The Pittsburgh Steelers have a pretty established connection and history with honoring the armed services. It always helps when you have people who serve as a literal connection, as Rocky Bleier and others, most recently Alejandro Villanueva, have done.
In honor of Memorial Day, the league’s website revisited some of the greatest contributions made to the game among those who served yesterday, recognizing the ‘top 11 all-time NFL players from service academies’, a list put together by Chase Goodbread.
The Steelers’ Villanueva was placed eighth on the list, and is one of only three players on the list who participated in the NFL since the 1990s.