Chuck Noll, the legendary coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, passed at age 82 in his home in Western Pennsylvania. He coached the Steelers to four Super Bowl Championships and is the only coach to win four titles.
During his head coaching career that span from 1969 to 1991, he accumulated a record of 209-156-1. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.
After playing for five seasons with the Cleveland Browns, went into coaching. He served as an assistant to Sid Gillman with the Los Angeles Chargers and Don Shula with the Baltimore Colts. He was then hired by the Steelers to turn around the struggling franchise.
After winning just one game his first year, he drafted defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene in the NFL Draft. The following year, he selected quarterback Terry Bradshaw. These two selections provided the foundation for the Steelers’ dynasty in the 1970s.
In the 1974 season, Pittsburgh claimed its first Super Bowl title. The Steelers went on to win three more over the next five years.
"I think he ranks with [George] Halas and [Vince] Lombardi,” Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said Saturday in a statement, according to ESPN. “There are many other good coaches over the history of the NFL, but I think Chuck Noll ranks up there with those other two guys right at the top. No other coach won four Super Bowls, and the way he did it was with dignity. His players were always his concern, both in treating them well and giving them what they needed to succeed on the field."
Noll’s humility and teaching prowess are two of the many traits that made him successful. Tony Dungy, who played and coached under Noll before leading the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl, remembers how Noll knew what it took to reach the pinnacle.
“I can remember the first meeting I was ever in as a rookie player, and after 20 minutes feeling like I know what it takes to win a Super Bowl,” Dungy told USA Today in 2012, reports The New York Times.