Steelers found eight Super Bowl starters in 1971 draft
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The Steelers selected Jack Ham with the second pick of the 1971 draft.
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The greatest NFL draft that history forgot took place in Pittsburgh 40 years ago. It long has been overshadowed by the greatest draft ever, the one that produced four Hall of Famers for the Steelers in 1974.
That 1974 draft, however, could not touch the one the Steelers produced in 1971 in one important area. The '71 draft yielded eight Super Bowl starters, not to mention one Hall of Famer and six Pro Bowlers.
If '74 was the most glamorous draft in NFL history, the Steelers' '71 draft may have been its most productive, the one that formed the backbone for at least their first two Super Bowls. It still gnaws at Art Rooney Jr., the man in charge of that draft, that NFL Films gave it no mention in its series on "Top 10 Draft Classes." Pro Football Weekly listed it at No. 4. Both had the '74 draft as tops.
"When NFL Films did it, they didn't even have it included," Rooney Jr. said. "I asked them about it; they had some reason. I didn't want to argue, didn't want to look ungrateful."
The Elite Eight of '71 included wide receiver Frank Lewis, Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham, guard Gerry "Moon" Mullins, defensive end Dwight White, tight end/tackle Larry Brown, defensive tackle Ernie "Fats" Holmes, safety Mike Wagner and cornerback Glenn Edwards, signed as an undrafted rookie running back who the Steelers converted to defense.
Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome, now general manager of the Baltimore Ravens, played against most of those players twice annually with the Cleveland Browns and was thunderstruck at the depth of that draft.
"Wow!" was Newsome's reaction when those names were rattled off for him. "You enlightened me to the point you can talk strongly about the '71 draft being as good as their '74 draft. The lack of people's knowledge of '71 pushes '74 up."
First Published April 25, 2011 12:00 am
