We could begin this story 21 years ago at the Westin Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Hurricane Jeanne caused a power outage the night before Ben Roethlisberger’s first start, or we could begin at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City 42 years ago, where the Steelers famously passed on hometown quarterback Dan Marino in the draft.

But we’ll start in a different hotel — the Miami Beach one where Don Shula, of all people, helped to change the Steelers’ fortunes forever on the morning of Jan. 13, 1969.

Shula was hurting after Joe Namath’s New York Jets had stunned his Baltimore Colts the day before in Super Bowl III, one of the most famous football games ever played. But that did not prevent him from making an in-person recommendation to Marianne Noll, wife of Shula’s esteemed defensive

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