Steelers' Dermontti Dawson, Jack Butler make Hall of Fame

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Sunday, February 5, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS — That richly traveled road from Pittsburgh to Canton gained four more followers Saturday with the Pro Football Hall of Fame elections of center Dermontti Dawson and cornerback Jack Butler of the Steelers, running back Curtis Martin of Allderdice High School and Pitt and defensive end Chris Doleman of Pitt.

Still no Bus on that road, though.

Jerome Bettis, who barreled his way to the NFL's No. 6 all-time rushing yardage with 13,662, fell short of election in his second year of eligibility. The 44-member selection committee, which met yesterday at the Super Bowl XLVI media hotel, doesn't release vote totals, but Bettis fell short of the 80 percent needed to join the class of six that also included offensive tackle Willie Roaf and defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy.

Enshrinement will be Aug. 4 in Canton.

Bettis didn't even make the cut of 10 out of the 15 modern-day finalists entering the day. Martin, like Bettis in his second year of eligibility, had the edge with a committee that was reluctant to add two running backs in the same class. In Bettis' first year, Marshall Faulk got the nod.

No more than five modern-era candidates can be elected in one class.

Dawson, 46, was seen by many in the football community as woefully overdue, finally making it in his eighth year of eligibility. He was born in Lexington, Ky., where he lives and works as a real estate developer. After a brilliant career at the University of Kentucky, he became a six-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowl selection in 13 seasons with the Steelers, retiring after 2000.

"It's a great honor to be elected," Dawson said. "I never would have thought I'd be in this position. I feel very fortunate. It's something my kids and grandkids can see, to take a look at what their granddad did."

Following the Hall of Fame footsteps of Mike Webster, Dawson might have been even better. His streak of 170 consecutive games was second-longest in franchise history, and his extraordinary athleticism for a big man - he was nationally ranked in discus and the shot put in high school -- afforded him a then-rare ability to lead sweeps and execute blocks as far downfield as the safety.

"Kudos to Dermontti," former Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "He played center better than any other during my 22 years of coaching. A true professional and better person."

Before Webster, Ray Mansfield held the Steelers' center position in 1966-75, making for a three-player, 35-year run unlike any in NFL history.

"I learned a lot from Mike Webster in my first year, how to take care of yourself, how to prepare," Dawson said. "That's something I always valued, and it means so much to me to join this group."

As friendly off the field as he was fiery on it, Dawson was held in such high regard that the Steelers' offensive linemen showed up at the Super Bowl's Media Day in 2009 wearing his No. 63 jerseys to support his Hall induction.

The elections of Dawson and Butler, the only choice of the Hall's senior committee, raised the Steelers' Hall total to 20 who spent significant time with the organization. Dawson joined cornerback Rod Woodson (2009) as just the second player from the post-dynasty era.

"They're both deserving of this honor for all they've done throughout the years to help build and continue our rich tradition," Steelers president Art Rooney II said.

Butler, 84, was born and raised in Oakland near Forbes Field before starring at St. Bonaventure, then for 103 games in 1951-59 for the Steelers. His 52 interceptions - including four in one game Dec. 13, 1953, against the Washington Redskins -- were second-most in NFL history at the time of his retirement. He was All-Pro in his final five seasons before a knee injury ended his career.

"It's an honor and privilege," Butler said. "Everybody knows that. But I love this. I love being here."

Even if it took a half-century.

"I never, ever thought I would be here. I just didn't think this was reality. When I was a kid, I dreamed about being a football player. And here I am, Jack Butler from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, going into the Hall of Fame. I can't believe it."

Butler went on to work 44 years for the Steelers as a scout/manager.

Martin, 38, also was a Pittsburgh native, growing up in Homewood, Wilkinsburg and Duquesne before finally joining the football team at Allderdice High School as a senior. He was an immediate sensation at running back, linebacker, even quarterback, before the secret was out with four flashy years at Pitt.

In 1995-2005 with the New England Patriots and New York Jets, Martin amassed the NFL's No. 4 all-time rushing yardage - two notches ahead of Bettis - at 14,101. He won a rushing title in 2004 and was a three-time All-Pro.

"This is one of the most humbling feelings I've had in my life," Martin said. "I'm so grateful to all my coaches and teammates."

Martin has been deeply active in community endeavors, including in the Pittsburgh area. That prompted NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to say upon his retirement, "Curtis Martin represents everything an NFL player should be."

Martin spoke emotionally of being raised by a single parent.

"Football was something I did just to stay out of jail back in Pittsburgh. Shows what can happen if you do the right thing."

Doleman, 50, had 150 1/2 career sacks over 15 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers. Before that, the York, Pa., native excelled in four years at Pitt with 25 sacks, still sixth-most in school history.

This was his eighth year of Hall eligibility, and he and Kennedy emerged from a pack of formidable pass rushers.

"When they call your name, you're absolutely numb," Doleman said. "There are times you wonder if you've been overlooked, but I've always had the respect of my peers. I always went out and played for God, family and friends. It is a big payoff, I'll tell you that."

The elections of Martin and Doleman give Pitt eight players in the Hall, along with Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka, Russ Grimm, Joe Schmidt and Rickey Jackson.

