Charleroi grad Pottios had strong NFL career
This is Part 2 of a two-part story on Charleroi graduate Myron Pottios.
In Part 1 of the Pottios story, his high school and college sporting days were covered. When he left the campus of Notre Dame, his talent lifted him up to yet another level in the world of football — it was on to the NFL for the Van Voorhis native.
The 6-foot-2, 232-pound linebacker not only made the transition from playing many sports at Charleroi High to starring for the Fighting Irish football program, he also went on to spend a dozen seasons at the highest strata of football, doing very well along the way in a sport where the playing lifespan of many is fleeting. In 1961 he was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ second round draft pick (No. 19 overall in the NFL) and the Oakland Raiders third round pick (No. 20 overall).
Pottios elected to sign with Pittsburgh, and he played for them in 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1965. In three of those seasons he was picked to play in the Pro Bowl. Still, those Steelers, the Steelers of way back then, weren’t very good. Over the span during which Pottios wore the black and gold, the Steelers went 20-33, and they were 2-12 in his final season with Pittsburgh.
However, things changed when he moved on to become a member of the Los Angeles Rams. From 1966-1971 the Rams, under the demonstrative George Allen, went 49-17. In 1967 they won their division with an 11-1-2 slate, but lost to the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs. Two years later their 11-3 record propelled them into the playoffs but they lost again, this time to the Minnesota Vikings which featured another Valley star, kicker Fred Cox.
When Allen moved from the West Coast to Washington to become head coach of the Redskins, he valued Pottios so much he made it a point to acquire the veteran linebacker. Over the final three seasons of Pottios’ career, spent in the nation’s capitol, the Redskins went 9-4-1, 11-3, and 10-4.
Their best season was 1972 when their 11-3 mark led their division as they steamrolled into the playoffs. They first knocked off the Green Bay Packers, 16-3, then trounced the Dallas Cowboys, 26-3. Thus, at the age of 33, Pottios, still manning the middle linebacker spot, made it to the ultimate NFL stage, the Super Bowl, doing so in his next-to-last season.
Sadly, though, for Pottios and the Redskins, in Super Bowl VII they had to face the torrid Miami Dolphins who had run the table in regular season play, going 14-0. Led by legendary coach Don Shula, the Dolphins then won all three of their postseason games, including their 14-7 win over Washington to finish with an unblemished 17-0 record, the only perfect season (culminated by a Super Bowl title) ever in the NFL.
In Pottios’ final season, 1974, his ‘Skins once more made it to postseason play, but lost their only playoff game, once again falling to the Vikings and Cox.
Pottios then announced his retirement with so many great memories to look back on, and not just all of his postseason appearances. In NFL play he picked off 12 passes and scooped up 11 fumbles. In fact, in 1968 he was third in the league for fumble recoveries with three, and his personal best four (of his career 14) interceptions came in 1963. He said that while there is some luck in being able to recover fumbles, there is a degree of skill, too. Good players have a nose for the ball and they are therefore often on the spot, ready to pounce on loose balls.
In Steve Russell’s book, the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame Biographical Journal, he wrote that Pottios “was known for his fierce tackling,” and noted Pottios was seen by Steelers owner Dan Rooney as the start of “the great linebacker tradition” in Pittsburgh, a tradition which would soon be extended by such greats as Jack Ham and Jack Lambert.
Pottios’ playing days over, he coached under head coach Willie Wood for the Philadelphia Bell, a franchise in the upstart World Football League which featured one of football’s wildest players ever, Tim Rossovich, and a highly colorful quarterback in Jim “King” Corcoran. The league was short lived, though, lasting only 1974 and part of the following year. Some members of the league wound up getting “stiffed,” not paid in full for their services. Luckily, that was not the case for Pottios.
The genial Pottios and his wife Doreen raised two children. Initially he thought he’d spend his retirement years in the Palm Desert, California, vicinity. Then, in order to be closer to his four young grandchildren, he and Doreen moved to Carlsbad, California. Pottios, now in his 70s, can plop into an easy chair, relax, and glance back on a long and highly memorable and rewarding life.