Classic Steelers

David Finoli

Description

When it came to football in the 1930s, the college sport was king. But in 1933, former boxer and minor league baseball player Art Rooney, who had quarterbacked the squad at Duquesne University, purchased a team for Pittsburgh for $2,500. Thus began the legacy we know as "Steeler Nation."At the time, no one could have imagined that the Pirates, as they were originally named, would become a treasured possession for Pittsburghers. For the first 40 years, the franchise was a national joke. With only one playoff performance-a 21-0 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles for the eastern division title in 1947-highlights were minimal for a team that regularly found itself at the bottom of the standings.Then in 1969, Art Rooney's son Dan hired Chuck Noll from the Baltimore Colts to coach his team. Noll replaced undisciplined players with future hall of famers. By 1974 the team won its first world championship and went on to capture four Super Bowl titles in six years. Noll's legacy for excellence continued with four more Super Bowl appearances and two championships in 2005 and 2008, garnering the franchise a league record of six Super Bowl wins.Classic Steelers includes these six championship tilts and takes citizens of the Steeler Nation on a play-by-play tour of the most memorable games in the team's history. Author David Finoli recounts in vivid detail the thrilling gridiron performances that have made the Steelers so special to their legions of fans.

Sujets

• USA
• Fútbol americano
• American football
• History of sport
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612778464
• Langue: English

