Steelers Hall of Famer Bill Dudley, the only player to lead the National Football League in rushing and interceptions in the same season, died Thursday in Lynchburg, Va., where he had lived since 1951. He was 88.

Mr. Dudley, known as Bullet Bill, may have been the most versatile player in Steelers history -- running and throwing the football, playing defense, returning kicks, punting and kicking.

"We lost one of the all-time great Steelers," team chairman emeritus Dan Rooney said in a statement from Miami, Fla., site of Super Bowl XLIV. "My father knew Bill very well and admired him as both a player and as a member of society. I became very close to Bill throughout the years. He was a dear friend who will be missed by anyone who knew him."

An All-American at the University of Virginia, Mr. Dudley was the first choice in the 1942 NFL draft and signed a $5,000 contract with the Steelers. As a rookie, he helped the last-place Steelers to a 7-4 record in 1942, the best season in their history at the time, and led the league with 696 rushing yards.

His football career was interrupted by World War II and he spent three years as a B-25 and B-29 pilot in the Pacific. He was discharged in November 1945 and returned to the Steelers for the final three games that season.

In 1946, Mr. Dudley led the league in rushing (604 yards), interceptions (10) and punt returns and was named NFL Most Valuable Player. He set a Steelers record for interception return yardage (242), which stood through the 1991 season. His salary for the season was $12,500.

"He instantly made our team better with his versatility and all-around football skills," Mr. Rooney said.

But the Steelers' demanding single-wing offense, combined with Mr. Dudley's defensive work, took its toll.

He retired at age 25 and denied newspaper accounts that he asked to be traded.

"I was playing 50 minutes a game, had hurt my knee in the last game of the season and I was definitely going to retire," Mr. Dudley said years ago. "I don't think anyone could take that beating.

"I had written a letter to Mr. [Art] Rooney and told him I'm not asking to be traded, but I don't feel I can come back and take the physical beating I had taken."

Mr. Dudley, whose smallish frame (5-10, 176) belied his productivity, nearly missed the opening of his first training camp because the guard at the gate didn't believe he was a football player.

"They had to get the coaches to let him in," wrote the late Pittsburgh Press sports editor Pat Livingston.

Mr. Dudley and former Steelers coach Jock Sutherland seldom operated on good terms and even had a celebrated training-camp spat in 1946 in which the coach chastised Mr. Dudley after an interception for not throwing a better pass. Because all the players wore the same color practice jerseys, Mr. Dudley shot back, "If we had different color jerseys, I would."

"I always thought the coach was the boss, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have a difference," Mr. Dudley said.

Mr. Rooney was unable to coax Mr. Dudley into remaining with the Steelers, even making him an offer at the Kentucky Derby. So he traded him to the Detroit Lions for wingback Paul White and quarterback Bob Cifers.

Mr. Dudley played three seasons with the Lions and two with the Washington Redskins in 1950 and 1951.

He coached at Yale in 1952 and ended his career as a player-coach with the Redskins in 1953. He also coached at Virginia and one season with the Steelers in 1956.

"Bill was truly an NFL and Steelers legend as one of the great players to wear a Steelers uniform," said Steelers President Art Rooney II. "Bill's dedication to the game of football and to the game he loved will never be forgotten."

Mr. Dudley was born Dec. 24, 1921, in Bluefield, Va. He started in the insurance business in Lynchburg in 1951 and later served eight years in the Virginia legislature.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

"Being inducted into the Hall of Fame meant a great deal to me," Mr. Dudley said. "But there wasn't the hoopla attached to it then that there is today."

Throughout his career, Mr. Dudley seldom tried to attract attention toward himself.

"I never considered myself a great football player," he said. "I considered myself a good one. I wasn't fast and I wasn't big. Every time I walked onto the field I felt I had something to prove."

Mr. Dudley is survived by his wife of 62 years, Libba, son, Jim, and daughters Jarrett Millard and Rebecca Stinson. Another son, William, died of leukemia at age 6 in 1954.

A visitation for the family is Sunday at Diuguid Funeral Home in Lynchburg. Mr. Dudley will be laid to rest in a service at 11 a.m. on Monday at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Lynchburg.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his memory to the Bill Dudley Scholarship Foundation (www.billdudleyscholarship.com).

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