Roethlisberger finds his roots

The Steelers' Super Bowl quarterback visited the village of his ancestors.
LAUPERSWIL, Switzerland (AP) -- Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is enchanted with nearly everything in his ancestral homeland of Switzerland, except maybe the quality of football played here.
Schools closed, villagers came from miles away and even diplomats celebrated Monday's visit by Roethlisberger, a Findlay native who led the Steelers to a Super Bowl championship earlier this year and whose great-great-grandfather originated from this small town in the Swiss cheese-producing region of Emmental.
"It is something out of a dream or a movie," Roethlisberger said in Lauperswil, a town of 2,800 people about 20 miles east of the capital, Bern. "I'm starting to feel more Swiss the longer I'm here."
Roethlisberger, on a weeklong trip to discover his family's roots in Switzerland, tried his hand at hornussen -- a Swiss sport somewhere between golf and baseball -- listened to accordion and Alphorn-driven folk music, tasted the local cheese, and met family members still living near his family's former farm.
Exciting time
The quarterback seemed as excited as the townsfolk by the experience, busily snapping photos of the rustic barns, horse-drawn carriages and grassy valleys of this traditional, still largely agricultural region. He also inquired about purchasing a Bernese Sennenhund -- a mountain dog -- and got to see his old family coat-of-arms reproduced from local archives for the occasion.
"It's important to know where your family comes from," Roethlisberger said, appearing moved by his first-ever trip abroad. "I always knew I was of Swiss descent, but I never knew where until recently. It's great to be able to come back to the actual village and see firsthand how it was for my family."
Roethlisberger came to Switzerland as spokesman for Swiss Roots, a campaign with the slogan "How Swiss Are You?" intended to help Americans of Swiss origin reconnect with the Old Country.
The initiative -- whose board also includes other prominent Americans with Swiss ties such as sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat -- comes at a time when there have been strains in the usually good relations between Switzerland and the United States.
Switzerland is one of many countries that has raised concerns with the U.S. over human rights issues, including alleged abuses of prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Swiss banks came under criticism from Holocaust survivors for allegedly stealing, concealing or sending to the Nazis millions of dollars worth of Jewish holdings.
Negotiations over a free trade agreement between the two nations have stalled.
Help strengthen relations
Ambassador Raymond Loretan, Swiss Roots' co-chair, said visits by prominent Swiss-Americans like Roethlisberger can help boost ties between the two "sister republics" and highlight their common democratic heritage. Over 1 million Americans indicated they were of Swiss origin in the 2000 U.S. Census.
"Some kept the Swiss culture, like in Ohio and Wisconsin, where they kept the Swiss traditions and even the Swiss language sometimes," Loretan said. "This program aims to reconnect them to Switzerland, and also the many others who are not even aware of their Swiss roots."
In general, Switzerland takes great pride in people of Swiss ancestry, even if it's many generations back. Media in the country regularly attach the phrase "originally Swiss" to the names of famous Americans, including Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman of suburban Cincinnati and -- of course -- Roethlisberger, whose great-great-grandfather left for the United States in 1873.