Growing up mostly in the 1970s, the Dallas Cowboys were supposed to be America’s team. But, if you wanted to win the Super Bowl, it was likely you were going to have to get past the Pittsburgh Steelers to admire the trophy. The mighty Pittsburgh Steelers dominated the mid to late 1970’s and early 1980’s winning the Super Bowl in 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980.
For the four time Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers it wasn’t just one NFL Draft that got them there. Mostly, it began in the 1969 NFL Draft when they took a larger than life defensive tackle from a small school in north Texas by the name of Joe Greene.
That was their 1st round pick, but in the 3rd round they picked long time offensive lineman Jon Kolb from Oklahoma State. Their biggest steal of this draft was a young defensive end from Arkansas Pine Bluff by the name of L.C. Greenwood who would be one of future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Joe Greene’s sidekicks in one of the NFL’s greatest defenses.
In the 2nd round, they drafted one of the more famous names in college football, quarterback Terry Hanratty from Notre Dame.
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1970 was also successful with Hall of Fame members quarterback Terry Bradshaw of Louisiana Mel Blount from Southern University. Bradshaw obviously received a lot of credit because he was the quarterback in four Super Bowl wins. But, Mel Blount was a terror at safety for the Steelers.
Tech with the top pick in the draft and 3rd round pick
Then, in 1971, they picked a good player with their first pick in wide receiver Frank Lewis from Grambling. But, they hit it absolutely out of the park with their 2nd pick when they drafted outside linebacker Jack Ham of Penn State. Another Pro Football Hall of Fame member, Ham was one of the leaders of that Steel Curtain defense and some consider him one of the best outside linebackers to ever play the game. That is, outside of Lawrence Taylor, the great New York Giant that frightened quarterbacks back in the day.
Also picked in this draft were outstanding defensive linemen Dwight White and Ernie Holmes. Plus, defensive back Mike Wagner, tight end Larry Brown and offensive lineman Gerry Mullins.
Defensive linemen Mean Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Dwight White and Ernie Holmes were about as good as it could possibly be in the 1970’s NFL. These guys were feared around the league and quarterbacks like Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys probably still have nightmares about them during the night.
1972 was another milestone for the Steelers organization when they picked future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Franco Harris out of Penn State. Harris was more of a fullback playing halfback, but he finished his NFL career with over 12,000 rushing yards and over 300 receptions including one of the more famous in football history, the Immaculate Reception.
They also scored in this draft with tackle Gordon Gravelle out of BYU and Steve Furness, a defensive tackle from Rhode Island. Furness was a key back up for defensive tackles White and Holmes and started some games later on.
The 1973 draft was kind of a letdown with only 1st round pick, J.T. Thomas out of Florida State ever playing much for them.
But, along came 1974 and possibly the best NFL draft for one team in the history of the game.
Twenty guys went ahead of Lynn Swann in the 1974 draft and the Steelers were lucky he was still
there at number 21. The Dallas Cowboys had the top pick and they took Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones. Hard to knock that since Jones was a very successful defensive end. Others picked ahead of Swann included Pro Bowlers John Dutton, Randy Gradishar and Henry Lawrence. All of those guys were good players, but they weren’t Hall of Famers. There were others that were complete misses, and then along came Lynn Swann who became one of the all time greats.
At the time, there was some knock on Swann like Jerry Rice, that he was too slow to be an elite NFL receiver. Plus, he wasn’t very big at only 5-11, 180. Man, were they ever wrong. Swann played on a predominately running team in college, but he was a standout wide receiver from 1972 through 1974 at USC.
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With the Steelers 2nd pick, they took little known linebacker out of Kent State, Jack Lambert. A lot of people would say that Jack Lambert was the meanest man in the NFL and I would never have argued that. The Steelers took a chance on Lambert and it worked out beautifully for them. Lambert was a terror and like Swann, a future Pro Football Hall of Fame member.
The Steelers didn’t have a 3rd round pick, but in the 4th round they picked Lynn Swann’s Hall of Fame sidekick John Stallworth from Alabama A%M. Stallworth never got the publicity of the smoother Swann, but he actually played 5 years longer and had a lot more receptions. This was the best wide receiver tandem of the day and maybe the best of all time. They were about unstoppable.
They had another 4th round pick and chose defensive back Jimmy Allen of UCLA who had 31 career interceptions. But, with their 5th round pick, the Steelers chose another guy that would be a face of their program, center Mike Webster from Wisconsin. Webster always came to play and was famous for his short sleeves on the coldest of days and his massive arms. Webster was also inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame making 4 guys from one draft class which is phenomenal.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ drafts started slowly going downhill after 1974 which explains why the 1980 Super Bowl was their last. But, man oh man were those teams in 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980 really scary for a non Steelers fan.
I’m not generally a fan of the No Fun League, but I do love their draft because it effects my college football. The 1974 NFL Draft class by the Pittsburgh Steelers was without a doubt the best by one team of all time.