The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the reasons why middle school physical education teachers stayed in urban schools. More teachers leave urban schools in the first three to five years than their suburban or rural counterparts (Chester & Beaudin, 1996; Schwartz, 1996). A high rate of teacher turnover has been linked to poor student performance, teacher dissatisfaction, and a lack of collegiality among faculty, students, administration, and the community (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Imazeki, 2002; Ingersoll, 2001a). This study is significant because, while much is known about the lives and careers of teachers who leave urban school districts (Schwartz, 1996); little is known about teachers who have experienced career longevity in urban schools. Schools as workplaces and teacher career development served as the theoretical framework for this study of the lives and careers of eight experienced urban middle school physical education teachers (Male=5; Female=3) from one large school district in the northeast. All appropriate human subjects protocols were observed. Data were collected through the completion of career sentence stems, in depth semi-structured interviews, and non-participant observations. Data were analyzed through open and axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) to identify and define categories and cross case analysis to identify themes or patters across participants. Trustworthiness was established and maintained through member checks, peer debriefing, and the completion of researcher memos. Findings from this study indicate that teachers stayed in their urban environments because of (a) the feeling of being needed by students, (b) connections with colleagues, and (c) perceived autonomy. The primary reasons these teachers chose to stay in their urban school assignments revolved around a sense of being needed by students in a variety of ways and teaching more than motor skills. Second, collegiality with other physical education teachers provided participants with opportunities to offer one another professional and personal support needed to solve problems encountered on a regular basis. Finally, participants stayed in urban schools because of a sense of perceived autonomy or the power to determine their own curriculum combined with the freedom to control their daily schedules and the lack of parental or guardian interference when dealing with students. The more we know about the people who are currently engaged in providing physical education in urban schools the more we will understand the factors that influence their work. This understanding has implications for the preparation, recruitment, and retention of quality urban physical educators. Keyword(s): middle school issues, physical education PK-12, professional preparation