Pittsburgh Steelers Team Bio

Feb 04, 2011

Since being founded in 1933, the Pittsburgh Steelers have won more Super Bowl titles (six) and won more AFC Championship Games (eight) than any other team in the American Football Conference or the National Football Conference. Not bad, huh?!

Pittsburgh Steelers

Family Legacy

When the team was founded on July 8, 1933, it was actually called the Pittsburgh Pirates. Why? Well, it was common in those days for new football teams to take the same name as the local baseball team (in this case, the Pirates). The original founder was a guy named Art Rooney, and his son and grandson currently own the team. Talk about a family legacy!

Steeler Nation

Fans of the Steelers are nicknamed part of Steeler Nation. The team’s home games are currently played at Heinz Field, which, you guessed it, is named after the Pittsburgh company that makes Heinz Ketchup!

Five of the Steelers' Super Bowl Rings

Coaches’ Corner

In its early years, the Steelers weren’t exactly considered an amazing football team. But their bad luck changed in 1969 when Chuck Noll was hired as coach. He had a knack for making great draft picks – in 1974, Chuck pulled off the incredible feat of selecting four Hall of Famers in one draft year!

Not only that, but players selected by Chuck in the early 1970s formed the base of the Steelers’ NFL dynasty, making the playoffs in eight seasons and becoming the only NFL team to ever win four [kwlink ]Super Bowls[/kwlink] in six years, as well as the first team to win more than two Super Bowls.

After Chuck came Bill Cowher, who led the Steelers to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons as coach. Next up was Mike Tomlin, who took over as head coach in 2007 and was named Motorola Coach of the Year in 2008. In 2009, Mike became the youngest head coach to ever win the Super Bowl . To this day he remains only the second [kwlink ]African American[/kwlink] coach to ever win the Super Bowl.

Very Important Players

When it comes to great players, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had their fair share. To name just a few:

”Mean Joe” Greene: His real name is Charles Edward Greene, and he actually got his scary-sounding nickname when he played for his college team, which was nicknamed the “Mean Green.”
Ben Roethlisberger: This quarterback’s nickname is “Big Ben,” and he became the youngest Super Bowl-winning quarterback in NFL history at the age of 23.
Troy Polamalu: He’s a great player, but his hair gets almost as much attention as his moves! He claims to have not had a haircut for the last eight or so years!

Troy Polamalu

Main Man

Steely McBeam

Of course, we’re talking about the Steelers’ mascot – Steely McBeam. He was named by super-fan Diane Roles, who said the name is "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.” Steely is at every home game and has a semi-well-known autograph: an oversized “S,” with the "L" drawn to look like a beam of steel.