A short time ago, the Pro Football Hall of Fame looked at the Card-Pitts disastrous 1944 season. This wasn\u2019t the first scenario of its kind \u2013 two teams coming together in a time of need \u2013 to sustain playing pro football the difficult World War II era.<\/p>\n
The precursor to the 1944 Card-Pitts? The 1943 Phil-Pitt Steagles.<\/p>\n
On this date (June 19) in 1943, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers came together as the \u201cSteagles.\u201d Officially, they were named the Phil-Pitt Combine, with the \u201cSteagles\u201d moniker coming from local newspapers, first Chet Smith of the Pittsburgh Press.<\/p>\n
At the end of the 1943 season, the combination would dissolve, and each team would go back to its respective organization.<\/p>\n
The 1943 roster totaled only 30 players, six from the Steelers and 13 from the Eagles. The other members of the team were veterans who came out of retirement, signings from other teams or rookie players \u2013 most of whom were military draft exemptees. One future Hall of Famer was one of those veterans: BILL HEWITT,<\/a> who had retired in 1939, played for the Steagles and was their highest-paid player at $400 per game.<\/p>\n The team was coached by two future Hall of Famers: WALT KIESLING<\/a> from the Steelers and EARL \u201cGREASY\u201d NEALE<\/a> from the Eagles.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, it sounds insane today to combine two NFL rosters to compete against the rest of the league, but the 1943 Steagles were able to do it. Not only did they do it, but they also actually thrived, finishing the season with a winning record (5-4-1),\u201d said Chris Willis, the head archivist with the National Football League. \u201c[It] takes some mental toughness to be productive and win games \u2026 It was an amazing accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t the first time these two organizations could\u2019ve become one team.<\/p>\n