Saturday night in Southern California, a Pittsburgh Steelers legend was enshrined into his alama mater’s athletic Hall of Fame. The legend was none other than Troy Polamalu.
Polamalu, who starred at USC before being drafted by the Steelers, has now been a part of two Hall of Fames. Last year he was enshrined into the Samoan Sports Hall of Fame, and now the USC Hall of Fame.
There is only one Hall of Fame left for Polamalu, and that would be the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I don’t think anyone wonders if Polamalu finds a permanent home in Canton, OH, but whether he is a first ballot hall of famer is certainly debated in league circles.
Check out some of a question and answer article by Lauren Dunn of the USC Trojans official website:
Q: What does it mean to you to be joining the Hall of Fame for USC?
A: It’s something that you don’t really ever think about while you’re living the process. I don’t really think about my career when I think about USC. I think about my teammates and I think about the time we had living it with my teammates at 1013. That is what I think about. I think about in the locker room stuff. I don’t think about anything really regarding sports or anything that happened on the field.
Q: What are the lessons from playing at USC and being a Trojan that you have carried with you?
A: [USC] is really where I kind of learned my work ethic. The teammates that I had and meeting quite a few people, meeting my wife at USC of course, but meeting some teammates that really helped develop my work ethic and how to work hard and those sort of things.
Q: Do you have a specific memory with your teammates that stands out most from your time at USC?
A: Yeah, the barbecues. The barbecues, the summer workouts…I think those were the most fun times that we had: going to class, doing our workouts, going to breakfast every weekend. I think it was Pamela’s we used to go to every weekend… just kind of that daily playing dominos on the porch of our house that we rented out. Those are the best memories that I have.
Q: You have been described as many things, including “a football anomaly.” You are so aggressive and powerful on the field, but so calm and so grounded off the field. Where does this sense of calm and spirituality come from?
A: I feel like it is just passion. I just try to live my life outside the field with a certain passion —how I serve my wife, my children and the example I want to be to them. In the same way, I try to play football with a passion. And that is just trying to leave it all on the field, trying not to let your brother next to you down.
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For the Steelers, JuJu Smith-Schuster, one Trojan to another, took to his official Twitter page to congratulate Polamalu on such a huge honor.
Big congrats to the legend @tpolamalu on being inducted into the USC Hall of Fame!! pic.twitter.com/DdMRrX3XGY
— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) May 19, 2018
We here at BTSC send our congratulations to Polamalu, and await the day he not only comes back to the black-and-gold, but is forever enshrined with a bust in Canton.