A White House visit is just another perk of being a champion in the NFL today, but that wasn’t always the tradition. On February 22, 1980, President Carter invited the Super Bowl champions to Washington DC for the first time, as part of a special celebration with both the Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
At that point, the Steelers had recently won their fourth title, just months after the “We Are Family” Buccos won the World Series. President Carter acknowledged the contributions of Steelers Nation.
“I want to include in this salute not only Pittsburgh itself but to the entire western region of Pennsylvania, because I don’t know of any team or set of teams that have had such overwhelming and constant and enthusiastic support than these two teams have had from the entire region of Pennsylvania—and I might say, looking at my own members of my family, not only from western Pennsylvania but from the White House as well and from Plains, Georgia.