Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team

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.

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

Position	Jersey No.	Player	Years on Team	# of Pro Bowls	Hall of Fame	Honors	Ref.
Quarterback	22	Bobby Layne	1958–1962	6	Yes	1950s All-Decade Team	[4]
Running back	44	Dick Hoak	1961–1971	1	No		[5]
Running back	35	John Henry Johnson	1960–1965	4	Yes		[6]
Wide receiver	87	Roy Jefferson	1965–1969	3	No	1969 Steelers MVP	[7]
Wide receiver	25	Ray Mathews	1951–1959	2	No		[8]
Tight end	81	Elbie Nickel	1947–1957	3	No		[9]
Center	21	Chuck Cherundolo	1941–1942, 1945–1948	2	No		[10]
Guard	62	Mike Sandusky	1957–1965	1	No		[11]
Guard	66	Bruce Van Dyke	1967–1973	1	No		[12]
Tackle	71	Charlie Bradshaw	1961–1966	2	No		[13]
Tackle	74	Frank Varrichione	1955–1960	5	No		[14]

Defense

Position	Jersey No.	Player	Years on Team	# of Pro Bowls	Hall of Fame	Honors	Ref.
Defensive tackle	76	Eugene Lipscomb	1961–1962	3	No^[a]		[15]
Defensive tackle	70	Ernie Stautner	1950–1963	9	Yes	1950s All-Decade Team	[16]
Defensive end	60	Ben McGee	1964–1972	2	No		[17]
Defensive end	84	Bill McPeak	1949–1957	3	No		[18]
Linebacker	60	Dale Dodrill	1951–1959	4	No		[19]
Linebacker	66	Myron Pottios	1961, 1963–1965	3	No		[20]
Linebacker	33	Jerry Shipkey	1948–1952	3	No		[21]
Defensive back	80	Jack Butler	1951–1959	4	Yes		[22]
Defensive back	35	Bill Dudley	1942, 1945–1946	3	Yes	1946 NFL MVP 1940s All-Decade Team	[23]
Defensive back	11	Howard Hartley	1949–1952	-	No		[24]
Defensive back	28	Clendon Thomas	1962–1968	1	No		[25]

Specialists

Position	Jersey No.	Player	Years on Team	# of Pro Bowls	Hall of Fame	Honors	Ref.
Placekicker	17	Armand Niccolai	1934–1942	-	No		[26]
Punter	18	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]

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.
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.
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: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
4. "Bobby Layne bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
5. "Dick Hoak bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
6. "John Henry Johnson bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
7. "Roy Jefferson bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
8. "Ray Mathews bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
9. "Elbie Nickel bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
10. "Chuck Cherundolo bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
11. "Mike Sandusky bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
12. "Bruce Van Dyke bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
13. "Charlie Bradshaw bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
14. "Frank Varrichione bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
15. "Eugene Lipscomb bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
16. "Ernie Stautner bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
17. "Ben McGee bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
18. "Bill McPeak bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
19. "Dale Dodrill bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
20. "Myron Pottios bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
21. "Jerry Shipkey bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
22. "Jack Butler bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
23. "Bill Dudley bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
24. "Howard Hartley bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
25. "Clendon Thomas bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
26. "Armand Niccolai bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
27. "Pat Brady bio". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
28. "Hall of Famers: Yearly Finalists". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 26 March 2010.