America's Game: The 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers | Super Bowl XIV

[Music] [Music] [Applause] Summer Celebration [Applause] during the 1970s victory celebrations were almost an annual event in Pittsburgh through 1978 head coach Chuck Noll Steelers had won three Super Bowls over the past five years they were the dominant team of the decade the attitude was we're gonna win this every year the Steelers will never lose I came in in 74 my first year we went to the Super Bowl and to the next year we went to the Super Bowl and then the couple years after that we went to the Super Bowl and won again so I grew up in that this is what we do we went on a football field expecting to win every game then we walked out there and that's the type of leadership we had people that hate it to lose they feared losing that will to win is very hard to be by 1979 the Steelers had become larger than life after winning our third Super Bowl in 78 I don't think Chuck gave us enough time to celebrate he came right out and predicted we were going after it again that he didn't feel that we had peaked as a team yet and I can remember you know getting home and and Jack ham called me up and saying hey you ready to go out and practice on Tuesday June woodchuck said for him to say that he thought we could be better you know that and and that well that that meant something that meant that even though we won the Superbowl on them then we can hold our hands up just a little bit higher but he also issued the challenge is saying that the challenge wants to do it again the other incentive for us was that at that time the finances wasn't there we didn't make the kind of money that we wanted to make so you know shucks you make $25,000 from playoff to Superbowl these guys this that was more money than then we made all year so that was then send it for us to go out and win in order for us to have our place in history to be the first team to win four Super Bowls would set us apart from any other team that played the game to that point I think that's another everybody's mind you know that fourth Super Bowl and do it again and we're going for yeah maybe we are a team of destiny I don't know [Music] and growing up I read a lot of books particularly like books about guys that came out from out of nowhere you know the westerns where the hero arrived just in the nick of time to save the day then ride off into the sunset I kind of liked those kind of stories about about folks that we're not supposed to do anything that that the world saw them as maybe something less and they felt within themselves and there was something better and that they prove the world wrong so I identify with that the 1979 Steelers were filled with stories of men who had proven people wrong players like Vietnam veteran Rocky Bleier quarterback Terry Bradshaw who had overcome early career struggles to become an all-pro and an undersized linebacker named Jack Lambert who had grown into one of football's most intimidating defenders but no player embodied that underdog spirit more than John Stallworth [Music] as a child in Alabama Stallworth contracted a virus that temporarily left him unable to walk I was paralyzed for about two weeks and in the hospital for about that length of time I remember laying in my hospital bed and looking outside and was during the summer months and I'm a normal circumstance I'm out there running with the kids and I can't do that I thought about dying and then perform gosh about 3 4 years even that was a constant thought of Mines that then at one point I'm gonna die I'm not gonna be here and and then when that happens then then I'm gonna be gone and and and there'd be no memory of me at all and so that motivated me didn't want to do something to to be remembered that I just wasn't gonna go through this life and and and pass from this life and people didn't remember me for something by 1979 John Stallworth was becoming hard to forget he was part of one of the most potent passing attacks in the league however for most of the decade the Steelers offense was overshadowed by arguably the greatest defense of all time one of the best defensive lines in history included Mean Joe Greene Dwight White and a quiet pass rusher named LC Greenwood but some wondered if age would catch up to the defense in 1979 Greenwood number 68 was in his 11th season and half the Steelers starters were at least 30 years old we wouldn't get NOLA we would just get more with doing what we were doing you're done and getting older stuff that's that's you know if if you got it in the heart you know then all that other stuff don't matter in 1979 the Steel Curtain was being fortified with younger linemen like number 76 john boehner zhang bana Zack came to the Steelers in 1975 their second Super Bowl season and by 1979 he was a starter still he never imagined himself growing up to be a Steeler I was born and raised in Cleveland Ohio everybody that I grew up was was a Cleveland Browns fans all my friends and all my relatives and all my neighbors I wasn't drafted in the 1975 draft which made me a free agent coming out of college and I was contacted by five teams the Steelers being one of them all my years of football I never played on a championship football team and I felt that if I signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers my chances of playing on a championship team Abhi's that were very good and that night I called my Danna and I said dad I've got great news for you I've just signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers and he hung up on me I heard the click on the phone I called him right back and I said dad