City Of Retired Champions
Pittsburgh's Athletes Stick Around After Playing Days Are Over
By Scott Robertson

During the late 1970s, Pittsburgh dubbed itself "The City of Champions," a testament to World Series and Super Bowl success by the Pirates and Steelers, respectively, during most of that decade. It has been more than a decade since Pittsburgh won its last major sports championship, the Penguins' second Stanley Cup title in 1991.

The city, however, remains the City of Champions, thanks largely to the fact that many of the players who performed here as members of the Pirates, Steelers and Penguins championship teams, have chosen to make their homes here. Many have made that choice despite the fact that they were born and raised in, or traded to and played in, other cities.

"I think one of the things you see that is when you are in a place where you had some success, that's where you feel most comfortable," said Troy Loney, a forward with the Penguins championship teams and a 12-year veteran of the National Hockey League. "I think when you look around you see that the guys who were with the Pirates great teams are the ones who live here, and the same with the Steelers Super Bowl teams. I know it's true of us with the Penguins. A lot of the guys (from those Stanley Cup teams) still live around here."

Ken Wregget, a teammate of Loney's not only with the Penguins but with Lethbridge when they were 17-year old juniors, says the people and traditions of Pittsburgh are another key factor in helping athletes choose where to live.

"My best story goes back to '95, which was our lockout year," said Wregget, who began his NHL career with Toronto and also played in Philadelphia, Calgary and Detroit. "We had just bought a house here in '92. We had great neighbors and our kids all knew each other and played together - it was kind of like it takes a village to raise a family.

"Anyway, we get to the lockout year, and I'm not playing. I guess this goes back to the days of the coal mines and the steel mills - those mines and mills would shut down, and when it came time to go out for a beer, the other guys wouldn't let the guy who was laid-off get out his wallet. It was the same way with me back then with me - they wouldn't let me buy a beer.

"I mean, in hockey, you don't have those kinds of hardships (that laid-off steelworkers had), but they still wouldn't let me buy. I think it goes back to the history of this area and the way people around here treat people. I think that says a lot about this city - not just the way they treat their sports teams, but they way they treat people."

A casual survey proves Loney and Wregget are not the only local athletes who receive such strong responses from the local populace. The 1971 Pirates, who beat Baltimore to win the World Series, are well represented here, as is the '79 team, which also bested the Orioles. Dave Giusti, Nelson Briles, Manny Sanguillen and Steve Blass all were part of the '71 team who reside here. Blass is the only one of the group who played his entire major league career with the Pirates.

"To me, Pittsburgh was my first real baseball home," Giusti said. "I had been in the big leagues for seven years (when he was traded to Pittsburgh) and I was looking for somewhere to make my home. I came here in 1970 and had a pretty good season, and I decided this would be my first and last home relative to baseball."

Giusti spent his first six seasons with the Houston Astros and his seventh year with the St. Louis Cardinals before coming to the Pirates. He finished his career in 1977 with the Oakland Athletics and Chicago Cubs.

"Maybe that (living where players have success) is part of it," said Giusti. "But I'm not sure that's the decisive thing. It might be, but I think the atmosphere of the town has something to do with it, too. Especially (the atmosphere) in the off-season. I was fortunate in that I got to meet a lot of people in this area and that made it a comfortable place to live."

Briles is another pitcher from the '71 team who settled here. He played 14 seasons in the majors, but only three with the Pirates.

Now the Pirates' vice president, Corporate Projects, he is the founder of the Pirates' Alumni Association and has been with the organization a total of 22 years.

Sanguillen, also a member of the '79 title team, has remained close to the organization. Sanguillen operates Manny's BBQ restaurant at PNC Park. Also spending a lot of time at PNC Park is Steve Blass, the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1971 World Series. Blass has moved from the pitcher's mound to the Pirates' broadcast booth.

The '79 team is equally well represented around Pittsburgh. In addition to Sanguillen, relief pitchers Kent Tekulve and Grant Jackson live in the area as do starting pitchers John Candelaria and Jim Rooker. The team's manager, Chuck Tanner, is a New Castle native who still is around.

Candelaria pitched with the California Angels, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. Tekulve pitched with Philadelphia and the Cincinnati Reds and Tanner managed the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's and Atlanta Braves in addition to the Pirates.

The Steelers of the '70s are prominent throughout the area. J.T. Thomas and Larry Brown have been local restauranteurs. Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier have been involved in several local business propositions and Jon Kolb, Deight White, L.C. Greenwood, Jack Ham, Ted Petersen, John Banaszak and numereous others still live around town.

Craig Wolfley, who played college football at Syracuse, was with the Steelers from 1980-89 but finished his career with two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. In addition to working with the Steelers' radio broadcast team as its sideline reporter, he and his wife, Faith, operate the Martial Arts and Sports Complex in Bridgeville.

