The original version of a Steelers fan club in Minnesota developed back in 1991 when Dean Gubbrud bought The Starting Gate, a little bar on West 7th Street, and tried to figure out how to fill it. One of his friends Bobby “Chooch” Panno told him that because of the Northwest Airlines mechanics base and the fact that many of them trained at Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, there were a lot of Steelers fans in the area. Back then you couldn’t get the NFL ticket so Chooch told Dean he should televise the Steelers games every week and well, as they say, “If you build it they will come.” And they did!

In the early years crowds ranged from a few dozen up to several hundred for playoff games. In the late 90s we started an annual fund raising picnic to buy new TVs for the bar so we would have a fun home to watch our favorite team. Dean sold the bar in 2005 and we stayed for two more years, including the memorable Super Bowl XL run when we somehow packed over 300 people into that tiny place. We had many, many great memories from the Starting Gate but it was obvious that the new owners weren’t as committed to making it a real Steelers Bar as Dean had been so we decided to strike out & look for a new place. We spent one year at Tavern on the Avenue, but we quickly found a better option at Patrick McGovern’s. We’ve been based at McGovern’s ever since.

We’ve evolved over time, and we now hold 2 fundraising raffles every year. One fundraiser is to benefit Second Harvest Heartland and the food shelves they supply throughout our region. The other fundraiser is to raise money for us to buy Steelers prizes and other things that we give away FOR FREE at every game.