The rest of the 17 finalists yesterday who didn`t make it were former Steelers linebacker Kevin Greene, Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Charles Haley, Andre Reed, Willie Roaf, Will Shields, Aeneas Williams, Bill Parcells and Eddie DeBartolo Jr.

Enshrinement will be Aug. 4 in Canton, Ohio.

Ex-Steeler Butler nominee for Hall

One of two seniors committee picks

Thursday, August 25, 2011
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Jack Butler never had played football when he left Pittsburgh for a seminary in Canada, wanting to be a priest. That did not work out, so he moved on to St. Bonaventure College and wound up in a dorm room with three other freshman, all football players.

"They went out for football, so I went out with them," Butler said. "They gave me a uniform, but I never did anything. I got my butt kicked for two years and didn't play until I was a junior. I played receiver on offense and didn't start until my senior year."

No pro team drafted him, but his hometown Steelers signed him as a free-agent rookie and put him at defensive end. A cornerback was injured early that season, so they moved Butler there and he became one of the greatest cornerbacks in NFL history during the decade of the 1950s.

Wednesday, he became one of the seniors committee's two annual candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"I really appreciate it, it's a great honor and I enjoy it and the whole bit," said Butler, who was born in Pittsburgh, grew up in Whitehall and lives in Munhall. "I didn't expect it. I'm getting to a point, I'm getting up there, you know? But I'm glad it happened."

Butler, 83, retired after nine seasons in 1959 with 52 career interceptions, second most in the NFL at the time. He made four Pro Bowls and three All-Pro teams and the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1950s. He was forced into retirement by a leg injury so severe it nearly killed him when infection set in.

Butler became a coach briefly, then went into scouting with the Steelers and became director of the BLESTO scouting network that formed in the early 1960s, a job he held for 4 1/2 decades before retiring three years ago. Through the years, he trained hundreds of scouts who worked for him and went on to scouting, personnel and general manager jobs in the NFL. That group included Kevin Colbert, the Steelers director of football operations, and his predecessor, Tom Donahoe.

Butler joins former Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins guard Dick Stanfel, also an all-1950s team member, as the two seniors finalists for election in the Hall's Class of 2012. They will join 15 modern-era candidates on the ballot; the other candidates will not be chosen until December. The two seniors do not compete with the modern candidates for a spot in the Hall but are voted on separately, and often both seniors are elected.

Butler stood 6 feet 1 and weighed 200 pounds when he made the Steelers as a defensive end on the final cut of the 1951 season, the last of six coached by John Michelosen.

"I still thought I was a receiver. I always wanted to be a receiver. I was a defensive end. About the second game, a guy got hurt, and Michelosen put me in at defensive back, and that was it."

He would become a prolific pass receiver as a cornerback, turning them into all those interceptions.

"You never know how things turn out, you know?" Butler said. "That was the beginning of it. I really loved it. I had a lot of fun."

John Henry Johnson, 49er Hall of Famer, dies at 81

By Vittorio Tafur, Dwight Chapin, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writers
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/
Sunday, June 5, 2011

(06-04) 21:34 PDT -- The NFL lost one of its toughest players Friday when John Henry Johnson, a member of the 49ers' "Million Dollar Backfield" in the 1950s, died in Tracy. The Hall of Fame running back was 81.

"All the defensive guys said, 'Watch him!' " said longtime Detroit Lions linebacker Wayne Walker. "Because if you didn't keep your eye on him, next thing you know you'd have your jaw wired."

Mr. Johnson's death comes less than six weeks after Joe "The Jet" Perry passed away. Johnson, Perry, Hugh McElhenny and Y.A. Tittle constituted the only full-house backfield to have all four of its members enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"I was deeply saddened to hear of John Henry Johnson's passing," 49ers owner and co-chairman John York said. "He was a good friend, not only to my family and me, but the entire 49ers organization. His contributions to the game of football will be forever celebrated. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the entire Johnson family."

Mr. Johnson, an East Bay native, played three seasons for the 49ers (1954-56). A four-time Pro Bowler (1954, 1962-64 for the Steelers), Mr. Johnson's 6,803 career yards rushing trailed only Jim Brown, Jim Taylor and Perry upon his retirement in 1966.

Mr. Johnson was also a productive receiver, catching 186 passes for 1,478 yards. He scored 55 touchdowns during his career.

"Football was like a combat zone," Mr. Johnson once said. "I was always told that you carry the impact to the opponent. If you wait for it, the impact will be on you."

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound back didn't wait.

"He was one of the few runners who would look for somebody to hit," said former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Bob St. Clair. "John had finesse, but every once in a while, instead of trying to dodge you, he would run over the top of you."

Another ex-teammate, Gordy Soltau, said, "He would attack a brick wall."

In a 1955 exhibition game, Mr. Johnson smashed into Chicago Cardinals star Charley Trippi so hard that Trippi sustained multiple face fractures.

That blow - and other hard hits - gained Mr. Johnson a reputation in some quarters as a dirty player, and might have delayed his being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But Mr. Johnson always maintained that he had only a "do unto others" philosophy, noting his own lasting football injuries.

