'Burgh's Best to Wear It, No. 88: Lynn Swann displayed grace, grit in Hall of Fame career

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. 88: Lynn Swann

Lynn Swann has enjoyed as diverse a career as any athlete after the end of his playing days.

From his two-decade run as a sportscaster for ABC to his failed bid for governor of Pennsylvania in 2006 to his brief run as athletic director at his alma mater, USC, Swann hasn’t been afraid to embrace new challenges since his retirement from the NFL after the 1982 season.

But it was the challenges that Swann encountered and overcame during his nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers that earned him four Super Bowl rings and led to his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And it is the reason Swann was a unanimous choice for the best athlete to ever wear No. 88 in Pittsburgh as voted on by the Tribune-Review sports staff.

Playing in an era in which the passing game took a backseat to running the football, Swann totaled 336 career receptions, 5,462 receiving yards and 51 touchdowns, numbers which look pedestrian by today’s standards.

Swann never topped 1,000 yards in a season while sharing targets with fellow Hall of Fame receiver John Stallworth. But Swann stood above because he displayed the grace of a ballet dancer, which was fitting since he took all forms of dance classes while growing up in San Mateo, Calif. He also showed grit with his willingness to take hits over the middle.

Swann saved his best for the game’s biggest moments. His acrobatic catches in Super Bowl X earned him the game’s MVP award. He had four catches for 161 yards — Terry Bradshaw completed just five passes worth 48 yards to the other Steelers receivers — and a 64-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

In Super Bowl XIII, with the Steelers displaying a more wide-open offense, Swann had seven more catches for 124 yards and a touchdown that gave the Steelers an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter. The next season, Swann had five catches for 79 yards and a touchdown as the Steelers won their fourth championship in six years.

Swann’s 364 receiving yards in those four Super Bowls were records at the time, and he still ranks second in that category behind the legendary Jerry Rice.

When Swann retired after the ’82 season, his resume also included three Pro Bowls and one first-team All-Pro designation. He was only 30 years old but, with a history of concussions, Swann was ready to take on the next chapter of his life as a sportscaster.

It was the first of many career choices he would pursue over the next four decades.

Unlike some of his fellow Steelers Hall of Fame teammates, Swann never had his No. 88 jersey put into storage. The Steelers issued it the next season and continue to make the number available. Wide receivers Andre Hastings, Courtney Hawkins, Emmanuel Sanders and Darrius Heyward-Bey are players who wore No. 88 for more than two seasons since Swann’s retirement.

Pitt has had several players wear No. 88 with distinction:

• Joel Klimek, a Vietnam veteran, returned to Pitt and had 67 career receptions over the 1970-71 seasons. He caught a pair of 2-point conversion passes from Dave Havern in Pitt’s 36-35 victory against West Virginia. Klimek is a dentist in Canonsburg.

• Ralph Still, a converted quarterback, caught Dan Marino’s first touchdown pass at Pitt. Had 43 receptions for 580 yards in 1979 and is a member of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame.

• Oderick Turner caught 122 passes for 1,681 yards and 15 touchdowns from 2006-09, and he had eight touchdown receptions and averaged 15.0 yards per catch as a freshman.

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