Steelers Who Became Standout Raiders

As the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) prepare to host the Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) on Sunday night, we look at several Silver and Black players who were once Steel Men.

Linebacker Robert Spillane of the Las Vegas Raiders is the latest player who could become a standout for the Silver and Black after playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who he will face for the first time on Sunday Night Football.

The first was safety Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent out of Northwestern in 1960 but was traded to the Steelers during that season, the only one he played in Pittsburgh.

The following season, the Steelers let him go, and he signed with the Raiders, where he had four outstanding seasons, being selected to the All-American Football League team in 1961, 1962, and 1963.

“I didn’t know anything about covering receivers, so I just started knocking them down at the line of scrimmage,” Williamson recalled of his first training camp. “Around the third day of camp, they said: ‘Stop hammering them.’ So that’s where the nickname came from. I didn’t lead with my head on tackles. I cracked ’em with a forearm. I define ‘The Hammer’ as a blow struck perpendicular to the Earth’s latitude.”

We don’t know how many tackles the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Williamson, who boasted that his forearm could take down any back or receiver in pro football, made because they were not an official statistic, but he did have a nose for the football.

Williamson made 25 interceptions in his four seasons with the Raiders, including eight for 151 yards and a 91-yard touchdown in 1962, and he had at least five picks in all four seasons he played for the Silver and Black.

However, Williamson probably is known more for his sometimes outrageous character than for his unquestionable ability.

“When I walked out on the field, 20,000 people gave me a reaction: 10,000 booed, 10,000 cheered,” Williamson once said with a big smile. “That’s OK. I mean, they were watching me. … But, shoot, I wouldn’t last two minutes out there with the rules today.

“I’d take one step on the field and they’d just look at me and say: ‘Hammer, get off the damn field.’ No way I could play with the rules today.”

Williamson became an actor after his NFL career, and his most noteworthy role was in the famous 1970 movie, “M*A*S*H,” in which he played Dr. Oliver Harmon “Spearchucker” Jones, and he had a prominent part in the football game that was a big part of the movie.

The Steelers selected tight end Warren Bankston in the second round (No. 42 overall) of the 1969 NFL Draft as a fullback out of Tulane. After four seasons in Pittsburgh, the Raiders traded for him in 1973 after watching him play in a preseason game -- when he was switched to tight end.

The 6-4, 235-pound Bankston was never a starter for the Silver and Black because he played behind future Hall of Famer Dave Casper, but he was selected a team captain for his play on special teams, and during the 1976 season, he called every coin flip correctly except for one, including in Super Bowl XI, when the Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

“‘Bank the Tank’ was a valuable member of our team, even though he wasn’t a starter,” Hall of Fame quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler said. “When we went with two tight ends, he was a strong blocker, as you might tell because of his nickname, and he also could get open in the secondary and had a great set of hands.

“He was very popular with his teammates and the fans, and could have been a starter for many other teams in the NFL, but he meant a lot to our team in his role.”

Bankston’s best moments that 1976 season came in the game before the Super Bowl, when the Raiders beat the Steelers -- his former team -- 24-7, in the American Football Conference Championship Game at the Oakland Coliseum.

In the first quarter of that game, Bankston blocked a punt by Bobby Walden of the Steelers, and it set up a 39-yard field goal by Errol Mann to give the Raiders a 3-0 lead.

Then, with time running out in the first half and the Raiders at Pittsburgh’s four-yard-line, Stabler play-faked before throwing a touchdown pass to Bankston in the corner of the end zone to give Oakland a 17-7 halftime lead, and the Steelers never got back into the game.

“That was one of the highlights of my career,” said Bankston, who delighted the Oakland fans by hurling the ball into the stands.

Bankston caught only seven passes for 94 yards in his six seasons with the Raiders, but two went for touchdowns.

Then, in 2002, the Raiders signed safety Rod Woodson, a future Hall of Famer who had been selected to the All-Pro team in nine of his 10 seasons with the Steelers, had played in 11 Pro Bowls, and was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1983.

Woodson didn’t disappoint in his two seasons with the Silver and Black.

In his first season with the Raiders, he made two interceptions, one that he returned 98 yards for a touchdown in a 34-20 victory over the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium in Denver, and had three fumble recoveries that he returned for 64 yards.

The 6-foot, 205-pound Woodson was selected to the All-Pro team and the Pro Bowl again that season as he helped the Raiders reach Super Bowl XXXVII, where they were beaten, 48-21, by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

Still, Woodson was a standout in that game with eight tackles.

Woodson later became an assistant coach with the Raiders and said: “It’s an honor to be back with the Raiders and be able to talk to Raider players about true football in a great organization.”

Raider Nation hopes Spillane can be as great for the Silver and Black.

The Silver and Black return home to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 8:20 p.m. EDT/5:20 p.m. PDT.

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