Former Husky Ray Pinney Had his 'Hollywood' Moment at Super Bowl XIII
Ray Pinney was the first kid to grow up in or around Seattle and play in a Super Bowl, but he was no wide-eyed participant.
He joined a Pittsburgh Steelers franchise coming off back-to-back championships and he had no choice but to step up his game and fit in.
A decorated University of Washington center, Pinney became the Steelers' starting right tackle because they had plenty of elite players who snapped the ball — ex-Husky Ray Mansfield was at the end of an accomplished 14-year NFL career and Mike Webster was in the early stages of a brilliant 17-year stay in the league.
In the locker room, the Pittsburgh players were assigned lockers in numerical order. Pinney, who was No. 74, dressed next to legendary Steelers defensive tackle "Mean" Joe Greene, who wore No. 75. This always proved to be a postgame adventure.
Greene basically was the team spokesperson, as well as a showman who did that memorable Coca Cola commercial throwing a jersey to a young boy, and a couple dozen sportswriters always surrounded him following games, forcing Pinney to grab his clothes and flee.
"He was a nice guy," Pinney said. "He didn't pay me much attention, but that was OK. He was the mouthpiece for our team."
Across the room was Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who held court and always was loud and folksy and attention-getting.
"He was kind of auditioning for his current role on FOX but he didn't really know that," PInney said of the now TV broadcaster. "He would tell jokes and tell stories because he was a good old boy from Loooos-eee-ana."
In the middle of this perpetual championship-team mayhem was the somewhat reserved Pinney, raised in Seattle's northern suburbs where he learned the game at Shorecrest High School.
He was an All-Metro selection who accepted a scholarship offer from Jim Owen's Husky coaching staff. He played his final season for a new coach named Don James and snapped the ball to a young, struggling quarterback called Warren Moon.
The attraction to the 6-foot-4, 280-pound Pinney was his athleticism, which was off the charts. He could get out and run. He also could catch, hauling in four touchdown passes as a tackle-eligible pro receiver, two each in the NFL and in the USFL.
Ray Pinney leading Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris upfield against the Houston Oilers.
Pittsburgh Steelers
In his third NFL season, Pinney and the Steelers advanced to Super Bowl XIII, which was held in 1979 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Pittsburgh won a shootout with the Dallas Cowboys, 35-31.
Pinney's game-day opponent was a lot like his locker-room neighbor. The guy in his personal space possessed another one of those unforgettable pro football personas and nicknames: Ed "Too Tall" Jones.
Plain old Ray held his own. He opened up plenty of holes. He didn't give up a sack.
"It was exciting, but you're just in this little cocoon," Pinney said. "There's a guy in front of you who wants to kill you and run over you. It had 110-percent of your attention for that space, that little window, and I couldn't hear anything."
His most memorable Super Bowl moment came midway through the fourth quarter with the Steelers holding a 21-17 lead. They were driving for another score when his number was called.
Pinney pulled from his right tackle spot, ran past Mike Webster and cleared out the middle. He opened up a huge lane for Franco Harris to run through on a 22-yard touchdown sprint. The big lineman from Seattle had extra incentive to get the job done.
A mouthy Cowboys linebacker. Another guy with a great nickname. It was a Pinney for his thoughts.
"Thomas 'Hollywood' Henderson was the defensive player I was going to block," Pinney said. "He was talking big talk the week before the game and he was a little obnoxious. It was, 'Oh good, I get to hit this guy who was mouthing off all week.' I pulled around, and I don't remember the name of the play, but I think I put him on his back."
Pinney played seven seasons for the Steelers before heading to the USFL to play three seasons collectively for the Michigan Panthers and Oakland Invaders, because they doubled his NFL salary. He returned to the Steelers for three more before retiring.
He missed out on a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance in 1980 because of a season-long, non-football illness that required a pair of surgeries. He sat in the stands at the Rose Bowl, a place that eluded him as a Husky, and watched as his teammates beat the Los Angeles Rams 31-19.
Pinney enjoyed the football atmosphere and he was rewarded for being part of that Super Bowl team, too. Not bad for a big kid from Seattle who didn't come with a catchy nickname.
"I still got paid," he said. "And I got another ring."
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