PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Steelers President Art Rooney used the term early in the day Saturday ‘no-brainer’ in referring to the election of Joey Porter, Ben Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey to the team’s Hall of Honor.
“Just to welcome a group of guys that mean so much to Steelers football, and that means so much to our fans,” Rooney said at the Rogers Center at St. Vincent College. “These three guys made a difference for us over the course of their career. So, you know these guys, this group is a pretty special group and belongs with the rest of them.”
Ben Roethlisberger
Rooney said Roethlisberger was the first he called to congratulate. He owns almost all of the Steelers career passing records. Was there a moment where he knew Ben was something special?
“It was in Dallas his rookie season,” Rooney said. “He had been playing well, but, that game you could just see him becoming what we were hoping for. He threw a couple passes in that game, and I remember (Dallas owner) Jerry Jones saw me a few weeks later and said ‘you got a quarterback’, and I said’ yeah, we do’.”
Maurkice Pouncey
When Rooney called Roethlisberger, the first thing he said was ‘who are the other ones’? He couldn’t tell Roethlisberger who else was in, but was sure he was referring to Pouncey who played together for all of the center’s career. Rooney said you drafted Pouncey, plugged him in and didn’t worry about anything for a decade.
“Maurkice was what you hoped for in terms of a captain of your team,” Rooney said. “Just an all-around leader and he made sure guys understood what the standard was, and what was expected. He wasn't afraid to speak up if somebody needed to be told what they needed to do.
Joey Porter
“A hardnosed, tough player, a representative of Steelers football. He understood what it was about, and the 2005 run to the Super Bowl was something that I'll always remember. His leadership with a team that almost didn't make the playoffs, and he kind of put that team on his shoulders and it was an amazing run.”