STEELERS 101

Jack Butler and Dermontti Dawson have given the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise  some of their best years playing in black and yellow, both men had Pro-Bowl season and now they honor the franchise even more by being inducted into the 2012 Pro Football Hall of Fame.

All you need to say about defensive back Jack Butler is he was named to the NFL’s All Decade Team in the 1950’s, if that's not enough then how about  four Pro Bowl seasons. Butler, who was an un-drafted rookie free agent joined the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1951 out of St. Bonaventure. Over his nine year career Butler had become known as one of the most effective corner backs in the game.

Butler, who wasn’t just known as a ball hog but also a great tackler, had grabbed five interceptions his rookie season not bad for someone who wasn’t drafted. In 1953 he intercepted the ball four times in a single game against the Washington Redskins, which helped him bring his total to nine that season. It wasn’t until 1957 thought that Butler would intercept his career high of 10 passes.

Unfortunately Butler’s career was cut short due to a severe leg injury in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The injury had happen late in the 1959 season, when he had gotten tangled up with Eagles’ tight end Pete Retzlaff away from the play. While his career may have been cut a bit short, Butler still maintained to intercept 52 passes in which he returned them for 827 yards with four returned for touchdowns. He also had four touchdown receptions in his time as receiver and he returned one fumble for a score.

Alongside  Butler in the Hall of Fame this year is another former Pittsburgh Steelers player. Instead of being an un-drafted rookie free agent, he was the Steelers’ second round draft pick in 1988, offensive lineman Dermontti Dawson. Although Dawson’s rookie year was disrupted by a knee injury he still managed to start five out of eight games that year at guard. The following season he replaced Hall of Famer Mike Webster as the starting center. That's exactly where he remained for the rest of his 13 years in the NFL, as the centerpiece to the Steelers’ front line

Dawson, was a rare snapper who could also block defensive players one-on-one. He earned his first of seven straight Pro-Bowl appearances following the 92 season. Dawson would go on to earn more honors than you could name, amongst being named a center on the  NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 90’s he had six consecutive All-NFL honors, and he was named co-AFC offensive lineman of the year in 93

What many fans today remember of Dawson was his help in leading Jerome Bettis to his career-high 1,665 yards rushed the second highest single season total in team history. Dawson also helped lead the Steelers to an NFL best yards rushed in both 1994 (2,180 yds rushed) and 1997 (2,479 yds rushed). He started in three AFC Championship games and Super Bowl XXX against the Dallas Cowboys.

When asked about the honor of joining the Pro-Football Hall of Fame Dawson had this to say;

"It's a great honor to be selected to the Class of 2012 in the Hall of Fame. It's caused my phone to malfunction. I've had over 100 texts and phone calls. It's been non-stop, but it's a good thing."

Both men have truly had Hall of Fame careers so its no surprise to see them both joining  the rest of the boys in Canton as they are inducted forever in to the Pro-Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2012.

Tags: Dermontti Dawson, Football, Hall Of Fame, Jack Butler, NFL, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Steelers

Related Videos

Returning Soon!!!!

No related posts.