I know that it had to be a bad connection that you didn't hang up on me and then my dad started he said how am I gonna tell your mother how am I gonna tell your six brothers and your sister that you signed with the hated Pittsburgh Steelers but right before we hung up he told me he says well I guess I got to become a Steeler fan huh and I said yeah if you want to see me play you're gonna have to become a Steelers fan because I'm gonna make that team and I want you to be at our games and he did he became a Steeler fan and very proud steel who happened to go to three Super Bowls that wouldn't have happened if I signed what the Browns the Steelers gained a new supporter and Pittsburgh fans getting two player with whom they could identify on a team filled with future hall-of-famers no player represented the city's blue-collar image better than Donna say I really do feel that we handed connection you know they thought I carried my lunch pail to practice with me and I did I had to I wasn't good enough to not practice well during the week then I think the Pittsburgh fans appreciated it then you take a look at the stands in Pittsburgh and all the hard hats those guys are all steel workers they had something that that I grew up with both my grandparents were steel workers my dad worked in the factory all his life I can remember the picture that Bradshaw and Willie Stargell with the hard hats on Sports Illustrated in thinking you know that's the perfect background for me I'm in a steel tub I'm close I have a relationship with these people they made this big huge banner and it was like 40 yards long and it said we love the Steelers the banner Zack bunch and they hung it up in the end zone the Steelers got upset about it and sitting signs too big it takes away from all the other signs we can't have that sign anymore and they had to sneak the sign into the game it was pretty cool having all those guys be fans of mine for the reason of being just the guy who was very similar to them you the odds that a football team would win four Super Bowls of six years at some point you think maybe the odds are against us maybe they're just things are gonna line up against us at some point [Music] teams that win a Super Bowl are usually teams that have the fewest injuries injuries just haunted the 79 Steeler team we started the season without Joe green we start the season without Rocky Bleier and Lynn Swann I mean it just down the line they would end this season without safety Mike Wagner and number 59 Pro Bowl linebacker jack am one of the greatest things that we did 1979 has to do with the depth that we had a tremendous amount was expected out of our backups with Joe green and Elsie Greenwood injured early in the year reserve defensive lineman needed to step in and learn quickly from the veterans it's always great that you got guys that you can count on if they can't step in and pick up the slack when you're there then I don't think they should be there and it's and and that's what we have they didn't have the same talents or abilities that we had but they were players then they wanted to play and they got a chance to play and they cashed their number 67 Gary Dunn became a regular starter and had three sacks in the Steelers season opening win over the Patriots [Music] the following week against Houston number 65 Tom Beasley led the team with 11 unassisted Devils in the 38 to 7 win JonBenet Zack had two sacks and his only career interception Banna Zack and the patchwork line helped the Steelers feel the AFC's top-ranked defense vanna Zack became the team's most consistent lineman over the first half of the season and the only one to start every game in 1979 over the second half of the year he split time with veteran Dwight White but he still produced the best season of his career I knew I was playing in a situation where I wasn't going to be this showcase defensive lineman heck I was playing with the greatest players ever played a game and all I wanted to do was to be able to play well enough to get the respect of my teammates that was very important to me when you put that helmet on and you buckled your chinstrap you had to leave it all on the field and in 1979 I left it all on the field [Music] like many of his teammates vana Zak fought through a variety of aches and pains to make it through the season during the season you're gonna get banged and bruised and beat up you're gonna have a knee and ankle and elbow unless it's real bad you got to play through that pain and a lot of us did Sam Davis had a bad lay who was playing on and of course and of course didn't play at all Mullins was in there with an injury so was John Kolb with with an injury and then Sam got hurt and we had Peterson in there who also had an injury was less than a hundred percent so our law offensive line really you know really was hurting when injuries limited Franco Harris early in the year third year back Sidney Thorton helped carry the Steelers to a 5 and 1 start [Music] but even Pittsburgh's backups needed backups Thornton also went down later in the year certainly hurt his ankle and he tried to recover as quickly as possible unbeknownst to everybody Sydney goes back home to Louisiana and he gets hooked up with this um healer down there I think the main was miss Rudolph miss Rudolph and he comes back and he starting to carried his bucket around she gave Sidney a concoction that was full of vile kind of stuff and it was something like horse urine rubbing alcohol vinegar some kind of pepper weed seaweed it smelled nobody would walk around him how did he get close enough to smell it you know I heard what everybody said I didn't have