PITTSBURGH —The Pittsburgh Steelers officially inducted quarterback Ben Roethlisberger , outside linebacker Joey Porter Sr. and center Maurkice Pouncey in the Steelers ' Hall of Honor on Saturday night.
The trio will be honored at halftime of Monday night's Steelers-Dolphins game at Acrisure Stadium.
"It means more than anything," Pouncey said before Monday night's game when asked about going into the Steelers' Hall of Honor with Roethlisberger.
Pouncey doesn't have a favorite career moment as a Steeler, he's just glad that got to spend all of his 11 years in the Black and Gold.
"I tell people all the time, it's bigger than football," Pouncey said. "I think the organization part, the fan part of it, the teammate part of it, that meant a lot more than just winning football games all the time. This organization is built a lot different."
Pouncey played his entire career with Roethlisberger as his quarterback. Roethlisberger often states that he was his favorite teammate during his career. He even got emotional when talking about Pouncey during his Hall of Honor speech on Saturday night.
"Pounce was a special guy. First and foremost, it was his heart. He had so much heart and passion for the game, for protecting his quarterback, for being the greatest. He just took pride in his work, and he worked his butt off both on and off the field," Roethlisberger said during his speech . "In the classroom, he studied, he knew it, so he wasn't just physically gifted, which we all know he was. He was mentally sharp on the football field. He just didn't make mistakes, and it just meant so much, and so there was so much trust when he was out there compared to when he wasn't.
"Even if it was a practice, if he was taking a day off of practice, it ruined my day because I knew that my comfort blanket wasn't out there."
Former Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey and outside linebacker Joey Porter Sr. during the Hall of Honor photoshoot. (Ed Thompson / Steelers Now}
Porter was a teammate of Roethlisberger's from 2004-2006. He also was also on the Steelers' coaching staff from 2014-2018, which also crossed through Pouncey's tenure in Pittsburgh.
"It's a great accomplishment. It's a great honor," Porter said of going into the Hall of Honor. "My mother, my wife, my kids, my family and them are still around to see it. So you want to share stuff like this to the people that mean the most to you. I got to do that yesterday with a lot of my closets friends and family."
Porter's son, Joey Porter Jr., is currently a starting cornerback for the Steelers. Porter Sr. was drafted in 1999, so he's been around the organization for nearly 30 years. It's an honor for Porter to go in with the legends that came before him and greats like Roethlisberger and Pouncey.
"I generally love the guys that I went in with. I generally love any of my teammates. And I think they know that whole heartily about me," Porter said. "So when it's like that. It's them over anything."
"It's a great accomplishment. It's a great honor," Porter said. "My mother, my wife, my kids, my family and them are still around to see it. So you want to share stuff like this to the people that mean the most to you. I got to do that yesterday with a lot of my closets friends and family."
The Steelers drafted Roethlisberger in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He went on to play 18 seasons and more games than any other player in Steelers' history, with 249.
Roethlisberger also became the youngest quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl when the team won Super Bowl XL, when he was 23, and the second-youngest quarterback to ever win a second Super Bowl when the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII.
He finished his career with 64,088 passing yards and 418 passing touchdowns. He also added 1,373 yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground.
The Steelers drafted Porter in the third round of the 1999 NFL Draft and he instantly brought a ferocity to the defense. While a member of the Steelers, he made three Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl.
Porter also spent time with the Miami Dolphins (2007-09) and Arizona Cardinals (2010-11) before hanging up his cleats following the 2011 season. He finished his career with 667 tackles, 98 sacks, 26 forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries, 50 passes defensed, 12 interceptions and one touchdown.
Porter then spent five seasons on the Steelers coaching staff, including four as the team's outside linebackers coach (2015-18).
The Steelers drafted Pouncey in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He lived up to the great legacy of centers in Pittsburgh and then some.
Pouncey became the first center in NFL history to be selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons (2010-12) and went on to be a nine-time Pro Bowl selection. He was voted first-team All-Pro twice (2011, 2014) and second-team All-Pro three times (2010, 2012 and 2018).
Pouncey was also named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade team for the 2010s before retiring following the 2020 season.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Steelers Induct Three Legends Into Hall of Honor
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