You can point to various events in the history of the Steelers for when the turnaround occurred, a team that lost for 40 years before finally finding success in the 1970s.

There was the hiring of Coach Chuck Noll and the selection of Joe Greene in the NFL Draft, both of those occurring in 1969.

You can point to Franco Harris' Immaculate Reception in the 1972 playoffs, the greatest play in NFL history, and the Steelers first playoff win.

But, you can also point to the 1974 NFL Draft, which produced five Hall of Famers for the Steelers, and kicked off a dream season for the black and gold.

Those players selected by the team in the draft might have been names that didn't excite the masses back in 1974, but they are now household names for Steelers Nation, and beyond.

Lynn Swann. Jack Lambert. John Stallworth. Mike Webster.

All four players were selected by the team in the first five rounds of the NFL Draft in 1974, and then Donnie Shell was signed as an undrafted free agent.

Five players who will always share a bond. Five players who were enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after their careers ended.

Five players who made up the NFL's greatest draft class ever.

"No question it's the best draft class," said Stallworth. "And I'm not just saying that just for the heck of it. If you look at the draft class, and then Donnie as a free agent, I don't think there's any other class closer than that. I think that entire NFL draft class, there may have been two other guys that made the Hall of Fame that were not in Pittsburgh.

"If you look at our numbers, in the same place at the same time, that has to be pretty amazing."

What Noll was able to do was take that group of rookies and blend them with other stars who were already on the team, players like Franco Harris, Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Jack Ham, and the list can go on.

It's a group that was starting to see success but hadn't reached that pinnacle.

Until the 1974 season, that is.

While the 1974 team made history winning the franchise's first Super Bowl, it wasn't always easy. There were bumps along the way, starting with the 1974 NFL player strike.

Training camp opened in a strange manner in 1974 when Steelers veteran players didn't report to Saint Vincent College because of an NFL players strike.

The hope going into training camp was the Steelers would have a chance to be a serious contender for their first Super Bowl, but the strike was expected to be detrimental to that goal.

"You build a team up to this point and then this happens," said Dan Rooney Sr. during the 1974 training camp. "We were thinking this was our year to really make a run at the Super Bowl. These disruptions bother us seriously."

Coach Chuck Noll, a man whose main focus was preparing for the season, wasn't happy with the strike.

"The strike is screwing up our plans the whole way," said Noll in 1974. "It makes it very difficult to put a team together."

But after a draft that landed Lambert, Shell, Stallworth, Swann and Webster, the Steelers plans were in good shape. The rookies reported to camp as they were not part of the players union, and with jobs on the line, many of them got to work.

"I think the strike in our first year helped a lot of us," said Stallworth. "If you look at the number of rookies that made the team that year, it gave us an opportunity to acclimate ourselves to the system, to the environment, and get to know the coaches and the coaches get to know us free of any veterans being there."

As the strike wore on, the number of veteran players crossing the picket line grew, one such being third-year quarterback Joe Gilliam. Gilliam looked good in camp, but once the strike ended, it would be Terry Bradshaw and Terry Hanratty at the helm at quarterback.

Or so it seemed.

"As a rookie, everything's new to me. I don't know Bradshaw," said Stallworth. "I get there and the quarterback that's getting the playing time during training camp is Joe Gilliam. So, he's the quarterback I know. I'm acclimated to him and what he likes to do. I learn more about Chuck and the kind of system that that he wants to play. Chuck wants to run the football. Joe wants to throw the football. So, there's a natural conflict there, that I didn't see until maybe I got a little bit more into the season. I think we adjusted to it.

"Then in season, at quarterback you go from Joe, then Bradshaw, then Hanratty and you come back to Bradshaw. I think it helped in the sense that there was a toughness in Terry that developed that year, he saw things not the way he wanted them to be. He bared down to try to make it happen for himself and concentrated on what was in front of him. I think it made him a better quarterback. I think I've even heard him say that it made him a better quarterback."

How it played out was Bradshaw was hurt in the preseason, and with Gilliam getting work in camp, he started the season opener against the Baltimore Colts, leading the team to a 30-0 win. Gilliam would start the first six games of the season, before giving way to Bradshaw for the next three.

"It wasn't like if Joe was playing or if Hanratty was the starting quarterback or Terry Bradshaw, that we were not going to play our best. We were definitely going to play hard. Make it work. And I think it probably did not impact the run game to any degree."

With Noll's mantra of 'Whatever it Takes,' the Steelers did just that. They relied heavily on the ground game led by Harris and Rocky Bleier on the offensive side of the ball, with the passing attack shining at the right times.

