The amazing true story of The Terrible Towel.

For Steelers fans, rooting for the home team is almost unimaginable without a Terrible Towel. Some stores are even running out of them.

The towel was conceived as "a gimmick that would more closely involve the fans with the team," said Myron Cope, a retired sportscaster who teamed with a promotion director at WTAE radio to invent the accessory in 1975.

The black-and-gold terry cloths have come to symbolize the Steel City and its storied football team.

As the Steelers prepare for Sunday's Super Bowl in Detroit, Terrible Towels again are essential for any true Steelers fan...


Cope wanted simple items to stir up the fans, "something that everybody has and that will not endanger the person sitting next to them or in front of them."

"I thought on it for a little bit and I said that's it, and we'll call it the Terrible Towel," he said. "And I'll be on radio and television yelling at people to bring out a yellow, gold or black towel to the game. And I'll say the Terrible Towel is poised to strike."

Cope said the towel's catchy name was the result of "a brainstorm" and could inspire "strange things" to happen to Steelers opponents.

"The Terrible Towel has mysterious connotations. ... You have to use your imagination," he said.

In 1996, Cope gave the Terrible Towel trademark to the Allegheny Valley School, a facility for the mentally retarded. Cope has an autistic son, Danny, who has lived at Allegheny Valley for more than 20 years.

Sales of the towels have generated more than $300,000 for the school this season and more than $1 million over the past nine years, said Dorothy Hunter Gordon, the school's chief development officer.