Q&A with Mr. Balbo

Mr. Anthony Balbo shares information on writing his book, Gimme A Six Pack, The Story of the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers, and what the story means to him

JA: I thought the title was pretty funny. Tell me, how did you come up with that?

AB: Well, I hate to give away any secrets because the answer is in the middle of the book, but, at the end of the season, [the Steelers’] defensive leader Jack Lambert was interviewed after the playoff game that they lost and he said, “We will play them again and just give me a six pack and a half hours rest and we will go out and play them again.” That is where it came from. 

JA: How did you become a Steelers fan?

AB: From my dad. He grew up in a little town called Leechburg which is about 45 minutes Southwest of Pittsburgh. I think there was a minute when I liked the Chicago Bears because they were on TV more often, so I might have been three or four years old at that time, but my dad made sure I was Pittsburgh-everything.

JA: If you like the Steelers so much why have you stayed in Michigan?

AB: Oh, wow! Hard hitting questions...I like it here. My wife wanted to stay in Michigan so we stayed.

JA: Do you ever plan on moving to Pittsburgh?

AB: I’d like to. We’ve visited a number of times, but my wife probably won’t want to move out of Michigan. But I’ll get there as soon as I can, because I still have family back there.

JA: Do you plan on writing any more books?

AB: Yes, in fact I am writing one right now and plan on writing a couple more after that...maybe another one about the Steelers. The writing process took me about six months, along with research. I tried to get a hold of Steelers players that are still around, but nobody really knew who I was so they probably just thought I was a fan looking for attention. I did more research through newspapers and watching YouTube broadcasts. Once I had my research, it took another six months to turn it into book form, and 6 more months to edit, process it, and find a publisher for it.

JA: What inspired you to write a book?

AB: I wanted to change the direction in my life, and I always wanted to write one. I decided that my coaching career was pretty much over so I wanted to go do something else, so I thought it would be a great time to start something new. 

JA: What is your collection?

AB: I think I have every Steeler win on DVD, except 1978—only missing one game from that era—and I watch some others just for fun. Since I am so terrible at selling books, people can get the books directly from me, for about seven or eight dollars cheaper, or get it through Amazon. There are two copies of my book in the library too if people don’t want to buy it.