In 1961, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked to spice up home games by introducing the Pittsburgh Steelerettes. They were the first cheerleading squad in NFL history. The Steelers' cheerleading pioneers were part of the organization from 1961 until 1968. They were exclusively full-time students at Robert Morris Junior College in Pittsburgh. The Steelers' innovation was followed soon thereafter and now 26 of 32 NFL teams have a cheerleading squad.
Abby Winkler
The Steelerettes had been adopted by Robert Morris since the college did not have a football team. William Day, who was the entertainment coordinator for the Steelers was also an administrator at the college. He decided it might be a good idea to hold tryouts at the school for a group of college girls to form a professional football cheerleading squad.
The candidates for the squad were evaluated on coordination, personality, appearance, and gymnastic ability. The prospective applicants also had to complete a basic football knowledge test to make sure they would now when and what to cheer. In a pre-cursor to the modern hip hop dance routines that fill stadiums and arenas today, the Steelerettes learned choreographed jazz routines to live jazz music. Steelerettes were required to keep up with their studies and like most collegiate football players, were required to maintain a 2.0 grade point average. The Rooney family approved Day’s plan and expected that while the Steelerettes would boost attendance, they wanted to make sure the cheerleaders did not become a sideshow.
"The first year, we wore hard helmets as part of our uniform... We started to look more and more like wholesome cheerleaders as time went on." - Eleanor Lewis, Original Steelerette
The skirts were knee length with black turtlenecks and white sneakers. The hard helmets disappeared during the 1963 season. Art Rooney was a devout Catholic and insisted that the cheerleaders maintained a high moral standard. He forbid the players from fraternizing with the squad. He expected the young ladies to stick to cartwheels, yelling and the Steelerette signature human pyramid. He tolerated the dancing, but voiced objections on multiple occasions.
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In 1962, the Steelers experimented with adding a squad of male cheerleaders to join the ladies. The men were responsible for firing a cannon whenever the home team scored. The men who were also Robert Morris students only accompanied the ladies for one season before the squad was restricted to young ladies only in 1963 until they disbanded. Despite the losing seasons of the mid and late 60’s, the Steelerettes were crucial to keeping the home crowd’s morale high.
By 1965, the Steelerettes were becoming more daring in their dance routines. Rooney, who was never a big fan of the squad, made it clear to the team that he expected wholesome conservative performances.
"It was a mutual understanding between us and management that we did not sign on to become showgirls... It was definitely not like what would come with squads like the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders." - Patricia Tanner, Steelerette
By 1968, Robert Morris had grown and had their own football team. After the 1-13 1969 season, The Steelerettes were pushing ownership to wear more modern and risqué uniforms and perform more elaborate musical numbers. Perhaps it was Mr. Rooney’s objections to a more daring approach, but the Steelers promptly fired the squad, and the team has never revisited a new cheerleading team. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders of the 1970’s skimpy outfits and the Laker Girls of the 1980’s exciting dance routines might never have come about if William Day hadn’t convinced Art Rooney to let a small college without a football team adopt the Steelers and give an opportunity to 60 young women to augment their scholastic experience by yelling for the Black and Gold on the weekend.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Everyone knows the Steelers do not have cheerleaders, but how many know they were the first professional squad in the NFL? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @thebubbasq.
