WVU Players in Super Bowl History: Top 10 Performers
By Ken Durbin
The West Virginia Mountaineers have a rich tradition of producing star NFL players. Out of this talented group of Mountaineers alumni, WVU has been represented in the Super Bowl 19 times by 13 different players with 8 Super Bowl rings and one Super Bowl MVP. Not every West Virginia alumni that has made it to the Super Bowl has been a star in the big game, but here is how the top 10 performers shakes down.
CREDIT: SI.COM
10: Mike Fox, Mike Logan, John Thornton, and Walter Easley
The quartet of Fox, Logan, Thronton, and Easley each helped their respective teams qualify for the Super Bowl, but none started in the championship game.
Walter Easley, as a rookie, helped the San Francisco 49ers reach Super Bowl XVI at the end of the 1981 season. Easley would ultimately not play in the Super Bowl (unconfirmed whether it was due to injury or otherwise). While Easley did not play in SB XVI, he was a contributor to the success of the 49ers in 1981 and earned a Super Bowl ring with the 49ers 26-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mike Fox was part of the New York Giants squad that made it to, and won, Super Bowl XXV against the Buffalo Bills. Fox was a back-up defensive tackle that played sparingly in Super Bowl XXV. Box scores did not officially record tackles for the Super Bowl until the mid-1990s, making it impossible to determine whether Fox registered a tackle in SB XXV. As it stands in the record books, Mike Fox finished SB XXV without recording a single stat. Still, Fox received a Super Bowl ring as part of the Giants team that beat the Bills 20-19.
John Thornton was a rookie for the Tennessee Titans team that made their only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history in 1999. As a rookie, Thornton started 3 games for the Titans throughout the season, registering 4.5 sacks and a safety. He played in each of Tennessee’s playoff games, seeing duty on special teams and in special defensive packages. Thornton did see limited action in Super Bowl XXXIV, a game that will go down for one of the wildest ending in Super Bowl history. Thornton and the Titans came up half a yard short of victory, falling to the St. Louis Rams 23-16.
Mike Logan came to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2001 season to serve primarily as a back-up safety for the team. In the 2005 season, Logan would play in the nickel situation and on special teams, racking up 24 tackles. Logan saw action in every Steelers playoff game leading up to Super Bowl XL in Detroit. The Steelers 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks will forever be remembered as Jerome Bettis’ last ride, one that Mike Logan was proud to contribute to, even if he did not register a single tackle in the game.