Extrait

Classic Steelers
CLASSIC SPORTS
J ONATHAN K NIGHT , Series Editor
Classic Bucs: The 50 Greatest Games in Pittsburgh Pirates History
    D AVID F INOLI
Classic Steelers: The 50 Greatest Games in Pittsburgh Steelers History
    D AVID F INOLI
Classic Steelers
THE 50 GREATEST GAMES IN PITTSBURGH STEELERS HISTORY
David Finoli
Black Squirrel Books™   
An imprint of The Kent State University Press
Kent, Ohio 44242    www.KentStateUniversityPress.com
BLACK SQUIRREL BOOKS™   ™
Frisky, industrious black squirrels are a familiar sight on the Kent State University campus and the inspiration for Black Squirrel Books™, a trade imprint of The Kent State University Press. www.KentStateUniversityPress.com .
© 2014 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012048458
ISBN 978-1-60635-198-7
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Finoli, David, 1961–
Classic Steelers : the 50 greatest games in Pittsburgh Steelers history / David Finoli.
pages. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-60635-198-7 (pbk.) ∞
1. Pittsburgh Steelers (Football team)—History. I. Title.
GV 956. P 57 F 56 2014
796.332′640974886—dc23
2013042595
18  17  16  15  14      5  4  3  2  1
To my own personal Steeler Nation: Viv, Matt, Cara, Tony, Ma Pansino, Nancy, Fletch, Bill, and Tom, with whom I’ve enjoyed the joys and pitfalls of our favorite team for the past five decades.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
#50: From Humble Beginnings
Pirates 14, Chicago Cardinals 13, September 27, 1933
# 49: The First Glimpse
Steelers 28, Cleveland Browns 9, November 29, 1970
# 48: The Steel Curtain
Steelers 21, Houston Oilers 0, December 11, 1976
# 47: Three Out of Three Ain’t Bad
Steelers 29, Cleveland Browns 9, January 7, 1995
# 46: For One Day
Steelers 24, Green Bay Packers 17, December 17, 1967
# 45: The Last Waltz
Steelers 13, Los Angeles Raiders 7, December 16, 1984
# 44: Replacing Frenchy
Steelers 27, Cleveland Browns 7, December 7, 2006
# 43: The Mirage
Steelers 16, Detroit Lions 13, September 21, 1969
# 42: Super Bowl XIII ½
Steelers 14, Dallas Cowboys 3, October 28, 1979
# 41: The Postseason Waters
Steelers 17, Boston Yanks 7, December 7, 1947
# 40: Big Ben Comes of Age
Steelers 24, Dallas Cowboys 20, October 17, 2004
# 39: On the Legs of Kordell
Steelers 7, New England Patriots 6, January 3, 1998
# 38: A Fraction of an Inch
Steelers 13, Baltimore Ravens 9, December 14, 2008
# 37: One in a Million
Steelers 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 22, December 24, 1989
# 36: The 500-Yard Passer
Steelers 37, Green Bay Packers 36, December 20, 2009
# 35: Winning Ugly
Steelers 20, Dallas Cowboys 13, December 7, 2008
# 34: The Cowher Era
Steelers 29, Houston Oilers 24, September 6, 1992
# 33: Through the Air
Steelers 37, Chicago Bears 34, November 5, 1995
# 32: The 1,000-Yard Barrier
Steelers 19, St. Louis Cardinals 7, December 2, 1962
# 31: The Wheels of the Bus
Steelers 21, Chicago Bears 9, December 11, 2005
# 30: We Dey
Steelers 31, Cincinnati Bengals 17, January 6, 2006
# 29: An Old-Fashioned Blowout
Steelers 40, Baltimore Colts 14, December 19, 1976
# 28: The Kicker’s Graveyard
Steelers 20, New York Jets 17, January 15, 2005
# 27: Champions at Last
Steelers 24, San Diego Chargers 2, December 17, 1972
# 26: Changing of the Guard
Steelers 35, Philadelphia Eagles 24, October 19, 1947
# 25: Streak Breakers
Steelers 34, New England Patriots 20, October 31, 2004
# 24: A Quagmire on Turf
Steelers 34, Houston Oilers 5, January 7, 1979
# 23: Road Warriors
Steelers 34, Denver Broncos 17, January 22, 2006
# 22: The Lone Blemish
Steelers 20, San Francisco 49ers 17, October 14, 1984
# 21: The Fifty-Yard Miracle
Steelers 26, Houston Oilers 23, December 31, 1989
# 20: From the Jaws of Defeat
Steelers 31, Baltimore Ravens 24, January 15, 2011
# 19: Jefferson Street Joe
Steelers 30, Baltimore Colts 0, September 15, 1974
# 18: The Ice Man Cometh
Steelers 16, Oakland Raiders 10, January 4, 1976
# 17: The Year of the Steelers
Steelers 34, Oakland Raiders 28, September 17, 1972
# 16: A Guarantee Gone Bad
Steelers 24, New York Jets 19, January 23, 2011
# 15: A Case for Instant Replay
Steelers 27, Houston Oilers 13, January 6, 1980
# 14: A Monumental Upset
Steelers 24, Denver Broncos 17, December 30, 1984
# 13: The Offensive Explosion
Steelers 63, New York Giants 7, November 30, 1952
# 12: Our Idiot Kicker
Steelers 21, Indianapolis Colts 18, January 15, 2006
# 11: Epic Comeback
Steelers 36, Cleveland Browns 33, January 5, 2003
#10: City of Champions
Steelers 31, Los Angeles Rams 19, January 20, 1980
#9: Win One for the Home Team
Steelers 23, Baltimore Ravens 14, January 18, 2009
# 8: One for the Thumb
Steelers 21, Seattle Seahawks 10, February 6, 2006
# 7: Over the Hump
Steelers 24, Oakland Raiders 13, December 29, 1974
# 6: Redemption
Steelers 20, Indianapolis Colts 16, January 14, 1996
# 5: Baryshnikov in Cleats
Steelers 21, Dallas Cowboys 17, January 18, 1976
# 4: 14,723 Days
Steelers 16, Minnesota Vikings 6, January 12, 1975
# 3: C-A-T
Steelers 35, Dallas Cowboys 31, January 21, 1979
# 2: The Immaculate Reception
Steelers 13, Oakland Raiders 7, December 23, 1972
# 1: That’s How You Be Great
Steelers 27, Arizona Cardinals 23, February 1, 2009
Notes
Acknowledgments
Many people were instrumental in the completion of this book. To start, there is my incredible, supportive family that makes my life a true joy: Viv, my wife of 28 years, and my three children, Tony, Matt, and Cara.
My extended family has also been there through the highs and lows of my life over the years. My parents, Domenic and Eleanor, my brother Jamie, his wife, Cindy, and his daughters, Marissa and Brianna, my sister Mary and her husband, Matthew, and all my loving aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as Vivian Pansino and her daughter, Nancy, who have been going to Steelers games with my wife and me to cheer them on since 1985.
A big thank-you also has to go Joyce Harrison of the Kent State University Press, my copy editor Rebekah Cotton, and Jonathan Knight, the editor of the “Classic Sports” series, who made putting this book together a wonderful experience.
Additionally, I must recognize the helpful people in the microfilm department at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh who have been there to point me in the right direction when I’m stuck.
Finally, I offer a huge thank-you to my partners in crime: Bill Ranier, Tom Aikens, and Chris Fletcher, who not only helped out when needed with these projects but who also relived the trials and tribulation of the Steelers with me since before the glory days.
Introduction
On November 29, 1970, a nine-year-old boy entered brand-new Three Rivers Stadium to see his first Pittsburgh Steelers game. Their opponent, as explained to him by his father, a longtime Steelers fan, was the team’s bitter rivals, the Cleveland Browns. As the Steelers dismantled the Browns 28–9 that afternoon, the boy noticed that a group of Pittsburgh fans sitting nearby had grabbed a Cleveland pennant from a distraught Browns fan and set it on fire. While a little disturbed by the celebratory act, the boy developed an instant understanding of the rivalry, and a love affair with the Steelers was born.
That young boy was me, and the victory inspired a love of Steelers football, one that was strengthened even further two years later when I had the opportunity to see the Steelers’ first postseason game in 25 years when they took on John Madden’s Oakland Raiders. It was that day I learned two important lessons. The first was to never give up on this team, exemplified by its battling back to win on Franco Harris’s miraculous “Immaculate Reception” that won the game. The second lesson came from my father’s hatred of sitting in traffic. Since we were standing on the ramp on Gate C of Three Rivers as he hustled us out of the stadium to avoid the inevitable traffic jam that would follow when the greatest play in NFL History occurred, I learned to never leave a close game before the clock hit zero.
From that point on, for both me and the generations of fans that have followed, Steelers football has been nothing short of legendary: eight Super Bowl appearances, a league-record six Lombardi Trophies, and fifteen trips to the AFC championship game. The Pittsburgh Steelers are among the most successful franchises in the NFL over the last five decades. Wildly popular, there are over 700 “Steelers Bars” across the nation and in opposing stadiums in which the Steelers play; black-and-gold shirts often outnumber those of the hometown team.
But it wasn’t always that way. Before that special 1972 season, the franchise was among the biggest jokes in the league. Founded in 1933, in their first 39 seasons, the Steelers had played exactly one postseason game of substance, a 21–0 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles for the 1947 Eastern Division crown. In fact, in those first 39 seasons, they only had eight winning records—the same number of Super Bowl appearances they would achieve over their next 39.
Through the two disparate eras there were many spectacular contests (though, of course, the vast majority came after 1972) that made picking the list of the top fifty Steelers games both difficult and a joy, reliving all those special moments.
Hopefully they will spark the same joyful memories in the Steelers aficionados who read these pages.
#50
PIRATES 14, CHICAGO CARDINALS 13 SEPTEMBER 27, 1933
From Humble Beginnings
There’s a stark difference between the National Football League of the twenty-first century and that of its humble beginnings in 1920. In its infancy, major markets such as Chicago and New York gave way to those in Decatur, Canton, Kenosha, and Munc