Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team

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The Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team represents the franchise's best players from the pre-1970 era. The team was chosen by a small group of Steeler officials and journalists and presented as a part of the Steelers' 75th season celebration in 2007.

Contents

The club presented an updated and expanded All-Time team at the same time, which was determined on the basis of fan voting. [1] The All-Time team represented the top 33 players in the team's first 75 years. [2] However, club officials recognized that since the All-Time team was selected by fans who had a natural bias toward choosing more recent players — due both to the team's struggles prior to the 1970s and because many fans never saw the older players perform — many noteworthy players from the team's first four decades would be overlooked. The Legends team was created to address this oversight. [3]

Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney summed up the sentiment to create the Legends team thus: "There were a lot of great Steelers prior to 1970 who were as good as today's superstars, but fewer people got to see them play. We are looking forward to welcoming the Legends Team and having today's fans see some of the great Steelers from the pre-1970 era." [3]

The eight-person selection committee that named the Legends team included Dan Rooney, Steelers Vice President Art Rooney Jr., team scout Bill Nunn, former long-time coach Dick Hoak, long-time Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope, former sports editor of the Pittsburgh Press Roy McHugh, and former team officials Joe Gordon and Ed Kiely. This panel chose the top 24 players in the club's pre-1970 history: eleven on offense, eleven on defense, one punter and one placekicker. [3]

Offense

PositionJersey No.PlayerYears on Team# of Pro Bowls Hall of Fame HonorsRef.
Quarterback22 Bobby Layne 1958 – 1962 6Yes 1950s All-Decade Team [4]
Running back42 Dick Hoak 1961 – 1971 1No [5]
Running back35 John Henry Johnson 1960 – 1965 4Yes [6]
Wide receiver87 Roy Jefferson 1965 – 1969 3No1969 Steelers MVP [7]
Wide receiver25 Ray Mathews 1951 – 1959 2No [8]
Tight end81 Elbie Nickel 1947 – 1957 3No [9]
Center21 Chuck Cherundolo 1941 – 1942, 1945 – 1948 2No [10]
Guard62 Mike Sandusky 1957 – 1965 1No [11]
Guard66 Bruce Van Dyke 1967 – 1973 1No [12]
Tackle71 Charlie Bradshaw 1961 – 1966 2No [13]
Tackle74 Frank Varrichione 1955 – 1960 5No [14]

Defense

PositionJersey No.PlayerYears on Team# of Pro Bowls Hall of Fame HonorsRef.
Defensive tackle76 Eugene Lipscomb 1961 – 1962 3No [a] [15]
Defensive tackle70 Ernie Stautner 1950 – 1963 9Yes 1950s All-Decade Team [16]
Defensive end60 Ben McGee 1964 – 1972 2No [17]
Defensive end84 Bill McPeak 1949 – 1957 3No [18]
Linebacker60 Dale Dodrill 1951 – 1959 4No [19]
Linebacker66 Myron Pottios 1961, 1963 – 1965 3No [20]
Linebacker33 Jerry Shipkey 1948 – 1952 3No [21]
Defensive back80 Jack Butler 1951 – 1959 4Yes 1950s All-Decade Team [22]
Defensive back35 Bill Dudley 1942, 1945 – 1946 3Yes 1946 NFL MVP
1940s All-Decade Team 		[23]
Defensive back11 Howard Hartley 1949 – 1952 -No [24]
Defensive back28 Clendon Thomas 1962 – 1968 1No [25]

Specialists

PositionJersey No.PlayerYears on Team# of Pro Bowls Hall of Fame HonorsRef.
Placekicker17 Armand Niccolai 1934 – 1942 -No [26]
Punter18 Pat Brady 1952 – 1954 -No [27]

Notes

Names in bold indicate the player spent his entire playing career with the Steelers.
a Finalist in 1970 & 1977 [28]

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References

  1. ↑ Dvorchak, Robert (October 25, 2007). "Steelers name 33 players who stand above rest to its All-Time Team". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved 19 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. ↑ "Steelers Announce All-Time Team as Part of Club's 75th Season Celebration". Steelers.com. October 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. 1 2 3 "Steelers Announce Legends Team as Part of 75th Season Celebration Twenty-Four Honored as Best Pre-1970's Players in Club History". Steelers.com. October 2007. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ↑ "Bobby Layne bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. ↑ "Dick Hoak bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. ↑ "John Henry Johnson bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. ↑ "Roy Jefferson bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. ↑ "Ray Mathews bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  9. ↑ "Elbie Nickel bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  10. ↑ "Chuck Cherundolo bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 19 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  11. ↑ "Mike Sandusky bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  12. ↑ "Bruce Van Dyke bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  13. ↑ "Charlie Bradshaw bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  14. ↑ "Frank Varrichione bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  15. ↑ "Eugene Lipscomb bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  16. ↑ "Ernie Stautner bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  17. ↑ "Ben McGee bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  18. ↑ "Bill McPeak bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  19. ↑ "Dale Dodrill bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  20. ↑ "Myron Pottios bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  21. ↑ "Jerry Shipkey bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  22. ↑ "Jack Butler bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  23. ↑ "Bill Dudley bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  24. ↑ "Howard Hartley bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  25. ↑ "Clendon Thomas bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  26. ↑ "Armand Niccolai bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  27. ↑ "Pat Brady bio". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved 22 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  28. ↑ "Hall of Famers: Yearly Finalists". Pro Football Hall of Fame . Retrieved 26 March 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
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