Terrible Towel Meaning

The Terrible Towel, originally a simple gold or black hand towel, has become a fan symbol of the Pittsburgh Steelers professional football team and an icon of the Western Pennsylvania city. Sales of towel-related products have raised millions of dollars for its creator's favorite charity.

  1. Significance

    • The towel, given a male gender and referred to as "he," according to the New York Times, appears only during Steelers' post-season home games and regular-season games deemed significant. Fans in the stadium, and even those watching games on television, wave the towel during critical moments of the game or to celebrate scoring, turnovers, sacks and other game events.

      Since its introduction as a radio station promotional stunt in 1975, the small gold towel with black printing has become a symbol of the city of Pittsburgh and civic as well as team pride. Fans take it with them on vacation and photograph the towel in famous sites.

      "When they wave that towel, it's just something that comes from in their soul and tries to reach out to us players," Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told ESPN in 2008.

    History

    • Myron Cope, a Pittsburgh radio sports broadcaster and Steelers analyst in the 1970s, told the New York Times the towel started as a gimmick for radio station WTAE to promote the team after its first Super Bowl appearance.

      In the 1975 AFC championship game against the Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh wide receiver Lynn Swann sealed the towel's popularity by waving it around on the sidelines. Fans followed his lead, waving towels and turning Three Rivers Stadium gold, according to the ESPN website.

      When Cope died in 2008 at 79, newspapers around the United States heralded his creation of the Terrible Towel.

      United States President Barak Obama received a Terrible Towel at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. The towel appeared atop Mt. Everest, on "Saturday Night Live," on the Great Wall of China, in the international space shuttle, at the Vatican and with U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to ESPN.

    Characteristics

    • At the beginning, Cope told listeners to just bring black or gold towels to the games. Official trademarked versions with "Myron Cope's Official The Terrible Towel" printed in black on small gold towels hit the stadium soon.

      The original towel in 2010 sells for $6.95 on the Pittsburgh Steelers website. Commemorative versions celebrating playoff games, anniversaries and National Football League Hall of Fame inductions also are available.

    Benefits

    • Sales of official towels and Terrible Towel products have raised more than $3 million for the Allegheny Valley School for the Handicapped, a Western Pennsylvania school for disabled people. Cope's son attended the school. In 1996, Cope donated the copyright and all of its benefits to the school, according to the ESPN website.

      A pink version of the towel, introduced in 2009, promotes breast cancer awareness.

    Sales

    • The McArthur Towel and Sports Company of Baraboo, Wis., makes Terrible Towels for the Steelers. The team told ESPN that more than six million towels have been sold in more than three decades, plus thousands of related items including beach towels, neckties, scarves, tote bags, gloves and baby bibs.