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Tuesday, January 30, 2001

It never was Swann or Stallworth. It always was Swann and Stallworth.

Didn't the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters know that? Didn't they realize how cool it would have been for Lynn Swann and John Stallworth to go into the Hall together? How appropriate?

Don't the voters have any sense of drama?

Maybe that's not fair. Stallworth did make the list of 15 finalists Saturday, then the final 10. But only seven can be inducted in any year. This is Swann's year, finally. It took him 14 years, but he finally made it.

The Hall of Fame is better because of it.

It will be better still if Stallworth gets in.

He's just as deserving as Swann -- more, actually.

"It would be a tremendous letdown if I don't make it," Stallworth said yesterday from Huntsville, Ala., where he's president and CEO of the engineering services and information technology company he started in 1986. "I think my career warrants it."

Stallworth is thrilled for Swann. They weren't great friends, but there was great respect between them. Each knew how talented the other was. Each was amazed by the other's accomplishments.

"I'm as pleased and proud as I can be for him," Stallworth said of Swann. "I saw a picture of him in our local paper Sunday. He had a tear in his eye. I can't ever recall seeing him cry. I know how emotional it must have been for him."

Stallworth wouldn't be human if he were not a little envious of Swann. This was his ninth year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame. The first few years he was a finalist, he said he was crushed when he wasn't elected. Now? "I refuse to ride that roller coaster," he said.

Stallworth will have plenty of time to cry when -- if -- he makes it.

"I'd love for it to happen. I still have a certain degree of optimism that it will. I just need to be patient."

The hope -- here and in Huntsville -- is that Swann's induction will make it easier for Stallworth to get in.

For years, the Steelers pushed hard for both. They know they will be linked forever in Pittsburgh sports lore. Swann and Stallworth. They wanted them linked forever in Canton.

But that approach failed. It was too hard to convince the voters that one team could have two Hall of Fame wide receivers. Swann and Stallworth ended up taking votes from each other. Both lost.

That's why the Steelers quietly decided a few years ago to push a little harder for Swann. Chuck Noll got more involved this year and lobbied some voters. That probably put Swann over the top.

Now, it's time to push for Stallworth.

Swann didn't make it because he played a long time or had terrific statistics. Stallworth played five more seasons and had 201 more catches for 3,261 more yards and 12 more touchdowns.

Swann made it because he played his best games in big games. As long as they show highlights, they will show his four-catch, 161-yard, MVP-performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X. To this day, receivers are measured against what he did that day.

But Stallworth also was a big-game receiver. He was as good against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV as Swann was in Super Bowl X. He had three catches for 121 yards, including the winning 73-yard touchdown catch. His 40.33 yards-per-catch average that day still is a Super Bowl record as is his career 24.4 yards-per-catch average. He also holds the NFL postseason record of eight consecutive games with a touchdown catch.

It would be a shame if this guy slips through the cracks.

That's happened to L.C. Greenwood. He doesn't make the list of 15 finalists anymore, although you would have a hard time explaining why Jack Youngblood, who was voted in Saturday, was a better defensive end. It has also happened to Larry Brown. No one ever mentions him for the Hall. Was Mike Munchak, who went in Saturday, really a better offensive lineman?

One team can send only so many players to Canton. Swann is No. 8 from the Steelers' teams of the 1970s. There might not be a No. 9.

If there is, it has to be Stallworth.

Swann knows. Stallworth pushed him, made him better. He pushed Stallworth, made him better, too. Each had an ego. Each wanted the ball. Remember how the great Randy Moss took plays off -- quit, actually -- in the NFC championship game a few weeks ago? Swann and Stallworth couldn't afford to take plays off. If one did, the ball was going to the other.

That made Terry Bradshaw a better quarterback, a Hall of Famer.

That made the Steelers a better team, a Super Bowl dynasty.

"I don't think our team would have had the success it did with anyone other than John Stallworth on the other side," Swann said. "John absolutely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame."

How nice it was to hear Swann start the push for Stallworth.

How appropriate.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.