HBCU Football: The life and legacy of Bill Nunn Jr.

Nunn scouted several players in Steelers’ famed 1974 NFL draft class

To understand why Nunn was so crucial to the Steelers and, by extension, the NFL, two things are essential to understand. Nunn was not exactly inventing the wheel by scouting HBCUs for elite talent. The AFL had done it since its very inception in 1960.

By the time Art Rooney Sr. asked Nunn to join the personnel department in 1967, the Steelers and the NFL were playing catch up. The AFL was so bold in its scouting and talent evaluation that the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Grambling State defensive end Buck Buchanan first overall in 1963.

His teammate, Willie Lainer (Morgan State), Raymond Chester, Art Shell, and Bob Hayes, were among the droves of HBCU football players drafted by the AFL in the 1960s and 70s. It was not that the NFL did not draft HBCU players; they were usually low-round picks.

For example, Mark Washington, a linebacker from Morgan State and teammate of Willie Lanier, was drafted by the Washington Football team in the 13th round. Washington saw Lanier get drafted in the second round and their teammate Raymond Chester become the Raiders’ first draft pick.

The Steelers had just two winning seasons in the 1960s. When Chuck Noll was hired in 1969, Nunn became part of the scouting department full time and discovered Steeler legends L.C. Greenwood (Alabama A&M), Mel Blount (Southern), and John Stallworth (Alabama A&M), just to name a few.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer and Hall of Fame voter Vito Stellino said it best. “Without Bill Nunn, they don’t win four Super Bowls.”

Without Nunn mining HBCU football for talent, the famed Steel Curtain might never exist.