PITTSBURGH (WHTM) – The Pittsburgh Steelers were founded in 1933 but were originally named the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Art Rooney was the first owner of the Pittsburgh team when the NFL granted him the team for a $2,500 fee and decided on the Pirates due to the baseball team in Pittsburgh being named the Pirates.

Pittsburgh would play its home games at Forbes Field (home of the Pittsburgh baseball team) from 1933 to 1963.

From 1933 to 1939, the Pittsburgh Pirates (football team) would go through five head coaches and have plenty of losses to their name so Rooney decided the team needed a change, a name change.

Rooney with the help of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette would run a name the team contest.

Steelers would end up winning the fan vote thus creating the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A year later Rooney sold the Steelers to Alexis Thompson of Boston due to financial setbacks.

The Steelers would go through a third name change when Thompson decided to call them the Pittsburgh Iron Men in 1941.

The story takes a turn in April of 1941 when ex-owner Rooney (now the owner of the Philadelphia team) and Thompson would swap teams.

Everything would be swapped except for uniforms and team colors.

The move meant that the Pittsburgh ownership group would now be listed as the Philadelphia Football Club, Inc.

The Pittsburgh Iron Men or the Pittsburgh Eagles would never play a game under those names as Rooney would rename the team the Steelers.

In 1943, during World War II, the Eagles and Steelers struggled to field teams so instead they combined teams.

This created a new team called the Steagles and they would play a few games in Pittsburgh and a few in Philadelphia and the uniforms would be green

This would only last for the 1943 season and they would go 5-4-1.

But the next season, Pittsburgh would have to combine with another team but this time it would be the Chicago Cardinals thus creating the Card-Pitt.

The team struggled during the year finishing 0-10 and would become known as the “Carpits.”

After the 1945 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers would never combine or change their name again.

The Steeler nickname is also in honor of the city’s steel “Still” mill heritage.

In the Steelers 91 year history, they have an overall record of 666-574-22, a playoff record of 36-27, and won six Super Bowls.