When Mildred Swann was carrying her third child, she hoped for a girl. She and husband Willie already had two sons, Brian and Calvin. Fortunately for football fans, she didn't get what she wanted. Lynn Curtis Swann came into this world on March 7, 1952, in Alcoa, Tennessee. He would become one of the most breathtaking receivers in NFL history.

In an era dominated by punishing defenses and nose-to-the-grindstone running attacks, Lynn Swann was a refreshing change of pace. He was poetry in pads, a once-in-a-generation mixture of raw speed, scintillating athleticism, supreme focus, unquestioned courage, unusual intelligence and that ever-elusive X-factor: years of childhood dance training.

After an All-American career at USC, Lynn joined the Pittsburgh Steelers, and with John Stallworth formed one of the most devastating receiving tandems the game has ever seen. Number 88 was at his best in the big games. He won four championships with the Steelers, and etched his name in the annals of NFL folklore with his MVP performance in Super Bowl X against the Dallas Cowboys. In that game he made only four receptions, but each was a work of art.

When Lynn left the game, he transitioned into a broadcasting career. In fact, the current generation of sports fans may know him better as ABC's top reporter on the sidelines, rather than a guy who used to streak down them. A successful businessman, he currently serves as the Chairman for the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

During your Hall of Fame induction speech, you made a special point of thanking your parents and your brothers. What are your most vivid recollections about growing up, and how did your family figure into the picture?

My family had a tremendous impact on everything I did. My ability to focus, to be disciplined, and to participate as a team player were all shaped by my family. My parents and brothers taught me to get involved with things in the community whether it was theater, church or sports. My family influence was very strong.

I was born in Alcoa and my family later moved to San Mateo, California. I spent time in both places as a kid. Up until age 12, I went to Alcoa every summer. Sports were a primary source of entertainment in my family. My dad used to take us camping and fishing. We always found fun things to do that kept us extraordinarily active.

At Turnbull, the elementary school I attended, I remember competing in the President’s Fitness Award program. There were also church basketball leagues and school plays. I played Little League Baseball for the first time in Alcoa. I joined my first football team, the Peninsula Jets, in California. When I was in eighth grade, I graduated to the Rams.

Lynn’s athletic prowess and solid schoolwork earned him a scholarship to Junipero Serra High School—which has also produced the likes of Barry Bonds and Tom Brady—in the San Francisco suburb of San Mateo in 1966. There he embarked on a legendary football career, both as a receiver and quarterback. He was also state champion in the long jump, and at one point toyed with the idea of going to the Olympics. Lynn attended the predominantly white Serra High during a time of great social unrest and racial tension in northern California. This made his teenage years extremely complex at times. He often wondered whether his classmates accepted him only because he was a star athlete; pals from his old neighborhood acted like he had betrayed them by leaving.

You were all-everything at a great sports high school. What do you consider your defining moments, on and off the playing field during those years—and how far did you think sports would take you at that stage of the game?

Off the playing field, I’m not sure I had a single defining moment in high school. Certainly, the fact that my mother made me go to Junipero Serra High School was important. Serra is a college preperatory school, and its academic standards are very high. Serra was a sturdy foundation for me. By my senior year, I had fulfilled all the academic requirements to go on to college. That was the whole focus at Serra.

On the football field, probably the most fortuitous circumstance came in my sophomore year. The starting receiver on the varsity broke his arm during training camp, and there wasn’t an experienced replacement for him. I had been placed on JV as a halfback. I had played receiver in Pop Warner, but the coaches at Serra thought I’d make a better running back. After the injury, they gave me a chance at wideout. I wasn’t much taller than 5-7, but they knew I had some talent. I wound up being named All-League and All-Northern California my sophomore season.

Lynn's next stop was USC, where he developed into a dynamite receiver under coach John McKay. During his three varsity seasons with the Trojans, 1971 to 1973, he played on some deep, talented teams. Besides headline-grabbing Anthony Davis, Lynn’s teammates included future pro stars Sam Cunningham, Charles Young, Pat Haden, Richard Wood, Bill Bain and Marvin Powell, and All-America candidates John Vella, Pete Adams and Willie Hall. After the '71 campaign—ruined for the Trojans by untimely turnovers—they went undefeated in 1972 and claimed the national championship with a win over Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. That happened to be Lynn’s best game of the year—he caught six key passes and had the Buckeye defense in total disarray. USC lost its New Year's Day return match with Ohio State a year later, after a season in which Lynn made All-American and received consideration for the Heisman Trophy.

What were the pivotal moments for you and the Trojans on the way to the national title in 1972?

