{"id":792432,"date":"2026-07-11T00:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792432\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T00:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:22:16","slug":"greg-hawthorne-steelers-first-round-pick-and-super-bowl-champ-dead-at-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792432\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Hawthorne, Steelers first-round pick and Super Bowl champ, dead at 69"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Greg Hawthorne, a first-round pick of the Steelers and a Super Bowl champion, has died, his family posted on social media on Thursday. <\/p>\n<p>He was 69.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn behalf of the Hawthorne family, it is with deep sadness that our brother Gregory Dale Hawthorne passed away last night,\u201d a Facebook post read. \u201cPlease keep his mother and his children, his brother and sisters as well as the whole family in your prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cause of death has not been revealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.27204969;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39950202\" width=\"751\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1225352731.jpg\" alt=\"Pittsburgh Steelers player #27 running with the football during a game against the Chicago Bears.\" class=\"wp-image-39950202\"  \/>Running back Greg Hawthorne (27) runs with the football against the Chicago Bears.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Hawthorne was drafted by the Steelers No. 28 overall in 1979 after his time at Baylor.<\/p>\n<p>The running back was not expected to go in the first round of the draft, playing just three games during his senior season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Though he played 15 games in his rookie season when the Steelers won the Super Bowl, Hawthorne\u2019s Pittsburgh career started slowly as he struggled to break into a starting lineup that featured Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier and Sidney Thornton.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His best season with the Steelers, of five, was in 1980 when he started five games due to a Harris injury.\u00a0Hawthorne rushed for 263 yards on 63 carries and scored four touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.48191027;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39950200\" width=\"874\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-881043828.jpg\" alt=\"A football player in a black and gold uniform with the number 27, holding a football and running on a green field.\" class=\"wp-image-39950200\"  \/>Greg Hawthorne returns a kickoff during an NFL football game circa 1983 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>He later switched to receiver with Pittsburgh but struggled to find playing time in that role.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After his time with the Steelers, Hawthorne spent three years with the Patriots and one with the Colts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the Patriots, Hawthorne switched around, playing running back, receiver and tight end.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He had 34 receptions for 361 yards and a touchdown while in New England.\u00a0He also reached the Super Bowl in 1986 with the Patriots when they lost to the vaunted Bears.<\/p>\n<p>In his NFL final season, with the Colts, Hawthorne made three appearances, recording three catches for 41 yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greg Hawthorne, a first-round pick of the Steelers and a Super Bowl champion, has died, his family posted&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,19471,53168,1246,1231,593,31481,1241,85],"class_list":["post-792432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baylor-bears","tag-deaths","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-obituaries","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}