Alex Stein was ecstatic when the Steelers beat the Jets to earn yet another trip to the big show. She fell in love with the Pittsburgh Steelers, or at least one of them, when she was seven years old. Tomorrow, she’ll be glued to the TV, rooting for her steel-town boys at the 45th Super Bowl.

Odd – a Park City woman who doesn’t remember living anywhere else — a Steelers fan. And it all started with a case of puppy love.

Stein explains that she met Jonathan Hayes, a tight end for the Steelers, in the mid-1990s through Park City local Terence Goodman. Goodman is a veteran professional actor, former artistic director for the Egyptian Theatre, avid football fan and a long-time family friend.

“Jonathan came out to attend Terence’s wedding at our house and I met him there. I was seven. He was the biggest human being I had ever met. It was love at first sight. My love of the game and the Steelers sort of grew from there.

“I love the drama of the sport,” she continues. “It’s better than any scripted drama because anything really can happen. There’s honestly nothing more beautiful to me than watching a perfectly thrown spiral dart between two defender and hitting the receiver right in the numbers.”

Stein is practically a Park City native. Her parents moved here when she was a baby. The family lived in a historic miner’s “shack” on Marsac Avenue, a home her mother still occupies. She went from kindergarten through high school along the quarter-mile stretch of schools on Kearns Boulevard.

“I love this place,” she asserts. “Sure, there were a few times as a child when I got a little bored, but I’ve always loved the atmosphere here. Holidays in Park City are always great fun. I especially loved the Miners Day parade and the kids’ races at the park. I actually won the wheelbarrow race three years in a row starting when I was eight.” It’s a record that likely still stands.

Stein’s other love growing up was drama and the Egyptian Theatre. “I spent a lot of my childhood there and sort of grew up in the youth theatre program.” That ended only after Stein made the cheerleader team at Park City High. “I didn’t have much time for theatre after that.”

Her first job was washing dishes at the Red Banjo on Main Street. “On my 15th birthday, my mom turned to me and said, ‘Happy birthday, I got you a job.’ A lot of Park City kids got their first jobs working at the Banjo,” Stein says. Later, she worked at a T-shirt shop at the bottom of old Main Street.

After graduating from Park City High School, Stein attended the University of Utah, where she graduated two years ago cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in psychology. But the timing wasn’t good for finding a career job and Stein soon found herself back on Main Street, working the box office at the Egyptian.

She’s still there in spite of the theatre’s economy-driven meltdown two years ago. “I was one of the only people left standing after the shakeup and was put in the marketing position.” Stein manages the theatre’s website and issues press releases about upcoming shows. “The Egyptian is doing great and we have a lot of fun shows coming up,” she reports.

Alex especially loves working at the Egyptian during the Sundance Film Festival. “Where else can you see so many stars?” she asks, naming Don Cheadle, Brendan Gleeson and Harvey Weinstein as among her sightings this year.

After almost 25 years in Park City, Stein plans to apply to the master’s program at the University of Pittsburgh in the fall, and not just because of the Steelers. “They have a great program there that fits my goals perfectly,” she explains. If accepted, it will mark the first time she’s lived away from her Park City home.

“In spite of being brokenhearted when Jonathan dropped a pass in Super Bowl XXX, football is still my first love,” she says. “I was a mess that whole game, crying. He and I made up when we met in Denver a few years later to see Terence in a show. He let me try on his AFC championship ring.”

Stein is reluctant to offer a hard prediction, fearing she’ll jinx her team. “I think it’s definitely going to be a tight one, though,” she offers. “Last year when we played the Packers, the two quarterbacks ended up combining for 800 passing yards, so it could definitely be a shootout. Aaron Rodgers is a good quarterback but I think the Steelers defense will hold strong.”

Steve Phillips is a Park City-based writer and actor. Send your profile comments and suggestions to him at [email protected]

VITAL STATISTICS

Favorite things to do: attend July 4th and Miners Day parades, Park City Film Series and, of course, shows at the Egyptian Theatre. Stein calls it “Park City’s greatest treasure.”

Favorite foods: carne asada tacos

Favorite music: “I like a wide range of music from classic rock to pop music to rap.”

Best-kept secret: “I do a really great Tom Jones impression.”