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.

The next day, Musick quoted Chuck Noll with some fairly standard coach speak — "We're trying to upgrade our football team" — before ending his column with another zinger.

"Whether the Steelers have, of course, remains to be seen," Musick wrote.

Over at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jack Sell took his own issues with what the Steelers did.

"[Noll] seemed to be drafting to his strengths rather than his weaknesses," Sell wrote on Jan. 30, later describing the members of the draft class as "on the small side as pro football players go."

My personal favorite might've been the "Steeler Sketches" on page 51 of the Jan. 30, 1974 edition of the Press, next to a JCPenney ad touting steel-belted tires on sale for $32.21. Under the section about Webster: "Faces difficult task to make team" and "[practice] squad possibility."

It was cold takes exposed before that social media account existed, proof that no matter how much we evolve as a society, listening to sports writers the day after a draft (or trade) should always be taken with a grain of salt.

"You have to remember, there was not as much coverage of the draft," Gordon told me earlier this week. "You didn't have mock drafts the way you do today, the constant coverage. The top players weren't as well-known. The public didn't have the awareness that exists today."

Dig deeper into the 1974 NFL draft, and the differences are wild.

Timing, for one.

The draft was held a little more than two weeks after Super Bowl VIII, when the Dolphins won their second consecutive championship. Months of information gathering, culminating in the NFL combine and/or top-30 visits, did not exist.

Thus, there was a premium placed on consistency with a coaching staff and cohesion within a scouting department, two things the Steelers possessed. But that's not the only thing that led to such a historic haul.

The Steelers belonged to BLESTO, one of two scouting services available at the time. But bigger still, they had a weapon the other 25 NFL teams did not: Bill Nunn. A former sportswriter at the Pittsburgh Courier, Nunn was entrenched on the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) circuit and picked the paper's Black All-America team.

Nunn's knowledge and relationships created an overwhelming advantage for the Steelers.

In addition to helping the Steelers unearth later-round gems such as L.C. Greenwood (10th round) and Ernie Holmes (8th) — not to mention so many other great players from HBCU — Nunn played a gigantic role in the Steelers drafting Stallworth.

Nunn had borrowed game film of Stallworth from Alabama A&M, showing it to the entire organization, then convincing Noll the Steelers could take Swann 21st overall and wait on Stallworth until the fourth round.

"I'm not sure how we convinced Chuck to take [Swann]," former Steelers personnel director Art Rooney Jr. told legendary P-G columnist Ron Cook, on Jan. 21, 2020. "He wanted Stallworth. I think his feelings were hurt when we took Swann. He sulked around the building for a little bit."

Perhaps the most amazing story from that draft involved the Steelers' top receiver pick in Swann — and it had nothing to do with the USC product being labeled a "Blocking All-America" or multiple career considerations: possibly getting his real estate license, becoming a public-relations professional or weighing whether to defect to the World Football League.

No, this came three days after the first round, when Swann, two older brothers and a cousin were arrested while the group was driving home from a San Francisco restaurant in the early morning hours. Brian Swann ran a red light, and a "free-for-all with 13 policemen" wielding night sticks ensued, according to a Pittsburgh Press story at the time:

"During the fight, two officers lost their night sticks and in an effort to subdue the Swanns and their cousins wound up Macing themselves."

It was ultimately determined to be a case of police brutality, resulting in $220,000 awarded to the group of four, but can you imagine how something like that would be treated nationally if it had occurred today?

As for the draft itself, it occurred on a random Tuesday morning at the Americana Hotel in New York City, smoke from cigarettes and cigars filling the room. Back in Pittsburgh, easels surrounded tables pulled into a T-shape, with players listed by position and in order of preference.

The group, headlined by Rooney Jr. — who was Steelers personnel director from 1965-86 — created a top-200 list and cross-referenced its own rankings with BLESTO marks. While the draft class was hardly lauded at the time, perhaps a reaction to the Steelers coming up short in 1973, there was nonetheless an impressive process unfolding.

"We took [Joe] Greene, [Terry] Bradshaw, [Mel] Blount, [Jack] Ham and Franco [Harris]," Rooney Jr. told Hall of Fame P-G Steelers writer Ed Bouchette on April 14, 2002. "We had an off year in '73, then came in with those four the next year. That, to me, shows it was not blind luck. We were doing something right."

Exactly what Noll set out to do: build through the draft. If you're looking for more historical context on how different it was back then, check out the NFL Films' documentary "The Future Is Now," highlighting the totality of that draft.

One part focused on George Allen, the former Redskins coach, and his propensity for trading draft picks. In fact, he somehow traded the pick right before the Steelers twice before former commissioner Pete Rozelle stepped in and awarded it to the Bears.

Different times for the NFL ... yet not for the Steelers.

Gordon bristled when I read to him another clip I found from Musick, one where he quoted Noll downplaying the importance of the draft.

"In a year that has produced a skinny crop of collegians, [the Steelers' first-round pick] would probably be the only meaningful one," Musick wrote. "As Chuck Noll had it figured, the draft would be worthwhile for only 'about a round and a half.' The Steelers selected 21st, meaning that only a single mistake was likely to be fatal."

Saying there would be one meaningful pick in '74 and that a single mistake could be fatal made me laugh. But it's not what irked Gordon. Noll's desire to build through the draft when others dismissed the idea remains a huge part of his legacy, a thread connecting the current team to its 1970s dynasty.

"In 1970, when we drafted Bradshaw, we had all these offers, including some outstanding NFL players," Gordon said. "I could remember vividly the night before the '70 draft where Chuck said, 'We're not looking for mediocrity. We want to win championships. And it starts with your Number 1 draft choices.'"

Gordon recalled one specific offer, as the St. Louis Cardinals tried to sway the Steelers with a combined seven picks and players, including seven-time Pro Bowler Roger Wehrli, to move up to No. 1.

"Chuck Noll came in with the idea that you build an NFL football team through the draft," Gordon said. "He followed through on his theory."

That groundwork, as crazy as it might seem when turning back the clock by five decades, remains as important as ever, the Steelers looking to address key needs through the NFL draft and return to the postseason.

And from this seat, we'll do our best to reserve judgment — at least until next week.

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