"I accepted them as a part of the game," he said. "You're hitting them, so don't cry if you get hit, too."

Mr. Johnson was a schoolboy football, basketball and track star in Pittsburg before going on to play football at St. Mary's and then, after that school dropped the sport, Arizona State.

Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1953, he signed instead with Calgary in the Canadian Football League, where he played with former 49ers quarterback Frankie Albert.

Albert called him "the greatest running back I've ever seen," and the 49ers secretly signed him while he was still in the CFL, in a deal that enraged that league's officials.

In San Francisco, he joined the other three 49er Hall-of-Famers-to-be in '54. He was traded to the Detroit Lions before the 1957 season, then moved to Pittsburgh - where he had six of his most productive years - in 1960. He closed his career with Houston in 1966.

Despite his rough style, it was said that when Mr. Johnson was not involved in a play, he didn't relish being a decoy.

Soltau said that when he was with the 49ers, if he was the man in motion, "He would run wide until he would fade into sidelines."

Buddy Parker, Mr. Johnson's head coach with the Lions and Steelers, said, "He was like Jim Thorpe. If he didn't feel like playing, there wasn't anything you could do with him. But when he did feel like playing ... when he was really running ... there was not a better fullback in the game."

Mr. Johnson was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1989. He is survived by five children.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/05/SP5L1JPQ0R.DTL

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Former Steeler running back Johnson dies

By Scott Brown, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/
Sunday, June 5, 2011

John Henry Johnson, who was with the Steelers from 1960 to '65, ranks fourth on the team's alltime rushing list, trailing only Franco Harris, Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987.(Robert Riger/Getty Images)


Former Steelers running back and coach Dick Hoak considers himself fortunate to have spent five seasons in the same backfield as John Henry Johnson.

"John was a great player. He was probably the best blocking fullback that there was at the time. He may have been one of the best I've ever seen," Hoak said. "Boy, he was fast enough that he could play in today's game."

Johnson, the bruising Hall of Fame runner who once held the Steelers' career rushing title, died Friday in Tracy, Calif. He was 81.

Johnson played fullback for the Steelers from 1960-65, and his 4,383 rushing yards led the franchise until another Hall of Famer, Franco Harris, shattered it in the 1970s. Johnson's total still ranks fourth on the team's all-time rushing list.

During his final five seasons with the Steelers, Johnson was part of an offense that included Hoak, who was 10 years younger than his more celebrated teammate.

"He could do everything. He was a lot of fun," Hoak said. "I don't know if he enjoyed playing with me, but I sure enjoyed playing with him."

The Steelers released a statement Saturday praising Johnson's contributions to the game:

"We are deeply saddened by the death of John Henry Johnson. He was one of the Steelers' great running backs, evident by being the team's first 1,000-yard rusher in 1962. Also known for being one of the greatest blocking backs of his era, John Henry was one of the first in a long line of Steelers' Hall of Famers. The entire Steelers organization sends its condolences to the Johnson family for the loss of one of the great players in team history."

When Johnson rushed for 1,141 yards in 1962, it established a Steelers' single-season record until Harris broke it in 1975. At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Johnson led the Steelers in rushing in four of his six seasons and had several notable accomplishments:

» He still holds two of the Steelers' top six single-game rushing efforts, gaining 200 yards against the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 10, 1964, and 182 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 11, 1960.

» He had 15 100-yard games during his Steelers tenure.

» He ranks fifth on the team's career list with 1,025 rushing attempts and 26 rushing touchdowns.

» Three of his four career Pro Bowl selections came while he was with the Steelers.

The Steelers selected Johnson out of Arizona State with their second-round pick in the 1953 draft. He elected to play a year in the Canadian Football League before joining the San Francisco 49ers. There he joined the "Million Dollar Backfield" that included other Hall of Famers Y.A. Tittle, Hugh McElhenny and Joe Perry.

"He was a good friend, not only to my family and me, but the entire 49ers organization," 49ers owner John York said in a statement. "His contributions to the game of football will be forever celebrated."

Johnson was traded to Detroit in 1957 and won an NFL title that season with the Lions. He was traded to the Steelers in 1960.

Although Johnson continued to pile up yards, he couldn't lead the Steelers to greatness. They had two winning seasons among his six years, and he didn't return after the Steelers finished 2-12 in 1965.

One year, Hoak and Johnson decided to make small wagers on the outcome of local high school football games. Hoak would make the bets on Saturday, the day after the games had been played. This went on for several weeks before Hoak confessed his scheme.

"He just screamed at me and called me a bunch of names," Hoak said. "I really enjoyed playing with him."

Johnson spent one season with the Houston Oilers in the American Football League before retiring.

At the time, his 6,803 career rushing yards trailed only Jim Brown, Jim Taylor and Perry. He also caught 186 passes for 1,478 yards and scored 55 career touchdowns.

Hoak last saw Johnson in 2007 at a banquet the Steelers held for their 75th anniversary team. Hoak and Johnson were among the pre-1970 Steelers selected to a legends team.

"He was in a wheelchair at the time, and it was tough to see him that way because he was always so full of life," Hoak said. "He was never sitting still."


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