PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Newly-elected Hall of Fame center Dermontti Dawson will have his old Bryan Station High School head coach Steve Parker present him for the Hall this summer in Canton, Ohio.

Dawson said he has been keeping this under wraps until Parker confirmed he’d be able to make it to the induction ceremony in August.

If it weren’t for Parker, it’s likely Dawson not only wouldn’t be headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but that he may not have played football at all.

Dawson was a high school wrestler and was walking the halls of his school one day when he was stopped by Coach Parker. “Where have you been all my life,” Dawson recalls with a chuckle, as what his coach told him that fateful day.

The rest is history.

Dawson played 13 seasons with the Steelers making seven Pro Bowls and six All-Pro teams.

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