any particular desire to see that so I didn't get close enough Sidney would truly believe that if he stuck his foot in this bucket three times a day that he would get onto the field quicker he probably would have been back two weeks earlier had he not not done that the Steelers may not have believed in magic potions but they had a perfect chemistry no member of the 1979 Steelers ever played for another NFL team before arriving in Pittsburgh they are the last NFL team to win a championship with entirely homegrown talent I think we had for that period of time a Steeler type player the question to be answered though is that we draft them and did we make up I think we had the ability to draft good players and some fit right away but I think the true measure of why we were successful is that we were able to mold those people to be what we needed them to be [Music] Chuck never raised his voice you know it was just the the tone of voice you know it was you know when you saw that he no longer had lips his mouth was so tight that you knew he was really it was really upset with you it was almost like he did something wrong when you were a young kid the worst thing you could do is disappoint your parents the worst thing we could do as a football team was disappoint junk no head coach Chuck Noll so a disappointing trend all season [Music] though the Steelers finished the year with the NFL's top-ranked defense they also committed a league-high 52 turnovers I don't know that we've ever got to appoint what we said okay this is why this has happened we know now why it's happening we can make the correction I don't think that we you know made the correction I mean it was super but we didn't make the correction you know after a while it was almost expected that you know Brad was going to throw 27 touch out passes but he's gonna throw 25 minutes up since then and it was okay with us [Music] the Steelers usually could overcome their quarterbacks inconsistency but when Terry Bradshaw threw five interceptions in San Diego the Steelers were blown out 35 - seven that's pretty embarrassing you know they just annihilate us out there we were we we were stunned because hey it beat us before we knew what was going on the Steelers never dropped out of first place but Chuck Noel's team appeared vulnerable and there were questions as to whether the Steelers could join their neighbor pirates as champions [Music] [Applause] the Steelers 1978 season that ended with a win over the rival Dallas Cowboys and Super Bowl 13 after Super Bowl 13 you know there was still some talk from the Dallas headquarters that they were cheated out of that game they were to Dallas cry boys they were America's Team but in Pittsburgh they were to Dallas cry boys they still cannot accept the fact that they got the Super Bowl 13 well it's over let's make this perfectly clear you got beaten Super Bowl 13 and if you think you had any chance to beat us the following year we put that the bed in week 9 of 1979 the Cowboys look to avenge their Super Bowl loss they were talking a whole bunch of trash about what they wanted to do and all that and they were coming in the pits very bad mistake [Music] the Steelers always enjoyed proving that brute force could beat Dallas finesse [Music] LC Greenwood laid a lick on Roger Staubach that I could still hear inside of my ears then Roger just slumped over and was out of it with a serious concussion that took him out of the ball game [Music] samandar hit him I believe I want to blame Roger for that because I thought he was worn down I'm coming from the other side and I'm flying and I said Roger get down I'm saying that to myself get down from there so dizzy broke out I just ran right through him we didn't go out there with intention of trying to hurt anybody but you know it's just you know I football the exact if if your mother is on another team and she's coming out to play and you got to you got to play against her then you gonna hit mama and try to and try to win the football game it was Starbucks last game against the Steelers the quarterback retired following the season the next year I was down in Dallas that I'm into the end zone loosened up so I heared his voice in the background Elsie my kids hate you I look around is Roger basis don't see my kids hate you I said why because their dad is not playing anymore where Rogers almost 50 years old now you know it's time to get it's time to hang it out here [Music] elsie greenwood may have forced more than a few quarterbacks into retirement during the 70's he was one of the most feared pass rushers in the game yet when his career began the former 10th round draft pick was often overshadowed by teammate Joe Greene during the the PA announcer would call out the person dr. Joe green on the tackle well I've gotten up I was getting up off from Anna tackle not look around and Joe wasn't there ironically an injury to his ankle helped Greenwood finally get noticed on the field the doctor suggests that I wear high-top shoes and at that time there were no high-top shoes in the league so they went around and he got these old black high tops shoes I'm talking to train it into changing the color of the shoes that he wanted to paint and white and I says no I want white shoes because your name with wear white shoes he said well let's leave him black Douglas black just know I don't want to black so he says why don't I paint him go so just kidding I said yeah and I found a listing and I said wow I can't were these the gold shoes grew on it and for the rest of his career Greenwood stuck out in a crowd I would make the tack on that rollover one of my feelings in there so