Tag: Jack Ham

Steelers’ VP Art Rooney Jr. named a 2025 Hall of Fame candidate

Beloved member of the Rooney family, Steelers’ VP Art Rooney Jr., is one of 25 candidates from the Contributor category for 2025 HOF.

Steelers’ Vice President Art Rooney Jr., son of the Steelers’ founder Art Rooney Sr. and father of Steelers’ owner Art Rooney II, is one of 25 candidates named for the Contributor category in the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Rooney Jr. served as the Steelers’ Personnel Director from 1965 to 1986, before becoming the Steelers’ Vice President in 1987.

Without Rooney Jr., the Pittsburgh Steelers’ generational success might have never come to fruition, as he  and the scouting department was responsible for 10 Hall of Fame caliber players from 1969 to 1974.  Players drafted or signed from his guidance included ‘Mean’ Joe Green, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, and Mel Blount, just to name a few.

The Rooney family is a vital and beloved piece of Steelers history, and in some ways, the heart of Pittsburgh itself.  Rooney Jr. created the tradition of winning for the ‘Steel City’, and much of what we fans love today about our great team is because of him.

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ChatGPT ranks Penn State football’s top 10 players of all-time

ChatGPT ranks the top 10 players in Penn State history. Did it get it right?

The storied history of Penn State football is full of all-time great players not just in program history, but in the history of the sport of football. Coming up with a list of the top 10 players of all time is always an interesting exercise because the opinions you have on the subject may change by the day. Do you lean more toward the defensive standouts or give preference to some of the top offensive players of all time?

In an ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence and analytical analysis, what if you just let a computer do the ranking for you? It may not be a perfect science, but out of curiosity, I turned to ChatGPT, a language model trained by OpenAI, and asked the AI interface to rank the top 10 players in Penn State football history for me.

The results were not too bad, although I do have some different opinions on the ranking. But let’s take a look at how ChatGPT ranked the top 10 players in Penn State’s football history.

Penn State honoring Franco Harris at the Rose Bowl

Penn State will honor Franco Harris with helmet decal in Rose Bowl

Penn State recently lost a big member of the football family with the recent passing of former running back Franco Harris. So as the Nittany Lions made their way to Pasadena to face Utah in the Rose Bowl, Penn State made sure to pay tribute to one of the biggest names in program history.

Penn State players showed up to the Rose Bowl Stadium getting off the bus in jerseys with Harris’ no. 34, including head coach James Franklin and radio broadcaster and former linebacker Jack Ham.

A no. 34 jersey was also placed in a locker in Penn State’s locker room at the stadium.

Penn State will also be wearing a special helmet decal with Harris’ initials on the back.

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Penn State faces Utah in the Rose Bowl at 5:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Penn State football recruiting profile: LB Kaveion Keys

Penn State football Class of 2023 profile: LB Kaveion Keys

Penn State has a long history of award-winning and successful NFL players all hailing from the linebacker position. [autotag]Jack Ham[/autotag], [autotag]Paul Posluszny[/autotag], and [autotag]Micah Parsons[/autotag] are just a couple of linebackers who have been difference-makers at Penn State and the NFL.

Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and his new aggressive defense need linebackers to be successful and in comes [autotag]Kaveion Keys[/autotag]. The four-star linebacker from Virginia won’t have a far trip north but a long journey will begin next year with Diaz making him the linebacker he needs in his defense.

Here is a snapshot look at one of the final pieces in Penn State’s Class of 2023 recruiting class.

WATCH: Penn State surprises special teams player with scholarship

Drew Hartlaub has played a role on special teams for Penn State his entire collegiate career, earning a scholarship in 2021.

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What’s a Penn State spring game, or spring practice in this case, without a special moment to be celebrated? After Penn State’s spring practice in Beaver Stadium on Saturday, the Nittany Lions surprised redshirt junior Drew Hartlaub with a scholarship. And what better way to learn of the news than from a true legend of the program?

Jack Ham, a College Football Hall of Fame linebacker for the Nittany Lions and a current radio analyst on the Penn State sports radio network, visited the team in the locker room after the spring practice. Other than hearing one of the program’s best all-time players offer some encouragement and words of advice moving forward, Ham was given the opportunity to inform Hartlaub that he is now on scholarship. Naturally, the locker room burst into celebration.

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Hartlaub has been well respected within the Penn State program throughout his collegiate career. Hartlaub has played in 30 games for Penn State, all as a member of the special teams unit. Last season, Hartlaub was named the coaching staff’s special teams player of the week following his performance against Michigan with a fumble recovery. It was the second time of Hartlaub’s career he had been recognized as the team’s special teams player of the week.

