Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team

The Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team represents the franchise's best players from the pre-1970 era. The team was chosen by a small group of Steeler officials and journalists and presented as a part of the Steelers' 75th season celebration in 2007.

The club presented an updated and expanded All-Time team at the same time, which was determined on the basis of fan voting. The All-Time team represented the top 33 players in the team's first 75 years. However, club officials recognized that since the All-Time team was selected by fans who had a natural bias toward choosing more recent players — due both to the team's struggles prior to the 1970s and because many fans never saw the players older players perform — many noteworthy players from the team's first four decades would be overlooked. The Legends team was created to address this oversight.

Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney summed up the sentiment to create the Legends team thusly: "There were a lot of great Steelers prior to 1970 who were as good as today's superstars, but fewer people got to see them play. We are looking forward to welcoming the Legends Team and having today's fans see some of the great Steelers from the pre-1970 era."

The eight-person selection committee that named the Legends team included Dan Rooney, Steelers Vice President Art Rooney, Jr., team scout Bill Nunn, former long-time coach Dick Hoak, long-time Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope, former sports editor of the Pittsburgh Press Roy McHugh, and former team officials Joe Gordon and Ed Kiely. This panel chose the top 24 players in the club's pre-1970 history: eleven on offense, eleven on defense, one punter and one placekicker.

Offense

Position	Jersey No.	Player	Years on Team	# of Pro Bowls	Hall of Fame	Honors	Ref.
1Quarterback	22	Layne, BobbyBobby Layne	1958–1962	6	Yes	1950s All-Decade Team
2Running back	44	Hoak, DickDick Hoak	1961–1971	1	No
2Running back	35	Johnson, John HenryJohn Henry Johnson	1960–1965	4	Yes
3Wide receiver	87	Jefferson, RoyRoy Jefferson	1965–1969	3	No	1969 Steelers MVP
3Wide receiver	44, 25	Mathews, RayRay Mathews	1951–1959	2	No
4Tight end	81	Nickel, ElbieElbie Nickel	1947–1957	3	No
5Center	21	Cherundolo, ChuckChuck Cherundolo	1941–1942, 1945–1948	2	No
6Guard	62	Sandusky, MikeMike Sandusky	1957–1965	1	No
6Guard	66	Van Dyke, BruceBruce Van Dyke	1967–1973	1	No
7Tackle	71	Bradshaw, CharlieCharlie Bradshaw	1961–1966	2	No
7Tackle	74	Varrichione, FrankFrank Varrichione	1955–1960	5	No

Defense

Position	Jersey No.	Player	Years on Team	# of Pro Bowls	Hall of Fame	Honors	Ref.
1Defensive tackle	76	Eugene LipscombEugene Lipscomb	1961–1962	3	No
1Defensive tackle	70	Stautner, ErnieErnie Stautner	1950–1963	9	Yes	1950s All-Decade Team
2Defensive end	60	McGee, BenBen McGee	1964–1972	2	No
2Defensive end	84	McPeak, BillBill McPeak	1949–1957	3	No
3Linebacker	60	Dodrill, DaleDale Dodrill	1951–1959	4	No
3Linebacker	66	Pottios, MyronMyron Pottios	1961, 1963–1965	3	No
3Linebacker	49, 33	Shipkey, JerryJerry Shipkey	1948–1952	3	No
4Defensive back	80	Butler, JackJack Butler	1951–1959	4	Yes
4Defensive back	3, 35	Dudley, BillBill Dudley	1942, 1945–1946	3	Yes	1946 NFL MVP 1940s All-Decade Team
4Defensive back	11, 20	Hartley, HowardHoward Hartley	1949–1952	-	No
4Defensive back	28	Thomas, ClendonClendon Thomas	1962–1968	1	No

Specialists

Position	Jersey No.	Player	Years on Team	# of Pro Bowls	Hall of Fame	Honors	Ref.
1Placekicker	17, 23, 39	Niccolai, ArmandArmand Niccolai	1934–1942	-	No
2Punter	28, 18	Brady, PatPat Brady	1952–1954	-	No

Notes

Names in bold indicate the player spent his entire playing career with the Steelers.

^a Finalist in 1970 & 1977