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PITTSBURGH -- The lessons Chuck Noll passed down to his players -- maxims that often applied as much to life as to football -- are tacked on the wall in Mike Mularkeys office. They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. Its why Mularkey made sure he had a chance to say goodbye, joining Steelers past and present, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several hundred friends and family on Tuesday for a funeral mass honouring Noll, who passed away last week at age 82. "Ive gotten more from Chuck off the field as much as I got on the field about how to do things the right way," said Mularkey, now a tight ends coach with Tennessee. "Family was important. Balance in life was important." And that, as much as the record four Super Bowls Noll won while transforming the Steelers from an NFL afterthought into a dynasty during the 1970s is what will resonate for the city he championed and the team he built from scratch. The men he moulded embraced at Saint Paul Cathedral. They clutched programs featuring a picture of a vibrant Noll wearing a polo shirt, shorts and the closest he ever came to a smile while at work. Each vowed to carry on the lessons Noll imparted from his first day of coaching to his waning days. Steelers President Art Rooney II and Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene were among the pallbearers, a responsibility Greene wished he could have avoided but one he ultimately welcomed as a final gift from the coach who changed his life. "It meant Chuck was thinking of me," Greene said, "and thats special." Noll and Greene will be forever entwined in Steelers history. Noll was a rookie head coach in 1969 when he selected the massive but somewhat unknown Greene in the first round of the NFL draft. It was a pick met with skepticism but one that changed the course of the organization and Greenes life. "If he hadnt chosen me, maybe I wouldnt have been a Pittsburgh Steeler," Greene said. "Maybe I wouldnt have had the opportunity to be coached by Chuck Noll. And that probably would not have fared very well for me." Instead, Noll and Greene served as the core of a team that dominated the 1970s, winning four titles in a six-year span thanks to a seemingly never-ending stream of Hall of Famers guided by a man who made it his mission to ensure they learned more than just Xs and Os. Greene, nicknamed "Mean Joe" for his menacing demeanour on the field, remembers destroying a door one day "when things werent going my way." Rather than let Greene off the hook or rip into the cornerstone of the "Steel Curtain" defence, Noll took a different approach. "Chuck came to the room and knocked on the door and said Thatll be $500 and that was the end of the story," Greene said. Despite rising to the top of his profession, Noll preferred not to bask in the limelight. Its telling that while Hall of Famers like Greene, Blount, running back Franco Harris and wide receiver John Stallworth sat in the pews at the cathedral -- just a few miles across town from where Noll worked at bygone Three Rivers Stadium -- they were surrounded by longtime employees of the organization and friends from all walks of life. Bishop David Zubik, who performed Tuesdays ceremony, was a young priest in the late 1970s when he somehow managed to get Noll to agree to give a speech on leadership to a group of high school athletes. They set it up in the spring of 1979. The speech wasnt until January 1980. Months passed. The season came and went, ending with the Steelers beating the Los Angeles Rams at the Rose Bowl to claim the teams fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy. Two days later back in Pittsburgh, Noll drove himself to the retreat where he found a stunned Zubik waiting for him. Noll delivered as promised, giving a rousing talk to a group of young players that included future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, then a local prep star. It didnt matter that Noll might have been exhausted. It didnt matter that he had every right to cancel. That simply wasnt Nolls way. He made a promise. He had to keep it. "Thats the thing about coach Noll," Zubik said. "Everybody was important." Its a legacy that will carry on in the city Noll called home and within the walls of the franchise he defined. "Four championships, youve got to feel that," current Steelers centre Maurkice Pouncey said. "We walk by those Super Bowl trophies every day here, and it all started with Coach Noll." Ryan Smyth Jersey . The four-time Grand Slam champion has beaten Hantuchova nine straight times, with the Slovaks only win coming when they first played 10 years ago. 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Edmonton Oilers Jerseys .com) - Fair Grounds commences its road to the Kentucky Derby Saturday with the 71st running of the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes.LeBron James inspired Cleveland Cavaliers to a season-saving 112-97 win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors to climb within 3-2 in the best-of-seven NBA Finals. Cleveland, facing elimination at the hands of the top-seeded Warriors, got 41 points each from James and Kyrie Irving and displayed a tenacious defense to set up another do-or-die game for the Cavaliers on Thursday in Cleveland.We are just happy we got another day, thats all we can ask for. We got another day to survive, James, who also had 16 rebounds and seven assists, said after the game. We understand this is a great team no matter who is out on the floor for those guys. 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Klay Thompson (11) had a team-high 37 points for the Warriors The game got off to a wild start and producced the best 24 minutes yet of the Finals as the Warriors and Cavaliers each displayed some incredible shot-making that left the teams tied 61-61 at halftime.ddddddddddddIt marked the highest-scoring first half in an NBA Finals game since the 1987 championship between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.But after a tight first half it was Cleveland who finally pulled ahead by 10 points late in the third quarter as Irving carried over the shooting clinic he put on during the first 24 minutes to keep the home crowd in check.With a chance to clinch the title on their home court, where they had lost just three times all season, the Warriors were unable to find a way back into the game as the Cavs stymied any bit of momentum Golden State tried to generate.Klay Thompson had a team-high 37 points for the Warriors on 11-of-20 shooting, including six three-pointers, but it was far from enough on this night.We had a good offensive first half, made some shots, had 61 points, and then kind of got bogged down in the second, said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. We tried a lot of different things, and nothing seemed to work. It was one of those nights.Green will be back in the Warriors lineup for Thursdays pivotal Game Six after serving a one-game ban after being assessed his fourth flagrant foul from his scuffle with James in the previous contest.The Cavaliers are trying to become the first team to win a championship after falling behind 3-1 in the NBA Finals. Also See: Golden State close in on title Westbrook pulls out of US team ' ' '