Originally posted on ThePittsburghChannel.com on 7/6/05

Dead Steelers Fan Laid Out In Black And Gold

James Henry Smith loved his country. He served in Vietnam and spent 25 years in the Army, Army Reserve and National Guard. But the 55-year-old Garfield man also had love for his favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers -- and that led to an unusual viewing after he died from prostate cancer this week.

Smith's family asked the Coston Funeral Home in Lincoln-Lemington to place his body not in a casket, but in a recliner that faced a television playing Steelers highlights, with a remote control in his hand.

The body was dressed in black and gold clothing -- traditional Steelers colors -- and a blanket bearing the team's logo was draped over an armrest. Sitting on a table next to the chair were a pack of cigarettes and a can of beer.

The scene was reminiscent of Steelers game days in the Smith household, according to his family.

"He wanted to be at home in a surrounding with the things he liked to do," said Smith's widow, Denise. "I tried to do everything in the world to make it peaceful for him."

Family members and friends welcomed the arrangement.

"Everyone who knew him and loved him can always remember he was just at peace, sitting up there watching television, and he just went to sleep," Denise Smith said.

On Wednesday, a military burial was held at Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville. Smith was laid to rest in Section 52 -- coincidentally, the same number that Steelers Hall of Fame center Mike Webster once wore.