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Sunday, July 21, 2002

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Steelers scout Tim Rooney pulled his car into Three Rivers Stadium one gorgeous July day in 1974. The talk of the land was not the Steelers' chances of reaching the Super Bowl. Richard Nixon was being impeached as President of the United States, and there were veteran players setting up picket lines at the entrance of St. Vincent College, their training camp site in Latrobe, because their union decided to go on strike.

	John Stallworth walks onto the stage at Heinz Field July 6 for the celebration of Steelers Hall of Famers.

Rooney was headed to Latrobe, and those two topics dominated the conversation with his wife. At the stadium, someone asked if Rooney would give a rookie a lift to training camp. Sure, hop in the back seat. They enjoyed a leisurely drive when, a few miles from St. Vincent College, the Rooneys decided to take the young man to lunch at the Mountain View Inn.

"I was trying to relax him and I thought it was a good place, give him some history of the team," said Rooney, now retired. "But I was getting nothing out of him."

It was the only time the Steelers would get nothing out of John Stallworth, and there was reason for his reticence that July day 28 years ago. Here was a scout and his wife taking him to lunch when he couldn't wait to reach training camp and start proving himself?

"I was going into a new competitive situation, something I'd never been through or even talked to anybody who went through it," said Stallworth. "I wanted to see what was going on, gauge the caliber of athletes I was going against at my position and on the other side of the ball. There was talk of this big cornerback with long arms who could run forever and was very, very physical and he'd be on my side of the ball. There were questions about Ron Shanklin and Frank Lewis, the receiving stars at that time."

And there was curiosity about another receiver, another rookie who had not yet reached camp. He was the hot-shot No. 1 draft pick and an early contract holdout. But Stallworth already had a first impression of Lynn Swann from rookie orientation.

"He'll probably kill me for saying this," Stallworth said, with a laugh. "But we ran those conditioning drills, those 350s. Lynn ran and threw up. I said, 'OK, that's good, the No. 1 guy's not in shape.'"

It was the start of a deeply competitive relationship that drove Swann and Stallworth, each vying for Terry Bradshaw's attention, to become the most renowned duo of receivers in NFL history. It lasted through four Super Bowl victories over six seasons, and now they will be together in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

	Hall of Fame Class of 200 Enshrinee Presenter John Stallworth John Stallworth Jr. George Allen Sen. George Allen Dave Casper John Madden Dan Hampton Ed O'Bradovich Jim Kelly Marv Levy Enshrinement begins at noon Aug. 3 at Fawcett Field in Canton, Ohio.

Stallworth will be inducted at Canton on Aug. 3, ending a frustrating wait in which he and Swann relived the competitiveness of their playing days. The two were finalists as candidates together for nearly a decade, and it had become obvious, even to them, that they were knocking each other off because the voters could not decide between them.

Last year, Swann finally was elected, and he helped set the stage for Stallworth. Swann not only devoted part of his Hall of Fame acceptance speech to boosting his old teammate's candidacy, he asked Stallworth to present him. It was a gesture Stallworth will never forget.

"We had, over time, gotten rid of the differences we had over the years as far as competing against each other," Stallworth said. "I was very excited for him, but, initially, I did not think what that meant for me. Then I got a call from him to introduce him. I thought about all the folks he could have called, and he called me. I was blown away by that."

Said Swann, "I don't think I could be in the Hall of Fame unless there was a John Stallworth. The competition between John and me, the things that we made each other do in terms of working and getting ready, I knew I always had to be ready."

Super performer

This would be the 1970s Steelers record in Super Bowls without John Stallworth: Two wins, two losses.

They would not rank among sports' greatest dynasties. Some of the nine players from that era elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame might not have made it. The famous Sports Illustrated photo of Rocky Bleier wearing his four Super Bowl rings? Wouldn't have happened.

Those Steelers were so dominant that no one player was indispensable, except perhaps quarterback Bradshaw. But remove Stallworth from their last two Super Bowls, Nos. XIII and XIV, and the Steelers likely would be remembered as a team that came up short.

