History of the Pittsburgh Steelers 1940, Rooney decided that he had had enough of the copycat Pirates moniker. He worked with the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" to run a contest to find a new name for the team. Former coach Joe Bach led the panel which selected the name Steelers from amongst the The new name paid homage to the city's largest industry of It is unclear who deserves credit for suggesting the name (which was already being used by at least one local high school team), but it appears there were a total of twenty-one winners, and each received a pair of season tickets to the
2009 East Carolina Pirates football team against the Houston Cougars in Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium. The Pirates were invited to their second consecutive Liberty Bowl where they were defeated by Arkansas 20–17 in overtime. The annual Purple/Gold Spring Game was held in the spring during the PirateFest and Pigskin Pigout weekend activities on April 18 in downtown Greenville, NC and put the "Pirates" team led by Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Josh Jordan against the "ECU" team led by Senior Quarterback Patrick Pinkney. The ECU team defeated the Pirates team 31-10. The Pirates renewed their rivalry with their former Southern Conference opponent for the first time since 1979. The Mountaineers