"Lots of characters," mused Dick Hoak, who was a rookie running back in 1961 and a witness to history before he collected five Super Bowl rings as the longest-tenured assistant coach in franchise history.

It started with uncomplicated times that conjured images of Camelot. Bill Mazeroski's home run slew the Yankees. A new president played touch football on the White House lawn. And some swashbuckling Steelers introduced Baby Boomers to life in the fast Layne, as in quarterback Bobby Layne, along with coach Raymond (Buddy) Parker's rogues' gallery of Tom (The Bomb) Tracy, Buddy Dial, Eugene (Big Daddy) Lipscomb, John Henry Johnson, Ed Brown, et al.

Click on the links to the left to view previous stories and slideshows chronicling the history of football's greatest dynasty, the Pittsburgh Steelers.