Take their pulsating, 35-31 victory against Dallas in Miami on Jan. 21, 1979. Stallworth scored the game's first touchdown on a 28-yard reception. Dallas then grabbed the momementum by scoring twice to take a 14-7 lead. What happened next put a knife through the Cowboys: Stallworth caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to tie the game, and the Steelers never trailed again.

A year later, on Jan. 20 in the Rose Bowl, the Steelers trailed the Los Angeles Rams, 19-17, in the fourth quarter. The Rams, playing in their back yard, were heavy underdogs, having squeezed into the playoffs with a 9-7 regular-season record. Just as he did a year earlier, Stallworth pulled another out of the flames.

Stallworth lined up in the slot as the Steelers deployed three wide receivers. He ran a hook-and-go route down the middle, adjusting the pattern when cornerback Rod Perry came up on him quickly.

"Had I stopped, it would give him time to recover," Stallworth said. "So the hook move turned out more shimmy, and I just kept on past him. Once I left the line of scrimmage, I never saw Perry."

Nevertheless, Perry managed to stay close. But Bradshaw zipped his pass high and to Stallworth's inside. Perry was on the outside.

Stallworth's first thought? "Damn, Bradshaw, you overthrew me."

His second thought? "I have to really run to get this."

He did just that. The 6-foot-2-inch receiver flicked his arms into the air and snatched the football. Stallworth never broke stride on his way to a 73-yard touchdown. It put the Steelers ahead for good, 24-19, on the way to a 31-19 victory and their fourth Vince Lombardi trophy.

	Steelers wide receiver John Stallworth (82) goes high to haul in a pass from Terry Bradshaw and score the first Steeler touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in the first quarter of Super Bowl XIII in Miami, on Jan. 21, 1979. (Associated Press)

"I thought I had a chance at the interception," recalled Perry, now the Carolina Panthers' secondary coach. "He made it look easy, but that was a tough, tough catch."

Stallworth caught three passes that day for 121 yards and the winning touchdown, an average of 40.33 yards. The previous year, he caught three passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns against Dallas.

The catch that wasn't

The way he played, announcers today might have referred to a great catch as Stallworth-like if there hadn't been Swann. If there hadn't been Swann, Stallworth would have been celebrating his 10th year in Canton. But then, if there had not been Stallworth, Swann would have been swept into the Hall 15 years ago.

"They were unjustly kept out," said former Steelers coach Chuck Noll.

It doesn't matter much now because they're in together.

"They were two different types of ballplayers to a degree," said Lionel Taylor, their receiving coach through their early years with the Steelers. "But one thing they could both do is bring the big play."

Stallworth isn't known for the acrobatic catch, as is Swann, but you can look this up: He still holds the Super Bowl record with a 24.4-yard career average per reception. He's second with 12 postseason touchdown catches and is the only receiver in NFL history to catch touchdown passes in eight consecutive postseason games; second-best is five.

Stallworth did not have the statistics that some modern receivers can flash for several reasons -- rules changes since he played have benefitted offenses, the 1970s Steelers featured a running game and he had to compete with Swann for the ball. But he finished with 537 receptions for 8,723 yards and 63 touchdowns, both team records, and a robust 16.2 yards per catch.

"Do you realize," Taylor said, "that if Stallworth was in the West Coast offense, if he was catching underneath and people were picking for him and such, with his strength and size, there's no telling what he would have done? He had big, strong thighs. He had deceiving speed. He was strong enough to catch those slants and he never had alligator arms. He came after the football."

One of his most remarkable catches never made it into the books. Noll, Art Rooney Jr. and others recalled the non-catch at the end of the first half of the 1974 AFC championship game in Oakland, the game many Steelers point to as the beginning of their dynasty.

