Over the years, Pittsburgh has been home to numerous sports legends. It has also served as a temporary home for some famous names who merely passed thru either before or after finding stardom elsewhere. They are names that we recognize but do not typically associate with the rich history of our city’s sports teams. This week’s America Loves Countdowns® series takes a look at ten sports figures whom you may have forgotten once wore a Pittsburgh uniform at one point during their careers.

Casey Stengel
The legendary manager who once led the Yankees to five consecutive World Series titles actually played for the Pirates for a couple of seasons. There is one famous story from his time playing for Pittsburgh. In 1919, the Bucs traveled to Brooklyn to take on Stengel’s old team, the Dodgers. The fans booed and taunted him because he was a former player who had left (apparently not much has changed in the past 90 years). So Stengel hid a sparrow under his cap, and when he came to bat the next time, he tipped his cap to the crowd and out flew the bird. The fans loved it and cheered him for the rest of the game.

Mike Rozier
Between winning the Heisman Trophy winner at Nebraska and forging an productive career with the Houston Oilers, Rozier had a one-season stop in Pittsburgh. It wasn’t with the Steelers, but rather with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL. Despite the fact that Rozier led the team in rushing, the Maulers stumbled to a miserable 3-15 record. Within two years, the team and the league folded, and Rozier was off to the NFL.

Joe Flacco
The talented Baltimore QB who faced off against the Steelers in last season’s AFC Championship Game was no stranger to Heinz Field. Flacco was recruited by Pitt and spent the 2003 season as a redshirt. When QB Rod Rutherford graduated after that season, there was a competition for the starting job between Flacco and Tyler Palko. Flacco lost the job and only played in a few games, mostly for mop-up duty. With a new coach coming in 2005 and Palko firmly entrenched as the starter after leading Pitt to a shocking Fiesta Bowl appearance, Flacco decided it was in his best interest to transfer to Delaware, where he made a name for himself.

Earl Morrall
Morrall is famous for being the starting QB on two memorable teams. In 1968, he led the Baltimore Colts to a dominate 13-1 record but fell to the Jets in a major upset in Super Bowl III. In 1972, he was the starting QB for most of Miami’s perfect season. Before all of that happened, he spent some time with the Steelers. In 1957, Pittsburgh traded to obtain Morrall, but he ultimately became just one of the many QB’s who were in and out of the starting role during that decade (Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson, and others were also let go). Morrall was traded to the Lions the following season for Bobby Lane, and he became just another QB who never got the chance to prove himself in Pittsburgh.

Ed O’Neill
Yep, Al Bundy played for the Steelers. He was an outside linebacker on Chuck Noll’s first team in 1969. Noll made it clear in that very first training camp that he was not going to take it easy on anyone, regardless of whether they were a rookie or a veteran. O’Neill never made it past camp. He was cut before the start of the regular season and decided to return to college to study acting. The rest of course is history. He went on to have multiple film roles in the 70′s and early 80′s before landing his most famous role playing the hapless dad on “Married With Children”. The show ran for 11 seasons and is still running in syndication to this day. He may have missed out on playing for the Steelers dynasty, but he made the best of it anyway.

Hank Greenberg
“Hammerin’ Hank” was a Hall of Fame superstar for the Detroit Tigers in the 1930′s and 40′s. He put up huge numbers, once hitting 58 homeruns without the benefit of steroids, and won the AL MVP award twice. Before the 1947 season, Greenberg left Detroit over a salary dispute. The Pirates quickly snatched him up, offering him huge money to come to Pittsburgh (my how times have changed). New Pirates co-owner Bing Crosby (yes, that Bing Crosby) was eager to showoff his new player, which he knew would help attract fans to come to Forbes Field. The Pirates built a bullpen in front of the leftfield wall so that he could hit more homeruns (they even named it “Greenberg Gardens”) and Bing did this song with Groucho Marx about Hank. In that one season with the Buccos, he hit 25 homeruns and was credited for successfully mentoring a young Ralph Kiner. The Pirates were eager to have him back for another season, but Greenberg had aspirations to get into front office work, so he decided to retire instead.

