Fans of a certain age might recall the Steelers wore a similar jersey in 1994 in conjunction with the NFL’s 75th Anniversary.
The City of Pittsburgh crest was also the dominant image on the front of those 1933 jerseys. The crest itself featured a castle and a shield containing a checkerboard of blue-and-white, which were the William Pitt family colors. Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham in the 1760s, was the man after whom the city would be named.
This uniform was part of the NFL’s inaugural foray into the throwback category. For the 75th Anniversary, individual teams then were able to opt-in and participate in the program. On the occasion of the league’s diamond jubilee, professional football was the most popular sport in America, having bypassed Major League Baseball, college football, boxing, and horse racing. But in the area of merchandising the league wasn’t as sophisticated as it is now, especially on the individual team level.
On Sept. 18, 1994, the 1-1 Steelers hosted the 1-1 Indianapolis Colts, and both teams wore their respective 75th Anniversary jerseys. For the Steelers, that meant they were wearing jerseys of bright gold with some back stripes and the City of Pittsburgh crest on the front. Also on the front near the player’s left shoulder was the NFL’s 75th Anniversary patch, and finally a small area on the front near the other shoulder was where the player’s number was displayed.
This was a shock to Steelers radio broadcaster Myron Cope, whose ability to do his job in the radio booth was complicated by the difficulty in seeing the numbers to identify players. Cope was not a fan of the jersey concept, and he wasn’t shy about making his case into a live microphone.
