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When did the Steelers get the title of 'Steel Curtain'?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:58 pm
by lastcat3
When were they given this title (or at least when did the title become public knowledge)? Just curious because I was watching a bit of the '76 playoff game between the Steelers and Colts on youtube and the camera focused in on a banner of the Steelers D-line (which is traditionally what is known as the Steel Curtain) and the commentators just kind of laughed at it and made no connection to a Steel Curtain title at all. Was the Steel Curtain title widely known by then and the commentators just didn't recognize it on camera or had the public not yet grabbed on to the title yet at the time the '76 playoffs were happening?
Re: When did the Steelers get the title of 'Steel Curtain'?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 11:45 pm
by JuggernautJ
From Wikipedia:
The nickname "Steel Curtain", a play on the phrase "Iron Curtain" popularized by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, originated in a 1971 contest sponsored by Pittsburgh radio station WTAE to name the defense. The name was also a play on Pittsburgh's reputation for steel production. The contest was won by Gregory Kronz, a ninth grader at a suburban high school. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "he was just one of 17 people who submitted the 'Steel Curtain' moniker to the WTAE contest, necessitating a drawing for the grand prize," which Kronz won.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Curtain
Re: When did the Steelers get the title of 'Steel Curtain'?
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:47 am
by BD Sullivan
JuggernautJ wrote:From Wikipedia:
The nickname "Steel Curtain", a play on the phrase "Iron Curtain" popularized by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, originated in a 1971 contest sponsored by Pittsburgh radio station WTAE to name the defense. The name was also a play on Pittsburgh's reputation for steel production. The contest was won by Gregory Kronz, a ninth grader at a suburban high school. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "he was just one of 17 people who submitted the 'Steel Curtain' moniker to the WTAE contest, necessitating a drawing for the grand prize," which Kronz won.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Curtain
Slight correction: the 11/12/71 Pittsburgh Post Gazette indicates that it was FRED Kronz that won the contest and received a trip to that Sunday's Steelers game in Miami. Some of the other candidates:
Runnerup was "The Mean Green(e) Machine," while these three inexplicably got solid support: "Noll's Knockers," "The Bang Gang," and "God's Little Achers."
