PITTSBURGH — Fifty years ago, the Steelers embarked on a franchise-changing season that still reverberates to this day. In 1974, they put together a draft class that has produced four Pro Football Hall of Famers and then went on to win the first of four Super Bowl titles — kick-starting a dynasty. Throughout this season, we will look back at the fateful year that began the Steelers' rise to one of the most recognizable sports franchises in America.

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Joe Gordon considers himself a passionate and knowledgeable sports fan, especially when it comes to football, as the longtime Steelers public relations director spent nearly three decades in the sport and has his own place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But on Jan. 29, 1974, when the Steelers executed the greatest draft in professional sports, Gordon didn't exactly see the writing on the wall.

"The only one of those players I had heard of was Lynn Swann," Gordon said. "And that was because he played in a high-profile program in Southern California. I knew Kent State had a football team, but I didn't know they had a future Hall of Famer [in Jack Lambert]. Naturally, I never heard of John Stallworth or Mike Webster."

It's likely Gordon's experience was shared by just about everybody, save for those members of the Steelers charged with devising and executing the team's draft strategy, which amazingly included selecting a record four Hall of Famers and signing a fifth (Donnie Shell) after the draft.

It also typified something I've always found fascinating about the greatest collection of talent ever obtained through this process: Few saw it coming. Certainly not those writing about the team at the time.

50 years

Phil Musick of the Pittsburgh Press was most critical of what the Steelers did, offering several beauties I found while sifting through old newspapers.

"To the surprise of many observers, the Steelers passed up on several quality tight ends to pick Lynn Swann," Musick wrote that night.

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