there until you find out for sure!â
Though the Steagles didnât reach the championship game, they managed to finish the season with a winning 5-4-1 record. The problem of the merged team wasnât just with the coaches. The owners had their share of disagreements. The training camp was located in eastern Pennsylvania, and twice as many home games were played in Philadelphia. Lex Thompson dominated the partnership and insisted the Steagles headquarters remain in Philly.
This was too much for my father. He was losing his team and the Pittsburgh fans. Yes, it was true that most of the Steagles team roster consisted of former Eagles players, and Thompson had the better players when the partnership was formed, but Dad wasnât about to be maneuvered out of the business by the smooth-talking Philadelphia playboy. Dad demanded that Pittsburgh become Steagles headquarters, beginning with the 1944 season. But Thompson refused, so my father went in search of a new partner.
Thatâs how the âCard-Pittsâ were born. Pittsburgh merged with the Chicago Cardinals, a union that resulted in one of the most unfortunate team names in football history. Fans suggested that âCar-Pitsâ was a fitting moniker since other teams walked all over them. The miserable 0-10 season accurately reflected the talent of the combined teams. The Card-Pitts fielded medically discharged veterans, several 4-Fs, and even a few high school players. Kiesling, who promised fans that the Card-Pitts would give all rivals a âreal battle,â had to share coaching duties with the Cardinalsâ Phil Handler and Buddy Parker. This arrangement brought even more problems than the Kies-Greasy combination of the year before, but for different reasons. Kies hit it off so well with Handler that the two spent more time at the racetrack together than they did with the team. Parkerâs role was unclear, and to confuse matters even more, Dad brought on Jim Leonard to keep a good Irish eye on the whole coaching staff. Leonard had been a two-sport (baseball and football) standout at Notre Dame, and then played three seasons for the Philadelphia
Eagles. After leaving the Eagles, he began his coaching career by establishing the football program at St. Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania, then came to the Steelers as assistant coach during the war years. But not even Leonardâs oversight could bring order to the coaching chaos. My father summed up the shutout season: âMerging the two teams didnât make us twice as goodâit made us twice as bad!â
When the war ended in 1945, the men came streaming home and the Steelers began the rebuilding process, now under new head coach Jim Leonard. The 2-8 season convinced Dad that the team needed a real coach. In the past he had been content to hire friends and cronies, guys he could hang out with and who didnât take their card playing too seriously. Now he set his sights on Jock Sutherland, the legendary University of Pittsburgh gridiron master.
Dr. John Bain âJockâ Sutherland came from Scotland, attended the University of Pittsburgh, and graduated with a degree in dentistry. The first football game he ever played at Pitt was coached by the grand old man of American football, âPopâ Warner. Jockâs real talent was not as a player, or a dentist for that matter. He was a natural-born coach. In 1919 he took charge of the football program at Lafayette College, a tiny school in Easton, Pennsylvania. In the five years he was there, he never had a losing season. In 1923, his last year at Lafayette, sportswriters named his 9-0 team the best college team in the country.
When Pop Warner resigned at Pitt, Jock Sutherland took the helm and steered the Panthers to fifteen years of dominance. Four times his teams went undefeated, and three times received the countryâs number-one ranking. Sutherlandâs single-wing attack overpowered defenses and the
Though the Steagles didnât reach the championship game, they managed to finish the season with a winning 5-4-1 record. The problem of the merged team wasnât just with the coaches. The owners had their share of disagreements. The training camp was located in eastern Pennsylvania, and twice as many home games were played in Philadelphia. Lex Thompson dominated the partnership and insisted the Steagles headquarters remain in Philly.
This was too much for my father. He was losing his team and the Pittsburgh fans. Yes, it was true that most of the Steagles team roster consisted of former Eagles players, and Thompson had the better players when the partnership was formed, but Dad wasnât about to be maneuvered out of the business by the smooth-talking Philadelphia playboy. Dad demanded that Pittsburgh become Steagles headquarters, beginning with the 1944 season. But Thompson refused, so my father went in search of a new partner.
Thatâs how the âCard-Pittsâ were born. Pittsburgh merged with the Chicago Cardinals, a union that resulted in one of the most unfortunate team names in football history. Fans suggested that âCar-Pitsâ was a fitting moniker since other teams walked all over them. The miserable 0-10 season accurately reflected the talent of the combined teams. The Card-Pitts fielded medically discharged veterans, several 4-Fs, and even a few high school players. Kiesling, who promised fans that the Card-Pitts would give all rivals a âreal battle,â had to share coaching duties with the Cardinalsâ Phil Handler and Buddy Parker. This arrangement brought even more problems than the Kies-Greasy combination of the year before, but for different reasons. Kies hit it off so well with Handler that the two spent more time at the racetrack together than they did with the team. Parkerâs role was unclear, and to confuse matters even more, Dad brought on Jim Leonard to keep a good Irish eye on the whole coaching staff. Leonard had been a two-sport (baseball and football) standout at Notre Dame, and then played three seasons for the Philadelphia
Eagles. After leaving the Eagles, he began his coaching career by establishing the football program at St. Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania, then came to the Steelers as assistant coach during the war years. But not even Leonardâs oversight could bring order to the coaching chaos. My father summed up the shutout season: âMerging the two teams didnât make us twice as goodâit made us twice as bad!â
When the war ended in 1945, the men came streaming home and the Steelers began the rebuilding process, now under new head coach Jim Leonard. The 2-8 season convinced Dad that the team needed a real coach. In the past he had been content to hire friends and cronies, guys he could hang out with and who didnât take their card playing too seriously. Now he set his sights on Jock Sutherland, the legendary University of Pittsburgh gridiron master.
Dr. John Bain âJockâ Sutherland came from Scotland, attended the University of Pittsburgh, and graduated with a degree in dentistry. The first football game he ever played at Pitt was coached by the grand old man of American football, âPopâ Warner. Jockâs real talent was not as a player, or a dentist for that matter. He was a natural-born coach. In 1919 he took charge of the football program at Lafayette College, a tiny school in Easton, Pennsylvania. In the five years he was there, he never had a losing season. In 1923, his last year at Lafayette, sportswriters named his 9-0 team the best college team in the country.
When Pop Warner resigned at Pitt, Jock Sutherland took the helm and steered the Panthers to fifteen years of dominance. Four times his teams went undefeated, and three times received the countryâs number-one ranking. Sutherlandâs single-wing attack overpowered defenses and the
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