they did PA now so know that it was Elsa Greenwood on the tackle and not Joe Greene [Applause] and I noticed at that point that's when they realized that I was on a football field those all see Greenwood on a tackle it Sarah did it he made gold shoes look pretty good out there after he retired and gold golf shoes he's got gold dance shoes he has gold everything and he makes it work there's not too many people that can say that fashion wise LC makes it work even in the disco crazed 70s green woods flair for fashion was hard to top but the outfit he always looked most impressive in was his number 68 Jersey and in 1979 his ability to rush the passer never went out of style in week 13 against the Browns Greenwood reported four and a half sacks all in the fourth quarter and overtime they couldn't block him it was incredible that was the finest performance that I've ever seen the defensive London half in 15 minutes of football green woods extraordinary effort helped Pittsburgh erase a ten-point fourth quarter deficit the overtime win raised the Steelers records at 10 and 3 and kept them in a first-place tie in the AFC Center the ball is down bar kicks it [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's something [Music] by 1979 John Stallworth and lynn swann had become football's most dynamic receiving tandem but they weren't always equal partners earlier in his career the soft-spoken Stallworth was hardly noticed next to his flamboyant teammate the public's perception of who the receiver was with the Pittsburgh Steelers are my Swan I've gotten the question oh you played with Swann and I always wanted respondents wanna play with me I felt that I was always competing with them and that was a motivating factor for me to make sure that people understood that I was as good or better I do remember a game when I called one past on the course of the game and came into the locker room the next day Chuck comes in he said with Charlie wonderful about them how you feel and my actual work my words to him was Chuck out and tell him I was pretty pissed off and he said swine so well I only caught one pass and he said but John we won the football game which would you rather Hamm winning the football game or catching a lot of passes and my response was suck I'd like to think we can do both in 1979 John Stallworth finally became the centerpiece of Pittsburgh's passing attack with Swan bothered by injuries Stallworth took over as the Steelers number one target his 70 catches were at the time franchise-record at his teammates voted in the Steelers Most Valuable Player [Applause] through so many years of asking questions about who's the best I think for me to have those guys that vote me the MVP was a confirmation that year they thought I was good at what I did and it just gave me a great deal of confidence that they had some faith in me Stallworth helped the Steelers finish 12 and 4 and win their 6th straight division championship [Music] in Pittsburgh playoff time had become a holiday tradition free birds with the birds but if it's Miami they'll cry for their mammy if I squeeze a deck em easy [Music] and they're opening playoff game against Miami Stallworth and the Steelers jumped to a 20 to nothing first quarter lead and rolled to an easy win [Music] the victory set up an AFC championship rematch against the division rival Houston Fred Schulman plenty of time let's go down the middle [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] there's the MVP the Pittsburgh Pirates Willie Stargell he came in disguise as a Houston oiler fan you know where is heart is right here in the Steel City well I felt as the city of champions the champions held a 17 to 10 lead [Music] made in the third quarter Houston appeared to tie the game I think he took beating I got to say what I'm sayin and he is going to touch that to free them Renfro is upset nobody is called to play this might be a spot where an instant replay would be important let's see if the feet come down now he's got the ball he does the officials did not have the luxury that we enjoy of seeing that instant replay the man on the spot didn't see it so he couldn't call her [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the Oilers settled for a field goal and trailed 17 to 13 you know looking back on it it appeared to me also that he was he was in you're just from the standpoint of did he get both feet down and I think you did so what if he gets the ball he just ties up the game but then we go down and score couple times after that the Flyers [Applause] [Music] again the Steelers were headed to their fourth Superbowl in six years for many outside Pittsburgh however this championship would be best remembered for its most controversial play it didn't matter to us whether or not he caught her didn't catch the football there was no way then even if they would have called that a touchdown that he'll ever convince me that we would have lost that game dennis is better seen 13-minute year before [Music] yeah let's put it this way there they're no slouch there's good as they've ever been and that win the Super Bowl one reason why Pittsburgh the city of Champions is this man right here the most valuable player in a World Series Willie Stargell Willie you're working as a photographer today for national magazine but what do you think of the outcome was the day's game ever I'm real impressed with the way these teams stack up is quite evident that I'm very much a Steeler fan I look for tremendous came three months after the Pirates had won the World Series the city of Champions was on the verge of another title the Steelers entered Super Bowl 14 as heavy