History
                  of

Art Rooney Sr.
founded Pittsburgh's professional football team in 1933. However, it wasn't originally the Steelers. Instead, he named the team after his favorite baseball team, the Pirates. They remained the Pirates until 1940, when Mr. Rooney re-named the team,
the Pittsburgh Steelers
to represent the city's heritage.



The uniforms were different in each of the teams first four seasons. In 1936 the jersey featured the popular Northwestern Striping on each sleeve. A similar stripe design as seen on today's jersey. Because Art Rooney's team finished 6-6 in 1936, which was the first .500 record in its short history, the Northwestern Striping became an intrigral part of the uniform.


As the NFL entered the mid 50's, many teams followed the Rams lead, and added logos to their helmets. The Steelers, however, were reluctant to make a change. Their helmets at the time, were a spartan gold, with players' numbers
on each side.


In the early sixties the numbers were removed from the helmets, and in 1962 Republic Steel, located in Cleveland, approached the Steelers and suggested the team use the Steelmark as their helmet logo.


The Steelers liked the idea presented by Republic Steel even though that company was based in the city of their bitter rival. The next step was to petition the American Iron
and Steel Institute for permission to change the
word "Steel" to "Steelers." Now, the logo was complete.


From this point there are two popular versions as to why the logo is only on one side.


1. When the helmet logos arrived, the Steelers weren't convinced they looked all that good when added to a solid gold helmet. As a result, the equipment manager,
Jack Hart, was instructed to put the logo on only one side
of the helmet, the right side.


2. When the steelmark logos arrived, there were only enough to put the logo on one side of the helmet. Some say that the Steelers' only order the exact number of helmets, while others claim that the wrong amount was shipped.


The 1962 Steelers finished 9-5 and became the winningest team in franchise history. They finished second in the Eastern Conference, and qualified for the Playoff Bowl. This was
the first-ever post-season game for Rooney's team. For their first appearance, the Steelers wanted to do something special, so they changed the color of their helmets from gold to solid black. Although they lost the game 17-10 to the Detroit Lions, the new look highlighted the new logo so well they decided to stay with the black helmet, and never looked back.


During the mid 60's, the Steelers strayed from their Northwestern Striping on the sleeves. Their first uniform venture of the 60's was a diamond shape on each sleeve with the players number inside. Next they went to the diamond shaped shoulders, but these variations only lasted a few seasons, and not all too soon.


As the Steelers entered the franchise's historic 70's, the decision was made to return to the popular Northwestern Striping, and the rest is memorable history.


And so the uniforms and helmets the Steelers currently wear, have roots dating back to two of their historic seasons -- 1936, when they first added the Northwestern Striping and completed their first non-losing season; and 1962, when they added the Steelmark Logo and finished 9-5, the winningest team in the franchise's first
39 years.