L.C. Greenwood Leads Six Steelers Seniors Nominated for Hall of Fame
L.C. Greenwood is one of six former Pittsburgh Steelers nominated for the seniors committee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
Defensive end L.C. Greenwood is one of six former Pittsburgh Steelers players nominated for consideration by the seniors blue-ribbon committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
The Seniors Committee considers players whose final season was played before 1999. There were a total of 183 players nominated, which will be whittled down by the seniors screening committee over the next few weeks to a total of 50 semifinalists. The blue-ribbon committee will then narrow that list to three finalists, which will be voted on by the entire Hall of Fame voting panel.
In addition to Greenwood, kicker Norm Johnson, defensive lineman Eugene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb, linebacker Andy Russell, defensive back Mike Wagner and running back Byron “Whizzer” White were also nominated.
Greenwood is probably the most-decorated member of the 1970s Steelers who has not yet been enshrined in Canton, Ohio. A 10th-round draft pick out of Arkansas Pine-Bluff in 1969, Greenwood became a starter in his third season and then spent another 10 as the team’s stalwart at left defensive end.
He was a four-time Super Bowl champion, a six-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro. Greenwood was a member of the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team, and is already a member of the Steelers Hall of Honor.
Though sacks were not official NFL statistics until 1983, research by Pro Football Reference credits Greenwood with 78 in his career, the fourth-most in franchise history.
Greenwood retired in 1981 and died from kidney failure in 2013 at the age of 67.
Russell and Wagner were also 1970s Super Steelers. Russell was a 16th-round pick of the team in 1963 and was one of the team’s elder statesmen by the team the Steelers broke through with their first Super Bowl win in 1974.
A leader and credited as one of the smartest players on the Steelers defense, Russell won two Super Bowl rings before he retired in 1976. He was a seven-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro, and is also a member o the Steelers Hall of Honor. Russell died this March at age 82.
Wagner was an 11th-round pick in 1971 and was a stalwart at safety for the Steel Curtain. He won four Super Bowls, was a two-time All-Pro and two-time Pro Bowler. He led the NFL in interceptions in 1973 and is still sixth in team history with 36 career picks.
Johnson kicked in Pittsburgh toward the end of his long NFL career. The 18-year NFL vet kicked for the Steelers from 1995 to 1998, including an appearance in Super Bowl XXX. He also spent nine seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, four with the Atlanta Falcons and one with the Philadelphia Eagles before retiring with 1,736 career points, which is currently 17th in NFL history.
White was the Steelers’ first-round pick in the 1938 NFL Draft and led the NFL in rushing attempts and yards in his rookie season, rushing 152 times for 567 yards. He earned an All-Pro nod that season, but White chose to leave the NFL to pursue graduate studies at Oxford. He eventually returned to the NFL, playing two more seasons for the Detroit Lions, before going on to become a Lt. Commander in the United States Navy during World War II and graduating from Yale Law School. In 1962, he was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, where he served until 1993.
Lipscomb was a two-time NFL champion with the Baltimore Colts before coming to Pittsburgh in 1961, when he led the NFL in sacks, unofficially, with 17.5 in his first season with the Steelers. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro. Lipscomb died from a heroin overdose before the 1963 season, and his off-the-field discretions have largely kept him off the Hall of Fame ballot until now. He was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary Team and the Steelers Legends Team of pre-1970s stars.
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