Terrible Thief: Man Charged for Stealing 25 Terrible Towels from Pgh-Area Giant Eagle
Call him the Terrible Thief. A Harrisburg man has been charged with stealing 25 Terrible Towels from a Giant Eagle in Cranberry the day of the Pittsburgh Steelers playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
According to court documents acquired by our news partners, WPXI, 56-year-old Richard A. Williams of Harrisburg allegedly hid 25 Terrible Towels and other items in paper bags and then walked out of the store. Williams dropped the bags when he was confronted by a Giant Eagle employee. The value of the stolen items totaled $339.
The charges were filed against Williams on Monday, and because he has prior retail theft convictions, he is being charged with a third-degree felony. He is being held at the Butler County Jail on $35,000 bond until a preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Friday.
The Terrible Towel, which was invented by late Steelers color broadcaster Myron Cope in 1975, has become a visible symbol of Steelers fans around the world, and even into outer space, as Pittsburgh-born astronaut Woody Hoburg took one to the International Space Station in 2023.
In 1996, Cope gave away the rights to the Towel to the Allegheny Valley School, a facility that houses and cares for children with developmental disabilities. Proceeds from the Towel have raised more than $6 million for the school.
Those who mistreat the towel are said to be cursed, with plenty of examples of opposing players and fans coming afoul of bad fortune after degrading the Towel. In 2009, after the Tennessee Titans had lost nine straight games following running back LenDale White and linebacker Keith Bulluck stepping on a Towel after beating the Steelers, head coach Jeff Fisher and some Titans players autographed a Towel and sent it to Allegheny Valley School in an attempt to reverse the hex.
“I did not see the Terrible Towel as witchcraft to hex the enemy,” Cope wrote in his biography, Double Yoi. “It would be a positive force, driving the Steelers to superhuman performance, but if it experienced a yen for mischief and created fatal mistakes by opponents, I would tolerate that.”
It’s unclear what cosmic retribution Williams mace for stealing the Towel, in addition to his obvious legal trouble.
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