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Who owns the Steelers?
The ownership of the Steelers has remained within the Rooney family since the organization's founding. Art Rooney's son, Dan Rooney, owned the team from 1988 until his death in 2017. Much control of the franchise has been given to Dan Rooney's son, Art Rooney II .
When did the Pittsburgh Steelers join the NFL?
The Steelers, whose history may be traced to a regional pro team that was established in the early 1920s, joined the NFL as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8, 1933. The team was owned by Art Rooney and took its original name from the baseball team of the same name, as was common practice for NFL teams at the time.
What was the first playoff game Denver played in?
Denver's first playoff game had them hosting the Steelers in the 1977 divisional round; the Broncos won 34–21. The following year, the Steelers hosted and defeated Denver 33–10 in the divisional round.
How many times did the Steelers beat the Ravens?
During the Steelers 2008 Championship run, they beat the Ravens three times, including a win in the AFC Championship game. The two teams complement each other by consistently fielding strong defenses. The Steelers lead the all-time series (including playoffs), 28–24.
What was the first playoff win for the Steelers?
The Raiders–Steelers rivalry was one of the most heated of the 1970s and early to mid-1980s. The Steelers' first playoff win was a 13–7 victory over the Raiders by way of Franco Harris 's Immaculate Reception on December 23, 1972. The wild card Pittsburgh football team was knocked out of the playoffs the following year by the Raiders in the 1973 AFC Divisional round 33–14, but fired back with two straight AFC Championships in 1974 24–13 and 1975 16–10 over Oakland. Oakland responded with a victory over Pittsburgh in the 1976 AFC Championship game 24–7 (the third consecutive AFC title game between the two teams), but not before Chuck Noll referred to Oakland's George Atkinson as part of the NFL's "criminal element" after his alleged cheap-shot on Lynn Swann during a regular-season matchup. Atkinson and the Raiders later filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Noll, but lost. Following the 1983 regular season, the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Steelers 38–10 in the AFC Divisional round which turned out to be the last NFL game for Steeler Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw who did not play due to injury.
How many times did the Steelers make the playoffs in 2015?
Through the end of the 2015 season, the Steelers have an all-time record of 624–552–21 , including playoffs. In recent seasons the Steelers have generally performed well, qualifying for the playoffs six times in the past ten seasons and winning the Super Bowl twice since
What are the achievements of the Steelers?
Among these achievements of the Steelers was the first to hire an African-American assistant coach (September 29, 1957, with Lowell Perry ), the first to start an African-American quarterback (December 3, 1973, with Joe Gilliam ), the first team to boast of an African-American Super Bowl MVP (January 12 , 1975, with Franco Harris ), the first to hire an African-American Coordinator (September 2, 1984, with Tony Dungy ), the first owner to push for passage of an "equal opportunity" mandating that at least one minority candidate is given an interview in all head coach hiring decisions throughout the league (the Rooney Rule in the early 2000s), and the first to hire a female as full-time athletic trainer ( Ariko Iso on July 24, 2002).#N#Note: Although Marlin Briscoe is sometimes erroneously cited as the first African-American starting quarterback in 1968, this was not for an NFL team and not in an NFL game (the Denver Broncos, for which Briscoe played, were an American Football League team then), additionally the vast majority of Briscoe's career was not as quarterback.
When did the Steelers start?
Origins of the Steelers. The year was 1933 and a young Pittsburgh businessman named Arthur J. Rooney saw an opportunity before him. Only a year earlier, Pennsylvania’s archaic “blue laws” meant professional sports were banned on Sundays. Now, the Commonwealth was ready to relax those laws and open the door for NFL football in Pennsylvania.
How many years did the Steelers have a winning record?
From 1933 to '69, the Steelers only had five winning seasons and posted an overall record of 157 wins, 253 losses, and 18 ties.
What was the name of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1940?
For the price of $2,500, he applied for and was granted the rights to an NFL franchise in the Steel City. That fall, the J.P. Rooneys took the field as the Pittsburgh Pirates, named after Pittsburgh’s Major League Baseball team. In 1940, Rooney changed the team's name one last time and the Pittsburgh Steelers were born.
How many times have the Steelers made the playoffs?
The Steelers have made the NFL playoffs 31 times since their first year of operation in 1933. However, from the years 1933 to 1972, they only made the playoffs once (1947) and lost to the Eagles. The rest of those playoff appearances have been in the years since 1972.
Why were the Pittsburgh Steelers called the Pittsburgh Pirates?
Rooney changed the name to Steelers in 1940 in hopes of establishing a new identity for the team and honoring the region's steel-producing history.
How many Pro Bowls did Ernie Stautner play?
Ernie Stautner was one of the most feared defensive linemen in the league. He made nine Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team from 1950 to '63, and today his No. 70 jersey is one of only two that have been officially retired by the Steelers.
What football team played in Pitt Stadium?
Pitt Stadium was home of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team and other athletic programs. The Steelers used the stadium sporadically from 1958 to 1963, and full-time from 1964 to '69.
Who founded the Pittsburgh Steelers?
The Pittsburgh Steelers were founded by Arthur J. Rooney on July 8, 1933. Now the seventh-oldest franchise in the NFL, the Pittsburgh team was known as the Pirates until 1940. The Steelers struggled for their first 40 years without winning a championship of any kind until they won the AFC Central division title in 1972. Two years later, the entire sports world cheered when Art Rooney, one of world's most popular sports figures, received the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Steelers' victory in Super Bowl IX.
Who was the Steelers' head coach in the 1970s?
