From 1992-98, safety Darren Perry wore a black-and-gold Pittsburgh Steeler uniform with No. 39 on the back.

However, on Feb. 5, 2006, in Detroit, Michigan, Perry was wearing a headset and a Steelers ball cap as the team’s defensive backs coach.

He watched as someone else in his old jersey race into legendary status.

“Fast Willie Parker. He was a little faster than that other No. 39,” Perry said with a laugh. “I said he’s representing 39 pretty (darn) good right now.”

That was Perry’s memory of watching Parker blaze over 75 yards of turf at Ford Field and into Super Bowl glory with the longest run in the game’s history.

It was the most pivotal play in his team’s 21-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks as the Steelers claimed Pittsburgh’s first Super Bowl trophy since the 1979-80 season.

While sitting down for a group chat with other Super Bowl heroes from various eras on Steelers.com, Parker described the play.

“It was just like you drew it up on the blackboard. Everything just opened up,” Parker said. “It was just a footrace.”

Parker was right. It might have been the most perfectly blocked run in the history of the Super Bowl.

So to celebrate Thursday’s 20th anniversary of Parker’s run — and the franchise’s fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy — we decided to talk to some of the men who made Parker’s run possible.

‘It was a big setup’

The Steelers came out of the locker room leading 7-3 after halftime. They got the ball to start the third quarter at their own 25-yard line. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw an incomplete pass to Hines Ward on the first snap of the second half.

That’s when offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt sent in a play called “34 counter pike.”

“We needed to have something in the run game coming out (of halftime). And that was one of the plays we had worked on that week, and we felt good about it,” Whisenhunt said.

By halftime, Parker had only been able to manage six carries for 11 yards.

“It was a big setup,” All-Pro Guard Alan Faneca said of the call. “The offensive staff had figured out that if we could get the ball to Antwaan Randle El in the slot on the left, that, eventually, just getting those four-and-five-yard clips would annoy them enough. They would slide the backers over, which made everything a lot easier for when I pulled for the play we ran.”

While Randle El had only one catch in the first half, he was targeted three times. Roethlisberger threw 12 times as opposed to nine handoffs to Parker and Jerome Bettis.

“What we were trying to get a key on was how they rolled coverage with Hines. So when Hines moved in motion, it determined how we were going to run that later,” right tackle Max Starks said. “We saw that they liked to overshift to Hines’ side because everything else that we ran when Hines went to the strong side, we were running that way. So we knew that when we lined up Hines strong, motioned him weak, it would clear out some of the stuff and give us a better look one-on-one.”

Once Starks got to the line of scrimmage and Ward went in motion, his eyes lit up.

“We had no clue that everybody was going to over-commit to that opposite side when they saw us in sub. So we were like, ‘OK. All right,’” Starks said.

Faneca felt the same way.

“I remember in my stance going, ‘Holy (expletive), here we go.”

‘We were 11-for 11’

While the setup was there, the blocks still needed to be executed once the ball was snapped by center Jeff Hartings.

On the back side of the play, left tackle Marvel Smith simply screened off Seattle right edge Grant Wistrom. Hartings turned Chuck Darby inside toward his left. On the perimeter to Parker’s right, Ward ate up cornerback Andre Dyson.

The most memorable block on the play was Faneca pulling from his left guard position around Hartings to bury linebacker Leroy Hill.

“That’s why Alan is a Hall of Famer. Really, it’s his ability to pull and lead block,” Hartings said. “He was great at it.”

Faneca’s block was complemented by tight end Heath Miller reaching and moving left defensive end Bryce Fisher. Parker hit that hole precisely.

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“I had kind of talked him through it,” Bettis said of discussing that play with Parker at halftime. “When they called it, I knew it had a chance to really pop. My whole thing was, ‘If you just stay inside, it’s got a chance to be special.’”

Parker followed that advice and flew past safety Michael Boulware’s attempt to fill the hole. At that point, it was simply about trying to exploit the work that Starks and guard Kendall Simmons were doing on the right side.

After hopping off a quick double-team with Simmons on defensive tackle Rocky Bernard, Starks pounced to the second level and blocked linebacker Lofa Tatupu.

Not once, but twice.

“You get the kick-out block by Alan. Base block by Heath. Double team by Kendall and me. Up to the middle backer, who was the only backer on the front side. It made it for a beautiful play,” Starks said.

From Hartings’ point of view, the execution was perfect.

“When you watch the replay of that, we were 100%. We were 11-for-11. Well, Ben (Roethlisberger), he didn’t do anything but hand it off,” Hartings joked. “So 10-for-10.”

‘You could feel the whoosh’

As for Roethlisberger, once he handed the ball to Parker and saw daylight, he knew the 75-yard touchdown jaunt was a fait accompli.

“Alan pulled and opened it up. Once you see a hole open up and Willie gets into the open field, it’s over,” Roethlisberger said.

Roughly 10.5 seconds and 75 yards later, it certainly was. Parker was leaping into the end zone in celebration, and the Steelers were up 14-3.

“As I’m wheeling, you could feel the whoosh behind you,” Starks said of Parker. “Next thing you want to do is just look up at the screen. You just see the back of No. 39 taking it all the way down the field.”

Parker only had seven more yards the rest of the night. But he had given the Steelers an 11-point lead they would never relinquish.

“Somebody just needed to make a play,” Parker said to John Stallworth during that Steelers.com interview. “They called my number at halftime. And everything just opened up.”

For his part, Whisenhunt saw that play as being emblematic of the entire 2005 team.

“It’s what the Steelers are all about,” Whisenhunt said. “Those guys helped each other. The line did a great job. Willie broke it through, and it was a big play in that game.”

Not just that game, but in the history of the franchise — and Super Bowl overall.