The group was leaving Alabama the next morning, but Nunn said he felt ill and was staying, and would catch up with them on the road. What he did, though, was go back and time Stallworth on a dry track and he got the results he wanted. Also, through his relationship with HBCU coaches, he was able to obtain the only game film of Stallworth that existed. He promised to return the film to be shared but never did. The rest, as they say, is history. That 1974 Steelers went on to win Super Bowl IX, with 11 players from HBCUs, and the Steelers 1974 Draft Class that included four Hall of Fame players in the first five picks – Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, Stallworth, and Mike Webster – plus another – Shell – as an undrafted rookie is acknowledged as the greatest of all-time.
"I don't know that I would have gotten the opportunity that I did, certainly I don't think I would have been a Pittsburgh Steeler, had it not been for Bill Nunn," said Stallworth, the team's fourth-round pick in 1974. "He brought my name to the table. The story that folks tell about Bill and my game films in college, how he hid those game films away, it's amusing.
"I appreciate Bill. I appreciate his dedication. He could have been like so many others who came through and (Alabama A&M) was just a stop, they weren't going to find anybody. They were supposed to stop there, and so they did and moved on. Bill stopped, had a sense of wanting to find talent, and knew there was talent there. I don't know if I am a Pittsburgh Steeler if that didn't happen."
He isn't the only one who felt that way.
"He came down and signed me," said Shell. "I was getting ready to teach high school. I remember us talking. One thing he said that impressed me was that Chuck Noll didn't care where you came from, he will give you a fair chance. I had chances to go to Denver and Houston, but that convinced me. All I wanted was a fair chance. He sold me on that."
Nunn is one of the few people to earn six Super Bowl rings with the Steelers, after coming out of retirement to return to the team on a part-time basis.
"You can't write the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers without Bill Nunn," said Blount. "When you look at the Steelers of the 1970s, none of that would have happened without Bill Nunn."
Nunn will join Alan Faneca in the Class of 2021, and they will become the 28th and 29th members of the Steelers' organization in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the team's 25th and 26th major contributors per the Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2021 will be enshrined, along with the Class of 2020, the weekend of Aug. 5-8. The Class of 2020 includes former Steelers Troy Polamalu and Donnie Shell and Coach Bill Cowher.
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February 07, 2021 at 10:25AM
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