1939 Pittsburgh Pirates (NFL) season

NFL team season November 2013 March 2026 Pittsburgh Pirates (NFL) 1939 1–9–1 4th (tied) NFL Eastern Johnny Blood, Walt Kiesling Art Rooney Forbes Field Did not qualify Byron Gentry 1940 (Steelers) Pittsburgh Pirates Pirates seasons The 1939 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the franchise's seventh season as a professional football club in the National Football League (NFL). The Pirates brought Johnny Blood back for his third year, however, after finishing with a 2–9 record, Owner Art Rooney provided him with support by signing Walt Kiesling during the offseason. Despite this, the Pirates experienced their worst season yet, placing last in the league with a 1–9–1 record. The team just barely tallied a number in the win column, but during Week 11, they beat the Philadelphia Eagles. It was their first win at home in 9 games at Forbes Field (Week 10, 1937). It was also the final season for the franchise before becoming the "Steelers" the following season. Offseason 1939 NFL draft 1939 NFL draft + Pittsburgh Pirates 1939 NFL Draft selections Draft order Player name Position College Notes Round Choice Overall 1 2 2 Sidney "Sid" Luckman Quarterback Columbia Traded pick to Chicago 2 1 11 Clarence "Pug" Manders Fullback Drake Traded pick to Brooklyn 3 2 17 Billy Patterson Back Baylor Played 1 season for Steelers in 1940 4 1 26 Hugh McCullough Defensive back Pittsburgh Played 1 season for Pirates in 1939 5 2 32 Ernie Wheeler Back North Dakota State Played for Cards and Steelers in 1939 6 1 41 Sam Boyd End Baylor Played 3 seasons for Pirates/Steelers 7 2 52 Eddie Palumbo Back Detroit 8 1 61 Ole Nelson End Michigan State 9 2 72 Steve Petro Guard Pittsburgh Played for Dodgers 10 1 81 Jack Lee Back Carnegie Mellon 11 2 92 Lou Tomasetti Back Bucknell 12 1 101 Denny Cochran Back Saint Louis Played 3 seasons for Pirates/Steelers 13 2 112 Fabian Hoffman End Pittsburgh 14 1 121 Ed Clary Back South Carolina 15 2 132 John Tosi Center Niagara 16 1 141 Al Lezouski Guard Pittsburgh 17 2 152 Ed Longhi Center Notre Dame 18 1 161 Dave Shirk End Kansas 19 2 172 Frank Peters End Washington 20 1 181 Tom Sheldrake End Washington Pittsburgh's 1939 Draft (like many of the Steelers drafts from these days) was useless. The one player that played longer 1 season was Sam Boyd who played just 3 seasons for the Pirates/Steelers. The Pirates also traded their first two picks to Chicago and Brooklyn. The Bears would draft future Hall of Famer, QB Sid Luckman, and the Dodgers would select Clarence "Pug" Manders who eventually played 9 years of pro ball. Regular season Schedule Game Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 September 14, 1939 at Brooklyn Dodgers L 7–12 0–1 Ebbets Field Recap 2 September 24 Chicago Cardinals L 0–10 0–2 Forbes Field Recap 3 October 2, 1939 Chicago Bears L 0–32 0–3 Forbes Field Recap 4 October 8 New York Giants L 7–14 0–4 Forbes Field Recap 5 October 15 at Washington Redskins L 14–44 0–5 Griffith Stadium Recap 6 October 22 Washington Redskins L 14–21 0–6 Forbes Field Recap 7 October 29 at Cleveland Rams T 14–14 0–6–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Recap 8 November 6, 1939 at Brooklyn Dodgers L 13–17 0–7–1 Ebbets Field Recap 9 November 19 at New York Giants L 7–23 0–8–1 Polo Grounds Recap 10 November 23 at Philadelphia Eagles L 14–17 0–9–1 Philadelphia Municipal Stadium Recap 11 November 26 Philadelphia Eagles W 24–12 1–9–1 Forbes Field Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. Game summaries Week 1 (Thursday September 14, 1939): Brooklyn Dodgers Pirates 0 7 0 0 Dodgers 3 7 0 2 at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, New York Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 19,444 Referee: Scoring Drives: Brooklyn – FG Kercheval 27 Pittsburgh – Platukis 30 pass from Wheeler (Niccolai kick) Brooklyn – Parker 10 run (Kinard kick) Brooklyn – Safety, Wheeler tackled in end zone by Hill Week 2 (Sunday, September 24, 1939): Chicago Cardinals Cardinals 7 0 0 3 Pirates 0 0 0 0 at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 19,008 Referee: Scoring Drives: Chicago Cardinals – Goldberg 4 run (Monahan kick) Chicago Cardinals – FG Monahan 32 Week 3 (Monday October 2, 1939): Chicago Bears Bears 0 13 13 6 Pirates 0 0 0 0 at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 10,325 Referee: Scoring Drives: Chicago Bears – Omanski 21 run (Stydahar kick) Chicago Bears – Manske 24 pass from Masterson (kick failed) Chicago Bears – Maniaci 75 run (kick failed) Chicago Bears – Maniaci 4 run (Manders kick) Chicago Bears – MacLeod 29 pass