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The Terrible Towel was the brainchild of WTAE radio broadcaster Myron Cope. The station’s general manager, Ted Adkins, tasked Cope with creating a promotion for the 1975 Steelers playoffs.

Elizabeth Cope remembers her father’s reluctance at becoming a “gimmick guy.”

“He said he did not want to do it, but [Adkins] said it was his assignment. He had to do it—his contract was up…So he said, ‘OK,’” she said.

Myron Cope toyed with different ideas at home for the new Steelers promotion, all of which his daughter called “terrible.” She takes credit for the name her father eventually used for his idea, “the Terrible Towel.”

The original idea consisted of fans bringing their own towels—or shirts, bath towels, even wash rags—and waving them when the Steelers scored a touchdown. The team’s players also initially dismissed Cope’s promotion. However, when Steelers Hall of Fame Running Back Franco Harris saw the “stadium filled with twirling gold towels” for the first time, he knew that Cope was onto something “pretty awesome.”

Learn more about the towel’s beginnings in the video player above.

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