Pittsburgh Steelers (first stint) Pinney was selected in the
second round of the
1976 NFL draft (37th overall) by the two-time defending Super Bowl champion
Pittsburgh Steelers. He played
college football at the
University of Washington in
Seattle under head coaches
Jim Owens and
Don James and was a
team captain for the
Huskies in
1974 and
1975. As a rookie in
1976, Pinney was a backup tackle and appeared in 14 regular season games. he played in 14 regular season games with two starts. Pinney earned the start at right tackle in
Super Bowl XIII in January 1979 over
Larry Brown, who had been the starter the majority of the season. He earned his first Super Bowl ring in the victory over the
Dallas Cowboys. Pinney missed the entire
1979 season due to injuries. Although he was on the roster, he sat in the stands at the
Rose Bowl during the
Super Bowl XIV, a victory over the
Los Angeles Rams. Pinney returned in
1980 but changed position as Brown had solidified himself as the starting right tackle in his absence; he started all 16 regular season games in 1980 at left guard. He began the
1981 season as the Pittsburgh's starting left tackle, winning the job over longtime starter
Jon Kolb, and had 11 starts and appeared in all 16 games. During the
1982 season, Pinney started all nine games at left tackle. He resumed his starting left tackle duties from three years earlier and played in 15 games with 11 starts in
1985 and started fifteen games in
1986. In his last season in
1987 at age 33, Pinney played in six games and was hampered by injuries. He had announced that he cleared out his locker at the end of the season, and Steelers' owner notified him by phone that his contract would not be renewed. ==References==