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
1944 Camp Peary Pirates football team 1944 Camp Peary Pirates football team The 1944 Camp Peary Pirates football team represented Camp Peary during the 1944 college football season. The team compiled a 5–2 record. Red Strader, who was coach of the Saint Mary's Gaels football team before the war, was the head coach. The team garnered attention when, shortly before the season began, the Navy assigned eight former NFL players to Camp Peary. The eight included halfbacks Joe Vodicka, Andy Uram, Len Janiak, and Bob Morrow, fullback Joe Bokant, center Al Matuza, and tackle Bob Bjorklund. Other notable players on the team included ends Ralph Schilling