He added: "Kaye was the rock that we could all lean on in the tough times. She was looked up to by so many people and I cannot say enough about what Kaye meant to our family."
Kaye Cowher and other family members were often seen cheering from a private box at Steelers home games during Bill Cowher's 15 seasons as coach from 1992 to 2006. The Steelers lost four AFC Championship Games - all at home - before finally winning the Super Bowl, and Kaye Cowher was repeatedly seen consoling her husband following those defeats.
The Cowhers met at NC State, where Bill played linebacker before beginning an NFL career. They married in 1981, after the former Kaye Young played alongside twin sister Faye in college and during a three-season pro basketball career.
Besides her husband, Kaye Cowher is survived by daughters Meagan, Lauren and Lindsay. Meagan and Lauren played basketball at Princeton and Lindsay plays at Wofford.
In other NFL news:
* Linebacker Sergio Kindle, Baltimore's top draft pick, hurt his head in a fall in Texas, a mishap that will prevent him from reporting to camp today. The injury occurred Thursday while Kindle was at a house in Austin.
Philly File
* Albert Baur, star pitcher-third baseman for Ss. Neumann-Goretti High, is bound for Newberry College, a Division II school in South Carolina.
Sport Stops
* Free agent Tracy McGrady will have a workout today with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are prepared to sign McGrady, 31, if he is healthy and willing to accept a bench role, a source told ESPN.
* Andrey Golubev became the first Kazakhstan player to win an ATP Tour title, beating third-seeded Jurgen Melzer, of Austria, 6-3, 7-5, at the German Open final in Hamburg.
* Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix for Ferrari, but the team was fined $100,000 afterward for orchestrating his pass of teammate Felipe Massa.
