The Pittsburgh Steelers

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The Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are regarded as the most successful professional football franchise of the 1970s, the decade when the sport became a major spectator pastime in the United States thanks to increased live television coverage and the growing momentum of the annual Super Bowl. As millions of American fans were getting hooked on weekly football telecasts in the 1970s, the Steelers won four Super Bowl titles, becoming a sort of touchstone that represented pro football at its best. The team remained a consistent playoff contender in the 1980s and 1990s, though it has not since returned to the league-dominant status of its '70s heyday.

The Steelers were founded in July 1933 by Arthur J. Rooney, who used $2,500 he had won at the racetrack to purchase a football team. The team was known as the Pirates until 1940, when Rooney changed the name to reflect Pittsburgh's steelmaking heritage. Rooney's first obstacle was to circumvent Pennsylvania's blue laws, which did not allow professional sporting events on Sundays; he did so with several clever maneuvers, including inviting high police officials to be his guests at the team's first game. The Steelers never won any major honors until 1972, when the team captured its first division title. Despite the team's lack of success from the 1930s until the 1970s, Rooney remained dedicated to the team and maintained a constant presence at games and other events with his ever-present cigar.

Despite its poor initial record, the team did have a number of star performers, including the running backs Johnny "Blood" McNally and Bill Dudley, and quarterback Bobby Layne. In the late 1930s, Rooney signed Colorado University star Byron "Whizzer" White for nearly $16,000, making him the highest-paid player in professional football. White played only one season for Pittsburgh. Later, in the 1960s, he was appointed by President Kennedy as a Supreme Court Justice.

The Steelers started to gain a small measure of respectability in the 1950s and 1960s, but the team's turnaround really began in 1969 with the arrival of Chuck Noll as head coach. Noll began his career as a defensive assistant and then coached the Baltimore Colts from 1966 to 1968. At the same time, Dan Rooney, Arthur's eldest son, began to assume greater control over the team. Noll and Rooney proceeded to assemble a group of outstanding players including defensive tackle Joe Greene, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, running back Franco Harris, and wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. The hallmark of the Steelers' success in the 1970s was its defense, which earned the nicknamed "Steel Curtain" for its ability to prevent opposing offenses from gaining yardage.

The team's turnaround after Noll's arrival was gradual, as the Steelers won only one game during his first season. However, by 1972, they went 11-3 and won their first divisional title. The team reached its first Super Bowl in 1975, beating the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 16-6. Running back Franco Harris, rushing for a then-Super Bowl record 158 yards on 34 carries, was named Most Valuable Player. The following year, the Steelers returned to the Super Bowl and defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17, with wide receiver Lynn Swann earning MVP honors.

In 1978 the Steelers once again beat Dallas in the championship game, 35-31, and returned to defeat Los Angeles 31-19 in the 1979 Super Bowl, becoming the first team ever to win back-to-back Super Bowls on two separate occasions. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw was the MVP in both games, setting records for most career touchdowns (9) and passing yards (932) in the Super Bowl. These honors were a vindication of sorts for Bradshaw, who had initially struggled under high expectations after coming to the team as the first player selected in the 1970 draft. Bradshaw, who came from a rural background and played for an unheralded program at Louisiana State University, suffered from a lack of support and had to endure fans and commentators who habitually questioned his intelligence.

In 1980, however, the Steelers' dominance came to an end when the team suffered a devastating array of injuries and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1972. Gradually, many of the team's stalwarts of the 1970s retired over the next few years. Noll retired as coach after the 1991 season, having served one of the longest head coaching tenures in league history. Bill Cowher succeeded Noll as coach, and the Steelers once again became a perennial playoff team. Under Cowher, the team reached Super Bowl XXX in 1996, only to lose to Dallas 27-17 in its first trip to the championship game since 1979. With its four Super Bowl victories, Pittsburgh ranks second overall only to Dallas and San Francisco, each of which has won five times.

—Jason George