	Stallworth by the numbers Year G No. Yards Avg. TD 1974 13 16 269 16.8 1 1975 11 20 423 21.2 4 1976 8 9 111 12.3 2 1977 14 44 784 17.8 7 1978 16 41 798 19.5 9 1979 16 70 1,183 16.9 8 1980 3 9 197 21.9 1 1981 16 63 1,098 17.4 5 1982 9 27 441 16.3 7 1983 4 8 100 12.5 0 1984 16 80 1,395 17.4 11 1985 16 75 937 12.5 5 1986 11 34 466 13.7 1 1987 12 41 521 12.7 2 Totals 165 537 8,723 16.2 63

"It was quintessential John Stallworth," said another Steelers Hall of Famer, Joe Greene. "Stallworth caught a pass, probably about a 50-yarder, something like that, in the corner of the end zone. He caught it with his left hand, over his shoulder. Not only did he catch it with one hand, he had to cross over his legs to keep from stepping out of bounds. All at the same time, the cornerback was holding his right hand."

The official ruled -- incorrectly, films showed -- that Stallworth did not have possession. But to Greene, the real damage, psychologically, had been accomplished.

"We left at halftime [tied, 3-3]. I never felt this way any time in a football contest, but I knew we had them, so it didn't matter. I don't think any of us put up a fuss about the non-touchdown. There wasn't an argument. Everyone knew it was in, but no one said a word. It was, 'OK, we're still going to beat you.' It was that attitude about it, a fantastic catch, an incredible catch and bigger than that was our attitude toward it."

And now, after all these years, a confession from Stallworth.

"I came out of college probably as one of the biggest Oakland Raiders fans you ever want to meet because they threw the football. [Ken] Stabler and [Daryle] Lamonica and the long-ball type of ballclub, they threw the ball all over the place."

He went to college at Alabama A&M, a school with a black student body, in an era when it was difficult for African-Americans to get into white universities in the South. Stallworth wasn't recruited by anyone else, including the big university in his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Ala. A friend made a phone call to A&M, and that's where he went.

"I was a skinny running back," Stallworth remembered.

He wound up playing receiver and defensive back. By the time he was a senior, Noll and the Steelers felt he was worth a first-round draft choice, but they figured he would last longer because he was not as highly regarded by others. They drafted him in the fourth round.

That set the stage for Swann and Stallworth, who will forever be linked. But first, they had to beat out Shanklin and Lewis. Noll, recognizing the rookies' talent, began alternating pairs of receivers: Shanklin and Lewis would play the first and third quarters, Swann and Stallworth the second and fourth.

They did that through their first Super Bowl as the Steelers beat Minnesota, 16-6, in New Orleans.

Shanklin was traded after that season, and Lewis took a back seat to Swann and Stallworth until his final season in 1977.

Getting on with it

Swann retired after the 1982 season to go into broadcasting, and Stallworth kept right on catching passes. He played another five years and gained 3,419 yards during that stretch. He led the AFC with 1,395 yards receiving in 1984, when he was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year. During the AFC championship in Miami that season, Stallworth caught four passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns, but Dan Marino and the Dolphins were too much for the Steelers, who lost, 45-28.

It would be Stallworth's final appearance in the playoffs.

He retired after the 1987 season to devote more time to a company he started in Huntsville, Ala., in 1986. Today, Stallworth is president and CEO of Madison Research Corp., which employs 650 people in the Southeast. The company performs services connected with engineering and information technology and deals mostly with the department of defense and NASA.

Stallworth's company won its first government contract when he was in training camp in 1986.

"I knew it was time," Stallworth said. "I didn't run as fast or jump as high. One reason guys kind of hold onto playing one more year and one more year after that is they don't have a real good sense of what their next step is. As soon as you formulate the plan, you get into that Chuck Noll phrase, what you do with the rest of your life."

Noll said he's as proud of that as he is that Stallworth will join him in the Hall of Fame Aug. 3.

"I get as much satisfaction that they're doing well in life. What's in the future is what makes it a good feeling."

But on Aug. 3, unlike 28 years ago, Stallworth will take pleasure in talking about a little history.