PITTSBURGH— When it comes to football, Ben McGee and Ray Mathews are old school.

Both are members of the recently announced Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team, a collection of 24 Steelers greats who played before 1970.

The late Bill Saul, a Butler graduate who spent four years with the Steelers, is not a member of the team. But he could have been.

Three of his defensive teammates on those Steelers teams of the 1960s, defensive lineman McGee, linebacker Myron Pottios and cornerback Clendon Thomas, made the squad.

"Absolutely, Bill could have been a part of this,"McGee said before the Steelers' 26-3 win over Buffalo Sunday at Heinz Field. "He was a great player, a tremendous hitter.

"He was our heart and soul. He played football the way the game was meant to be played."

McGee played for the Steelers from 1964-72 and was a two-time Pro Bowl selection. Saul was the team's middle linebacker in 1964, then from 1966-68.

During Saul's four years with the team, the Steelers won 16 games, lost 37 and tied three.

"But we had good players on defense,"McGee said. "We were considered the most physical team in the league, and we had fun playing.

"It didn't matter what our record was. Teams hated to play us. Even (Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame running back)Jim Brown never looked forward to playing the Steelers. He got his yards, but we made him earn every one of them."

Mathews was a wide receiver for the Steelers from 1951-59 and had 230 catches for 3,919 yards in his NFLcareer. Mathews led the team in receiving from 1954-56.

He scored four touchdowns in a 55-27 win over Cleveland in 1955, snapping an eight-game losing streak against the Browns.

Saul joined the Steelers a few years after Mathews left. But growing up in Western Pennsylvania, he remembered the Saul brothers.

"Those boys were legendary in high school,"he said. "Butler had all kinds of talent and they were one of the most physical teams around.

"With Bill playing here, Paul Uram coaching here ... there was definitely part of Butler in the Steelers organization."

Mathews admitted that offensive standouts were hard to find on Steelers teams from the 1950s and 60s. Defensive standouts were another story.

"You could line up any of those defensive players, throw a brick at them and whoever it hits, makes the (Legends) team," he said. "They were all good."

The Steelers held training camp in South Park during the 1960s. McGee said Saul was a hard-hitter all the time, even against his own players.

"Our training facilities weren't very good in those days,"McGee said. "Bill didn't care. He just drove through people. He was as a hard a hitter as any player I can remember.

"Was he like Jack Lambert?I don't know. ... I never played with Jack Lambert. Maybe Jack Lambert was like Bill Saul."

Mathews still follows the Steelers and the NFLtoday. He lives in Harrisville and has a grandson, sophomore lineman Lucas Pryor, playing for Grove City High.

Mathews' first NFL contract was for $6,500, but he doesn't begrudge the current players the money they make.

"What I don't like about today's game is these touchdown dances and celebratory moves after a big play,"he said. "That linebacker with the Philadelphia Eagles when I played, Chuck Bednarik, used to knock out his own teammates if they did anything out of school like that.

"Just play the game clean and hard. I tell my grandson, if you want to gain respect in this game, knock the heck out of somebody, face to face. That's football."