The Terrible Towel has lasted so long — 50 years this month — that you might think it was made of steel.
There are few places, if any, where a simple piece of cloth has carried such weight.
The gold towel first unfurled at Three Rivers Stadium on Dec. 27, 1975, when the Steelers hosted the then-Baltimore Colts in a playoff game. Conceived as a promotional gimmick by iconic Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope, it quickly became something far more durable.
The Steelers went on to win Super Bowl X over the Dallas Cowboys that season.
“I don’t think anyone else could have created the Terrible Towel than Myron because of his personality and his approach,” said four-time Super Bowl champion Steelers running back Rocky Bleier. “And I don’t think it would have worked with any other team.”
Bleier said the towel embraces moments in Steelers history.
“The Steelers were not a gimmick team,” Bleier said. “This is a blue-collar town with hardworking people, but the Terrible Towel just caught fire. It stands for Steelers Nation.”
Part of its growth, Bleier said, came when people from Pittsburgh began moving to other cities as steel mills closed and jobs disappeared.
“You started to see these towels across the country — and now across the world,” Bleier said. “The towel has an identity.”
The towel’s origins
It all began at Cope’s kitchen table in his Upper St. Clair home.
As he was telling his wife, Mildred, about this idea he had of creating a gimmick for fans to bring a bright yellow or gold towel to wave at the upcoming playoff game, their 5-year-old daughter told him what she thought.
“I have memories of my dad trying to come up with something at the kitchen table, and I said it was a terrible idea,” said Elizabeth Cope, now 55, of Cecil in Washington County. “That’s how the name came. I don’t think I ever got credit for it. I was 5. I just kept saying everything was terrible, terrible, terrible.”
Her thoughts about it inspired the name: the Terrible Towel.
Bleier said he doesn’t think Cope could have imagined the towel’s lasting impact. In 1996, Cope gave his ownership of the Terrible Towel trademark to Allegheny Valley School, now Merakey Allegheny Valley School. Before that, some of the proceeds from his part of the sales were donated. To date, nearly $10 million has been raised, according to Kelly Gremba, development and communications manager for the school.
The money comes from sales of officially licensed Terrible Towel products, including towels, blankets, ties, ornaments, lapel pins, flags, bibs, mugs and cookies. Merakey Allegheny Valley School supports those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and provides services to nearly 600 individuals through 117 programs and facilities in nine counties across Pennsylvania.
The money is used for renovations — such as a new roof or painting — and to improve programming. The therapy pool at the main campus in Coraopolis is receiving a new liner and other repairs, Gremba said.
Cope’s son, Danny, 57, is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum. He lives in one of the group homes served by Merakey Allegheny Valley School.
He was the inspiration for his father’s decision to donate the proceeds.
“What an incredible legacy Myron has left for his children and for us,” Gremba said. “It is truly an honor to be a part of this. I don’t think there is another thing like this anywhere else. It is so impactful.”
Gremba, other staff members and some of the people they support attended the Nov. 30 game at Acrisure Stadium against the Buffalo Bills, where the Steelers kicked off a weekslong celebration of the Terrible Towel’s 50th anniversary.
Part of the uniform
“When I am on the field and see those towels, it feels like home,” Bleier said. “You see them in fans’ back pockets, hanging from purses and around people’s necks.”
It has become part of the Steelers uniform, said Justin Mitchell, the team’s director of marketing.
“Not just people at the stadium — people at home and a lot of times servicemen and women from all over the world have a Terrible Towel,” Mitchell said.
The towel appears at nearly every milestone. Some local hospitals swaddle newborns in Terrible Towels, Mitchell said, and couples have waved them at weddings. Astronaut Mike Fincke, an Emsworth native, even unfurled one aboard the International Space Station.
The Terrible Towel Twirl gives a special guest the honor of leading the Acrisure Stadium crowd at the start of a home game.
Participants have included actors Billy Gardell, Joe Manganiello and Jesse Williams; actresses Alyssa Milano, Tamara Tunie and Jane Seymour; rapper Wiz Khalifa; and astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Former Steelers such as Franco Harris, Bleier, Dermontti Dawson and Alan Faneca also have taken part.
On Nov. 30, Steelers Hall of Fame wide receiver Lynn Swan led the twirl.
Since 2013, the towels have been made at Little Earth Productions on Pittsburgh’s South Side. While best known in black and gold, the towel also has appeared in pink for breast cancer awareness, camouflage, and holiday versions for Christmas, Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day.
“It has lasted 50 years because the Steelers and Steelers fans are pretty unique as a culture and organization,” said Ava DeMarco, CEO and co-founder of Little Earth. “When the Steelers run out through the tunnel before a game, everybody just whips out their towels and the noise is so loud — it’s chilling almost. It’s great to watch an away game and to see all those towels waving. I think Myron would love this. I think he’d be thrilled that there are so many different designs now.”
Fifty years ago, Myron Cope watched from the stands as a sea of yellow towels swirled while the Steelers ran out of the tunnel.
“The Terrible Towel supports what was near and dear to Myron’s heart,” said Mitchell, whose 3-year-old daughter has to have her Terrible Towel on game day. “Hearing him talk about … a piece of cloth in Steeler lore is fascinating. This might be one of the most iconic things in sports.”
Legacy continues
Cope, who died at 79 in February 2008, loved his work as a broadcaster, his daughter said.
“He worked hard at the craft,” she said. “He spent so many hours at the kitchen table reading note cards and trying to find personal facts about each of the Steelers players as well as the players on the opposing team.”
Elizabeth Cope recalled Steelers players — including Franco Harris and Terry Bradshaw — and coach Chuck Noll regularly visiting the family home. At the time, she said, it didn’t feel unusual because it happened so often.
“The Terrible Towel is like the flag of Steelers Nation,” she said. “And just like in any war, when people go off to battle the enemy, you know who the other team is by their flag. So I consider Danny and me the flag bearers. We carry the torch. It’s an honor.”