Five Things To Know About New Steelers OT Calvin Anderson

The Pittsburgh Steelers needed to make a move at offensive tackle after rookie Troy Fautanu went on injured reserve. That move happened Tuesday when the team signed OT Calvin Anderson. Who is Anderson, not just as a football player but as a person?

Survived Two Close Brushes With Death In 2023
Football is a violent sport. We see it every week with players taking big hits. We really saw it a couple of seasons ago when Buffalo Bills S Damar Hamlin got hurt on Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Anderson dealt with the same thing, too. During practice with the New England Patriots in the 2023 season, Anderson sustained a hit that caused his heart rate to skyrocket. It wouldn’t stop no matter how long he sat on the bench at rest. So, he went to the hospital and was finally diagnosed with a heart contusion. According to his wife, the doctors told them, “If you brought him a few hours later, he literally would have died.”

That was the second close encounter with death for Anderson in 2023. During the offseason, Anderson and his wife went to Nigeria to continue the charitable work they had been doing for several years. Unfortunately for Anderson, when he returned to the U.S. to prepare for training camp with the Patriots, he was unable to do his normal training regimen. So his wife (with an assist from his father back in Texas) pushed for him to go to the hospital. It was there that he was diagnosed with malaria.

“Sherée effectively saved his life because he came in at just the right time,” said Dr. Harry Schrager, an infectious disease specialist at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, speaking with patriots.com about Anderson’s ordeal.

“Thank you,” Anderson said to the medical staff at the hospital. “My dad is a physician, and I have great respect for the amount of preparation you all put in to be able to take care of me when I was in a situation where I didn’t know how I was going to get through to the next day. I’m super grateful. Thank you for being there when I couldn’t be there for myself.”

One life-threatening scare in a year is more than enough. To have navigated two in 2023 is a testament to Anderson and to his wife’s care.

Charity Work
Anderson and his wife, Sherée Lanihun-Anderson, were in Nigeria to continue the charitable work they had been doing. And that’s a common thread in Anderson’s life. He and his wife recently supported an organization called EATO, which aims to put African food in the spotlight by highlighting chefs and other food creatives in Africa. Anderson’s wife was the first to pledge to support EATO’s efforts in creating a media studio in Ghana. Anderson himself shared that pledge notice and said, “We cannot wait to watch Ghana transform!”

Anderson and his wife also started their own foundation in 2023, called the Lanihun-Anderson Foundation. Per Anderson’s LinkedIn profile, the foundation’s “mission is to bridge the financial disparity gap by providing access to financial knowledge, resources, and opportunities to youth to better prepare the next generation of personal money managers.”

Both Anderson and his wife are devoted to helping those around them and across the globe better their lives.

Rubik’s Cube Phenom?
Anderson isn’t all serious, though. He’s quite the accomplished Rubik’s Cube solver. While a rookie with the New York Jets, he showed off his skills to the Daily Mail. He solved a Rubik’s Cube behind his back in 32 seconds.

And it’s all thanks to his grandfather’s love of Sudoku. Anderson saw the similarities between solving the Sudoku puzzle and the nine-square layout of a Rubik’s Cube.

The love is mutual, too. Anderson is actually a Rubik’s Cube brand ambassador.

“Calvin’s sportsmanship and ability to bridge both physical and mind sports effectively make him an ideal Brand Ambassador for Rubiks. We are delighted to welcome him,” Rubik’s Brand Limited C.E.O. Christoph Bettin said in the description of the brand ambassador video.

A Numbers Kind Of Guy
If Anderson’s description of how he approaches solving a Rubik’s Cube didn’t confirm it, he is a math and numbers guy through and through. He graduated from Rice University with a major in mathematical economics while minoring in business. No wonder the foundation he and his wife started is focused on helping young people learn more about finances.

Football: A Family Game
Anderson isn’t the first member of his family to play football, at least at the college level. His father, DeVry, played cornerback for Army from 1992 to 1996. Playing for West Point meant that DeVry did not pursue a professional football career. He instead went into the Army, became a full colonel, and was the vice president of medical services at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood. It’s that medical background that led to him helping push Anderson to seek medical treatment, which led to the malaria diagnosis.

But before DeVry pursued medicine, he was on the football field just like his son, Calvin.