Wolfley quickly dispelled the notion that after stints in Syracuse and Minnesota, he settled in Pittsburgh for the tropical winters.

"I lived in Buffalo, and the winters there were bad," Wolfley said with a laugh. "I kind of went from bad to worse to worse, as far as that was concerned.

"But Pittsburgh always has been a big city that always has that small town feel to it. My kids were born here and I really feel comfortable here. It just seemed like a natural place to make home—it is home."

Wolfley is one of many former Steelers, including Rod Woodson, who have taken advantage of business opportunities that develop for local athletes.

"There is no doubt that there are good business opportunities," Wolfley said. "Being a former player is good for business - I'm sure that's true with guys from the Pirates and Penguins, too. I think that helps a lot."

Wolfley's business nowadays lies in training fighters and athletes - his business hosted the Western Pennsylvania Golden Gloves boxing championships last month, producing champions in three weight classes.

Loney agrees with Wolfley's assessment of Pittsburgh's big city, small town feel. He also played with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the New York Rangers, so he had a chance to live in much larger cities.

"I think that's a big part of it," he said. "I wasn't looking for a big city like Anaheim or New York. Pittsburgh is a big city, but it's smaller than those cities and it has a lot of the same things. You can do the things you want to do here."

Loney now works in pharmaceutical sales with Eckerd Corp. Dave Hannan, one of his Penguins teammates, is involved in sales of orthopedic implants for Striker Howmedica Osteonics/ Three Rivers. Hannan began his career with the Penguins in 1981-82, was traded to the Edmonton Oilers, came back to Pittsburgh for a season, then moved on to Toronto, Buffalo and Colorado before ending his career in 1997 with Ottawa.

"The reason we came back here was that I started my career here and I've always felt very close to Eddie Johnston (the Penguins' assistant general manager) and the organization," Hannan said. "They gave me my first opportunity to play in the NHL. I've moved around a little, but my kids were born here and it's a great place to live.

"The other thing was that from being here, I got to meet a lot of people and that gave me a lot of (business) opportunity. I think that's true of a lot of other guys, too. We have a strong alumni association, and now our kids are playing against each other. We see each other at the rinks around here all the time."

Wregget's son plays against Loney's son. Former Pens Joe Mullen, Randy Hillier, Jay Caufield and Peter Taglianetti are among many who live in the area and are involved in the organization in one form or another.

Pierre Larouche, a standout player with the Pens of the '70s, said the bond between former Penguins players to the area and the organization extends well beyond the championship teams of the '90s. Larouche played with Montreal, Hartford and the Rangers, but came back to Pittsburgh when his playing days ended.

"The first thing for me was I married a girl from Dormont," Larouche said of his decision to take up permanent residence here. "But the thing that really makes the difference is that there are great people here. It's the size of city that lets you function and do the things you want to do."

Larouche is a regular on the Celebrity Golf Tour and also does some public relations work with the Penguins and with a company in New York. He said the strengthening of the team's alumni association has brought many former players together to work in the community and support the organization.

"A lot of us from the '70s are still around here, too," Larouche said. "I know when the team got into the finals in the '90s, all of us were really excited and rooting for them. If you know the history of the franchise, you know that was an exciting time.

"It's a great city to be in. There are great people here and they make you feel comfortable. I could not ask for anything more."

Hannan has found that he has gotten back from the city much of what he tried to give.

"One of the things I tried to do when I was playing was get involved in the community," he said. "There are a lot of charity golf outings and things like that for players to get involved in. Those kinds of things are great.

"I've always been happy to do that. We've all found that Mario (Lemieux, the team owner and one-time teammate of Hannan, Loney and Wregget), has been great with the alumni and we all like to do what we can to help promote the team. And I think they'll be good again (as they go through a rebuilding process). They've got some good young players, but it will take time."

Wregget is another who said the size of the city and the friendliness of its people, including the respect city residents show former players, all weighed in his family's decision to call Pittsburgh home.

"Pittsburgh has a big city attitude, but it's not too big," Wregget said. "I look at guys like Troy and I, and we're at the rink and our sons are playing against each other. Even the older alumni who are here—they are all nice guys and they get along real well with the younger group. Everyone knows each other and Cindy Himes (the Penguins' director of community relations) does a great job of pulling it all together.

"But I think it's true that you are drawn to a place where you have success, too. Maybe if you don't have success, you might not be as willing to get out in a community and get involved. The other factor is how long you stay in one place. If you are there for a long time - I was here longer than anywhere else - I think that makes a big difference. The roots grow a little deeper when you're in a place for a while, and I think that's a real big factor, too."