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So far as most informal followers are involved, the historical past of the Pittsburgh Steelers begins on December 23, 1972 — the day of Franco Harris’s Immaculate Reception. A part of what made that second so particular was that for the previous 39 years, the Steelers achieved basically nothing as a company. Earlier than the Seventies, their one second of glory got here in 1947, once they got here inside a hair’s breadth of the NFL Championship Sport. The subsequent yr, the person who led the staff there, Jock Sutherland, was tragically taken away.
Jock Sutherland brings the Pittsburgh Steelers hope
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By 1946, the Pittsburgh Steelers — previously often known as the Pirates — had solely two successful seasons of their historical past….form of. The second got here in 1943, when wartime losses pressured the staff to merge with the Philadelphia Eagles to turn out to be the “Steagles.” That staff, by some means, went 5-4-1. After the warfare, the Steelers reverted to the norm, ending 2-8 in 1945.
Issues appeared to alter for the higher with the hiring of Jock Sutherland as the head coach for the 1946 season. He was acquainted to Pittsburgh followers as the previous coach of the Pitt Panthers soccer staff, who he led to 5 (or 9, relying on who you consider) nationwide championships.
Sutherland wasn’t new to the NFL, both. He spent two seasons as the top coach of the Brooklyn Dodgers (sure, there was an NFL staff known as the Brooklyn Dodgers) simply earlier than america entered World Conflict II. Through the warfare, he served in america Navy, the place he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
1947 — the Pittsburgh Steelers’ finest yr up to now
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In his second yr as head coach of the Steelers, Sutherland’s prices lastly turned it round. They caught hearth with a six-game successful streak mid-season, the primary time in franchise historical past they received greater than 4 in a row. With the NFL’s final remaining single-wing offense, Pittsburgh rose from 5-5-1 in 1946 to 8-4 in 1947, ending in a tie for first within the Jap Convention.
This pressured a tiebreaker playoff with the Philadelphia Eagles for the correct to play within the NFL Championship Sport. In principle, they need to have held the benefit, since by likelihood, the league scheduled their bye week on the ultimate week of the common season. Sadly, by then, the Steelers’ magic had run out. Regardless of internet hosting the sport at Forbes Discipline, they misplaced the playoff 21-0.
Jock Sutherland’s tragic loss of life
1947 might have ended on a disappointing word, however hopes have been excessive for the 1948 season. Issues modified 4 months after the season ended when coach Jock Sutherland drove out to fulfill some household in Kentucky.
On April 7, 1948, Sutherland’s automobile ran off the highway within the small city of Bandana, Ky. Passersby discovered him, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette phrased it, “in a dazed situation”. He was taken to a hospital in close by Cairo, In poor health., and identified with “nervous exhaustion” earlier than being flown again residence to western Pennsylvania for additional remedy. There, medical doctors discovered a malignant mind tumor, and his situation quickly deteriorated.
On April eleventh, Jock Sutherland died. With him died the hopes of any success for the Pittsburgh Steelers for the subsequent quarter-century. For the 1948 season, beneath new head coach John Michelosen, the Steelers tumbled to a 4-8 document. It will take till 1972 for Pittsburgh to smell the postseason once more.
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