"Striking" is the story of how the high school football team in blue-collar Braddock, Pa., lifted the town’s spirits in 1959 by setting a national record for consecutive wins in the midst of the longest labor stoppage in American history.
“Big Bertha, a massive driving [blocking] sled, haunted the Tigers dreams. It was rare for high school teams to use sleds, and even rarer to see anything larger than a two-man version. Big Bertha was ten yards wide and had spots for seven players. It was designed from memory by George Hays, the assistant who had played in the NFL. In the summer before Braddock’s 1956 season, Hays mentioned to Klausing how much drills on Big Bertha had helped his professional teammates improve their blocking. Up until then, the Braddock coaches had been wearing football pants to practice, sacrificing their own bodies to teach the boys proper blocking technique. Klausing enlisted a manager at U.S. Steel to weld the sled together. His name was Harry Stuhldreher and he was particularly well suited to the task. A former Notre Dame quarterback and member of the legendary Four Horsemen backfield of 1924, Stuhldreher knew exactly the kind of sled Klausing had in mind. A latticework of scrap steel and thin padding, the finished product weighed a ton. Steelworkers borrowed a crane from the mill to hoist it off the truck and onto Braddock’s practice field. When Klausing instructed the first group of players to hit it, they bounced off.
“'Lower,' he said, “and drive your feet.'
"On the next attempt the sled budged a foot.
“'Too high. Get lower and keep your feet moving. All together.'
"On the next try, they drove the sled a yard. By the end of the season, they were pushing Big Bertha up and down the field."
