professional football player
Personal Information
Born October 16, 1972, in New Orleans, LA; son of Robert Stewart and Florence Stewart (deceased); one brother, one sister.
Education: University of Colorado, 1990-94.
Career
Was star quarterback at John Ehret High School, Marrero, LA; won football scholarship to University of Colorado, 1991; set University of Colorado records for yards passing, touchdowns, and other statistical categories, 1991-94; selected in second round of professional draft by Pittsburgh Steelers, 1995; became starting quarterback on Steelers, 1997-; had second highest total of touchdowns (11) for a quarterback in NFL history, 1997.
Life's Work
Called "a modern-day Jim Thorpe" by coach Bill Cowher of the Pittsburgh Steelers, quarterback Kordell Stewart possesses a combination of skills as a passer, rusher, and pass receiver that is highly unusual for his position. In his first season as starting quarterback for the Steelers in 1997, he led his team to a Central Division title in the American Football Conference (AFC) and became a favorite with hometown fans for his displays of heroics on the gridiron. As Bob Smizik wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1997, "Stewart is a hero because of his versatility, because of his pass-catching skills, because of his ability to confuse defenses in short-yardage situations." Stewart's ability to excel at three offensive positions led Cowher to nickname him "Slash," a reference to the slashes in quarterback/running back/wide receiver.
Life wasn't easy for Stewart as a child growing up in Marrero, Louisiana, a city across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. His mother, Florence Stewart, died after a long fight against liver cancer when he was twelve. His father, Robert Stewart, had to toil long hours at an assortment of jobs to take care of Kordell and his other two children. As Stewart told Sports Illustrated for Kids, "I'm Slash junior. Slash senior [his father] is a barber slash house painter slash carpenter. He does more things than I do, believe me." The young Kordell contributed to the household by sometimes helping his father cut hair, as well as by doing the laundry and cooking dinner. During his high school and college years, Stewart occasionally gave haircuts to his teammates on the football team.
Stewart credits his father with helping him stay out of trouble by making sure he didn't get involved with tough kids on the street. This influence helped him develop excellent work habits both in the classroom and on the football field. Stewart became an outstanding quarterback on the football team at John Ehret High School, and was named New Orleans Player of the Year while earning a spot on the All-State team as a senior in 1990.
Set Records as College Player
After his football skills landed him a scholarship to the University of Colorado, Stewart proceeded to become one of the greatest football players in the school's history. He soon blossomed into an exceptional quarterback who could run and catch, as well as pass. According to John Walters in Sports Illustrated, Stewart's quarterbacking abilities were nurtured in large part by Rick Neuheisel, who coached quarterbacks and receivers at Colorado.
In 1994, Stewart had an outstanding senior year. He completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,071 yards and 10 touchdowns, which led the Big Eight Conference. Stewart set a number of college records at Colorado, completing 456 of 785 passes for 6,481 yards and 33 touchdowns. He also set school records for yards of total offense (7,770), average yards per completion (13.8), and yards per offensive play (6.36), among others, according to the ESPN site on the World Wide Web. In addition, Stewart carried the ball 247 times for a total of 772 yards.
Because he was on the small side (6'1", 212 pounds) by professional quarterback standards, Stewart was not among the first athletes selected in the 1995 pro draft. However, when scouts asked him to exhibit his running back and receiver skills, he declined because he wanted to play quarterback. "I knew I could run and catch the ball," he told Sports Illustrated for Kids. "But I want to play quarterback." The Pittsburgh Steelers picked him in the second round after fifty-nine other college players had already been selected.
As the Steelers' fourth-string quarterback in 1995, Stewart didn't play in the first five games of his rookie season. However, he got an opportunity to prove himself when the Steeler coaching staff began looking for ways to spark the team's lackluster offense. He had impressed the coaches with his explosive speed and great moves during practices. "This kid has so much talent," said Cowher about Stewart in Sports Illustrated for Kids. "Can't we find a way to use him?" In a highly unusual move, the coaches decided to use Stewart as a "super-substitute," playing him at three different positions to confuse opposing defenses.
Stewart proved equal to the challenge and his ability to dramatically alter the course of a game soon made him a favorite among Steeler fans. In the eighth game of the 1995 season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Stewart entered the game to run a quarterback sneak. Instead, he dashed 16 yards downfield for a first down. The following week against the Cleveland Browns, Stewart ran with the ball twice, caught two passes, and threw his first touchdown pass as a pro. In the next game against the Cincinnati Bengals, he caught a short pass and scored his first touchdown as a pro on a 71-yard run.
