…at the Consol Energy Center for the Chris Tomlin “Burning Lights Tour” Concert!

Ben and Ashley are just two of the many fans enjoying the Saturday evening show!



Chris, you’re the man! — Ben, with a photo taken from their vantage point at the Energy Center.




Giant beach balls released into the crowd for the finale. — Ben


Fan Brianna Thomas and her family attended the concert as well. She and her father also met Ben, and sent us their photo posing with #7.

“HUGE” fan Emily Bendik and her brother also posed with Ben at the concert! You can see their photo here!


Hope everyone in Steeler Nation is enjoying their weekend too!

“I would just like to keep everyone informed about Pito. Pito is the K9 dog that was given to us by The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation. Since Pito has been on the street, he has made nine ‘small’ hits on drugs and one very large one on Tuesday night. Pito has only been on the streets for about two months since training. As the Chief of Police, I can’t thank The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation enough for all they have done for us. Please thank Mr. Roethlisberger for us, and for helping those who help others.” – Chief Ronnie Williams, Millersville Police Department, in an email to the website today.

That one “very large” hit that Chief Williams referenced in his email was the subject of a story from the WKRN-Channel 2 News in Nashville this evening:

The K9 donated by football star Ben Roethlisberger’s foundation last year is now trained and on the streets, helping the Millersville Police Department sniff out crime.

Pito, the 2-year-old German Shepherd, helped officer George Hurst with what seemed like a normal traffic stop on Interstate 65 Tuesday night.

Hurst pulled over a rental car that had no rear lights and discovered the driver had no license.

Pito sniffed around the car and alerted on something at the driver’s door.

The driver then admitted to having marijuana in possession.

When Hurst led Pito around the rest of the car, he alerted once again at the trunk.

Officer Hurst then discovered $30,500 in cash hidden under a tire.

“It’s been a great experience working with him.” — Officer Hurst, about his new partner.

Police believe the cash was a part of a drug deal that was either about to go down or had just been completed, but the driver and passenger of the rental vehicle said they did not know where it came from.

Since it was not claimed, the cash was confiscated and will now go into the Millersville drug fund to help buy new equipment.

Authorities also said that the male in the passenger seat has a lengthy drug record and was recently released from the penitentiary.


You can read more here.

You can read more about Ben’s Foundation here.


*Thank you so much to Chief Williams for the email and the photo of Millersville’s Top Dog!

The 2013 NFL Combine begins later this week, February 23rd through the 26th. More than 300 top prospects for the upcoming NFL Draft will be invited to participate at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

A look back –

It was nine years ago this week (February 18th-24th) that another top prospect emerged in the 2004 NFL Combine…

“It’s remarkable how far he has come in such a short time. Until his senior year in high school, he was a receiver. Yet, he was talented enough to take the Mid-American Conference by storm. That might not seem like a ringing endorsement on the surface, but remember that the last two MAC quarterbacks to do that were Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich, both of whom appear to have bright NFL futures. Roethlisberger, who declared himself eligible for the NFL draft after his junior year, has a good pro arm, is more athletic than Eli Manning and Philip Rivers and sees the field well. Scouts generally believe he has the highest upside of this year’s QB crop, but also represents the greatest risk because of his limited experience.” — The late Joe Stein, NFL Draft expert for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

From an article written by Jeff Zillgitt that was featured in USA Today, February 19, 2004:

The inquiry at the top of everyone’s list?

“Ben, where do you think you’ll be drafted?”

It’s a question he can’t answer. He knows where he wants to be drafted.

About six weeks ago, Roethlisberger moved to Newport Beach, Calif., and began a rigorous workout regimen.

“My agent is the only one I can listen to,” Roethlisberger said. “I can be No. 1. I can be in the top 5. But I still have to work as hard as I can.”

The 6-5, 245-pounder possesses the qualities teams want in a quarterback: size, arm strength, accuracy, some mobility, smarts.

Roethlisberger and Manning are at the six-day NFL combine in Indianapolis, where prospects show off their physical and mental skills.

It also gives teams a chance to interview and get to know the players.

It might determine where Roethlisberger and Manning go in the draft.

San Diego, Oakland and Arizona pick 1-2-3 in the draft. All could use a quarterback. The Chargers aren’t […]

Binky? Check!

Golf Channel on? Check!




































Just watching some golf on TV with my dad! — Benjamin, Jr.



A few more photos can be enjoyed here!

“I think it’s kinda cool to be getting a grant from Ben Roethlisberger. I want to thank the foundation and everyone else for their support. I am grateful for everything that we get to help keep this program going.” — Officer George Grippo, Mt. Pleasant Police K9 handler.

From an article by Marilyn Forbes in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review this afternoon:

Pittsburgh Steeler Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has thousands of fans and he just got one more — a four-legged one.

The Mt. Pleasant Police Department’s K-9 officer, Gerro and handler Officer George Grippo have been awarded a grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation.

“I heard about this last year through the sheriff’s office but it was already too late to apply. I missed the deadline,” Grippo said. “I filled out the paperwork and then she called me about two weeks to tell me I was approved. I wasn’t allowed to leave the cat out of the bag until she issued a press release but I was really excited that we had been approved.”

Grippo has been in the process of trying to raise funding to purchase a newer SUV for him and Gerro and partial proceeds from the money that he is receiving from the foundation will go toward purchasing cage that will be specially fit for the vehicle.


You can read more from Ms. Forbes column on the grant here.

You can learn more about Ben’s Foundation here.

…because this one comes from a fan of a rival AFC North team!

Bengals fan and MU alum Dan Plettner not only had the opportunity to attend the Hall of Fame Induction Dinner last Saturday, but also the opportunity to meet and chat with Big Ben.

He was kind enough to share his story with us:

I had a splendid experience at Ben Roethlisberger’s Miami University Hall of Fame Induction Dinner on Saturday evening. Ben was inducted alongside his posthumous coach, Terry Hoeppner. Ben’s emotions and words were a great tribute to Coach Hoeppner.

I had brought a football for which I frankly am still working toward a decent historical knowledge.

I went up to Ben shortly before dinner and told him I had something I thought he might like to see. He smiled immediately as he saw the Redhawks logo on the ball’s finish and then he began examining the ball pretty closely.

I am still uncertain whether the football was actually used in practice and/or games… and whether it was definitively ever touched by Ben in 2003, but I loved the ball 10 times more the moment Ben remarked about the ball to the effect, “this ball has a lot of history.” Another former player at the event informed that the ball was a new model/style in ’03.

I enjoyed a normal conversation with “Big Ben” and he seemed to find my challenge of being a proud Miami alum simultaneous with being a Bengals fan pretty humorous. After talking, when I informed him that I’d be honored if he choose to sign the ball he graciously reached for my pen and took his time to choose a place to autograph it. After thanking him, I felt like a little kid and discretely walked the football around the perimeter of the room (rather than taking a direct route back to my table) so as not to “open the floodgates” for others to approach and ask for his autograph just before the dinner commenced.

Later, listening to the speeches from Ben (which truely honored Terry Hoeppner) and Terry’s wife really fully made me appreciate my good fortune for observing a special night in the history at Miami University.

It also helped me to appreciate Ben on […]