from Patterson (kick failed) Between this game and the next, the Pirates shoehorned in a midseason exhibition game against the McKeesport Olympics, in McKeesport on October 4. The Pirates won that game, 9–6.Ten interesting things about the 1939 NFL season that I couldn't fit into my other article about that season https://web.archive.org/web/20120428082457/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/22-03-851.pdf April 28, 2012 by John Hogrogian. Week 4 (Sunday October 8, 1939): New York Giants Giants 0 0 14 0 Pirates 0 7 0 0 at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 9,663 Referee: Scoring Drives: Pittsburgh – Johnson 1 run (Niccolai kick) New York – Cuff 20 pass from Danowski (Cuff kick) New York – Cuff 5 pass from Danowski (Cuff kick) Week 5 (Sunday October 15, 1939): Washington Redskins Pirates 7 7 0 0 Redskins 13 6 19 6 at Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 25,982 Referee: Scoring Drives: Washington – German 15 run (kick failed) Pittsburgh – Francis run (Niccolai kick) Washington – German 14 run (Russell kick) Pittsburgh – McDonough 3 pass from Tomasetti (Niccolai kick) Washington – Farkas 11 run (kick blocked) Washington – Farkas 99 pass from Filchock (kick failed) Washington – Todd 19 pass from Filchock (Todd kick) Washington – Todd 60 run (kick failed) Washington – Justice 33 run (kick failed) Week 6 (Sunday October 22, 1939): Washington Redskins Redskins 14 0 7 0 Pirates 0 7 0 7 at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 8,602 Referee: Scoring Drives: Washington – Millner 56 pass from Filchock (Russell kick) Washington – Farkas 40 pass from Filchock (Russell kick) Pittsburgh – Boyd pass from McDonough (Niccolai kick) Washington – Irwin 25 run (Farkas kick) Pittsburgh – Brumbaugh pass from McDonough (Niccolai kick) Week 7 (Sunday October 29, 1939): Cleveland Rams Pirates 0 7 7 0 Rams 7 0 0 7 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 11,579 Referee: Scoring Drives: Cleveland – Hall 88 run (Spadaccini kick) Pittsburgh – McCullough 9 run (Niccolai kick) Pittsburgh – Boyd 27 pass from McCullough (Niccolai kick) Cleveland – Drake 3 run (Spadaccini kick) Week 8 (Monday November 6, 1939): Brooklyn Dodgers Pirates 0 3 3 7 Dodgers 0 7 7 3 at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, New York Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 8,951 Referee: Scoring Drives: Brooklyn – Schwartz 9 pass from Parker (Kinard kick) Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 25 Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 37 Brooklyn – Parker 28 run (Kinard kick) Brooklyn – FG Parker 28 Pittsburgh – Sortet 22 pass from McCullough (Niccolai kick) Week 9 (Sunday November 19, 1939): New York Giants Pirates 0 0 0 7 Giants 7 7 3 7 at Polo Grounds, New York, NY Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 19,372 Referee: Scoring Drives: New York – Soar 2 run (Strong kick) New York – FG Barnum 37 New York – FG Barnum 28 New York – FG Strong 24 Pittsburgh – Brumbaugh 19 run (Niccolai kick) New York – Miller 21 run (Barnum kick) Week 10 (Thursday November 23, 1939): Philadelphia Eagles Pirates 0 0 0 14 Eagles 0 7 3 7 at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 20,000 Referee: Scoring Drives: Philadelphia – Carter 65 pass from O'Brien (Murray kick) Philadelphia – FG Murray 32 Pittsburgh – Brumbaugh 1 run (Niccolai kick) Week 11 (Sunday November 26, 1939): Philadelphia Eagles Eagles 0 0 6 6 Pirates 3 14 7 0 at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game time: Game weather: Game attendance: 8,788 Referee: Scoring Drives: Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 28 Pittsburgh – Johnston 2 run (Niccolai kick) Pittsburgh – Tomasetti 1 run (Niccolai kick) Pittsburgh – Platukis 37 pss from Brumbaugh (Niccolai kick) Philadelphia – O'Brien 2 run (kick blocked) Philadelphia – Bukant 3 run (kick blocked) Roster 1939 Pittsburgh Pirates final roster Backs 55 Rink Bond RB/S 10 Boyd Brumbaugh FB/LB 19 Edgar Cherry FB/LB 12 Bill Davidson RB/CB 27 Swede Johnston FB/LB/P 26 Carl Littlefield FB/LB 25 Hugh McCullough RB/CB 45 Coley McDonough RB/CB 35 Karl Schuelke FB/LB 21 Lou Tomasetti RB/CB Ends/Receivers 42 Sam Boyd 33 George Platukis 24 Bernie Scherer 20 Bill Sortet Linemen/Linebackers 29 Don Campbell T/DT 28 Ted Doyle T/DT 39 Len Dugan C/LB 18 Byron Gentry G/DG 11 Ted Grabinski C/LB 14 George Kakasic G/DG 36 Ed Karpowich T/DT 22 Joe Maras C/LB 23 Lou Midler G/T/DG/DT 17 Armand Niccolai T/DT/K Rookies in italics Standings References Category:Pittsburgh Steelers seasons Pittsburgh Pirates Pittsburg Pir Category:1930s in Pittsburgh