‘Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 53: Maurkice Pouncey latest in Steelers great legacy at center
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. 53: Maurkice Pouncey
When Pittsburgh Steelers players arrived at Heinz Field for their game against the Cleveland Browns on the morning of Dec. 1, many of them were wearing “Free Pouncey” t-shirts.
After a 20-13 win against the Browns that day, the team en masse called Pouncey from the celebratory postgame locker room. Itawarded him the game ball 17 days after Pouncey had earned himself a two-game NFL suspension for fighting with Cleveland’s Myles Garrett following Garrett’s helmet swing off the head of Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph.
The entire episode was emblematic of the respect Pouncey has among his Steelers teammates — his loyalty, his likeability, his veteran stature as a co-captain of the offense. But as he enters his 11th season with the Steelers, it’s Pouncey’s stellar play that has earned him the designation of best athlete to wear No. 53 for a Pittsburgh sports team.
Steelers players are wearing "Free Pouncey" shirts before their game against the Browns.
(via @diannaESPN)pic.twitter.com/Y62Ph40nGT
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 1, 2019
Pouncey was a unanimous choice of the Tribune-Review sports staff for the honor, although Pitt All-American guard Dorian Johnson also would have been a worthy selection. A standout at Belle Vernon, Johnson was a starter for the Panthers for 3½ seasons from 2013-16.
During each of the eight NFL seasons in which Pouncey has played at least one full regular-season game, he’s been selected as a Pro Bowler. Twice, Pouncey was first-team All-Pro; three other times, he was named to the second All-Pro team. The Steelers have ranked among the top 12 in the NFL in offense during six of the eight seasons Pouncey played.
“He’s a natural leader, a natural kind of alpha-male type guy,” longtime Steelers offensive linemate David DeCastro told the Tribune-Review about Pouncey in 2018. “He’s a rising-tide-lifts-all-ships kind of player. … A guy I love being in there with.”
This past spring, Pouncey was one of two centers named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 2010s. Considering he won’t turn 31 until later this month and has shown few signs of slowing, a strong case is being made that Pouncey will join Mike Webster and Dermontti Dawson as Steelers centers from the past half-century inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The best Penguins player to don No. 53 is a current one: Teddy Blueger, who at 25 this season established himself as an NHL regular. The former second-round pick has centered what some call the best fourth line in hockey.
Only one player wore No. 53 for the Pirates over their first 103 seasons of existence, but 21 have owned it since 1990 — most notably, pitchers Joe Beimel, Ian Snell and James McDonald.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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