Chance of a Lifetime: East Brady Youth Football Duo Serve as Honorary Steeler Captains

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Camden Slater fist-bumped Pittsburgh Steelers’ place kicker Chris Boswell.

Head coach Mike Tomlin then asked the East Brady 12-year-old a question.

“How’s it going?” Tomlin said. “Are you excited?”

Camden certainly was.

Camden and Tyler Rodgers, members of the East Brady Youth Football program, were honorary captains for the Steelers on Oct. 16th for the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Acrisure Stadium.

Camden was in awe of the size of the players as he and Tyler stood at midfield with Najee Harris, Mitch Trubisky, Cameron Heyward and Miles Killebrew of the Steelers during the coin toss.

Across from them was Tampa’s 350 pound behemoth of a defensive tackle, Vita Vea.

“A lot of them were 20 times the size of me,” Camden said.

Like Camden, Tyler, who is 8, was able to interact with some of the Steelers’ players.

Diontae Johnson tossed Tyler a pair of gloves and Heyward helped usher them out to midfield for the coin toss.

“Heyward just said, ‘Stick with me,’” Tyler said. “The best part was getting the gloves.”

It was also a special experience for the young boys’ parents.

“It was pretty fun for me, too,” said Doug, who is no stranger to football fields. He was a quarterback for Karns City in the late 1990s and played at the University of Pittsburgh for a season. “We were down on the field and hour and half before kickoff as they went through the warmups. I’m familiar with all of that, but the NFL is a little different.”

(Camden Slater, left, and Tyler Rodgers)

The Steelers, as well as the rest of the NFL, pick honorary captains from the local community throughout the season.

Two East Brady youth football players were chosen to serve in those roles for the Tampa Bay game.

Camden and Tyler had their names chosen at random from all the youth participating in the organization.

“Our local league president, Pete Douglas, have me a call one night after practice,” Doug said. “He called and said that Tyler was selected.”


Tyler, though, had a conflict.

Also a baseball player, he had a travel league tournament scheduled for that weekend.

The family had to make a tough choice.

“This was a once in a lifetime thing,” Doug said. “We decided to go to the Steelers’ game.”

Like Tyler, Camden was in shock when he found out he was chosen.

“I just got home from practice one night and my mom was talking to one of the coaches,” Camden said. “They were out there for awhile and I was inside watching TV. She came in and she said you’re going to the Steeler game. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’ But she said that wasn’t all.”

Camden and Tyler were allowed to take two guests.

Of course they chose their parents.

“We were able to go on the field with them prior to the game,” said Maggie Slater, Camden’s mother. “We had this very small section and when the time came of the coin toss, it was interesting. Many of them all went into the player tunnel. It was like all these people were there, like the owners and their guests and then they all cleared out and it was kind of just us out there.”

Camden and Tyler had the chance to sit on the bench and come out of the tunnel with the team. They also got to stand with the team for the National Anthem.

“The guys were so nice,” Maggie said. “It was just an amazing experience for them.”