Pitt football's four statue-worthy greats
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I agree with upj87, you only get four. It's a tough question, and it's interesting to see the different answers.
Though I have to admit the sales aspect of saying, TD, AD, and 2 of Fralic/ Ditka/Marino all being western PA guys would be kind of sweet.
Yes I know, but Pitt is in the unique spot to have multiple Mount Rushmores. Look at State Penn. Who would they include? Kerry Collins? LOL.
Pitt could have one just for coaches alone.
Coaches who have won natties is the criteria. That should be the standard at a program with the history of Pitt. And such statues would point to the rich history as well as the expectation, and there is no other honor for coaches at the school. Players get their jersey's retired. That's enough.
Thompson's 1910 team is considered a natty by nearly everyone but Pitt, plus he is in the CF Hall and was a Medal of Honor winning badass.
If you are talking only players, you absolutely need Goldberg and Dorsett, who were not only the seminal players for their respective national championship winning eras, but also have strongly supported the program their entire lives after football. Then the rest are up for debate. Bob Peck hasn't been mentioned, but he should be in the discussion. Ditka has to be close too. Fralic maybe next. Green, maybe, but he wasn't around Pitt much after his playing days until more recently and I give the tiebreaking nod to those have have been more consistent supporters of the university. Donald is too recent to talk about a statue. Like being featured on stamps, statues shouldn't be build until some is dead, or at the minimum, in the twilight of their years.
Doc Carlson should have a statue outside the Pete, as should Jonas Salk right next to it by Salk Hall. Samuel Langley should get one outside Langley Hall, or somewhere. And of course, the founder, Hugh Henry Brackenridge.
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I don't think there is anyone who I have ever been a fan of that I know less about than Green. I mean, I know all the facts but I don't have any kind of sense of his personality or who he is as a person. I'm not sure if I have ever heard him speak. I assume he's just a very private person, but maybe I just never really noticed or happened to be paying attention when he was doing something in public.
There's not enough granite in the black hills for statues of all the Pitt greats.
When The Sporting News came out with their top 100 CFB players of all time, Hugh Green was #2 behind Red Grange. In the article they said he was the greatest college defender of all time.
I think Aaron is the best pass rushing interior DL in NFL history but he's not considered the greatest DL in NFL history.
Ditka, Dorsett, Marino and Fitzgerald. Hard for any school to find a better four than that.
Fralic, Dorsett, and Green are a must. The fourth guy for me is much harder. It would be one of the guys mentioned above, but, Fralic, Dorsett, and Green should not even be argued. They are Pitt royalty!!
Green had 460 tackles and 53 sacks, in 48 games. Donald had 181 tackles and 29.5 sacks, in 51 games.
Yeah, but you have to account for the fact that one of those guys was a defensive tackle and the other was essentially an edge rusher in a 3-4 (although no one called him that back then).
And of course the game is played completely differently too.
I'm not saying that Green wasn't the better college defender, just that there is a lot more to it than just numbers, especially when comparing guys who played completely different positions in completely different eras.
Marino
Fitzgerald
Dorsett
Green
HM
Donald ( Great Production as Pro) Martin, Revis, Fralic Pickett
Fitzgerald
Dorsett
Green
HM
Donald ( Great Production as Pro) Martin, Revis, Fralic Pickett
For me they're both on the list. And while Green was there they actually played a 5 man front with Hugh and Ricky Jackson on the ends and Greg Meisner, Bill Neill and Jerry Boyarsky as the interior DL.
No doubt, an apples-to-apples comparison is problematic, but it hard to argue with those numbers. As someone else said, Green was great from his first game as a freshman against Notre Dame.
Green was a 2nd team AA as a freshman, 1st team the next three years. Love AD, but he was a backup as a freshman and was 2nd team Big East as a sophomore. As far as their college play, Green was simply at a different level than Donald.
Now if you take into consideration their pro careers, Donald takes the higher level.
Yeah, a five man front. Just like the Stillers play a five man front with with Heyward, Benton and Ogunjobi as interior linemen and Watt and Highsmith on the ends.
The big difference being that one team called that a 5-2 and the other calls it a 3-4.
Aaron Donald will have a bust in the special wing of Canton with the all time greats. The Hugh Green is light years better than Donald crowd is insane
Anybody before 1972 was before my time so I will go with those I saw.
*Dorsett- Greatest Panther in my lifetime. Heisman Trophy. NFL HOFer
*Green- Right behind Dorsett. Walter Camp, Maxwell, Lombardi Awards. 2nd in Heisman voting.
*Fralic- Dominate from his first snap as a freshman.
Marino & Donald- Both played 4 full years... Donald won every major award but Heisman. Both NFL HOFers.
Fitz- Best WR the Panthers produced. NFL HOFer.
*Obvious choice IMO.
*Dorsett- Greatest Panther in my lifetime. Heisman Trophy. NFL HOFer
*Green- Right behind Dorsett. Walter Camp, Maxwell, Lombardi Awards. 2nd in Heisman voting.
*Fralic- Dominate from his first snap as a freshman.
Marino & Donald- Both played 4 full years... Donald won every major award but Heisman. Both NFL HOFers.
Fitz- Best WR the Panthers produced. NFL HOFer.
*Obvious choice IMO.
Aaron was great at PITT. His senior year was probably the best individual year a player can have regardless of position. Hugh was dominant from day 1 as a true freshman till the day he graduated. This isn't a pro football discussion. This would be like saying Jim McMahon was better then Ty Detmer in college because Jim was the better pro.
When you break it out like that, I can see your point. AD has the hardware and clearly a better pro career then Green (injuries) but Green probably shutdown the passing game (or effected it greatly) for any opposing team. Curious who you would rank as the greatest pro football DL?
I think we are gonna need a bigger mountain.Pitt has already told you who the four are.
Most made their choice based on performance at Pitt only. If you include their Pro career then I would agree it is not even a consideration. Donald over Green.
We're talking about as college players. Nobody dominated the game from the defensive side of the ball like Green.
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