The road to the 1972 national championship actually began with last game of 1971—a horrible 7-7 tie with UCLA. During the game, someone set off a stink bomb on the field. In the locker room afterwards, John McKay told us that the only thing that smelled worse than the stink bomb was the game we played. He announced that he was going to reevaluate the team during spring practice. Nothing was guaranteed. The very best players at each position were going to play, and they had to prove themselves. Everyone worked hard that spring, and we were ready for our season opener against Arkansas, which was #1 in country at the time. Their quarterback was Joe Ferguson. He said that the game would be a stepping stone to national title. He was right—only it was USC that came out on top.

I have great memories of lots of great players from 1972. That was Richard Wood’s first season. He was a sophomore and a starting linebacker who was voted an All-American three times. Charles Young was a fabulous tight end—a dominating player who could block and catch passes. Our fullback was Sam Cunningham. He was also my roommate. He was tremendous all year long. He made history in Alabama, not just on the field but in the civil rights movement. And I’ll never forget his four touchdowns in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State.

Lynn was the first wideout taken in the 1974 NFL Draft, going at #21 to the Steelers. It was the first of four key picks for Pittsburgh, in a draft that is still the stuff of war-room legend. After Swann, the team tabbed Jack Lambert out of Kent State, John Stallworth out of Alabama A&M, and Mike Webster out of Wisconsin. Four Hall of Famers—not a bad afternoon’s work. But 24 hours after learning the location of his new football home, Lynn found himself sitting in a San Francisco jail cell, wrongly arrested during the time of the city's notorious Zebra killings. Lynn and several family members were targeted in what today would be a clear-cut case of racial profiling. They eventually sued the city and won.

Right after draft day in 1974 you were wrongly picked up by the San Francisco Police. What are the details of that story?

Essentially, we were stopped in our car for no real legal reason, handcuffed, arrested and physically assaulted by the San Francisco police. They attempted to create some ridiculous charges, but we challenged them, were exonerated and later filed a lawsuit and won that case. The attitude of the police who made arrest—one of whom went to high school with my older brother—was standard at the time. There was an old-boy fraternity in the San Francisco Police Department, and they were trying to protect their own interests.

The episode had a tremendous impact on me personally. In Pittsburgh, fans wondered why the Steelers had drafted me in the first round. They though I was a violent trouble-maker. It took several years before people learned the real story of the arrest, and realized what I was about and what kind of person I was.

Under the shadow of this incident, Lynn arrived in Pittsburgh for training camp. With Mean Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Jack Ham and Andy Russell leading the defense and a solid running game featuring Franco Harris, coach Chuck Noll was building a dynasty. Coming off two straight trips to the playoffs, the Steelers were poised to go all the way to the Super Bowl. Lynn was expected to provide the Pittsburgh attack with a needed spark as a receiver and punt returner.

The 1974 season became shrouded in uncertainty that July, when NFL veterans walked out in the NFLPA’s first major strike. When the labor dispute was settled, a Steeler quarterback controversy developed between Terry Bradshaw and Joe Gilliam, which was painted as a black-white issue in the media. For a team on the brink of greatness, this series of events threatened to cause the kinds of permanent rifts that keep clubs from reaching their potential.

Did you think being a football star would ever be this complicated?

First of all, I never thought about being a football star. I viewed everything that happened in training camp as just a part of the game. Players always compete for starting positions in the preseason. I wasn’t extraordinarily concerned with the battle between Terry and Joe.

I was mostly concerned with learning the Pittsburgh system and getting an opportunity to play. In that sense, the strike was a benefit for all the rookies in camp. The veterans were gone, and we got all the attention of the coaches. We had a better environment to learn and got more reps in practice. As a result, a lot of rookies made the team that season—which was amazing considering that the Steelers had been in the playoffs for two consecutive years.

What was the transition like from college to the pros, especially on a highly successful defense- and run-oriented team?

There may never be another receiving duo like Swann and Stallworth. Both came into the league in 1974, and within a few years they had given the hard-nosed Steelers a glamorous passing component. From 1977 to 1979, they combined for more than 100 receptions a year, racked up more than 5,000 yards, and scored 47 touchdowns. One was almost always in single coverage, a luxury which Bradshaw took full advantage of. Linked forever in the minds of football fans, they even ushered each other into the Hall of Fame. Lynn asked John to introduce him when he was inducted in 2001, and introduced John when he went in a year later.

We were very competitive. John and I were friends playing the same position and we wanted the same things—to win Super Bowls, to be starters and to get thrown the ball. It was easy to share in those goals, except for getting the ball, particularly because the Steelers didn’t throw that often. There were never enough receptions for the two of us.

Stylistically, what did each of you bring to the offense?

There may have been differences in style between us, but the results were the same. Actually, I think there were a lot of noteworthy similarities between John and me. We both caught the tough passes, as well as the ones we were supposed to. It’s hard to think of a crucial drop by either one of us, or a bad performance in a big game. We also both ran well after the catch. I tended to jump a little more and go up for balls, but maybe that was because Terry threw his passes to me higher.

