On Tuesday morning, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the 26 semifinalists for the Class of 2026. One former Pittsburgh Steelers player made it to this round: WR Hines Ward. There were four Steelers total in the previous round, but LB James Harrison, C Maurkice Pouncey and K Gary Anderson did not make the semifinal round.
But Hines Ward did. He holds the Steelers’ franchise record for receiving yards in a career with 12,083. He also leads all franchise receivers with 85 receiving touchdowns. But to his former Steelers teammate, G Willie Colon, Ward was much more than just an amazing receiver. He was everything it meant to be a Steeler.
“You talk about a guy who’s just a stand-up model of what a Steeler is and what he should be like,” Colon said Tuesday on Good Morning Football. “Talk about toughness, grit, heart, played with pride, played through injuries. He was an ironman… When you talk about who sets the tone on your team, it usually goes to a linebacker or a defensive end. Never your slot receiver who’s 5-10. Hines Ward played with so much grit and heart.
“He traveled, man. There wasn’t a stadium where people weren’t trying to knock his head off, and he wasn’t trying to knock their head off. He was a walking heel, the villain. He was awesome.”
Great football teams are made up of all kinds of players. You have the elite athletes, the guys with the non-stop motors, and the leaders. Hines Ward was all of that in a small package. It made him feared by defenders and beloved by his teammates.
Ward was just as much at home delivering a crushing block to a defender to free up a running back as he was embarrassing a defensive back for a big gain. His willingness to lay his body on the line for the good of the team endeared him to his teammates. Colon wasn’t the only teammate who thought Ward exemplified being a Steeler.
Former Steelers OLB Joey Porter Jr. used the word “tone-setter” to describe Ward, just like Colon. And that extended to practice in Porter’s mind, saying “he’s gonna show up to practice every single day.” Despite Ward having the most catches, the most yards and most receiving touchdowns in Steelers history, he still practiced hard every week. He showed his teammates how to approach football like a Steeler.
Will Hines Ward join other former Steelers players in the Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2026? We will see. But in his teammates’ minds, Ward is everything a Steeler player is supposed to be. And he led like it, too.
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