Last week, Drew Pearson and Tom Flores were announced as the senior and coach finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2021. This week, Bill Nunn Jr. was selected as the contributor finalist. The Pittsburgh Steelers brought Nunn in as a part-time scout in 1967. He was a full-time scout the next year. By 1970 he was the Assistant Director of Player Personnel. He "retired" in 1986 but continued to consult on Steelers' drafts until his death in 2014.
Bill Nunn Jr. is one of the most interesting men in the history of the NFL. His life in the league is one that he didn't really seek. His father was a newspaper man. William Nunn Sr. was the managing editor of the Pittsburgh Courier. The Courier was the one of the most influential black publications in the nation. Junior played basketball at West Virginia State. He was good. The Harlem Globetrotters recruited him. Instead, he joined his father at the Courier. He started as a sports writer, moved up to sports editor, and then managing editor after his father's retirement in the mid-1960s. Like his father, he was a newspaper man.
The Courier started selecting a Black College All-America Team in 1950. Bill Nunn Jr. selected this team. This was a significant thing for players and colleges that didn't get much national attention. The Courier and Nunn played host to an All-America banquet that brought the top black college players to the city every year. His connection to these colleges and the reciprocated appreciation grew with each year.
From their founding in 1933 to the late 1960s, the Pittsburgh Steelers were terrible. Imagine any woebegone NFL franchise of recent years. That was the Steelers for their first 40 years. The franchise with no direction began to find some in the late 1960s. One of the moves that triggered change was taking note of a newspaper man in their own city. Founder Art Rooney, but mostly team President Dan Rooney, decided that they had to draft better players. One area that the NFL had rarely touched in it's history, and the AFL was finding success, was the black colleges. Bill Nunn Jr. had the knowledge and the connections that the Steelers lacked. In today's language, the Steelers had found themselves a "cheat-code." Nunn was hired as a part-time scout in 1967. Art Rooney Jr., who was leading the player personnel department at the time, wasn't happy about a new voice in the room, even on a part-time basis. Rooney Jr. and Nunn Jr. hit it off immediately and Nunn was a full-time Steelers scout in 1968. It can be said that the great Steelers teams of the 1970s wouldn't have had L.C. Greenwood (Arkansas AM&N), Mel Blount (Southern), Ernie Holmes (Texas Southern), John Stallworth (Alabama A&M) and Donnie Shell (South Carolina State) on their roster if they didn't have Nunn in their building. That's more than a third of one of the best defenses in league history. The Steelers never looked at those colleges, didn't know those colleges, and wouldn't have known those players. Maybe Pittsburgh would've still rattled off four Super Bowl wins but I doubt it. They would've been a very different team.
One of my favorite Nunn stories was this one told by Art Rooney Jr. about the drafting of Stallworth.
"One of our BLESTO scouts had written up a really good report on Stallworth, and we sent Bill down there to go check him out," Art Rooney Jr. said. "Bill pulled a coup. He came back with this film of Stallworth. Nowadays, everyone has film on everyone. But back then, getting a film on someone was a big deal. Well, we all sat down and watched the film and Stallworth was the greatest thing in the world. Noll wanted to draft him in the first round.
"We ended up getting really lucky. At the Senior Bowl, they moved him to defensive back and he didn't play real well. It was almost like we paid the Senior Bowl to do that. We drafted Lynn Swann [from Southern California] because he went to a bigger school in the first round and Jack Lambert in the second round. We didn't have a third-round pick that year and then we got Stallworth in the fourth round. It was all because of Bill and that film he got."
Bill Nunn Jr. was a "cheat-code" for the Steelers.
Pro Football Hall of Fame-wise, something had to give with the architects of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers. Their drafts were ridiculous. For obvious reasons, most eyes go to the 1974 draft.
1. Lynn Swann
2. Jack Lambert
4. John Stallworth
5. Mike Webster
Undrafted: Donnie Shell
-five Hall of Famers in a single draft year.
From Joe Greene in 1969 to the undrafted signing of Donnie Shell in 1974, the Steelers added 10 Hall of Fame football players to their roster. Maybe one day, L.C. Greenwood makes it 11. That's just crazy drafting. It's no wonder this team won four Super Bowls. Even without the creation of the Contributor category someone had to go to Canton for this. The Contributor category was introduced specifically to address this sort of Hall of Fame-worthy team-building work. The Steelers had three men that did the foot-work and draft-work that built this dynasty. Art Rooney Jr, Dick Haley, and Bill Nunn Jr. Three Rooneys in the Hall of Fame might be too many Rooneys. Dick Haley could/should get a shot in the future. I'm glad that Bill Nunn Jr. is the first one tapped for Canton. His story is remarkable. He opened the door to the Historically Black Colleges. He was an inaugural member of the Black College Football Hall of Fame. That's a pretty unique honor for a man that never played or coached college football. His impact on college football and the NFL was great. Hall of Fame-great. It's important to remember that he's not assured of induction next summer. He still needs to get 80% approval from all 48 Hall voters on the eve of Super LV.
Congratulations to the Nunn family on this much-deserved honor.
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