By Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES � Hines Ward rode Steeler Nation to another championship Tuesday night: the Mirror Ball trophy in Season 12 of ABC's Dancing With the Stars.
By Adam Taylor, AP
"I didn't want to let Kym (his partner) down all season," Hines Ward said after his win Tuesday night.
By Adam Taylor, AP
"I didn't want to let Kym (his partner) down all season," Hines Ward said after his win Tuesday night.
The All-Pro wide receiver beamed his trademark smile as he hoisted the glittering globe with dance partner Kym Johnson amid a stream of confetti and whoops from Terrible Towel-waving fans in the studio audience. In that audience was Emmitt Smith, the only other NFL player to win the trophy. Ward dedicated his last dance Tuesday to his mom, Kim Young-hee, and kissed her (and waved a Steelers Terrible Towel) afterward.
With a committed partner by his side (Johnson sustained a serious injury two weeks before the finale, causing her to wear a neck brace during semifinals rehearsals), Ward topped actress Kirstie Alley and Disney star Chelsea Kane.
"It's phenomenal," Ward said after the show. "I'm not going to apologize for winning. I didn't want to let Kym down all season ? I wanted her to win a second Mirror Ball. (She won with Donny Osmond in Season 9). I hope I represented well." And he vowed to do a "tribute" to her ? an end-zone dance ? after every touchdown he scores next season.
Hines says there was a moment of doubt at the end, when he heard his name announced. "I heard it, but then I looked over and thought, 'Oh jeez, everyone loves Kirstie.' I didn't think I'd match up."
Said the second-place and fan favorite Alley, 60, who lost pounds (how many was unclear) and sizes during training: "This show rallied me alive again. It gave me a view of what I wanted to do with my life. It made me see I could work really hard for what I want. But at the end of the day, the sweetness would have been the win."
The football star excelled on that third and final dance Tuesday, a samba to Fantasy that scored a perfect 30 (as did both other couples). "You are the MVP of Dancing With the Stars Season 12," judge Carrie Ann Inaba said after Ward and Johnson finished the dance. "You learned how to lead the dancing (and) led your partner out of injury. You dance with heart, and it shows."
But it was Hines' Monday moves that put him over the top with the judges and viewers. The first dance, chosen by judge Len Goodman to highlight Ward's quick, sometimes inexperienced feet, was the quick-step, and Ward classed up the joint in a top hat and tails as he moved to Irving Berlin's Puttin' on the Ritz.
The next number was a direct call-out to the faithful football legion as Ward performed a halftime number as a black-and-gold-wearing band drum major. "That wasn't a half show," a wowed Inaba said afterward. "That was the whole damn Super Bowl!" The couple scored 59 out of 60 points going into Tuesday.
The star had impressed judges with his dedication to ballroom dancing, mapping out each routine and watching video as if each dance were a professional football game. He used another sports technique to aid his Mirror Ball quest: envisioning a victory. "I want to be the Mirror Ball champion," he told his partner in rehearsal clips aired Monday. "So we have to envision it."
Ward said Monday night that a Dancing victory would help ease the pain of losing the Super Bowl. "I was disappointed we lost to the Packers," he said. "Dancing With the Stars said, 'Come out and try to win this Mirror Ball.' I have a place sitting at home for this (trophy)."
Ward said Tuesday that the award would sit right next to his MVP trophy.
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