The Lyceum fielded its first football team no later than 1899. The team in subsequent years played against many of the top "
Ohio League" teams, the most notable being the
Canton Bulldogs and the
Massillon Tigers. It was regarded as one of the top professional football teams in Pittsburgh from 1907 until 1909. Originally comprising amateur players, the Lyceum attracted suspicion of professionalism over the years as it grew stronger. According to
The Pittsburgh Post in 1906, the team was still "purely an amateur organization" albeit one that was "in the class of the big professional teams". When trying to arrange a game against the
Western University of Pennsylvania that season, the Lyceum was turned down on the basis that they were a professional team, a charge that the Lyceum denied. Football historian
Bob Carroll referred to the Lyceum, at least in the seasons of 1907 to 1909, as a pro team. The Lyceum was the last pro football championship team that Pittsburgh would produce until the 1970s. Many of its victories came against the strongest teams in
Pennsylvania,
West Virginia, and
Ohio; hence, it was given the moniker, the "Tri-State Champions," in 1909. The team was finally defeated in 1909, an upset by the
Dayton Oakwoods in its final game of 1909. The Lyceum then broke up after a disappointing 1910 season. The multi-sport Lyceum organization that the football team represented continued to exist, however, and a new football team was organized in 1924. One of the players on this team was
Art Rooney, who went on to establish the
Pittsburgh Steelers and become enshrined in the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. ==Main organization==