By Lynn Saternow

Herald Sports Editor

FORMER PITTSBURGH Steeler great L.C. Greenwood knows that teamwork is key to success in sports and life, that’s why he joins the group of celebrities and community leaders who team up every year in the Nicky Necastro Memorial Fund Golf Tournament.

The tournament at Avalon Golf and Country Club’s Squaw Creek course in Vienna raises money to help the families of children receiving cancer treatment. And the former defensive lineman, whose heart is as golden as the shoes he used to wear on the gridiron, can easily empathize with the pain those families feel as they fight cancer and potential death of a loved one.

After all, Greenwood recently lost a member of his Steelers family when linemate Dwight White died after surgery.

“It’s been a tough year,” said Greenwood. “I lost a good friend and great teammate. It’s like losing a member of your family. But there are no guarantees in life.

“As Steelers our team had a great relationship. We worked together, we played together. The things we did as Steelers, they are things no other team has done. You’ll never see that again.”

Greenwood pointed out that the big money today means that players move from team to team, rather then spend a whole career with one. “Things are different now. There’s not the allegiance we once had. Today the players say, ‘We want to get paid.’ “

And while he talked about the tradition of the Steelers past, he wonders if that tradition is really passed on to younger fans. “I’m sure some of the parents pass it on and even some of the fans,” Greenwood said. “But I don’t know how much it means to younger people.”

One guy that certainly knows about the Steelers tradition is former Cleveland Browns star Jim Kanicki, another regular attendee at the Necastro event. And he admits he’s excited about the coming NFL season.

“I think the Browns look real good, at least on paper,” said Kanicki. “This is the year to beat the Steelers.”

That’s something he knows well how to do. “In my eight years with the Browns we only lost to the Steelers twice,” he said. “But when you played the Steelers you knew it was going to be a hard-hitting battle. There was a lot of respect between our teams.”

While the Browns have been down the last few years since they returned as an “expansion team” after Art Modell moved the original Browns to Baltimore, even worse has been the plight of the Pittsburgh Pirates in baseball. And no one is more upset with the constant string of losing seasons that former Pirates star Frank Thomas.

“As long as the management is making money, they don’t care as much,” said Thomas of the team not spending more money to bring in better players.