’Burgh's best to wear it, No. 61: Steelers' Stefen Wisniewski kept coaches thinking on 'high level'

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. 61: Stefen Wisniewski

John Vaughan never had a problem with Central Catholic offensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski, just an interesting dilemma high school coaches seldom confront.

Defensive coordinator Dave Fleming remembers the day Vaughan, who was Central’s offensive line coach, told the staff, “I need to keep coming up with some high-level thinking. Wisniewski is looking at me like, ‘I need something more.’ ”

So began Wisniewski’s long and still-flourishing football career, which has landed him back home with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2020 season. Wisniewski, who wore No. 61 at Central, Penn State and now with his fifth NFL team in 10 seasons, is the Tribune-Review’s pick for the best athlete in the city to wear that jersey.

Fleming said Wisniewski was No. 1 in his class academically with an accelerated GPA of 5.1.

“Joe Paterno called him the smartest person on Penn State’s campus,” Fleming said. “He was definitely the smartest kid at Central. He was always a high-level thinker and a very, very hard worker.

“His senior year, there were a lot of times he would sit with younger kids and give them the ins and outs of what we were doing. He was really in tune with the game.”

As a high school sophomore, Wisniewski was doing yoga and stretching exercises in which he could put his nose on the ground, Fleming said.

Wisniewski also donates much of his free time to speaking to the Central Catholic team and helping its linemen, including C.J. Thorpe, now at Penn State.

Wisniewski comes from Penn State football royalty.

His father, Leo, who also wore No. 61 in college, was a star nose tackle and the first pick in the second round of the 1982 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts.

Uncle Steve was a two-time All-American guard at Penn State and was drafted in the second round (also with the first pick) by the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 and traded to the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders. He played 13 seasons, was named to eight Pro Bowls and twice was named first-team All-Pro.

Stefen Wisniewski was drafted by the Raiders in 2011 — also in the second round, but not the first pick — and played four seasons there, one with the Jacksonville Jaguars, three with the Philadelphia Eagles and last year with the Kansas City Chiefs. He helped the Eagles and Chiefs win Super Bowls before signing with the Steelers in March.

Wisniewski’s chief competition among wearers of the No. 61 jersey is left-handed relief pitcher Sean Burnett, who was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first-round draft choice in 2000. Burnett spent only three seasons with the Pirates, but he didn’t retire until 2019 when he was pitching for the New York Mets’ Triple-A team in Syracuse.

He recorded a 3.52 ERA for his nine-year major-league career, but it was interrupted four times by elbow surgeries (two Tommy John). He missed the entirety of three seasons (2005-07).

He appeared in 380 games, with only 13 starts — all in his rookie season (2004).

With the Pirates, he compiled a 7-8 record and a 4.54 ERA.

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.