Andy Russell, the standout linebacker who was an integral a part of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ evolution from perennial losers to champions, has died. He was 82.
The group confirmed Russell’s loss of life on Saturday. There was no rapid phrase on the trigger or place of loss of life.
A Sixteenth-round choose within the 1963 draft, Russell received two Tremendous Bowls throughout a 12-year NFL profession interrupted by a two-year stint within the navy. Russell spent 10 years as a group captain and was named to the Professional Bowl seven occasions. His teammates voted Russell the membership’s Most Precious Participant in 1971, a season by which the roster included future Corridor of Famers Joe Greene, Mel Blount, Jack Ham and Terry Bradshaw.
“Andy was a part of the inspiration of the nice Steelers groups of the Nineteen Seventies,” Steelers president Artwork Rooney II stated in a press release. “He was one of many few gamers stored by Coach Chuck Noll on the group after he turned our head coach in 1969. Andy was the group captain and his management was a important a part of Coach Noll’s growth of the Nineteen Seventies Steelers, which paved the best way to 4 Tremendous Bowl Championships.”
Equal components heady and sturdy, Russell and his No 34 have been one of many few vibrant spots on a collection of Steeler groups that completed close to the underside of the league in the course of the first portion of his profession.
That modified in 1969 when Noll took over as head coach.
“(Noll) stated: ‘You’re good folks. You’re going to be good residents. Sadly, you possibly can’t run quick sufficient or leap excessive sufficient, and I’m going to have to interchange most of you,’” Russell informed Pittsburgh Quarterly in 2006.
Simply not Russell, who turned one of many cornerstones of a protection that helped the franchise win 4 Tremendous Bowls in the course of the Nineteen Seventies. Russell toiled in anonymity and put collectively a resume that his teammates take into account Corridor of Fame worthy.
“It might have been simple for (Andy) to surrender or be sucked into the mediocrity that he noticed throughout him, however he refused to take action,” wrote Ham, who performed alongside Russell for six seasons. “That perspective was clear to me from my first day of coaching camp to Andy’s final recreation with the Steelers.”
Russell had 38 sacks and 18 interceptions in the course of the common season and added three sacks and a choose throughout 11 playoff video games, two of which ended with the Steelers elevating the Lombardi Trophy as Tremendous Bowl champions.
A two-way star throughout his collegiate profession at Missouri, Russell was discouraged from taking part in within the NFL by his father, who informed him it will be an “embarrassment to the Russell household” if Andy went to the NFL.
Russell adopted his father’s orders. When NFL groups despatched him a questionnaire that included a question on whether or not he wished to play skilled soccer, Russell checked the field marked “no”.
The one group that didn’t mail him a survey was the Steelers, who made the 6ft 2in, 225lb Russell the 220th choose after which supplied him a $12,000 contract and a $3,000 signing bonus.
Russell’s preliminary plan was to play one season for the cash, then pursue an MBA. An harm to linebacker John Reger within the season opener towards Philadelphia led Russell to enter the lineup to fill in and by no means left.
“You discuss luck,” Russell stated. “If that hadn’t occurred, I’d have performed one 12 months, obtained my MBA and gone into enterprise. I simply obtained an unlimited break.”
Russell hit pause after his rookie 12 months, lacking the 1964 and 1965 seasons whereas finishing the navy dedication required as a ROTC member.
When he returned, the Steelers have been nonetheless mired within the standings, successful a mixed 11 video games over the subsequent three seasons, with Russell’s stellar play typically misplaced amid all of the shedding. He did fulfill his purpose, incomes an MBA in finance in 1967 and launching a collection of companies, together with an funding agency tied to Wall Avenue, and beginning an funding financial institution.
Russell’s soccer fortunes turned when Noll got here on board. The Steelers drafted Ham in 1971 and future Corridor of Famer Jack Lambert in 1974, the trio forming one of many best linebacking teams in NFL historical past. Pittsburgh received their first two Tremendous Bowls after the 1974 and 1975 seasons.
Russell retired after the Steelers misplaced to Oakland within the 1976 AFC championship recreation. He had two sacks in a divisional spherical blowout win over Baltimore.
Charles Andrew “Andy” Russell was born on 29 October 1941, in Detroit. He was a standout at Ladue Horton Watkins Excessive within the St Louis, Missouri, suburbs within the late Fifties earlier than incomes three letters at Missouri from 1960-62, taking part in each operating again and linebacker.
Russell wrote three books about his profession after his retirement and was an avid climber, reaching all 54 peaks in Colorado that attain an elevation of no less than 14,000 toes. He remained energetic within the Pittsburgh neighborhood and launched the Andy Russell Charitable Basis, which supported quite a lot of native charities throughout western Pennsylvania.
Russell, a member of the inaugural class of the Steelers Corridor of Honor in 2017, is survived by his spouse, Cindy, two youngsters and 7 grandchildren.