And defensively, they couldn't be stopped. With the Steel Curtain defense that included a front four of Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Ernie Holmes and Dwight White, a trio of linebackers in Lambert, Ham and Andy Russell, and a secondary that included Mel Blount, Mike Wagner, J.T. Thomas and Glen Edwards, opposing offenses didn't often stand a chance.

The Steelers controlled the AFC Central, finishing the regular season in first place in the division with a 10-3-1 record.

They went on to defeat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Divisional Round, the defense shutting down the Bills potent rushing attack.

The following week they would take on the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship game, with Harris' touchdown run securing the win and sending the team to their first ever Super Bowl appearance.

Super Bowl IX.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings.

The Steel Curtain vs. the Purple People Eaters.

A classic matchup between two dominant defenses. A team making their first Super Bowl appearance versus a team that that had already been there.

"They were a team that had been there before, that had the experience of that environment," said Stallworth. "From that perspective, I thought maybe they had an upper hand about what it takes to win. I didn't think they were unbeatable. It was a football team that had a little bit more experience."

While the Vikings had experience, the Steelers had a quiet confidence that couldn't be challenged.

"We had so much momentum going into the Super Bowl," said Greene. "It built our confidence sky high. Chuck told us not to get overwhelmed by the Super Bowl.

"We had a lot of confidence. It wasn't that we were taking Minnesota lightly. It was confidence we had in ourselves. Confidence that we built, and that group of players was playing for the team, playing to win that Super Bowl.

"I will never forget it. Get one for 'The Chief,' get one for 'The Chief.' And there was nothing selfish or individualized in our group when we were pursuing that Super Bowl. It was that confidence we had and the desire from a historical perspective. We went from 1-13 my rookie year in 1969 to a team that five years later was playing in the biggest game ever, the Super Bowl. Anybody that was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan understood where we had come from. But getting there was just one step. We had to finish it.

"And that was the joy in the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl IX."

The joy was plentiful as the Steelers defense would dominate in the game, leading the way for a 16-6 win over the Vikings and the Steelers first of four Super Bowls in the 1970s.

The defense held the Vikings to 119 total yards, nine first downs, 17 rushing yards, and their only touchdown coming on a blocked punt, after which they missed the extra point.

It was Dwight White, who heroically played in the game, that would get the Steelers on the board first when he sacked Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton in the end zone for the safety and 2-0 lead.

White was hospitalized the week leading up to the game with pneumonia, but somehow didn't just show up to play, but was one of the game's key factors.

"Dwight had pneumonia and couldn't practice the whole week," recalled Shell. "We got word that this guy was going to walk out of the hospital and play in the game. I mean, that injected a shot of momentum in us, and confidence in us that if Dwight can get out of the hospital and play, we better do our best."

And everyone did just that.

Offensively, the Steelers did what they were known for, they ran the ball. Harris, who would earn MVP honors, carried the ball 34 times for 158 yards and a touchdown. Bleier added 17 carries for 65 yards.

The Steelers threw the ball only 14 times, with Terry Bradshaw completing nine passes for 96 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Larry Brown.

For Bradshaw, winning that first Super Bowl was about one thing, getting a trophy for Art Rooney Sr., 'The Chief.'

"We went to another locker room they had set up and (then commissioner) Pete Rozelle presented the Lombardi Trophy to Mr. Rooney," said Bradshaw. "The greatest moment I've had in my career was watching that one particular exchange, Rozelle and Art Rooney, and seeing him finally get his world championship. That was the greatest gift. It wasn't for me. It was for him which made it so special. Such a good man."

That moment was special for so many, but it wasn't the only one that many hold in their heart. When linebacker Andy Russell presented Rooney with the game ball in the locker room, everyone felt the emotion.

"You had an understanding through the year of how much it meant to the fans in Pittsburgh, never having been to the Super Bowl, a couple of years where they were close in the playoffs," said Swann. "But to get to the Super Bowl and to win the game, and to see the look and the tears in the eyes of Art Rooney Sr., it was worth every minute of it."

Included in that group it had deep meaning for was Art Rooney II, who watched with pride as his grandfather was a Super Bowl champion.

"I was in the locker room at the end of the game," said Rooney. "It was, as you can imagine, pretty exciting. Of course, the first thing we did was Chuck asked everybody to take a knee and we said a prayer. Then it all broke loose after the prayer.

"Andy presented my grandfather with the football. It was a moment I'll never forget. Just the emotion on my grandfather's face. I think he was pretty choked up.

"Certainly, something that I'll never forget."