'Burgh's Best to Wear It, No. 23: Mike Wagner made career of big-time interceptions for '70s Steelers

The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.

No. 23: Mike Wagner

Mike Wagner had a knack for making big plays in big moments. For evidence, look no further than the work he displayed for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowls IX and X.

Wagner had an interception in each game against a Hall of Fame quarterback — first Fran Tarkenton, then Roger Staubach — and his picks contributed to the Steelers hoisting the Lombardi Trophy each time.

In the fourth quarter of Super Bowl IX, one play after the Steelers had taken a 16-6 lead against the Minnesota Vikings, Wagner atoned for an earlier pass interference penalty by intercepting Tarkenton. This helped the Steelers run down the clock until the waning seconds.

The next season, one in which Wagner earned his first of two trips to the Pro Bowl, Wagner had three interceptions in the postseason. Wagner’s interception of the Dallas Cowboys’ Staubach also came in the fourth quarter — one play after the Steelers had taken their first lead, 12-10. This set up a field goal, and the Steelers held on for a 21-17 victory.

On the final play, Staubach launched a desperation heave into the end zone, but Wagner was there to tip it to teammate Glen Edwards for a game-ending interception.

A lean 6-foot-1 safety, Wagner was an 11th-round pick out of tiny Western Illinois in 1971, and he became an immediate starter on what would become the Steel Curtain. He spent 10 seasons with the Steelers and earned four Super Bowl rings.

Wagner made 116 career starts in 119 appearances, and his 36 interceptions rank sixth on the franchise all-time list. He tied for the NFL lead with eight in 1973.

While Wagner is recognized by the Tribune-Review sports staff as the best Pittsburgh athlete to wear No. 23, strong consideration was given to Sam Young, one of the top players in Pitt basketball history.

When Young left the program after the 2008-09 season, he was the school’s fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,884 points, and he ranked first with 143 games played.

The 6-foot-6 forward dominated the Big East in his final two seasons, averaging 18.1 points as a junior and 19.2 as a senior. Young starred in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, collecting 32 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in Pitt’s second-round win over Oklahoma State.

Young also led Pitt with 19 points in its victory against Xavier that propelled the Panthers to the Elite 8. In the heartbreaking, last-second loss to Scottie Reynolds and Villanova that denied Pitt a Final Fourth berth, Young again was sensational, leading Pitt with 28 points.

Young, along with teammate DeJuan Blair, was drafted in the second round that summer. Young spent five seasons in the NBA with Memphis, Philadelphia and Indiana. His best season was his second when he started 46 of 78 games and averaged 7.3 points for the Grizzlies.

Other players of note to wear No. 23:

• Clairton’s Tyler Boyd averaged nearly 85 receptions and 1,120 receiving yards in his three seasons at Pitt. When he declared for the NFL Draft after his junior season, Boyd was the school’s all-time leader with 254 receptions and 3,361 receiving yards, and he was second to Tony Dorsett with 5,243 all-purpose yards. Boyd is entering his fifth year with the Cincinnati Bengals and is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

• Left-handed pitchers Luke Walker and Grant Jackson contributed to Pirates championships in the 1970s. Walker had a 10-8 record in 1971 a year after winning a career-high 15 games for the Pirates. He also threw the first pitch in a night game in World Series history. Jackson spent six seasons with the Pirates and had a career-high 14 saves in 1979. He didn’t allow a run in six appearances that postseason, and he was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the World Series against Baltimore.

• Known as “The Entertainer,” Eddie Shack was nearing the end of a 17-year career when he spent part of the 1971-72 season and all of 1972-73 with the Penguins. A three-time All-Star and four-time Stanley Cup champion with Toronto, Shack scored 25 goals at age 35 in his lone full season in Pittsburgh. Shack, who died in July at 83, also recorded the last of his seven career hat tricks while wearing a Penguins sweater, and he made the history books by becoming the first NHL player to score at least 20 goals for five franchises. After the 1973 season, the Penguins sold him back to Toronto, where he spent his final two seasons.

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.