Sports in Pittsburgh Sports in Pittsburgh Sports in Pittsburgh have been played dating back to the American Civil War. Baseball, hockey, and the first professional American football game had been played in the city by 1892. Pittsburgh was first known as the "City of Champions" when the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Panthers, and Pittsburgh Steelers won multiple championships in the 1970s. Today, the city has three major professional sports franchises, the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins; while the University of Pittsburgh Panthers compete in a Division I BCS conference, the highest level of collegiate athletics in the United States, in both football and basketball. Local
History of the Pittsburgh Steelers 1–0–2 before falling at home by a score of 10–3 to a Brooklyn Dodgers squad coached by local hero Jock Sutherland. It was the legendary coach's first professional victory after leaving Duquesne University in 1939. He had assumed the head job for the Dodgers that year after spurning a similar offer from the Pirates/Steelers the previous season. The loss to the Dodgers began a six-game losing streak, before the team traded wins with the Philadelphia Eagles to cap a 2–7–2 season in which they scored a total of just 60 points. Rooney had finally seen enough. Over eight years, the