Chris Hoke has some friends in France who already know he owns one Super Bowl ring.
He suspects they'll find out soon about the second one.
"I'm sure I'll get caught up with some of them," Hoke said shortly after arriving home from Tampa, Fla., where the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday.
"They'll get caught up pretty quick."
Hoke, a Brigham Young University graduate and Tustin, Calif., native, is celebrating his second championship as a member of the Steelers, the only organization he's known during an eight-year career in the National Football League. It's an unlikely experience that the once-undrafted rookie is again sharing with family, former teammates and coaches, and, yes, people he met in the Belgium Brussels Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"There are so many guys who have been in the NFL for so many years who have never even been to the playoffs," Hoke said Monday, one day after the Super Bowl and one day before the team parade in Pittsburgh. "To be able to go twice and win it is unreal."
Hoke, 32, is a backup nose tackle for the Steelers who stuck with the team for three years as an undrafted free agent despite not receiving any playing time. His chance to play came in 2004, and ever since then, he's been entrenched in the lineup, appearing in 77 regular-season games and starting 15.
Hoke, whose BYU playing career spanned from 1994 to 2000, said he had to "fight" his way onto an NFL roster, and then fight to remain there. His position coach in college, former Cougar assistant Tom Ramage, describes Hoke as a confident, hard-working competitor who never took a play off.
"If you are going to go against Chris Hoke in practice, you better buckle your chin strap," he said.
Ramage said he spoke with Hoke during the week leading up to the Super Bowl. On Sunday, he watched as Hoke and another former BYU defensive lineman, Steelers starting defensive end Brett Keisel, secured their second rings. Keisel helped clinch the victory with a fumble recovery on the Cardinals' final possession.
"I was real proud of them," Ramage said.
Since Hoke joined the Steelers, the team has been in 14 postseason games, winning Super Bowl XL in 2006. After Sunday's win, Hoke said the championship season has been a "great experience" for his family, which includes wife, Jaimee, three sons and one daughter.
"We're relishing this together," he said.
Hoke says he tries to stay in contact with former teammates and coaches, but he also anticipates communicating with friends in France, where he spent the majority of his time as an LDS missionary from 1995-96. He keeps in touch with church members there via e-mail.
"It's fun to see them progress in the gospel and also with their families," Hoke said.
Serving a mission was always Hoke's goal, though he says he was pressured in high school not to go.
"It was the best decision I ever made, because it made me a better person," he said.
He also feels it made him a better football player. Now, with Sunday games a reality, Hoke says he tries to keep his "priorities straight" and do what he can to help the church. That includes reading the scriptures every day, speaking to youth groups and working with missionaries.
"I've tried my hardest to be close to the Lord," he said. "I do the little things that keep me close to the Spirit."
Hoke makes his home in Pittsburgh year-round, and says he's grown close to the people in his ward. His wife has served as Young Women president and is currently in the Primary presidency, while Hoke works with the priests quorum.
Inevitably, the subject of Steeler football will arise when Hoke attends church in the football-crazed city.
"Most of the time, it's all about church … but it comes with the territory," Hoke said. "I understand that. It's part of my job to share that with the Steeler nation."
E-mail: ashill@desnews.com