The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.
No. 73: Mark May
They called him “May Day,” the international signal for distress, because that’s what Mark May created for opponents during his time at Pitt.
When the Panthers needed a yard to extend a drive or a dominant pass-rusher had to be contained, the call went out to May, who was lined up at tackle.
In 1979, when Pitt defeated Washington and Penn State, he held All-American defensive tackles Doug Martin and Bruce Clark to one tackle each.
“There were games when my uniform never got dirty,” quarterback Dan Marino said of May and his wall of blockers in an article on pittsburghpanthers.com. “There were games when I never hit the ground.”
May was part of the greatest recruiting class in Pitt history, signing along with Hugh Green, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm and Greg Meisner. In the next four seasons, Pitt was 39-8-1, including back-to-back 11-1 records in 1979 and ’80 and three top-10 finishes in the Associated Press polls of ’77, ’79 and ’80 (Nos. 8, 7 and 2).
May, a native of Oneonta, N.Y., was highly recruited and considered going to Penn State before Matt Millen, one of the greatest players in Nittany Lions history, told him, “Don’t come here.”
At Pitt, he was a unanimous All-American choice in 1980 and the school’s first Outland Trophy winner.
He was a first-round draft choice of the Washington Redskins in 1981. He became a member of the Redskins’ iconic offensive line — the Hogs — and helped lead the team to three Super Bowls (two championships). He played 13 years in the NFL. After retirement, he worked 17 years as an ESPN college football analyst.
May, 60, is one of 10 Pitt players to have his jersey retired. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
May isn’t the only offensive lineman to wear No. 73 with distinction in Pittsburgh.
Two others — Craig Wolfley and Ramon Foster — played 10 and 11 seasons, respectively, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and were two of the smartest and most reliable linemen in team history.
Foster, undrafted from Tennessee, started at least 14 games in each of his last nine seasons.
Wolfley, a fifth-round choice from Syracuse, logged 102 starts.
Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.