Triple Threat on Offense
With Stewart adding new life to the team's offense, the Steelers became a serious contender in the NFL. They won eight straight games and earned a berth in the playoffs. In the ten games he appeared in during the 1995 season, Stewart completed five of seven passes for 60 yards and a 71.4 completion percentage, carried the ball 15 times for 86 yards, and caught 14 passes for 235 yards. He had balanced his scoring evenly between his different offensive roles, generating one touchdown each on passes, runs, and receptions. In the first round of the playoffs against the Buffalo Bills, he punted the ball 41 yards into the end zone. In the next round against the Indianapolis Colts, Stewart caught a crucial touchdown pass that helped the Steelers clinch the AFC Championship and a berth in the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XXX against the Dallas Cowboys, Stewart played well as both a quarterback and a running back, but the Steelers lost the game by a score of 27-17.
At the end of the 1995 season Stewart's teammates named him the team's top rookie, and also gave him the Steelers' Joe Greene Great Performance Award. Despite the accolades showered upon him, Stewart was not satisfied with his role on the team. "I want to be out there being a quarterback," he told Smizik of the Post-Gazette of his hopes for the 1996 season. "That would be my number-one thing. Right now, I'm doing this for the team because we need it. But quarterback is my number-one position."
In 1996, Stewart again proved his worth to the Steeler fans and coaches with his "instant offense" potential. Although he still expressed a keen desire to be the team's starting quarterback, his performance at that position in 1996 was mediocre. In the final game of the 1996 season against the Carolina Panthers, Stewart completed eight of 21 passes for only 77 yards while tossing two interceptions. In a playoff round against the New England Patriots, he completed no passes in ten attempts. Despite these setbacks, the Steeler coaching staff refused to lose faith in Stewart. In July of 1997, Steeler head coach Bill Cowher announced that Stewart would be the starting quarterback for the 1997 season. Stewart's self-confidence remained high and he remarked on a pre-game radio show in August of 1997 that "I will be a Pro Bowl quarterback and I will go to the Hall of Fame some day," according to Ron Cook in the Post-Gazette.
After a stellar exhibition season, Stewart played poorly in the 1997 season opener against the Dallas Cowboys. However, he recovered from this performance and led the Steelers to 11 victories and a division title. He was also played a major role in 32 of the Steelers' 41 regular-season offensive touchdowns. He generated nearly 3,500 yards of total offense in 1997, completing 440 passes for 3,020 yards and carrying the ball 88 times for 476 yards.
Although Stewart threw many interceptions, he also possessed the ability to turn games around with his potent receiving and running skills. According to Cook in the Post-Gazette, Stewart's exciting play made him the most popular sports figure in Pittsburgh. Highlights of the 1997 season included two separate games in which he passed and ran for a total of five touchdowns. In one game late in the season, Stewart secured a victory with a 74-yard touchdown run.
Slumped in 1998
The 1998 season proved disappointing for Stewart, as his total number of touchdown passes dropped by ten from the previous season and his total number of interceptions soared. His total passing yards dropped by almost 500, while his total of rushing touchdowns dropped by nine. The Steelers finished with only seven wins against nine losses and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. Stewart ended the 1998 season on a bad note, completing 17 of 37 passes for only 174 yards while throwing two interceptions.
Although some doubt that Stewart will remain the Steelers' starting quarterback, team management has voiced its support of Stewart as the starter for the 1999 season. "He [Stewart] went through some growing pains this year," claimed Tom Donahoe, the Steelers' director of football operations, in a December 1998 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I think he'll be the better for it. I think at some point in his career, he'll look back at this year and probably realize all the adversity he went through was good for him."
Awards
New Orleans Football Player of the Year, 1990; All-State Football Team, Louisiana, 1990; All-American Second Team, Associated Press, 1994; Most Valuable Rookie, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1995; Joe Greene Great Performance Award, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1995.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- New York Times, September 22, 1998, p. C27.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 29, 1995; July 13, 1997; August 12, 1997; July 26, 1998; December 30, 1998.
- Sports Illustrated, September 26, 1994, p. 71; December 11, 1995, p. 54; November 9, 1998, p. 133.
- Sports Illustrated for Kids, September 1996, p. 40.
- Additional information for this profile was obtained from the ESPN site on the World Wide Web, at http://www.espn.com.
— Ed Decker
