Pro Football Hall of Fame•Steelers News•Super Bowl LX
Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive end L.C. Greenwood is seen in 1973. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end L.C. Greenwood was not elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This was the first season that Greenwood has been a finalist in 40 years of eligibility.
Former San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig was the only one of five candidates put forward by the seniors, coaches and contributors committees to be selected. Quarterback Drew Brees, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, linebacker Luke Keuchly and kicker Adam Vinatieri round out the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
Greenwood is the most-decorated member of the 1970s Steelers who has not yet been enshrined in Canton, Ohio. A 10th-round draft pick out of Arkansas Pine-Bluff in 1969, Greenwood became a starter in his third season and then spent another 10 as the team’s stalwart at left defensive end alongside Joe Greene, Dwight White and Earl Holmes on the famous Steel Curtain defensive line.
He was a four-time Super Bowl champion, a six-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro. Greenwood was a member of the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team, and is already a member of the Steelers Hall of Honor.
Though sacks were not official NFL statistics until 1983, research by Pro Football Reference credits Greenwood with 78 in his career, the fourth-most in franchise history.
A native of Canton, Mississippi, Greenwood retired in 1981 and died from kidney failure in 2013 at the age of 67.
The Super Steelers of the 1970s have 10 players in the Hall of Fame — five on offense and five on defense. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, running back Franco Harris, wide receiver John Stallworth, wide receiver Lynn Swann, center Mike Webster, defensive tackle Joe Greene, linebacker Jack Lambert, linebacker Jack Ham, cornerback Mel Blount and strong safety Donnie Shell are in the Hall. Head coach Chuck Noll is also in Canton.
There’s a belief that Hall of Fame voters feel like there’s already enough ’70s Steelers in the Hall of Fame, and that’s why Greenwood continues to be denied.
Former Steelers player and coach Tony Dungy, who is one of two with Pittsburgh ties on the voting panel, alongside Pittsburgh Post-Gazette beat writer Gerry Dulac, said the current Hall of Fame voting process is holding voters back from letting more deserving candidates be recognized.
“I don’t like the process the way it is now,” Dungy said Tuesday in advance of Super Bowl LX in San Francisco. “I said it last year. Now, I’m not going to comment on this year’s voting because I don’t know who’s in and who’s out, but I said it last year. We changed the process last year and went to this 80% deal. … Five years ago, we had an eight-person class: five modern, one coach, one contributor, one senior. Last year, we had a four-person class: three modern, no coaches, no contributors, one senior.
“That’s because we changed the voting process. I don’t know what we’re going to have this year, but if you don’t have a full class, we’ve got so many people who are worthy of being in the Hall of Fame, and if we don’t put a full class in, to me, that’s wrong. So we’ll see. I don’t know who’s going to be in and who isn’t, but we’ll see on Thursday.”
NORFOLK, Va. — L.C. Greenwood, a former Pittsburgh Steeler, and Luis Tiant, a former Boston Red Sox player, stand on the brow of USS Albany (SSN 753) with Chief of the Boat, Michael Nichols, before going below decks to tour Albany June 13. The tour was part of Summerfest 2007, hosted by Naval Station Norfolk’s Morale Welfare and Recreation. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Christina M. Shaw (RELEASED)
Dungy thinks Greenwood belongs in the Hall of Fame.
“L.C. Greenwood was a special player and a special man,” Dungy said. “He was a guy that I looked up to as a high schooler. And then I got to Pittsburgh and I had the chance to play alongside him. He did things at the left-end position, had to do it in our defense that no other left-ends did. He won four Super Bowl rings. He was an outstanding player.
“For me to be on the voting team and have to be impartial, that’s hard because he was so special to me. So I had to fight my way to be impartial and put that out of my mind. But he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
Greenwood had standout performances in the Steelers’ first two Super Bowl wins. He batted down three of Fran Tarkenton’s passes in Super Bowl IX, one of which landed in the hands of Joe Greene for an interception. And then, in Super Bowl X, he unofficially was credited with four sacks of Roger Staubach. Greenwood is the only player to collect more than three sacks in a Super Bowl.
“He gets less credit than he deserves playing next to Joe,” former Steelers linebacker and Hall of Famer Jack Ham recently said. “No question Joe deserves all the accolades he has received. But L.C. deserves them too.”
Greene added, “In my view, when L.C. was playing, he was easily in the top three or four defensive ends during that time. L.C. was a partner of mine on the line for 13 years, and he was a wonderful teammate. … With L.C. beside me, and us working together, we accomplished some pretty good things together.”
Alan Saunders provided reporting from San Francisco.
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