2 new books highlight interesting Pittsburghers
A billionaire entrepreneur, Mt. Lebanon’s Mark Cuban started buying and selling baseball cards in a local park when he was 9 or 10.
New Kensington’s Rich Engler, who has promoted more than 6,000 concerts in the Pittsburgh area and other markets across the U.S., at one time lived behind a partition in his office in Shadyside.
Steelers Super Bowl-winning coach and Crafton native Bill Cowher once worked in a steel mill.
A two-time NCAA and three-time WNBA champion and U.S. Olympian, Swin Cash grew up in humble beginnings in McKeesport.
Read more about these Pittsburghers and others who shared their personal stories in “Growing Up Yinzer: Memories From Beloved Pittsburghers” by Dick Roberts. It’s a collection of first-person accounts about growing up in Pittsburgh as a “yinzer,” a term of endearment for natives of the Steel City that’s embraced by locals as a symbol of the grit and determination, said Roberts, who grew up in Ligonier and now resides in Fox Chapel.
“Pittsburghers are born and made,” wrote Betsy Benson, Pittsburgh Magazine publisher in the foreword. “Roberts got Yinzers to open up and share poignant details about their upbringings, details that go quite a way in understanding what makes Pittsburgh such a distinctive place.”
The best way to learn about a person is from their perspective, Roberts said. Even though he grew up outside the city, he recalled trips with his dad to the former Forbes Field in Oakland to see Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski and the Pittsburgh Pirates play baseball.
He included athletes as well as people in business, politics, entertainment, education and broadcasting to reflect the diversity of the region.
“Their stories are deeply personal with great attention to detail and genuine enthusiasm,” Roberts said. “Many of the book participants grew up of modest means, so that has had an impact on them in how they were influenced and grew up here.”
Actor, singer, writer and director Billy Porter, who grew up in East Liberty, said in the book that “being Black, gay and Christian in Pittsburgh during the 1980s made me a target for the kind of oppression that literally kills people and destroys humanity.”
Many years later, the Carnegie Mellon University graduate and Tony Award winner returned to Pittsburgh and performed Downtown in front of a sold-out crowd at the Benedum Center as Lola in “Kinky Boots,” and was welcomed home.
There are a number of common threads throughout the book: family, community, neighborhood pride, looking out for one another, steel and being blue-collar, Roberts said.
Jazz musician Roger Humphries started playing the drums at age 4. He spent a lot of time at the Crawford Grill in the Hill District and began his professional career at age 14, traveling all over the country.
“Music is very important in life, but I wanted to take the vibe that I got in New York back to Pittsburgh,” Humphries said in the book.
Suzie McConnell-Serio, who has played and coached at every level and is a Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer and Olympic champion, shot her first baskets at Moore Park in Brookline. The family home had a hoop up against the chimney.
“I just think growing up in Pittsburgh, it’s a blue-collar town,” McConnell-Serio said in the book. “It’s a sports town. No matter where you live, no matter how old you are. I wouldn’t trade growing up in Pittsburgh, and in particular Brookline, for anything else.”
Roberts’ book isn’t the only one featuring locals.
“Colorful Characters of Pittsburgh” is by Paul King, a Mt. Washington native who now lives in Vermont. He is also the author of “Iconic Pittsburgh: The City’s 30 Most Memorable People, Places and Things.”
In “Colorful Characters,” King highlights radio personalities Porky Chedwick, Bob Prince and Myron Cope and their unique phrases, along with Vic Cianca’s ballet-like way of directing traffic and Bill Cardille’s “Chilly Billy” persona.
There’s a story about Joe Barker, “the accidental mayor,” a street preacher who spent time in jail. He served as Pittsburgh mayor from 1850-51. There’s also a story about Robert R. Lansberry, who walked around the city in the 1970s and 1980s carrying sandwich boards with questions on them.
Being able to tell a person’s story is what led King to journalism. One of his first interviews was with Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski on July 7, 1972, in the dugout before a doubleheader with the Atlanta Braves in Three Rivers Stadium. King was participating in a high school journalism workshop at Duquesne University.
“I will never forget my interview with Maz,” King said. “Maz gave me my first real-life journalism lesson: Be prepared. I started by asking him biographical questions: age, hometown, number of kids, that sort of thing. After about the third or fourth question, he put up his hand to stop me. He said, ‘You can get all of this information out of the media guide, and I’ll make sure you get one before you leave. Now, why don’t you ask me the questions you really want to ask?’”
King is a former newspaper reporter, foodservice trade magazine writer and freelancer. He and Roberts each included a chapter in their books about WQED-TV’s Rick Sebak, who has been telling stories for decades about all the things that make Pittsburgh worth calling home.
“Pittsburgh is eternally surprising, which is my favorite thing about it,” Sebak said in King’s book.
Sebak, who grew up in Bethel Park, said in Roberts’ book that in Pittsburgh “there are the family connections, the depth of commitment, this crazy topography and why we have so many boomerang people.”
Pittsburgh will always be home to nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback for the NFL Miami Dolphins and Hall of Famer Dan Marino. He went to grade school, high school and college all within a short walk from his home in Oakland.
“I’ve come a long way from Parkview Avenue now, but hard work was instilled in me at an early age,” Marino said in Roberts’ book. “My father was a Teamster, working for The Pittsburgh Press. My mom worked as a school crossing guard, and I remember seeing her get dressed in winter as she was leaving to work her corner in Squirrel Hill. That’s dedication to your kids, to your family, to the people in the community. That’s what you do as a Pittsburgher — it’s in your DNA.”
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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