In 2019, Hartlaub was recognized as the team’s developmental squad defensive player of the week following games against Buffalo and Iowa, showing Hartlaub is dedicated to playing a role in practices that helps lead to victory on Saturdays. He was also named the scout team special teams player of the year in his redshirt freshman season of 2018.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn Stat coverage and discussion.

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8 Steelers among ‘best player to wear each jersey number’

Several former Pittsburgh Steelers were selected as best to wear their respective numbers.

Eight players from the Pittsburgh Steelers past made CBS Sports’ list of “best players to wear each jersey number in the NFL,” half of whom were career-long Steelers.

The list combed through each jersey number, and CBS Sports selected the best player to wear it.

Denver Broncos former quarterback John Elway beat out Ben Roethlisberger as the best player to wear No. 7. Since it’s a league-wide list, that’s an easy mistake to make. But CBS really lost me when they also considered former Cincinnati Bengals QB Boomer Esiason.

Here’s what CBS Sports had to say about the four players who spent their entire careers in the black and gold:

No. 43: Troy Polamalu, DB
Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers

Polamalu had an instinctual feel for the game. Images of him timing the snap to hurdle the offensive line and sack the quarterback were common on Sundays. The Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame inductee recorded 32 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles and three touchdowns. The California native won two Super Bowls in addition to being named a six-time All-Pro and an eight-time Pro Bowl selection.

He was the No. 16 overall selection in the 2003 NFL Draft.

No. 58: Jack Lambert, LB
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers

Lambert won four Super Bowls as a member of the Steelers. The NFL Defensive Player of the Year recorded 1,479 tackles, 28 interceptions and 23.5 sacks. He has been selected to nine Pro Bowls and is an eight-time All-Pro. Lambert was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990.

No. 59: Jack Ham, LB
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers

Former Steelers are dominating yet another list. The same happened with our Ultimate NFL Draft last month. Ham has recorded 32 interceptions and two touchdowns. The Pro Football and College Football Hall of Famer went to eight Pro Bowls and was an eight-time All-Pro. Like Lambert and Blount, Ham was named an honorable mention to the CBS Sports Steelers Franchise Five.

No. 75: “Mean” Joe Greene, DT
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers

The former No. 4 overall selection played 13 seasons in the league. He won four Super Bowls and was an eight-time All-Pro during that period. His No. 75 jersey is one of two — Ernie Stautner being the other — to be retired by the Steelers franchise. Greene also made 10 Pro Bowls and has been inducted into the Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame.

Others appearing on the list include defensive backs Rod Woodson (No. 26) and Donnie Shell (No. 31), running back Jerome Bettis (No. 36), and linebacker Kevin Greene (No. 91).

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Former Steelers coach Woody Widenhofer dies at 77

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach and defensive coordinator died Sunday in Colorado.

Robert “Woody” Widenhofer, 77, Butler, Pa. native and four-time Super Bowl-winning coach with the Steelers, died Sunday in Colorado Springs, Colo. from stroke complications.

“Woody played an important role coaching our famed Steel Curtain defense when he helped us win four Super Bowls in the 1970s,” said Steelers president, Art Rooney II. “He coached some of the best linebackers in NFL history during his time in Pittsburgh and was later elevated to defensive coordinator, where he guided the defense in our Super Bowl XIV victory over the Los Angeles Rams.”

Widenhofer served as linebackers coach from 1973 to 1978 and defensive coordinator from 1979 to 1983.

After being promoted to DC, the Steelers took home their fourth Super Bowl title in six years. His defense was second in yards allowed and fourth against the run.

The Steelers made the playoffs again in 1982 and 1983 before Widenhofer left to become head coach of the USFL Oklahoma Outlaws in 1984.

The Outlaws went 6-12, and Widehofer went to Missouri. He was head coach of the Tigers from 1985-88 and the Vanderbilt Commodores from 1997-2001. In between colleges, Widenhofer was DC with the Detroit Lions and LB coach of the Cleveland Browns.

It’s hard to believe, but the Super Bowl teams of the ’70s had three different defensive coordinators. Bud Carson was the coordinator for Super Bowl IX and X, George Perles for Super Bowl XIII, and Widenhofer for Super Bowl XIV.

A team with that much turnover doesn’t usually have that kind of success, but it is the Steel Curtain we’re talking about.

Before taking over as Steelers DC, Widenhofer coached Hall of Famer linebackers Jack Lambert and Jack Ham, and Andy Russell, Henry Davis, and Loren Toews — all critical parts of the Steel Curtain.

In 2007, Widenhofer finished his coaching career as DC at Mexico State.