The Pittsburgh Steelers are regarded as the most successful professional football franchise of the 1970s, the decade when the sport became a major spectator pastime in the United States thanks to increased live television coverage and the growing momentum of the annual Super Bowl. As millions of American fans were getting hooked on weekly football telecasts in the 1970s, the Steelers won four Super Bowl titles, becoming a sort of touchstone that represented pro football at its best. The team remained a consistent playoff contender in the 1980s and 1990s, though it has not since returned to the league-dominant status of its '70s heyday.

The Steelers were founded in July 1933 by Arthur J. Rooney, who used $2,500 he had won at the racetrack to purchase a football team. The team was known as the Pirates until 1940, when Rooney changed the name to reflect Pittsburgh's...