Gene Keady
During his 26 legendary seasons at Purdue, Keady was named College Basketball Coach of the Year six different times. He was best remembered not only for his many NCAA Tournament appearances, but also for his fiery, emotional outbursts on the bench. It often looked like he would have made a good football player. Well, Keady actually did play football once upon a time. He was a running back for Kansas State, and the Steelers selected him late in the 1958 draft. However, a knee injury cut his pro football career short. He never made it with the Steelers, but he went back to Kansas and took a coaching job at a local high school. He was able to parlay that into a full-time gig, much to the delight of many die-hard Purdue fans.

Marion Motley
Motley was a true football pioneer. He basically invented the role of power back. The brusing Hall of Fame fullback was a key weapon on the Cleveland Browns team that played in 10 straight championship games in the 1940′s and 50′s. He always seemed to save his best for rival Pittsburgh. In a 1950 game against the Steelers, he rushed for 188 yards on just 11 carries for an NFL record 17.1 yards-per-carry average! In true “if you can’t beat them, join them” fashion, the Steelers signed Motley in 1955. However, by that time he was worn down by injuries, as most power backs are later in their careers. He only had a handful of rushes that season and retired for good after it was over.

Kirk Gibson
“I don’t believe what I just saw!” Those were the words famously shouted by legendary announcer Jack Buck after Gibson hit one of baseball’s most famous homeruns in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. The 9th inning blast off of A’s pitcher Dennis Eckersley will be replayed until the end of time. Gibson was a hero in both Los Angeles and in Detroit, where he had helped lead the Tigers to a title in 1984. Most fans however don’t remember that the Pirates picked up Gibson back when they were actually a contender. In the spring of 1992, they traded pitcher Neal Heaton to Kansas City for Gibson. The trade didn’t bear much fruit for the Buccos however. Gibson only had 56 at-bats and hit under .200. His most memorable moment as a Pirate came when he lost his helmet running to second base, enabling the ball to bounce off of it and cause a goofy play that helped the Pirates beat the Cubs. Gibson returned to Detroit after the season to finish his career with the Tigers.

Connie Hawkins
One of basketball’s most talented players led the Pittsburgh Pipers to a championship in the very first season of the ABA. Hawkins led the league in scoring with 26.8 points per game, but more importantly, he helped shape the ABA as a “rebel” league. Having been a former Harlem Globetrotter (after being blacklisted by the NBA because of an alleged gambling scandal when he was in college), Hawkins’ exciting style of play fit well into the new league. Fans soon took notice. The ABA became a hit and the NBA was eventually forced into a merger deal. While the ABA succeeded, the Pipers did not. They moved to Minnesota after winning the 1968 championship. Hawkins later played in the NBA and was elected to the Hall of Fame mostly for the way he revolutionized how the game was played.

Honorable Mentions:

• Oil Can Boyd: Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd never actually made it to Pittsburgh. In 1992, the Bucs picked him up as a minor league insurance policy, but he was never called up and ended up retiring.
• Connie Mack: Mack managed the Athletics for an astounding 50 seasons, setting Major League managerial records that will never be broken. But few people realize that before his half-century run in Philly, Mack managed the Pirates as a player-manager from 1894 to 1896.
• Mike Jones: Jones’s place in the anals of NFL one-hit wonders is firmly secure. He made the famous last-second stop to win Super Bowl XXXIV for the Rams. Several seasons later, he was signed by the Steelers but did not really make too much of a dent in a team that was already chalk full of good linebackers.
• Tampa Bay Storm: The Storm are the most successful team in the history of the Arena Football League, winning more championships (five) than any other club. But the Storm didn’t always call Tampa home. They started out as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. In fact, Arena Bowl I was played at the Civic Arena.