Sports Wiz Trivia Quiz
By Harry Patterson

It's May. Baseball season is taking shape, hockey season is winding down, NFL teams are negotiating with draft choices and the Pittsburgh mayoral primary election takes place on the 15th. Let's try 10 stumpers about Pittsburgh sports figures and politics. Can you identify each of the following?

1. This '60s Pitt quarterback was elected Mahoning County (Youngstown, Ohio) sheriff and later became a U.S. Congressman and C-SPAN fixture.

2. This Pittsburgh sports legend was the Republican nominee for Allegheny County Sheriff in 1925. He lost.

3. He was a Pitt back in the glory days of the '30s who later became an NCAA official and a longtime Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge. He remains a senior judge.

4. This onetime Steeler QB ran for Vice President of the United States.

5. He is the only United States Senator to pitch a perfect game.

6. A pitcher for the 1960 Pirates, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968 and later served in both the Ford and Reagan administrations.

7. He won 197 career games--mostly for the Pirates--before being elected Allegheny County Controller.

8. This former Pirate pitcher and broadcaster made an unsuccessful bid for the Pennsylvania state legislature in 1998.

9. County Commissioner Jim Flaherty created a mild controversy when he appointed this Pittsburgh sports legend to his staff.

10. His familiar last name apparently didn't carry enough clout to win a special election for a vacated Pennsylvania Senate seat this past March 20.

[Harry Patterson is the author of The Pittsburgh Sports Wiz Trivia Quiz, The Baseball Wiz Trivia Quiz and The Football Wiz Trivia Quiz. All are available exclusively at Kaufmann's. He gathers much of his material while tending bar weekday evenings at the River City Inn downtown.]

Sports Wiz Trivia Quiz (Answers)

1. James Traficant

2. Honus Wagner

3. Emil Narick

4. Jack Kemp

5. Jim Bunning (He pitched the perfect game for the Phillies in 1964 before joining the Bucs in 1968.)

6. Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell

7. Bob Friend

8. Jim Rooker

9. Billy Conn

10. Jim Rooney, son of Dan, grandson of Art