Mount Rushmore is apparently the theme of the month. After Hall of Fame safety Donnie Shell offered his Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mount Rushmore and Mike Tomlin called Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald a “Mount Rushmore kind of guy,” it’s Cam Heyward’s turn to name the four Steelers’ faces he’d carve into a mountain.
For a franchise with as much history as the Steelers, that’s no easy task. But for Heyward, he eventually got to four names, giving his take on the latest episode of his Not Just Football podcast.
“If I had to do my Mount Rushmore right now, obviously Joe Greene’s going to be there,” he said to guest and Steelers LS Christian Kuntz. “Troy. You gotta put 7 there. And then…man, you want to put someone from the 2000s but you look back and go shoot, you gotta go 70s. You gotta put someone like Mel Blount.”
So that’s his list. Joe Greene, Troy Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger, and Mel Blount. We’ll assume this is a players-only mountain because adding coaches and owners makes it even harder with Chuck Noll, Art Rooney Sr., and Dan Rooney all tempting options.
It’s hard to argue with Heyward’s list. There’s a mix of the ’70s Steel Curtain with the modern-day Super Bowls, spanning all six of the team’s Super Bowl trophies. Greene and Blount won four, Polamalu and Roethlisberger won two and played in a third. Three of the four are Hall of Famers while Roethlisberger will join them in a few years.
So who is left off? There’s no QB Terry Bradshaw, who won four Super Bowls as the Steelers’ starting quarterback. Nor is there RB Franco Harris, responsible for arguably the most iconic play in football history, one that turned the tide of the entire franchise. From the 2000s era Heyward considered, there’s WR Hines Ward as one of the most beloved players in team history. And RB Jerome Bettis, a Hall of Famer and one of the best backs of his day. The list could go on forever. Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Donnie Shell, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, Mike Webster, Alan Faneca, let’s just say there needs to be a lot of acreage to properly capture the Steelers’ history.
If you’re curious, Shell’s list included Greene, Lambert, Swann, and Stallworth, all his ’70s teammates. Swann and Stallworth would probably be less-likely options if you polled the fan base but their impact for those four Super Bowls can’t be forgotten, especially the latter two Lombardis when Pittsburgh opened up its passing game.
Check out the whole conversation below.
