{"id":2219,"date":"2012-12-10T13:01:41","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T13:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=2219"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:22:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:22:55","slug":"steelerettes-the-steelers-hard-hatted-cheerleaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/12\/10\/steelerettes-the-steelers-hard-hatted-cheerleaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelerettes \u2014 the Steelers\u2019 hard-hatted cheerleaders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Photo by Morris Berman, Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Aug. 16, 1961:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Before the Terrible Towel and that ever-present chant \u201cHere we go Steelers, here we go,\u201d we had the Steelerettes to whip up enthusiasm for our favorite NFL team. It was a tall order \u2014 the Steelers of 50 years ago were perennial losers. Heck, even selling tickets was tough.<\/p>\n

The Steelerettes were formed in 1961, making them the NLF\u2019s first cheerleading squad. Members were \u201csecretarial science\u201d students at what was then called Robert Morris School of Business. And the look? Let\u2019s just say it was conservative by today\u2019s standards. Steelerettes of the early 1960s wore gold knee-length bibbed jumpers and hardhats. Even their grandmothers could approve.<\/p>\n

The Steelerettes cheered until\u00a01970, when Art Rooney Sr. ordered them gone. In a Post-Gazette interview several years ago, Art Rooney Jr. said his dad \u00a0\u201dnever did like that stuff.\u201d\u00a0And so the young women who cheered a losing team through many lean\u00a0years missed the glory days that were so soon to come.<\/p>\n

In this episode of \u201cSports \u2018n \u2018at,\u201d PG sportswriter Bob Dvorchak takes a look at the cheerleading squad\u2019s history.<\/em><\/p>\n

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