Steelers’ duo heads new Hall of Fame class
The Canton (Ohio) Repository
MIAMI – Troy Polamalu played only four seasons for Bill Cowher, but they will be together in bronze for the next 40,000 years.
At least, Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker claims that enshrinee busts are supposed to last that long. The former Pittsburgh coach (Cowher) and ex-Steelers player (Polamalu) both will be getting one this summer in Canton, Ohio.
Cowher was elected to the Hall of Fame last month as part of a 15-member “Centennial Slate.” Polamalu got elected last weekend when five modern-era players were added to the group intended to honor the founding of the NFL 100 years ago in Canton.
The other modern-era players elected were:
❚ Steve Atwater, a safety who played in a Super Bowl the Broncos lost and two that they won while with the team from 1989 to 1998.
❚ Edgerrin James, whose best years as a running back were 1999-2005 with the Colts in a career that stretched through 2009.
❚ Isaac Bruce, an ironman wideout who wrapped up his career with the 49ers in 2008 and ’09 after a 14-year run with the Rams.
❚ Steve Hutchinson, a guard who made the NFL’s team of the decade (2000s) while with the Seahawks and the Vikings.
Polamalu was the only one of the five everyone expected to get in. Throughout Super Bowl week, voters said this election would be a free-for-all, outside of Polamalu.
One could say Cowher saw it coming 17 years ago. Polamalu, from Southern California, and Mike Doss, from Ohio State via Canton McKinley High, were seen as the best safeties in the 2003 draft.
Cowher, who had coached defense for Marty Schottenheimer in Cleveland and Kansas City, became sold as head coach in Pittsburgh that he needed a dominant safety. The coach at first imagined Polamalu filling a role similar to Carnell Lake. He was in for quite a splash.
The Steelers were stuck at the bottom of the first round of the 2003 draft, at No. 27, but Cowher pushed general manager Kevin Colbert to trade up. Chiefs GM Carl Peterson wanted Larry Johnson and believed the Penn State running back would be available at 27. Before agreeing to the deal, Peterson made Cowher promise he wouldn’t spend the 16th pick on Johnson.
Cowher, on stage with Polamalu, recalls telling Peterson, “I guarantee you we aren’t taking an offensive player.”
Polamalu shot a glance at Cowher from the stage and said, “I was initially upset on draft day, because it was a Pennsylvania area code, and I was hoping for a California area code ... but it turned into a huge blessing.”
GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES
After Cowher got his man on defense, Arizona, which had traded into picks 17 and 18, chose Bryant Johnson and Calvin Pace. The next three picks were Kyle Boller to Baltimore, George Foster to Denver and Jeff Faine to Cleveland.
In retrospect, anyone would have traded that entire group to get Polamalu. Pittsburgh got a Hall of Famer in exchange for picks at No. 27, No. 92 and No. 200.
“Troy gave us so much more flexibility,” said Cowher, now a veteran TV analyst. “You didn’t think of him as playing a certain position. He could play in the slot. He could play deep. He could do so many things.”
Hoping for another Carnell Lake was understandable. Lake gave the Steelers 10 seasons and made first- or second-team AllPro five times, including on Cowher’s team that lost a Super Bowl (1996 season).
Polamalu was even better, making first-team All-Pro in his third season, when Cowher won the Super Bowl that arguably got him elected to the Hall of Fame.
Mike Tomlin took over for Cowher in 2007 and went to two Super Bowls with Polamalu, who was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010.
Atwater was a Broncos rookie in 1989, the last of three 1980s seasons when the Browns lost to the Broncos in AFC championship games. He won out in a logjam of safeties who were finalists, including John Lynch, now the general manager of the NFC champion 49ers, and former Packer LeRoy Butler.
The Colts drafted James in 1999 shortly after the expansion Browns spent the No. 1 pick on Tim Couch. James instantly led the league in rushing with 1,500-plus yards in each of his first two years. He made the cut for the Hall of Fame in his fourth year as a finalist.
Bruce was already a veteran Rams wideout when the team spent a first-round pick on Torry Holt in 1999, and they won a Super Bowl together. Holt, also on the ballot, did not make the cut.
Hutchinson played at Michigan before joining the Seahawks in 2001 and helping power them to the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 2005. He then had a six-year run with the Vikings.
The day began with 15 modern-era finalists up for debate, including Polamalu and Reggie Wayne, eligible for the Hall for the first time. Five others (Holt, Butler, Sam Mills, Zach Thomas, Bryant Young) had been eligible before now but were first-time finalists.
Other finalists who didn’t make the Class of 2020 included Richard Seymour, Alan Faneca and Tony Boselli.
Atwater, Bruce, Hutchinson, James and Polamalu all were in Miami for the Feb. 1 festivities, and all got the famous “knock” by Baker delivering the good news.
Fifteen members of a “Centennial Slate” were announced last month. These 15 were chosen by a panel including Bill Belichick and Hall of Fame general managers. The 48-member committee that elected modern-era finalists Feb. 1 was different.
The “Centennial Slate” class: Coaches: Cowher, Jimmy Johnson
Players: Harold Carmichael, Jimbo Covert, Bobby Dillon, Cliff Harris, Winston Hill, Alex Karras, Donnie Shell, Duke Slater, Mac Speedie, Ed Sprinkle
Contributors: Paul Tagliabue, George Young, Steve Sabol
The modern-era candidates will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Canton during enshrinement week Aug. 6-9, while the centennial candidates will be welcomed Sept. 16-19.