Bettis has had some political dealings throughout his life. In 2004, he donated to Republican President George W. Bush. In 2008, he met with Democratic candidate Barack Obama on a tour of the Pittsburgh region.

Players, coaches and other Pittsburgh Steelers figures have been known to get involved in politics.

Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris was a constant presence at many Democratic events all the way up to his death in 2022. Wide receiver Lynn Swan, a four-time Super Bowl champion in the 1970s, ran as the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor in 2006. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held a fundraiser for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Those who have known Walz for years have collected nuggets of information about the life and times of the second-term DFL governor.

He and his wife since 1994, Gwen, have two children: Hope, who recently graduated from college in Montana, and Gus, who is in public high school in St. Paul.

The couple met when both were high school teachers in temporary classrooms in Nebraska. The first lady said she was irked by his loud voice disrupting her classroom.

Their children were conceived through IVF and fertility treatments — as Walz has said, “There’s a reason we named her Hope.”