A Happy Birthday to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The franchise officially turns 93 years old today. On July 8, 1933, the NFL officially approved Art Rooney Sr. (The Chief)’s bid to buy the team and join the league.
At the time, it was a risky gambit. The NFL’s buy-in was $2,500, the equivalent of about $65,000 today. This was an even greater sum in the middle of the Great Depression. Professional football had yet to capture American hearts. Baseball was its pastime, and on the gridiron, fans favored the “purity” of the college game.
Rooney initially named the team the Pittsburgh Pirates. A common tactic to copy the MLB counterpart and drum up fan support.
Due to Pennsylvania’s Blue Laws that prohibited sporting events on Sundays, the law wouldn’t be repealed until November’s elections. Pittsburgh played its first game on a Wednesday against the New York Giants. Commissioner Joseph Carr attended, and fans turned out to Forbes Field. Pittsburgh got hammered 23-2, but the franchise was born.
Pittsburgh won its first game the following week. Its first touchdown was a 99-yard pick-six by Butch Kottler, with end Paul Moss, who famed college sportswriter Grantland Rice once called the finest end in college football, scoring the first offensive touchdown. Portly kicker Mose Kelsch, regarded as the first true specialist in football history, nailed the game-winning extra point in a 14-13 triumph.
The team finished the year 3-6-2. True success wouldn’t come for decades. Rooney stayed the course as the franchise took its lumps. Not just in record but in a revolving door of head coaches, some returning for unsuccessful second stints. The best of the early hires, five-time national champ at Pitt Jock Sutherland, died after his second year with the team.
World War II made for a difficult stretch abroad and at home. As military service depleted rosters, Pittsburgh merged with two teams to bridge the gap: the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Cardinals. Coaches fought with the former and got along too well with the latter, the Steelers and Cardinals going winless and nicknamed the “Carpets” for the way opponents walked all over them.
It wasn’t until Rooney took a chance on young defensive coordinator Chuck Noll that the franchise’s fortunes changed. Noll knew how to build a winning team and culture. Scout Bill Nunn knew how to find talent others ignored. And Art Rooney Jr. served as an important architect who doesn’t receive the credit he deserves.
Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception served as a turning point, but the historic 1974 draft class truly got the team over the hump. Pittsburgh won its first of four Super Bowls that year, transforming into a dynasty of the decade. Its 1976 defense, a unit that did not win the Super Bowl, is the greatest in post-merger history with production that will never be matched: five shutouts and 9.8 points allowed per game.
The 1978 and 1979 units saw the offense round into form with QB Terry Bradshaw unleashing his arm and clutch ability to receivers like Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.
Bradshaw never lost a Super Bowl, and his Steelers outscored the opposition 49-27 in the fourth quarter of those four games.
Defensively, Joe Greene, Jack Lambert (fittingly also born July 8), and Mel Blount anchored the defense. The Steel Curtain, led by Greene, was a fearsome foursome. Jack Ham and Lambert were elite behind them with a physical secondary of Blount, whose style forced rule changes, and UDFA safety Donnie Shell.
Pittsburgh lulled throughout the 80s and early 90s as Noll’s tenure came to a close. Local native Bill Cowher replaced him and led the Steelers to the Super Bowl in his fourth season. It ended in a loss, the franchise’s first, to the Dallas Cowboys. A fifth Lombardi eluded the franchise until 2005, when Pittsburgh went on a magical run and became the first sixth seed to win a Super Bowl. In his hometown of Detroit, Jerome Bettis retired a champion.
Mike Tomlin succeeded Cowher in 2007. Tomlin found immediate success, leading a veteran-laden roster to a Super Bowl in 2008. Pittsburgh’s defense paved the way, but its offense led the final drive, Ben Roethlisberger finding Santonio Holmes in the back corner of the end zone with seconds remaining. Tomlin couldn’t win the franchise’s seventh, falling to the Green Bay Packers in 2010.
Tomlin kept the Steelers consistently competitive but struggled to get over the hump. Pittsburgh hasn’t won a postseason game since 2016. Feeling that stagnancy, Tomlin resigned after the 2025 season. Now, the franchise enters the Mike McCarthy era.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the NFL’s most storied franchises. Since the merger, they’re also one of the most successful. Hopefully, by the team’s 100th birthday, less than a decade from now, there will be more trophies in its case.