Pittsburgh Steelers second place in their division, or with a record better than .500 (). Pittsburgh did make history in by signing Byron White, a future Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to what was at the time the biggest contract in NFL history, but he played only one year with the Pirates before signing with the Detroit Lions. Prior to the 1940 season, the Pirates renamed themselves the Steelers. During World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises to field a team. During the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the
Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel has been described by the Associated Press as "arguably the best-known fan symbol of any major pro sports team". Conceived of by broadcaster Myron Cope in , the towel's rights have since been given to the Allegheny Valley School in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, which cares for over 900 people with intellectual disability and physical disabilities, including Cope's autistic son. Since 1996, proceeds from the Terrible Towel have helped raise more than $2.5 million for the school. The Steelers have no official fight song, but many fan versions of "Here we go Steelers" and the "Steelers Polka" (the latter a