Andy Russell was an inaugural member of the Steelers Hall of Honor as a member of the Class of 2017.

Wrote Jack Ham, "Today, most players back into the Pro Bowl by playing mediocre football on good teams. Andy played great football on a worse than mediocre team. Why? Because Andy was always the consummate professional. His personal pride and drive for excellence allowed him to stand out on even the worst of football teams. It would have been easy for him to give up or be sucked into the mediocrity that he saw all around him, but he refused to do so. That attitude was clear to me from my first day of training camp to Andy's last game with the Steelers." From 1963-71, Russell played on a lot of Steelers teams that did a lot of losing, but he also was part of the dramatic turnaround that ended with back-to-back Super Bowl championships in 1974-75. Russell played in 168 consecutive games during his NFL career with the Steelers. A No. 16 draft pick from Missouri, Russell played in seven Pro Bowls and was voted team MVP in 1971.