Super Bowl: Steelers,Packers merged to become Stackers during 1990 season because of First Gulf War

Dallas, TX--The Super Bowl is set and two storied NFL franchises will battle on February 6th deep in the heart of Texas (the stars at night...er, it's a dome). The Packers and the Steelers, who joined the league in 1921 and 1933, respectively, have won a total of 18 championships. As one NFL analyst put it: "That's a dang awful lot of championships when you do the arithmetic."

Though these teams will push, shove, hit, grab, trash talk, bite, punch, slam, lead with the head, lead with the elbow, fake smile, finger wave, step on, fake clap and tackle each other a littler more than a week from now, 20 years ago it was much more cordial.

On August 31, 1990, the Steelers and Packers merged to officially become the Pitt Bay Stackers after the U.S. declared war on Iraq earlier in the month pulling hundreds of NFL players away from the sport and onto the battlefields of the Middle East. The union would last only one year and was modeled after the 1943 merger of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Steelers to form the Steagles because of World War II's insatiable demand for soldiers.

"We were really short of players because of Saddam [Hussein]," said former Steelers' legendary coach Chuck Noll, paging through an old photo album from the 1990 season. "It was interesting to say the least. I remember I had to share the head coaching duties with Packers' coach Lindy Infante. We were forced to wear a suit that joined us together. It looked like we had three legs, like a three-legged race. It took us a while to get used to it, but it was eventually fun."

Fun for some but difficult for others. The logistics were a bit of a nightmare, especially for fans. During the 16-game season, three games were played in Three Rivers Stadium (Steelers) and three in Lambeau Field (Packers), while the two remaining "home" games were played halfway between the two cities in Kendallville, Indiana's high school stadium.

"I remember making the drive from Pittsburgh to Kendallville," said Stackers' general manager Donald Taylor, who had stepped in for the two GM's who traded front office desks for fatigues. "That drive was brutal, but the Indiana people were great. In honor of the Stacker name, they attempted to stack thousands of canned goods on top of each other during halftime to make a pyramid. I think two residents were seriously wounded in the process."

At halftime of the Super Bowl, before the always-enjoyable musical performance, the league will honor the Stackers, who compiled a 4-12 record, as former members will jog around the perimeter of the field wearing shirts with the team's logo from that season (pictured above) and carrying a 30-ft, 200- pound I-beam made entirely from cheese.

"I got a call from the league about a month ago and they were like were you on the Stackers back in 1990?" said Stackers' linebacker Daniel Farnsworth, 49, from his Miami home and whose only NFL season was 1990. "I was like, 'I sure was.' I thought people forgot about the Stackers. I can't wait to see the whole gang in Dallas. This is gonna be sweet."

"I miss the Stackers," said Gene Rezouse, president of the Pitt Bay Stackers Historical Society, based in Green Bay for six months and Pittsburgh for six months over the course of a year. "But I really miss those I-beam-shaped blocks of cheese."

Pittsburgh and Green Bay will forever be linked by the Stackers, and the two decades that have passed has only strengthened this tie. "There will be no loser of this Super Bowl," said one Steeler fan. "That 4-12 record from 1990 will improve to 5-12 no matter what happens in Dallas. Go Stack Go."