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Here are some more interesting facts and quotes about the Steelers:

• Jersey numbers retired by the Steelers: 70 - Ernie Stautner. That is the only one. The Steelers don't retire numbers anymore, although the following numbers are generally not worn by current players: 12 - Terry Bradshaw, 32 - Franco Harris, 52 - Mike Webster, 58 - Jack Lambert, 59 - Jack Ham, 75 - Joe Greene



• Jersey number which had not been worn for the longest: the number 8 had a 61 year absence. Everett Fisher wore number 8 in 1940 and it was not worn again until Tommy Maddox donned it in 2001



• Coach who turned down the Steelers offer to become head coach in 1969: Joe Paterno (Penn State sucks)



• Price Art Rooney paid to start the franchise in 1933: $2,500



• About the logo:
  • It's origin: It was US Steel's logo and the Steelers adopted it in 1962
  • The three "stars": actually, those aren't stars, they're hypercycloids, and each color stands for the materials used to make steel
  • Why it's only on one side of the helmet: it's a total mystery. People still wonder about this today. The only man who can answer this question is Jackie Hart, the Steelers old field manager. He's the one who only put the logo on one side, and it's just been done that same way ever since. Unfortunately, Hart died some 20 years ago, so no one will ever really know the answer to this question.



• The reason the NFL took away the Steelers third-round draft pick in 1979: the team practiced with pads during training camp



• Steelers leading passer in 1974 Super Bowl season: Joe Gilliam



• Steelers MVP in 1974 Super Bowl season: Glen Edwards



• Number of times Franco Harris led the AFC in rushing: zero



• Longest pass in Steelers history: 90 yards (three times); Terry Bradshaw to Mark Malone (yes, Mark Malone) vs. Seattle in 1981, Bubby Brister to Dwight Stone vs. Denver in 1990, Kordell Stewart to Bobby Shaw vs. Baltimore in 2001



• Longest run in Steelers history: 97 yards; Bobby Gage vs. the Chicago Bears in 1949



• NFL Commissioner who died at a Steelers game: Bert Bell, 1959



• Number of players on all four 1970's Super Bowl teams: 22



• Number of players on both of the two post-1970's Super Bowl teams: 1 (Willie Williams)



• Steeler who intercepted a pass and threw an interception in the same game in 1977: Tony Dungy



• Bills player who kicked Terry Bradshaw in the head during a game in 1979: Jim Haslett, who later became the Steelers defensive coordinator



• Legendary bonehead plays in Steelers history:
  • WR Dave Smith spikes the ball on the three yard line in a Monday Night Football game vs. Kansas City (1971)
  • RB Barry Foster lets kickoff bounce past him and watches as 49ers take ball into endzone (1990)
  • WR Plaxico Burress spikes the ball before the play is over vs. Jacksonville (2000)
  • WR Antwaan Randle El attempts ill-timed lateral vs. New England (2005)


• Actor who played Rocky Blier in the 1980 TV movie "Fighting Back: the Rocky Blier Story": Robert Urich ("Spenser for Hire")



• Only game the Steelers have not sold out since 1972: vs. Indianapolis Colts in 1987, because of the players strike (it was all replacement players) and because the Steelers gave us season ticket holders refunds for our tickets to that game



• Only Steelers to cross the picket line and play in the three 1987 strike games: Mike Webster and RB Earnest Jackson



• Steelers replacement QB during the 1987 strike: Steve Bono, who went on to a long career in the NFL



• Steelers longest winning streak: 15 games (2004)



• Steelers longest losing streak under Bill Cowher in his first six seasons: 2 games

















• Steelers quarterbacks in the 1950's (none of these guys lasted too long in Pittsburgh):
  • Johnny Unitas (Hall of Famer)
  • Len Dawson (Hall of Famer)
  • Earl Morrall
  • Bobby Lane (Hall of Famer)
  • Jack Kemp
  • Jim Finks
  • Ted Marchibroda



• Steelers record during the 1950's: 54-63-3



• People who played for the Steelers at one time** :
  • Marty Schottenheimer (NFL head coach)
  • Ed O'Neill ("Al Bundy")
  • Gene Keady (Purdue basketball coach)
  • Byron White (former Supreme Court Justice)
  • Marion Motley (Hall of Fame back for the Browns)
  • Bill Walsh (former 49ers head coach)



• More Great Quotes:
  • "Chuck Noll is building one hell of a football team up in Pittsburgh. I look for the Steelers to be the team of the future. Just remember I said that."
    - - - Immortal Packers coach Vince Lombardi in 1970, two years before the Steelers even made the playoffs under Noll
    
    
  • "I'm no f*cking relief quarterback. I don't mop up for anybody"
    - - - QB Bubby Brister, after refusing to go in for Neil O'Donnell in a 31-6 loss at Houston (1991)
    
    
  • "Franco who?"
    - - - Chuck Noll, during Franco Harris' holdout in 1984. I know people who have still not forgiven Noll for this comment.
    
    
  • "On Saturday, there's a tarp there and I see everything is fine. On Sunday, I couldn't believe it. Here the field is frozen and they've got a hose out there and they're watering it down. I'm standing there watching them and they're telling me they're trying to melt the ice!"
    - - - Raiders coach John Madden, who claimed that the Steelers intentionally froze the sides of the field at Three Rivers for the 1974 AFC Championship game in order to slow down his speedy wide receivers. The Steelers say that the tarp accidentally ripped overnight.
    
    
  • "Dreith said I hit Sipe too hard. I hit him as hard as I could. Brian has a chance to go out of bounds and he decides not to. He knows I'm going to hit him. And I do. History."
    - - - Jack Lambert, after referee Ben Dreith ejected him from a game for knocking out Browns QB Brian Sipe.
    
    
  • "Rocky, you won't be able to play again. It's impossible"
    - - - Dr. John Baughman to Rocky Blier in 1969, after Blier was critically injured by a grenade in Vietnam. Blier would go on to play for the Steelers until 1980.
    
    
  • "Money talks and everything else walks."
    - - - Barry Foster, on what motivates him (1992)
    
    
  • "It's the high-character players. On paper you wouldn't say they'd win Super Bowls like [the Steelers] did, but if you don't have the chemistry, the talent and the help, with high-character people, you're not going to survive."
    - - - Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, upon finally realizing that the Rooney way of building a team is much more effective than signing low-character people like Terrell Owens. (2006)
  
  
  
• MORE TO COME