Wild Super Bowl stories from Steve Sabol: Odd man in

Steve Sabol, who helped his father, Ed, found NFL Films in 1962, sat down with The Times’ Sam Farmer in 2010 and shared some of his behind-the-scenes Super Bowl stories. Sabol passed away in September 2012.

In Super Bowl XIII, Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw threw four touchdown passes to lead the Steelers to a 35-31 win over Dallas at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

But there was one Steelers fan who had an even better day.

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First, let me say that it was my job to be the first cameraman in the Steelers’ locker room after the game. When I got there, I saw somebody I didn’t recognize. A pasty-white little bald guy -- turns out it was a Pittsburgh fan -- had gotten into the locker room, taken off all his clothes, and was in there showering with the players.

Somehow, he had gotten past all the Super Bowl security, police, guard dogs, everything, and had sneaked in. It was really steamy in the locker room, and I remember having to continually wipe the lens of my camera. Every time I’d look up, I’d see this little bald guy in the shower with Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Dwight White.

I’d been around the Steelers long enough to know this guy wasn’t a trainer or an equipment guy. Who the hell was he? It was obvious he wasn’t a player. So I went over to talk to Joe Greene at his locker, and during the course of the interview, this guy comes out of the shower and starts getting dressed in front of a locker near Joe’s. I said, “Joe, who is this guy?” And Joe’s exact words were, “I don’t know who . . . he is.”

Now, some guys are sheepish about walking around naked in those situations. That wasn’t this guy. No modesty at all.

So he goes and parks himself in front of Larry Brown’s locker. And I think this is the best part: Suddenly, three reporters come over and start interviewing him about the game! First of all, Larry Brown was a 6-foot-4, 260-pound, big, muscular African American guy. This was a little white guy. Not only that, but Larry Brown didn’t even suit up for the game.

Well, this guy was going along with the interview for a while. But the reporters figured out pretty quickly that this wasn’t Larry Brown. Ever since then, I’ve always been kind of leery about any kind of locker-room quote from the Super Bowl.

Anyway, this fan got dressed and walked out of the locker room. And I’m sure wherever he is today, he’s got a great Super Bowl story that nobody believes.

Follow Sam Farmer on Twitter @LATimesFarmer