Phil-Pitt Steagles

On June 19, 1943 the National Football League declared that the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles would combine into one season for a one-time temporary merger to help with manpower shortages due to World War II. We take a look at at this volatile combo in this edition.

June 19, 1943 - The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles merge to form the wartime "Steagles" team. This exciting chapter in NFL history was done to help the two franchises deal with workforce issues due to wartime America. The NFL wanted to keep the games going for financial and national morale issues. The teams' founders, Art Rooney, and Bert Bell, were good friends; at times, they had been business partners. The combined coaching staffs, however, were not as homogenous.

Steagles Merged 20 Jun 1943, Sun The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) Newspapers.com

 The PhiladelphiaEagles.com website recants a 1974 interview with Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr.; "It was done out of necessity. The war was going on, and most of the players were in the service. A lot of the coaches, too. We didn't have the manpower to field a team, and neither did the Eagles, but we thought we could make it work if we pooled our resources." Remarkably in all of the turmoil, the Philly-Pittsburgh merged squad ended up with a respectable 5-4-1 record that season. That was the first winning season that the Eagles team had seen and only the second for the Steelers in franchise history since both teams formed in 1933. The biggest issue was coaching. Rooney and Bert Bell, his Philadelphia counterpart, made the two head coaches – Greasy Neale of the Eagles and Walt Kiesling of the Steelers – co-coaches for that season. Everyone involved, knowing the personalities of these two coaches, figured that this arrangement couldn't possibly go seamlessly, and it didn't. "I thought Greasy was the most stubborn man I ever met until I met Kiesling," said Frank "Bucko" Kilroy, an Eagles tackle who played for the Steagles. "They didn't get along at all. The idea was for Greasy to coach the offense and Kiesling to coach the defense, but they spent most of the time fighting each other. It was actually kind of funny to watch."
"Greasy would put in a play, and Kiesling would say, 'That'll never work,'" said Vic Sears, an All-Pro lineman with the Eagles who became a Steagle. "Greasy would tell him off, and Kiesling would come back at him, and we'd be there wondering when we'd get back to work. It was the craziest thing I ever saw in all my years of football, but we finished with a winning record. Don't ask me how." That year, the League was a shadow of itself; the circumstance was the best the two teams could do under the situation. The other teams could go of it without merging, but even the best teams, such as Chicago and Green Bay, were a patchwork of military rejects and recycled veterans. The Bears talked the legendary Bronko Nagurski out of a five-year retirement, and he helped lead Chicago to the championship. This merger dissolved on December 5, 1943, and the Eagles went back to being the Eagles while the Steelers were forced to go into another merger in 1944, one with the Chicago Cardinals that, let's just say, may have been an even worse off merged team.

Steagle tie Washington 08 Nov 1943, Mon The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

The combined rosters of the Steelers and Eagles was an interesting mish-mash of talent. Here it is according to Pro-Football-Reference.com

Here are the team leaders of the third place in the Eastern Division, 5-4-1 Steagles according to Pro-Football-Reference.com:

Here is more article on the subject of the combined Philadelphia and Pittsburgh team of the 1943 NFL season. Enjoy these fantastic posts collected that tell the story.

1943 Phil-Pitt Steagles

The 1943 Combination of the Steelers and Eagles to help the franchises survive WWII manpower shortages.

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1943 Phil-Pitt Steagles- an unforgettable season

The World War II merger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles was out of personnel shortage necessity. it made for an interesting year with two head coaches and duel host cities, A sample of the early Pittsburgh Steelers history.

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The banner image used a n image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The original uploader was Coemgenus at English Wikipedia. They state: "I took this picture in the Football Hall of Fame in Canton."