Lynn played under two legendary coaches, John McKay at USC and Chuck Noll with the Steelers. While their football philosophies were similar, their personalities weren't. McKay was a master motivator with a wicked sense of humor. In 16 years with the Trojans he posted a record of 127-40-8, including four national titles. Noll, also a brilliant leader, was far more reserved—more the subtle manipulator. The only coach to win four Super Bowls, he took over the struggling Pittsburgh franchise in 1969, and three year later the Steelers were AFC champs. Both coaches believed that a strong defense and running game were the keys to success in football. Lynn would have put up bigger numbers on more pass-happy teams, but he was perfectly content playing for perennial title contenders.

Talk about McKay and Noll. How did their styles differ?

They were similar in that they had great staffs and let their assistants do their jobs. John and Chuck coached their coaches, and in turn their coaches coached the players. John believed more in motivating players, trying to fire them up emotionally. Chuck also wanted that kind of intensity, but felt that motivation should come from within. As professionals, you had to come to the field highly motivated. Chuck saw himself as a teacher.

John’s great successes were in college, though he almost brought the Tampa Bay Bucs to the Super Bowl in 1979. He got a lot of credit for being a tremendous coach while he was in the game. In my opinion, Chuck wasn’t recognized the way he should have been during his career. He gets the credit now, but he deserved more when he was active.

Lynn knew early in his playing career that he wanted to go into television when he retired. A fixture on ABC for more than 20 years, he has covered everything from Olympic weightlifting to the Iditarod in Alaska. In the mid-80s he teamed with Keith Jackson on ABC's featured telecasts of the United States Football League—still popular fare on ESPN Classic. Lynn is probably best known as a sideline reporter for the network's college and pro football broadcasts.

When did you actually embark on you broadcasting career?

I started broadcasting in 1976 when I was still playing. I worked for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, and did a variety of things with children’s programs and entertainment programs. I made sure I was comfortable from all sides of the camera.

What do you think you bring to football commentary?

I bring great understanding of game to a broadcast. I have the ability to see what happens before it occurs, and I can communicate those thoughts to viewers at home. And I always try to be innovative.

Lynn’s lifelong commitment to charitable causes and volunteer organizations made him a natural choice for Chairman of the President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports. He also serves on the national Board of Directors for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. In addition, Lynn has created a youth scholarship program for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater school.

What do you do for the President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports?

My primary responsibility is to advise President Bush and Tommy Thompson, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, on issues regarding fitness in America. I try to motivate people to become more active. Our country is sedentary. Obesity has been on the rise for the last two decades. Of adults between the ages of 20 and 74, 70% are overweight or obese. It’s clear that Americans need to make physical activity a part of their lifestyle.

I support the President’s program, “A Healthier US.” There are four parts to it. The first is physical activity. Adults should be physically active 30 minutes a day—and children 60 minutes a day—for at least five days a week. Next is a balanced diet. Americans should be eating more fruits and vegetables. Third is the need to make smart decisions—stay away from risky behavior, like doing illegal drugs. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. Don’t abuse alcohol. Also, wear your seatbelt when in a car, and wear a helmet when riding a bike. The final part of the program concerns medical screenings and tests. Be proactive in treating potential health problems, and know your limitations before exercising.

My role as chairman takes a substantial amount of time. I made this commitment because physical fitness is something I believe in. I’ve worked with children most of my life—I’ve been involved with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters for the last 22 years. The President’s Council for Physical Fitness is a way to reach kids. Our message also applies to adults and senior citizens. We’re talking about ways to improve the quality of your life and live longer.

It has been more than two decades since Lynn last strapped on the pads, yet his resume continues to grow. An enshrinee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Hall of Fame and the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame, he received the Walter Camp Football Foundation Man of the Year Award in 1997 and was honored with the NCAA’s Silver Anniversary Award in 1999. In 2000, he was presented with the Pop Warner Little Scholars Tomlin Award and the Pittsburgh YMCA Man of the Year Award. Lynn’s position with President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports has sharpened his focus on the future, yet he is still asked constantly about his past. Just how does a man of his stature perceive his own football legacy? We couldn’t resist…

What is more important to you personally, being known as one of the best ever—a Hall of Famer—or the fact that you were a guy who always rose to the occasion and made big plays in big games?

They go hand in hand. You make it to Canton because of your style and the fact that you played consistently. I was worthy of the Hall of Fame because of my ability in big games and the way I handled the pressure of the playoffs and the Super Bowl. But also because of the way I performed in regular-season games against teams that were considered lesser opponents. You can’t have one without the other.