CUMBERLAND — Stan Navalaney and Jeff Campbell received letters this off-season informing them that they were among 22,000 other faithful fans on the waiting list for Pittsburgh Steelers season tickets.

Both have spent at least six years on that list, but while the other 22,000 names scramble to find tickets and spend upwards of $5,500 for a chance to see today’s AFC Championship game, both men along with Navalaney’s son Stan will stroll right onto Heinz Field the same way they have for every home game this season.

They act like they belong on the field behind the Steelers bench at the 50-yard line, or making the rounds, free-range, around the entire complex. It’s not an act, though, it’s a job. All three men get paid to be on the field during Steelers games.

While the vaunted Steel Curtain defense was charged with securing Pittsburgh’s endzone from opposing teams’ offenses, Campbell and the Navalaneys are there to secure Heinz Field from any overzealous fans.

Both Steelers fans since childhood, they revel in the opportunity to get paid to attend football games.

“It’s a dream job to be that close to the team that you love, and be there all the time,” said Navalaney. “To be able to share it with my son makes it even more special. Jeff’s not too bad either.”

Campbell added, “It’s so hard to get a ticket to one of these games that just the fact that you get in is great, let alone getting paid to be there.”

For the past two seasons the elder Navalaney, who is employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at FCI-Cumberland, has covered pro and college football games and has spent this past season as Field Security Supervisor.

“My area is everywhere on the field. I don’t have any one particular station.”

Campbell, who works for the Department of Juvenile Justice, took over Navalaney’s job from last season and stands his post at the 50-yard line right along the Pittsburgh bench.

It was at the spot on the 50-yard line during last season’s playoff game with Jacksonville that Campbell set the wheels in motion for him to become a member of the staff.

Jeff and Stan had known each other for years through the local football scene. Jeff, a member of the 1988 and ’89 state champion football teams at Allegany, has coached football in the Cumberland area since 1990 with the West Side Hunters, the Braddock Warriors and has spent the last 10 seasons on Allegany’s coaching staff. Stan refereed local football for nine years, which is where the two met.

“I had known Stan for a while from football, and I knew he was involved with the Steelers and was really interested,” said Campbell. “Last year at a playoff game I walked down to say hi, and told him he needed to get me down there with him. He took me and his son up for an interview with Landmark (the company with the security contract) last summer and we got the job.”

So far, none of the three have experienced any major action on the job.

“Most of these people, especially where I’m stationed, have waited for years on the waiting list to get tickets,” said Campbell. “They aren’t going to risk losing their seats by getting out of hand.”

Navalaney followed that tune by saying, “Knock on wood we’ve never had anything big. No one had ever run out onto the field yet. There was a kid at one game who told my son that he was going to charge the field, and that my son wouldn’t be able to catch him. He (Stan) said that the police officer with the taser would be the one catching him.”

The juggling act between being a fan and being an employee can be the hardest part of the job.

“We absolutely have a job to do, and that is to make sure the fans stay where they are supposed to be. There are people watching us to make sure that we are business-like so you do your cheering on the inside,” said Navalaney.

Campbell echoed that sentiment by saying, “It’s tough to actually watch the game as it happens because you’re doing a job, but I don’t miss too many plays. I’ll take a quick glance at the JumboTron after the play to catch up.”

The younger Navalaney may get the best view in the house, according to his father. “During the Pitt game we’ll put him over by the cheerleaders, and in the last game we had him at the southeast part of the endzone so he got to watch the game on the JumboTron.”

So far Navalaney lists his favorite perk of the job as having the chance to meet Steel Curtain member Ernie Holmes.

“He was an honorary captain for one game, and I was standing at the entrance where the Steelers come onto the field. The man walked over and shook my hand, and it was like my hand was an infant’s in his. Just three months later he was killed in a car accident.”

Holmes died a year ago Saturday.

The old adage about the players looking much bigger in person was confirmed by both of them. Campbell cited all the linemen are huge, and pointed out Max Starks and Aaron Smith as specific examples. Navalaney mentioned Starks and brought up former Steelers lineman Alan Faneca (now with the New York Jets) as another “house of a man.”

Navalaney also spoke of Casey Hampton, saying “He’s not tall enough to be a house. He’s more of a garage.”

In Navalaney’s first game as security he was walking out of the players tunnel next to a “scruffy-looking man in jeans and a T-shirt” who turned out to be future Hall of Famer Brett Favre.

The crew may have started a ritual this past weekend when they stopped at a Peppi’s Restaurant for its famous RoethlisBurger: A sandwich that features ground beef, sausage, scrambled eggs, grilled onion and American cheese on a Portuguese roll. A ritual that will have to make room next year for another member in Navalaney’s family: His daughter Amber.

As for the outcome of today’s game goes, no one wants to go too far out on a limb.

“I don’t want to jinx my Steelers,” said Campbell, “but I feel good.”

Chris Appel is a sports writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Chris Appel at cappel@times-news.com.