July 8, 1933 was a huge day in the NFL. Arthur Rooney founded the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were a member of the eastern division of the 10- team NFL. Their playing field was called Forbes Field. This stadium was shared with Pittsburgh's baseball team.


The Pirates played their first game against the New York Giants on September 20, 1933, losing 23-2. All throughout the 1930's, the Pirates did not play very good. But in 1938 they made history by signing Byron White, a future U.S. Supreme Court justice. But a season later he left the Pirates to play on the Detroit Lions.


Just before 1940, the Pirates remained themselves the Steelers. Soon WWII came. Pittsburgh experienced major player shortages. So in 1943, the Steelers and Eagles combined to form the Steagles. Then again they combined with the Chicago Cardinals to make the team Card-Pitt, or as the public would call it- The Carpets. The team did terrible, and finished the season with a record of 0-10.


In 1947, the Steelers made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They lost early in the playoffs, which was the last playoff game for the Steelers for 25 years.


In 1969, the Steelers' bad luck was about to change when they hired Coach Chuck Noll. He had a talent for drafting great rookies, who eventually made it to the Hall of Fame. Some of these were Joe Green, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Blount, Jack Ham, and Franco Harris. Then, Chuck Noll was able to pull off four future Hall of Famers in one year (1974). These were Mike Webster, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Jack Lambert. This draft was Pittsburgh's best ever. The Steelers were the only team to draft four future Hall of Famers. All these players who were drafted in the early 1970s formed an amazing football team- the only team to win 4 Super Bowls in 6 years.


The 1970s was a great decade for the Steelers, but not so much the 1980s, when all of Pittsburgh's outstanding players retired. But a new era was about to be formed when Chuck Noll retired, and the Steelers hired the Kansas City Chiefs' Defensive Coordinator Bill Cowher. Cowher led the Steelers to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons, a tremendous feat. He did a good coaching the Steelers, and in January 2007 Mike Tomlin took over as Head Coach. As we know, Tomlin had a good season with Roesthlisberger and ended up winning Super Bowl XLIII against the Arizona Cardinals. Mike Tomlin was named 2008 Motorola coach of the year.


The Steelers' long history was like a roller coaster ride. Some parts of the ride were smooth, like in the 1970s, and some weren't so smooth, like the 1980s. But the Pittsburgh Steelers have still always been a legendary team.