Football is by far the most popular sport in the region, with high school games routinely getting over 10,000 fans per game as well as extensive press coverage. College football is also popular, with residents predominantly being fans of Pitt, Penn State, or West Virginia. The NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers have been owned by the Rooney family since the team's founding in 1933. The team won four Super Bowls in a six-year span in the 1970s as well as a fifth championship in 2006.
The Pittsburgh region also has developed several NFL quarterbacks, giving Western Pennsylvania the nickname "Cradle of Quarterbacks."[59] Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Joe Namath, Jim Kelly, Marc Bulger, George Blanda, Jeff Hostetler, Johnny Unitas, Bruce Gradkowski, Gus Frerotte, and current Pittsburgh Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch are from the area. Several famous running backs, including Tony Dorsett, Curtis Martin, Kevan Barlow, Mercury Morris, Larry Brown, Ernie Davis, Cookie Gilchrist and Joe Marconi are also from Pittsburgh. Several former offensive line greats, including Jim Covert, Russ Grimm, Reggie Wells, and Bill Fralic also hail from the area. Several notable defensive players are from the Pittsburgh area, including Pro Hall of Famers Joe Schmidt and Randy White, defensive end Jason Taylor, cornerback Ty Law and linebacker LaVar Arrington. Notable NHL players from the Pittsburgh area include Ryan Malone of the Tampa Bay Lightning and R.J. Umberger of the Columbus Blue Jackets. There is also a long list of baseball stars such as Ken Griffey, Jr., Ken Griffey, Sr., Stan Musial, and Honus Wagner, as well as numerous Olympic gold medalists such as wrestler Kurt Angle, Roger Kingdom and John Woodruff and was where Jim Furyk and Arnold Palmer learned to play golf. Pittsburgh also claims many professional sports coaching legends as its own including George Karl, Marvin Lewis, Mike Ditka, Marty Schottenheimer, Mike McCarthy, Bill Cowher, Joe Walton, Barry Alvarez, Chuck Knox, Terry Francona, Chuck Daly, Ken Macha, Dick Nolan, Sean Miller, Chuck Tanner and Art Howe.

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