He may not have had a Hall of Fame career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but former running back Merril Hoge, who played for the team from 1987 to 1993, finds himself as one of the most highly-regarded alumni from the Steelers these days. It doesn’t hurt that he has prominent media roles in which he espouses Steelers virtues.
But they were virtues that were first extolled into him by Chuck Noll, the Steelers’ Hall of Fame head coach who was massively responsible for turning the fortunes of the franchise around when he came aboard in 1969.