The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will meet in the 59th Super Bowl on Sunday. Counting down to the NFL title game, AL.com is spotlighting a Super Bowl hero with Alabama football roots daily through Sunday. The series started with Bart Starr on Monday, looked at Joe Namath on Tuesday and continues with Tuscaloosa High School and Alabama A&M alumnus John Stallworth:

Wide receiver John Stallworth won four Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers, his home for all 14 of his NFL seasons.

In his first two Super Bowl appearances, Stallworth had five receptions for 32 yards as the Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings 16-6 in Super Bowl IX on Jan. 12, 1975, and the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in Super Bowl X on Jan. 18, 1976.

For his first Super Bowl trip, Stallworth was a fourth-round rookie from Alabama A&M who had 16 receptions for 269 yards and one touchdown during the regular season. The next season, Stallworth had 20 receptions for 423 yards and four touchdowns.

When Pittsburgh returned to the Super Bowl after a two-year absence, the Steelers had an expanded passing game and Stallworth had a bigger role in it. Stallworth had 41 receptions for 798 yards and nine touchdowns in the 1978 regular season and 70 receptions for 1,183 yards and eight touchdowns in the 1979 regular season. As Pittsburgh’s first 1,000-yard receiver in 10 years, Stallworth broke the franchise record for receptions in a season.

When the Steelers arrived at the Orange Bowl to play the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII on Jan. 21, 1979, Stallworth already had turned in 10 receptions for 156 yards and one touchdown in Pittsburgh’s 33-10 Divisional Round victory against the Denver Broncos.

The Steelers defeated Dallas 35-31 to win the NFL championship for the 1978 season with Stallworth catching three passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns, even though he did not play in the second half. A hamstring injury pushed Stallworth out of the game.

His first reception in Super Bowl XIII went for a 12-yard gain on third-and-9, and Stallworth completed the drive with a 28-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Terry Bradshaw for the game’s first points with 9:47 left in the first quarter.

Bradshaw’s next throw to Stallworth was intercepted by outside linebacker D.D. Lewis, and Pittsburgh trailed 14-7 when the quarterback went back to the wide receiver for the fourth time in the game on a third-and-5 snap at the Steelers 25-yard line. Stallworth caught the football 10 yards down the field, eluded cornerback Aaron Kyle and sped off for a 75-yard touchdown as Pittsburgh tied the score. The play tied a touchdown hookup between the Baltimore Colts’ John Unitas and John Mackey in Super Bowl V for the longest to that point in the game’s history.

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When the Steelers returned to the NFL title game for the fourth time in six seasons to play the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV on Jan. 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl, Stallworth arrived as a first-team All-Pro selection for the 1979 season.

He showed why in Pittsburgh’s 31-19 victory over the Rams with three receptions for 121 yards and one touchdown.

Stallworth nearly scored on his first catch, but the 3-yard gain came up 1 yard short of the end zone. Running back Franco Harris covered that distance on the next snap to give the Steelers a 10-7 lead with 12:52 left in the first half.

Bradshaw didn’t target Stallworth again until the next-to-last snap of the third quarter, and cornerback Rod Perry turned back a Pittsburgh scoring threat with an interception at the Los Angeles 6-yard line.

With the Steelers trailing 19-17 and facing third-and-8 at their 27-yard line, Bradshaw chose to throw to Stallworth about 40 yards down the field. He caught it and completed a 73-yard touchdown to put Pittsburgh in front 24-19 with 12:04 left to play.

Stallworth remains the only player in Super Bowl history with two offensive touchdowns of more than 50 yards.

Bradshaw went to Stallworth one more time in Super Bowl XIV. On third-and-7 at the Rams 22, the quarterback again tried a 40-yard throw to Stallworth, who caught the pass for a 45-yard gain. The play set up another Harris touchdown to seal the victory with 1:49 remaining.

Stallworth caught one touchdown pass in every playoff game that postseason, and over the final 10 postseason games of his career, Stallworth had 42 receptions for 870 yards and 11 touchdowns.

With a total of 12, Stallworth ranks fourth in touchdown receptions in NFL postseason history, and he’s among the 17 players to reach 1,000 playoff receiving yards.

Stallworth entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the Class of 2002.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.