Sports in Pittsburgh

See also: American football in Western Pennsylvania

Main article: Pittsburgh
As the home of the MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, PNC Park is located in North Shore, in front of the Allegheny River, Roberto Clemente Bridge, and the Pittsburgh city skyline.

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 football team, and Pittsburgh Steelers won multiple championships in the 1970s.[1] 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 Power Five conference, the highest level of collegiate athletics in the United States, in both football and basketball. Local universities Duquesne and Robert Morris also field Division I teams in men's and women's basketball and Division I FCS teams in football. Robert Morris also fields Division I men's and women's ice hockey teams.

Pittsburgh's major teams have seen great success, with the MLB's Pirates winning 5 World Series titles, the NHL's Penguins winning 5 Stanley Cups, and the NFL's Steelers winning a tied league record 6 Super Bowls. The Pittsburgh Panthers have also been successful in the NCAA with 9 national championships in football and 2 in basketball.

The flag of Pittsburgh is colored with black and gold, based on the colors of William Pitt's coat of arms; Pittsburgh is the only city in the United States in which all professional sporting teams share the same colors. The city's first National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and that team's non-NHL predecessor, the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, wore black and gold as their colors in the 1920s. The colors were adopted by founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney, in 1933. In 1948, the Pittsburgh baseball Pirates switched their colors from red and blue to black and gold. Pittsburgh's second NHL franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins, wore blue and white, due to then-general manager Jack Riley's upbringing in Ontario. In 1979, after the Steelers and Pirates had each won their respective league championships, the Penguins altered their color scheme to match, despite objections from the Boston Bruins,[2][3] who have used the black and gold combination since the 1935–36 NHL season.[4][5]

In 1975, late Steelers radio broadcaster Myron Cope invented the Terrible Towel, which has become "arguably the best-known fan symbol of any major pro sports team."[6] Cope was one of multiple sports figures born in Pittsburgh and its surrounding area; others include golfer Arnold Palmer, Olympian Kurt Angle, and basketball player Jack Twyman. Pittsburgh is also sometimes called the "Cradle of Quarterbacks"[7][8] due to the number of prominent players of that position who hail from the area, including NFL greats Jim Kelly, George Blanda, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, and Joe Montana.

The hometown Pittsburgh Penguins NHL ice hockey team defeats the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs second round en route to winning the Stanley Cup championship two rounds later. As of 2024, this is the most recent major league sports championship won by a Pittsburgh team.
  1. ^ Gallo, DJ (April 21, 2008). "So good, they donate champions". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  2. ^ Dvorchak, Robert (November 10, 2008). "Vintage Penguins jerseys selling up a blue streak". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  3. ^ Potter, Chris (June 3, 2004). "Why are our colors always black and gold for our sports teams?". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  4. ^ Creamer, Chris; Radom, Todd (2020). Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL's Names, Logos, and Uniforms. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-68358-385-1.
  5. ^ Moore, Gerry (November 19, 1935). "Bruins Play Amerks in First Home Game". The Boston Globe. p. 22.
  6. ^ "Former Steelers broadcaster, Terrible Towel creator Cope dies". ESPN. Associated Press. February 28, 2008. Retrieved May 15, 2008.
  7. ^ McHugh, Roy (January 20, 1991). "VIEWS OF SPORT; True Grit: Quarterbacks From Steel Belt Football". The New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  8. ^ Mike White (August 25, 2005). "Tradition of Western Pennsylvania quarterbacks continues". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.