favorites over the Los Angeles Rams but in 1979 nothing had come easy for Pittsburg and nothing would change this day [Music] terry bradshaw threw three interceptions in the game and at halftime the steelers trailed 13 to 10 I can remember seeing Chuck Noll smiling as he was running off the field that gave me a feeling of confidence that we're behind 13 to 10 but there's our head coach running off the field smiling like hey fellas we got him right where we want him what Noland the Steelers didn't want was an injury to one of their star receivers but early in the second half lynn swann left the game for good the Steelers now had to rely more heavily on John Stallworth trailing by two in the fourth quarter the Steelers faced a critical third and eight and called stalwarts number it was 60 prevent slaughter can go during the course of the week we hadn't completed that pass for whatever reason it hadn't worked in practice I didn't I didn't hear the play and think oh yeah this is it this is the one right Sean calls on casinos remember such personal danger and Bradshaw dropping back Bradshaw bluffing firing down there [Music] [Applause] my initially on the ball my initial thoughts and this is exactly what I thought and I said damn it fresh out you overthrown me and really turn away from the ball and started to run one loss for the paw gaming is still gonna joyn Stallworth become zoom and make the nifty catch and go all the way on the Steelers next possession Stallworth came through again and ratchet supply down the middle dare go starboard again to get it same exact route that we had before and I said breasts are you under throw me I'm open I'm more open this time I was last time I tell you throwing it out further I think I was scored again they went straight down the middle of the ball Johnny's dollar on the receiving end [Music] stalwarts incredible catch set up the touchdown that put the game away touchdown his arms up in the air I've begun battle Zach are the champions of the National Football League for the fourth time the Steelers have made history and that quiet receiver had saved the day just like the heroes he used to read about here we are in the big game and you have any opportunity to come up with a big play the pressures on and yes sir I was able to come up with it and I see myself in those books coming through and in it was kind of unbelievable that we stand on top for the full-time guys go through their career and most never stand there some stand for one if you're very fortunate you stand for two but here we are we stand on top for four years how is lynn swann his condition after he left the game Lynn got a bump on the hand it was kind of this initially and doctors probably shouldn't go back in the game lucky enough we didn't eat many in there did you know that the pressure then was on you you were gonna have to carry the load I felt like it was gonna be on me it was no different on the beginning of season when Lynn was hurt initially and we played about four or five games without him and I started catching few more passes and some nothing I hadn't done all year and I was up to the task day take some time off now I know for you the big thrill was being able to deliver to the city of Champions your beloved Pittsburgh this trophy [Applause] in Pittsburgh yet another season ended with a victory celebration a few weeks later the city's two championship teams stood side-by-side in Washington it's my honor to add my voice to the salute that is being paid to the Pirates to the Steelers to western Pennsylvania and today especially to Pittsburgh thank you all very much [Applause] [Music] in 2004 the 1979 Steelers were honored at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field it was a team that marked the end of a championship era the Steelers wouldn't win a fifth Super Bowl into the 2005 season [Music] same as they were [Music] I can look back it's fun remember that's what I'm around people like this you know you are won four Super Bowls yeah you know the first one wonderful yeah that's great elsie greenwood played until 1981 and left the game as the steelers all-time leader in sex after 1979 John Stallworth played eight more seasons in Pittsburgh [Music] he retired as the Steelers all-time leading receiver finishing with over 200 more catches than fellow hall-of-famer Lynn Swann unlike his more celebrated teammates JonBenet Zach never set records and never was all thrown yet he may have best exemplified the spirit of the 1979 Steelers [Music] this was a team that relied on blue-collar players as much as black and gold legends and each could be equally proud to be part of one of pro football's greatest dynasties after your career is over with and you look back and you see all of the great football players that never played in a Super Bowl game you look at all the great players that never won a Super Bowl game and for me to be part of three of them is something that certainly I'll always remember you know we'll always be part of history I will always be part of the game in the National Football League and for my grandchildren to see in and that's something that that is pretty special [Music]

Channel: NFL Fanzone

Views: 96,844

Rating: 4.8783269 out of 5

Keywords: NFLFanzone, NFL, Fanzone, John Stallworth, L.C. Greenwood, Lynn Swann, Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw, Super Bowl XIV, Chuck Noll, Rocky Bleier, Matt Bahr, Donnie Shell, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, Mike Wagner, Mike Webster, Dwight White, John Banaszak

Id: uFnbawL75qY

Length: 40min 35sec (2435 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 13 2020