The list of Pittsburgh Steelers heroes of the 1970s is long but it begins with Head Coach Chuck Noll, who took control of the team in 1969. Such stars as defensive tackle Joe Greene, linebackers Jack Ham and Jack Lambert, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, cornerback Mel Blount and running back Franco Harris were the backbone of a team that many insist was the finest ever in pro football. All, including Noll, were accorded membership in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in their first years of eligibility.
How many Super Bowls did the Steelers win in the 1970s?
The Steelers became the first team to win four Super Bowls and the only team to win back-to-back Super Bowls twice. The team of the decade of the 1970s became the first AFC team to win its division 10 times since the NFL's 1970 merger.
Who was the first big money player in the NFL?
In 1938, Rooney made Colorado All-America Byron "Whizzer" White the NFL's first "big money" player with a $15,800 contract. The 1942 Steelers, boosted by the NFL-leading rushing of rookie Bill Dudley, enjoyed their first winning season. With rosters depleted by the manpower shortage of World War II, Rooney merged the Steelers with the Eagles (Phil-Pitt) in 1943 and the Cardinals (Card-Pitt) in 1944. Coach Jock Sutherland led the Steelers to a first-place tie with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1947 but they lost their first postseason game ever to the Eagles, 21-0.
Steelers Perspective: 2010 AFC Divisional Round
Stan Savran takes a look back at one of Ben Roethlisberger's greatest comebacks in the 2010 Divisional round vs the Ravens
A super win and an epic goodbye
The Steelers won their fifth Super Bowl on this day and Jerome Bettis retired on football's biggest stage
Watt in '21: Inside The Numbers
A record-tying day on Sunday rounded out a memorable 2021 regular season for T.J. Watt
Highlight: Watt sacks Huntley, ties NFL record
LB T.J. Watt ties the single-season sack record with spinning sack on Ravens QB Tyler Huntley
Harris, Fuqua look back on the Immaculate Reception
Franco Harris and Frenchy Fuqua talked about their viewpoints on the greatest play in NFL history
Who owns the Pittsburgh Steelers?
The team has stayed in the Rooney family for 84 years, transferred from founding owner Art Rooney to his son Dan, who passed away in April. Today, Art Rooney II is lead owner and president.
Who were the Hall of Famers of the 1970s Steelers?
Four Hall of Famers from the dominant Steeler teams of the 1970s fell under that description: Mean Joe Greene (North Texas State), Terry Bradshaw (Louisiana Tech), Jack Lambert (Kent State) and John Stallworth (Alabama A&M). Other Steeler greats were from big schools, such as Lynn Swann and Troy Polamalu from USC.
Who was the Steelers draft pick in 2004?
This talented Steelers trio is evidence of the drafting acumen of Colbert and his scouting staff. Roethlisberger, a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl champ, was picked at No. 11 overall in 2004 out of Miami of Ohio. Bell was a second-rounder in 2013 (No. 48 overall from Michigan State), and Brown amazingly lasted until the sixth round in 2010 and, like Big Ben, played at a non-Power 5 conference school in Central Michigan.
Do the Steelers rise above the clouds?
And the Steelers consistently rise above the same kinds of storm clouds that encompass all teams and overwhelm many.
Overview
Franchise history
The Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL first took to the field as the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20, 1933, losing 23–2 to the New York Giants. Through the 1930s, the Pirates never finished higher than second place in their division, or with a record better than .500 (1936). Pittsburgh did make history in 1938 by signing Byron White, a future Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to what was at the time the biggest contract in NFL history, but he played only one year with the Pirates before signi…
Logo and uniforms
The Steelers have used black and gold as their colors since the club's inception, the lone exception being the 1943 season when they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles and formed the "Steagles"; the team's colors at that time were green and white as a result of wearing Eagles uniforms. Originally, the team wore solid gold-colored helmets and black jerseys. The Steelers' black and gold colors are now shared by all major professional teams in the city, including the Pit…
Rivals
The Pittsburgh Steelers have three primary rivals, all within their division: (Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and Cincinnati Bengals). They also have rivalries with other teams that arose from post-season battles in the past, most notably the Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Tennessee Titans. They also have an intrastate rivalry with the Philadelphia Eagles, but under the current scheduling the teams play each other only once every …
Culture
Prior to the 2007 season, the Steelers introduced Steely McBeam as their official mascot. As part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of the team, his name was selected from a pool of 70,000 suggestions submitted by fans of the team. Diane Roles of Middlesex Township, submitted the winning name which was "meant to represent steel for Pittsburgh's industrial heritage, "Mc" for the Rooney family's Irish roots, and Beam for the steel beams produced in Pittsburgh, as well as for J…
Facilities
In 2001, the Steelers moved into Heinz Field. The franchise dating back to 1933 has had several homes. For 31 seasons, the Steelers shared Forbes Field with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1933 to 1963. In 1958, though they started splitting their home games at Pitt Stadium three blocks away at the University of Pittsburgh. From 1964 to 1969, the Steelers played exclusively at the on-campus facility before moving with the Pirates to Three Rivers Stadium on the city's Northside. Three River…
Media
As of 2006, the Steelers' flagship radio stations were WDVE 102.5 FM and WBGG 970 AM. Both stations are owned by iHeartMedia. Games are also available on 51 radio stations in Pennsylvania, Western Maryland, Ohio, and Northern West Virginia. The announcers are Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin. Craig Wolfley is the sideline reporter. Myron Cope, the longtime color analyst and inventor of the "Terrible Towel", retired after the 2004 season, and died in 2008.
The Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research
The Steelers helped launch the Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research in November 2016 by donating $1 million. The Foundation, started by Steelers president Art Rooney II, focuses on education and research regarding brain injuries and sports-related concussions.
In June 2017, the Steelers announced an inaugural charity walk to raise money for the foundation.