Poster
Object number2008.123.2
Artist
Dennis Karchner
Date2007
Mediumposter paper; ink
Credit LineGift of Arthur J. Rooney, Jr.
DescriptionHorizontal poster featuring three separate color images of a Pittsburgh Steelers football player Jack Butler. At top is player name. Image on left: man in locker room wearing football pads and a football jersey hanging over proper right shoulder; below picture is artwork title. Image in center: football players on field, with man wearing football jersey wrapping a black coat/blanket over shoulders; below picture is artwork title. Image on right: man in football uniform kneeling on proper left knee, holding helmet in hands with football in front of bent knee; below picture is artwork title. At bottom of poster is artwork title. Dimensions16.25 x 23.875 in. (41.3 x 60.6 cm)Signed"Karchner 2007" on each image's bottom left or bottom right corner.
InscriptionsAt top, "Jack Butler".
Image on left: man wearing jersey number "80" hanging over proper right shoulder; below picture: " "The Locker Room - Forbes Field" ".
Image in center: man wearing "80" on jersey; below picture, " "Forbes Field - A Game of Passion and Honor" ".
Image on right: "THE DUKE" on football; below picture, " "Training Camp" ".
At bottom of poster, " "A Man For All Seasons" ".
Autograph of Jack Butler on top right corner.
Handwriting in lower left corner: "10/16".
Back: autograph in blue marker, "8 AUG 08 / Art Rooney Jr".
Historical NotesPoster featuring Jack Butler. Commissioned by Arthur J. Rooney, Jr. after long-time personal artist, Merv Corning, passed away in 2006 of cancer. Dennis Karchner is a native Pittsburgher, who now resides in Florida. Jack Butler, a Pittsburgh native, followed a brother into a seminary in Canada to become a Catholic priest. He changed his mind about his calling and went to St. Bonaventure University. He did not play football in high school, but St. Bonaventure athletic director Father Silas -- Dan Rooney, the brother of Steelers owner Art Rooney -- remembered him from Pittsburgh sandlot games and convinced him to play college football. Undrafted, Butler made the Steelers as a free agent and became one of the hardest-hitting cornerbacks in the league and one adept at finding the ball as well. His 52 interceptions in nine seasons were second most in NFL history when his career abruptly ended in 1959, due to a knee injury, and still rank second on the Steelers behind Mel Blount's 57 in 14 seasons. Butler was named to the NFL's Team of the Decade for the 1950s, selected as one of the top 300 players to play in the NFL and made the Steelers All-Time team of the franchise's first 50 seasons. Butler later coached and formed an NFL scouting firm, BLESTCO, Inc.,which relocated without Butler in 2007.
Related person
John Bradshaw Butler
(1927 - 2013)
Related institution
Pittsburgh Steelers
Previous owner
Arthur Joseph Rooney Jr.
Terms
On View
Not on view
Ron Mahoney
