Thus, there was a premium placed on consistency with a coaching staff and cohesion within a scouting department, two things the Steelers possessed. But that's not the only thing that led to such a historic haul.

The Steelers belonged to BLESTO, one of two scouting services available at the time. But bigger still, they had a weapon the other 25 NFL teams did not: Bill Nunn. A former sportswriter at the Pittsburgh Courier, Nunn was entrenched on the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) circuit and picked the paper's Black All-America team.

Nunn's knowledge and relationships created an overwhelming advantage for the Steelers.

In addition to helping the Steelers unearth later-round gems such as L.C. Greenwood (10th round) and Ernie Holmes (8th) — not to mention so many other great players from HBCU — Nunn played a gigantic role in the Steelers drafting Stallworth.

Nunn had borrowed game film of Stallworth from Alabama A&M, showing it to the entire organization, then convincing Noll the Steelers could take Swann 21st overall and wait on Stallworth until the fourth round.

"I'm not sure how we convinced Chuck to take [Swann]," former Steelers personnel director Art Rooney Jr. told legendary P-G columnist Ron Cook, on Jan. 21, 2020. "He wanted Stallworth. I think his feelings were hurt when we took Swann. He sulked around the building for a little bit."

Perhaps the most amazing story from that draft involved the Steelers' top receiver pick in Swann — and it had nothing to do with the USC product being labeled a "Blocking All-America" or multiple career considerations: possibly getting his real estate license, becoming a public-relations professional or weighing whether to defect to the World Football League.

No, this came three days after the first round, when Swann, two older brothers and a cousin were arrested while the group was driving home from a San Francisco restaurant in the early morning hours. Brian Swann ran a red light, and a "free-for-all with 13 policemen" wielding night sticks ensued, according to a Pittsburgh Press story at the time:

"During the fight, two officers lost their night sticks and in an effort to subdue the Swanns and their cousins wound up Macing themselves."

It was ultimately determined to be a case of police brutality, resulting in $220,000 awarded to the group of four, but can you imagine how something like that would be treated nationally if it had occurred today?

...continued

(c)2024 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.