On the Clock. Jim Wexell.

 

On the Clock.  Jim Wexell.

Behind the Scenes with the Pittsburgh Steelers at the NFL Draft.  

 

Author Jim Wexell has been covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for more than three decades.    He has published several books related to that topic so it was no surprise that his latest book, On the Clock, continues that trend.  The title tends to be a bit mis-leading, though.    While Wexell does reveal some behind the scenes thoughts among Steeler coaches and officials pertaining to the draft, the book is as much a history lesson as it is a look at “draft day war room” transactions.  

The book starts by introducing the first ever draft pick by the Steelers franchise in 1935 by the name of Bill Shakespeare, who ultimately never played football for the Steelers.    The draft journey eventually reaches one of the more recent picks in T.J. Watt.  (On the Clock was published before the selection of QB Kenny Pickett) Fortunately the franchise was more successful in their second draft when they took Byron “Whizzer” White from Colorado in the first round.    White, a gifted scholar and somewhat undersized player, spent some time in Pittsburgh but was not really a star.   Still, he holds the distinction of being the 1^st first round draft pick to put on a Steeler uniform.   

The book features the thought process of the famous Steeler franchise owner Art Rooney Sr. and his family members that have helped, and still do, run the family business.   In addition, head coaches were part of the draft decision-making process as well.   Not surprisingly, some coaches were mentioned more frequently than others.    The Chuck Knoll era is really where the book takes flight in intrigue.   Afterall, this is where the franchise, after decades of struggle, finally came into their own as a respectable, if not dominant, football franchise.   So, Knoll’s thoughts are notably included and interspersed throughout the book.  

Another key character was introduced early enough in this manuscript by the name of Bill Nunn Jr..   Nunn turned out to be the secret weapon of the franchise.    Readers can learn more about his life and career in the book The Color of Sundays (Conte).    Nevertheless, Wexell gives the reader of On the Clock a fair account of Nunn’s impact on the scouting and draft day process.    Nunn, a Pittsburgh native and writer, was known to put together college all-stars that played for the historically black colleges and universities around the nation.    By doing so, Nunn gave these players a chance to get noticed by NFL franchise owners and coaches.   As programs around the league started to draft more black players, the all-star teams published in the Pittsburgh Courier became a valuable resource to franchise management including the Steelers.    Ultimately, Dan Rooney convinced Nunn to work part-time with the Steelers as a scout.  

The hiring of Nunn led to a golden era of draft picks that helped the Steelers win four super bowls in the 1970’s while seeing several of these players reach the coveted NFL hall of fame.    For older readers acquainted with Steeler football history, the book reminds of prominent picks such as “Mean” Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Dwight White, Ernie “fats” Holmes who,  coincidentally, manned the famous steel curtain during that era.    Other notables such as Mel Blount, John Stallworth, JT Edwards, Donnie Shell, and Frank Lewis were all HBCU star’s that came together to forge the turn around of the Steeler franchise.   Thanks to Nunn's impeccable scouting some of these players in the not-so-distant past might have gone undrafted or overlooked by the league.  

Of course, the Rooney’s, Knoll and Nunn, selected players from well known schools, too, such as Franco Harris, Jack Ham and Lynn Swann as well as future hall of fame center Mike Webster.    They also unearthed players from lesser-known schools such as Louisiana Tech (Terry Bradshaw), Kent State (Jack Lambert), Tennessee State (Joe Gilliam) and Randy Grossman (Temple) among many others. 

The book describes stories about how the scouts were on the road watching games, evaluating players, talking to their coaches, and gathering as much data and intel as possible.   The story of how Nunn requested video of wide receiver prospect John Stallworth and held onto to the tape for an unusually lengthy period in hopes of limiting his appeal to other franchise scouts is one of the highlights of the book.  Equally interesting and detailed by the author were the tales and accounts of how Joe Green acquired his nickname as well as the way Terry Bradshaw came to be a Steeler. 

Naturally, not all draft picks or days are equally successful.   Wexell even gets recently retired Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert to discuss the thought process of why the staff passed on future hall of fame quarterback Tom Brady in the 2000 NFL draft. (Steelers selected Tee Martin in 6^th round).   Colbert was quoted as saying upon review of Brady’s film “He’s alright, He’s good.  He’s not that great an athlete.    He’s got a good arm, not great.”    Wexell asserts that those comments would “haunt” Colbert as he headed into retirement.   The reality is that Colbert helped to produce some great drafts and finds during his more than 20 year run as the chief scout for the Steelers including Ben Roethlisburger, Troy Polamalu, Cameron Heyward, Mike Pouncey and lastly TJ Watts.

Whether the reader is a die-hard Steeler fan both young and venerable or a football fan in general, there is much to like about this book.    The history is captured well and put together in a compact paper back of 300 pages (the last 20 or so are tributes to former scout and the late Bill Nunn.)  The reader should go into this, though, not expecting year-by-year documentation of how the Steelers came up with each pick in modern history.    The first 120 pages or so discuss the drafts in the early Steeler days but could be fairly described as history lessons.    Also, the On the Clock title is part of a brief brand of books featuring similar stories for other franchises including the Dallas Cowboys.    With all that said, this is a good read for Steeler and NFL fans from any generation.   

 

·         You might like to read this book if you are a Pittsburgh Steeler football fan.

·         You might like to read this book if you are an NFL fan.

·         You might like to read this book if you seek history about American sports. 

Learn more about the author on Twitter:   https://twitter.com/jimwexell