Steelers safety Donnie Shell should have made the NFL Hall of Fame sooner, but he is happy to do so now

Donnie Shell; USA Today

… four Super Bowl rings, three-time All-Pro, 51 interceptions 


With his numbers and his overall success, Donnie Shell should have been a prime candidate for induction into the National Football League Hall of Fame many years ago. 


However, playing with nine other players who made the hall probably held him back for a time despite his credentials. In his 14 sessions with the Steelers, the strong safety earned four Super Bowl rings, recorded 51 interceptions, was voted to five straight Pro Bowls, and was name first team All-Pro three times. 


He was also a Steeler MVP and still ranks third in interceptions on the team. 


And to make that even more incredible, he was a free agent out of South Carolina State who no one thought was worth of being drafted. 


He never dreamed he would make the NFL


In a recent interview, Shell said that he wanted to enter education,


“I had no inkling I would ever play pro football. I went to school to be a high school football coach and a teacher. I wanted to give back and help other people and do what (our coach) did for us.”


Joe Rutter, “Hall of Fame was worth the wait for 4-time Super Bowl 

champion Donnie Shell,” Tribune-Review, August 1, 2021


Greatest draft class ever


Shell was elected to the Hall in 2020, but no induction was held last year because of Covid. He is a member of the most famous draft in NFL history, one that now has five Super Bowl members,


Shell arrived at training camp the same summer as Lynn Swann, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert and John Stallworth, members of what would become the most celebrated draft class in NFL history. Shell will be the fifth member of that group and 10th player from the 1970s Steelers to slip on a gold jacket.


“I’m proud to be with my former teammates now,” Shell said.


Joe Rutter, Tribune-Review, August 1, 2021


Shell was one of the hardest hitters in Steeler history, too, and he was underrated in the eyes of the clueless hall of fame voters, who never played an NFL game in their lives. The Veteran’s Committee, is composed of all former players and coaches, and they made that decision. 


The safety is happy that he played with such great players,


Playing in the era before free agency, Shell never donned another team’s uniform before he retired following the 1987 season. It took three decades for Shell to get his proper recognition, prompting someone to ask him whether he might have made the Hall of Fame sooner had he not played with so many other premier players.


Shell laughed.


“I preferred to play with my teammates,” he said. “I think I made the right decision.”


Joe Rutter, Tribune-Review, August 1, 2021


The classes of the 1970s Super Bowl Steeler players is now complete. Some may make a case for L.C. Greenwood, but that is now unlikely. 


It is one of the greatest teams in history, and certainly one of the greatest draft classes of all time. 


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