A Steelers’ Full-Circle Moment
Did you catch that Troy Fautanu, the offensive lineman from UW who was picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 20th spot of the 2024 NFL draft’s 1st round, actually grew up as a hardcore fan of Troy Polamalu and the Steelers? Talk about a full-circle moment, huh? Throughout his life, he sported the number 43 in honor of Polamalu until his switch to the offensive line, which unfortunately meant he had to let go of that number.
“Growing up, just being a big fan of Troy and being a big fan of the Steelers, I grew to love the city, grew to love the team, and it couldn’t have been written any better than this.”
– Troy Fautanu
We caught up with Fautanu at the resilience bowl event hosted by Troy and Theodora. He expressed his desire to emulate Troy’s path and give back to his hometown of Vegas someday. “I’m just grateful to be here. Getting the opportunity to see what a guy like him has done for the community inspires me to do something back home in Vegas, and I am super excited to learn from him in that way.” This marks the beginning of the Troy x Troy legacy, and it’s incredible witnessing this dream come true for Fautanu; it seems like destiny had a hand in it all along. Now, Fautanu gets to play for the team he grew up rooting for and can look to Polamalu as his mentor. It’s a past-meets-present legacy in the making for both Troys.
