Charlie Batch was roasted many times by friends, teammates and classmates during his life. With a larger audience at the Wyndham Grand Hotel on Friday night, the Munhall native and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback knew who he was most worried about coming up on stage for the Mel Blount All-Star Celebrity Roast.
“Probably my wife,” Batch said. “I hope they don’t call her up here. They kept everything tight on how they are going to do the pecking order.”
Batch was the honoree at this year’s roast, which included Terry Bradshaw as Master of Ceremonies. The event was held to help raise money for the Mel Blount Youth Leadership Initiative.
Blount’s foundation has helped at-risk youth and provided the avenue for them to get another chance to succeed, according to the foundation’s website.
Blount, 78, played for the Steelers from 1970-1983 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989. Blount said he is proud of the reception the event gets from the players in the organization, both past and present.
“It’s a great time to come together,” Blount said. “It’s like a reunion. We’re raising money for a good cause, and I’m grateful to the support I get from the players, whether they are from the 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s or 2000s.”
Bradshaw, who traveled in from Dallas, said this is an event he tries to never miss.
“I like doing it for Mel,” Bradshaw said. “He’s been doing this for a long time, and I know his struggles getting it started. I’m really proud of what he has done for the youth. It takes a special person to do what he does with these young people. The response he gets when he has them is amazing.”
Batch, who graduated from Steel Valley, has long been involved with charitable work through the Best of the Batch foundation. Batch played for the Steelers from 2002-12 and was a member of the Super Bowl XL and XLIII championship teams.
Blount said he felt Batch was a good pick to be honored thanks to his work in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“No. 1 what he does in the city and what he meant to the Steelers,” Blount said. “Even though he wasn’t a starting quarterback, how he held a quarterback room together was important. Charlie’s a good guy. He’s everything Pittsburgh is looking for in the community as a leader.”
The Best of the Batch foundation was started in 1999, when Batch was still playing for the Detroit Lions. The foundation’s goal is to help provide year-round educational programs to more than 4,000 children age 5-18 across nine Western Pennsylvania counties.
Batch, who has long attended the event, was happy to be asked to participate again. Barbs flying wasn’t anything he wasn’t accustomed to hearing.
“When you are growing up, we used to call it ripping,” Batch said. “That was something that we did there. When you are doing that amongst friends, you are only a small group of people who are listening. If you are embarrassed, you are only embarrassed in front of a small group. In this case, you have hundreds and hundreds of people and in some cases when they push it out on social media, you have thousands of people watching it. Those are things that you hope they just take it light on me.”