementary School in Sunbury, Ohio recently learned about biographies through an interest-based project.

Students were given the choice of a famous person that they wanted to research. Their end project was the biography poster. Garrett Koch, shown here with Mrs. Stahlman, is a huge Steelers fan and loves wearing his Roethlisberger jersey to school, so the choice of completing his project on Big Ben was an easy one!

Thank you to Mark Cooper, Principal of Big Walnut Elemetary (and a big Steelers fan himself) tweeted Garrett’s awesome poster to the site’s Twitter page!

Also, thank you to Garrett’s parents, both of whom are Cleveland Browns fans, for allowing us to share Garrett’s work with his fellow Steelers fans!


You can see a larger version of the hard work that Garrett put into his poster here.



After dining at The Silver Fox Steakhouse, Ben wanted to thank the chef:

While visiting his friend (and one of his heroes), Jim Kelly in upstate New York during the month of February, Ben enjoyed dinner at the acclaimed “Silver Fox Steakhouse” in Ellicottville, NY. Before he left, he posed with Head Chef Jack Atkinson (left of Ben) and some of his staff.

“I’m a huge Steelers fan, and of Ben as well. It was my pleasure to cook for him. He was extremely gracious to my staff and myself posing for pictures and signing autographs.” — Jack Atkinson


You can check out The Silver Fox’s website here.



Chad & Jennifer Pointer decide to tie the knot Steelers-style last summer!

“We live in Evansville Indiana and love our Steelers and the greatest QB ever!!! Our first date was to the Tampa Bay vs Steelers game 3 yrs ago, she was a TB fan, has been a Steelers fan every since. We were married in West Palm Beach, Florida, the same place I proposed a year before. We then had our reception back home in Indiana – even entered the room to ‘Renegade’ playing.

“Ben in my book is second to NONE from his Ironman […]

Just want to thank all of you for the awesome birthday messages! Best fans in the world! — Ben

Today is Ben’s 31st birthday and one lucky fan will receive a gift from him!


To celebrate…

The 302nd emailer (3/02 – today’s date) will receive an autographed, game-used black and gold Nike cleat that was worn during the early part of the 2012 season!

It’s that easy!

No quiz to take, no caption to think up, no questions to answer…all you have to do is be the right emailer!

However, before you email, please follow these two rules:

1. Emails for the contest WILL NOT be accepted until 12 NOON ET and after (this gives fans in different time zones a chance to participate).

2. Please, just one email per email address only (subsequent emails from the same address will be discounted).


Send emails to: bigben7website@gmail.com


*UPDATE: We have a winner!!

Congratulations to big Steelers fan Scott Peterson, of Georgetown, Delaware! He was our 302nd emailer!

*Thank you to everyone who entered today’s contest, and to those who took the time to send so many birthday messages!

Ben received emails with birthday wishes from around the country, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Scotland, England, Denmark, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, Italy and down under in Australia!!

“I want it to be known there is no locker room issue, there is no leadership issue. Even if guys say it out of frustration, they’re trying to find something to say. I think it’s important to know we all have each other’s back.”

From an interview with Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Ben Roethlisberger said he has heard enough, and it’s time to put an end to it. The perception created by a few of his teammates that the Steelers locker room was in disarray last season just is not true, the quarterback insisted, and someone needed to say it.

So why not the veteran quarterback, the captain of the offense?

“For anybody to say there are locker room issues or leadership issues are completely off base,” Roethlisberger said Thursday, shortly after he signed a restructured contract to create $6 million of salary cap room for the Steelers in 2013.

“I believe that’s the frustration. I believe that it’s frustration of last year, I honestly do.”

Enough is enough, Roethlisberger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“Obviously, last year was frustrating for all of us, and when you’re frustrated and the season doesn’t go the way you want it to and things don’t go the way you want them to, things are said. I know all too well, after the Dallas game I was frustrated and said some things.

“The important thing to know is, there are no issues in our locker room. There are no issues with LaMarr. There are no issues on our team.

“The big thing for us is to move forward. Last year was last year, it was 8-8. We’re not happy about it. There are frustrations, but you know what? We’re done with it. We’re moving forward and we’re moving into this year … with whoever’s here, we’re looking to move forward. And we know Woodley’s going to be here and we know Woodley’s going to be ready to go as we all are going to be.”


You can read more here.

Connor Williams, age 11 years.


On December 30, 2012, my son passed away in his sleep after a day of skiing at Hidden Valley Ski Resort. It was highly ironic that he died there as we had gone there as a refuge during his mother’s two-year battle with breast cancer. My wife, daughter, son, and I went there twice in the winter when chemo went badly, and twice in the summer when chemo went badly again.

In the winter, we would watch our beloved Steelers and usually wear Steelers jerseys while skiing. In the summer, we would head to training camp.

My wife lost her battle on June 15, 2008. My son Connor watched SB XLIII with me after my wife died, and cheered wildly after the miraculous pass to Santonio Holmes. It was a sign that we could live and have fun again.

We continued these family traditions. The Steelers helped us heal, and after two years of low grade depression, my son had reached a place in the last couple of years where he enjoyed life again.

Ben was his favorite player.

Our last week was terrific, and the last two days of his life my son wore his Steelers jerseys proudly. He wore his Big Ben “bumblebee” jersey on December 28th and wore his Lamarr Woodley jersey that we bought at camp this year when we skied and last ate together on December 29. I will treasure those pictures and memories forever. I intend to frame the bumblebee jersey. He obviously had a number of jerseys but he loved that Ben “bumblebee” one the most. His classmates made cards for him – about half depicted him in that jersey. He was a special little boy. There are not many 11-year olds that warrant 3/4 of a page- even in a local paper. I miss him greatly.

My son was a straight A student, and was destined for great things. My daughter and I are once again left with a great void in our lives. We hope to continue our traditions and hope our favorite team can once again help us heal.

I am an Assistant Prosecutor in New Philadelphia, Ohio. I grew up in Pittsburgh and have loved the Steelers since my […]