Bob Hull

By now, neighbors of Bob Hull, who lives at 105 Kayside Lane, in Lehigh Acres, know there is no secret about who Hull is rooting for at Super Bowl XLV on Sunday, February 6.

“It’s the Steelers, they all know,” said Hull, 51, who was found outside his house a few days ago, re-painting a six foot by six foot big Steelers’ circular design right in the middle of his driveway.

And hanging on the lamp post and on a nearby tree were placards all about the Steelers.

“This yard is Steelers County. I can hardly wait,” Hull said with enthusiasm. “They’re my team and they’re going to win, look for it,” he said laughing.

Hull can’t go to the Super Bowl to see his Steelers battle the Green Bay Packers but he will have the next best seat, in front of his 52-inch TV set in his house, with a room full of people, relatives and friends all rooting for their favorite team

Bob Hull paints his own Steelers logo on his driveway

Among those will be his mom who has been a Steelers fan for most of her adult life. Bob lives with his mom, but he has a son in North Carolina and he gets just as excited as his grandmother and dad and they’ll be on the phone for sure.

“I wish Bobby Jr. was here. We talked about it on the phone and when the Steelers won the playoffs, he was so excited that he was crying on the phone,” Hull said

Bobby Senior has been living in Lehigh for 15 years and came from Washington, Pa., 17 miles south of Pittsburgh. When the kickoff starts the game in Arlington, Texas, not far from Dallas this coming Sunday, it will be as if Bobby is there.

And neighbors know how devoted he is because right in the middle of his driveway, Hull has spent the last two weeks re-paining his own emblem of the Steelers.

“I’ve been doing this ever since they won the last time and I re-paint it every year hoping they make it to the Super Bowl.

Bob Hull shows victory sign for his favorite team, the Pittsburg Steelers.

Only thing wrong with it is lettering of the “Steelers,” Bobby said, but he’s hoping Bill Hoppe, a close friend and talented friend will come and fix the lettering to match the real logo of the Steelers. Both Hull and Hoppe are long-time friends because both work for countless hours at the Spring Festival each year and it won’t be any different in March when the two friends and several others set up the festival at Veterans Park.

The Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2009 and Hull says they’re going to win again Sunday with a sort of “take it to the bank” attitude.

The Steelers (15-4) defeated the Cardinals (12-8) that year by a score of 27-23, earning their sixth Super Bowl win, which gave Pittsburgh the record for most Super Bowl wins and moved them ahead of the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, whose shared record of five they had tied three years prior following their win in Super Bowl XL. Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes, who caught nine passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, including 4 for 71 on their final scoring drive, was named Super Bowl MVP. He was the third Steelers receiver ever to win the award, following Lynn Swann and Hines Ward.

Hull has never been to a Super Bowl game but would give almost anything to be in the stands. But he’d have beat his mom first because she is an avid a fan well.

“I repaint that big circle in my driveway every year, but this year was special,” he said. “Do my friends and neighbors know who my team is you bet they do if they come down my street,” he laughed.

Parking only placard stands in Hull’s front yard next to his driveway

The design was drawn by Hull who admitted that he isn’t an artist but loves to doodle on paper. “Yeah, I call it drawing and I do a lot of that.”

“We’re having a party, a big one with beer and pretzels and it’s not going to be a quiet house and when the Steelers win, you’ll hear us all over the neighborhood,” Hull said.

“I power sprayed my driveway this year and I’m hoping I can get to painting it, too, at least by Super Bowl Sunday.”

“They lost in ’96 to Dallas, but I think they will pull it off this year,” he said. “I’m counting on them to do it.”

For Pittsburgh, it was (and currently remains) their first and only Super Bowl loss in team history after winning four in the 1970s. Pittsburgh would later surpass both the Cowboys and 49ers with six Super Bowl victories after the Steelers won Super Bowls XL and XLIII.

Stop Sign has been nailed to a tree next to Hull’s driveway