Big Mo and Little Mo played high school and college football together and for one brief summer were in the same training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Modzelewski brothers of West Natrona — Ed was Big Mo and Dick was Little Mo — were so inseparable “we should have been Siamese twins,’’ Dick said Wednesday from his home in Ohio.

Older brother Ed Modzelewski, the Steelers’ first-round draft choice in 1952, died Saturday at age 86 of heart failure in Sedona, Ariz.

Mr. Modzelewski’s life was touched by fame. After the brothers starred at old Har-Brack Union High School in Natrona Heights, they played football at the University of Maryland.

A fullback in the days when that was the primary ballcarrier, Ed Modzelewski was MVP of the 1951 Sugar Bowl when he rushed for 153 yards to help unbeaten Maryland defeat previously unbeaten and national champion (AP, UPI) Tennessee, 28-13. Dick Modzelewski, two years younger, was a defensive lineman on that team.

The Steelers made Ed Modzelewski the sixth overall pick of the 1952 NFL draft. He rushed for just 195 yards in 10 games as a rookie before going through the Air Force ROTC program at Maryland, according to his brother. He served as an officer until rejoining the Steelers in training camp in 1955.

There, Ed and Dick Modzelewski roomed together in training camp at St. Bonaventure after Dick was traded by the Washington Redskins to the Steelers. It was the same training camp in which another southwestern Pennsylvania player, Johnny Unitas, was infamously cut by coach Walt Kiesling. During that camp, Mr. Kiesling traded Ed Modzelewski to the Cleveland Browns, separating the brothers permanently in football.

“At the time, the Steelers were one of the worst organizations in football; they were terrible,’’ Dick Modzelewski said. “They had a horrible coach, Walt Kiesling, who would scrimmage us every day.”

The Steelers acquired future Hall of Fame back Marion Motley from the Browns in that trade, but Ed had the last laugh. He led the Browns with 619 yards rushing in 1955 and Cleveland won the NFL championship. The Steelers went 4-8.

Ed Modzelewski would play only six seasons in the NFL and rush for 1,292 career yards before he retired after the 1959 season as the backup to another young, future Hall of Fame back in Cleveland — Jim Brown.

He and his brother eventually went into the restaurant business together.

Dick Modzelewski, 84, played 14 years in the NFL with four teams. He retired after the 1966 season, his third with the Cleveland Browns, where he was a member of their 1964 NFL championship team, matching his brother’s title in 1955.

A younger brother, Gene — known at Har-Brack as “No Mo” — attended Browns training camp with Dick in 1966. But Gene was drafted by the U.S. Army and never went pro. He fought in the Vietnam War and later, according to his brother, fell ill from the effects of Agent Orange and died at age 60 in 2004.

A memorial service for Ed Modzelewski will be held in Sedona in April.

Correction, posted March 5, 2015: Ed Modzelewski died Feb. 28, 2015. An earlier version had an incorrect date.

First Published: March 4, 2015, 7:35 p.m.