| Pittsburgh Sports Report June 2008 |
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| Sports History The Pittsburgh area is flush with names, old and new, of those who have achieved great things. An award-winning sports writer, Mendelson co-authored "Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred," a full-color book that highlights 500 of the area's most notable athletes, artists, industrialists and inventors. Mendelson's other works include the third edition of "The Official History of the Pittsburgh Steelers," and "Pittsburgh: A Place in Time," the latter regarded as one of the most successful studies of Pittsburgh neighborhoods ever published. Last month, Mendelson discussed his new book with PSR Editor Tony DeFazio. PSR: How did three authors settle on 500 people? Abby Mendelson: Well, we wanted something hefty - 100 names wouldn't do it, 1,000 names and you'd throw your back out picking the book up. So we divided the world into six categories: leaders and pioneers, visual artists, performing artists, writers, musicians and athletes. And we all compiled lists upon lists upon lists. When we threw everybody into the pot, we probably had between 750 and 1,000 names. And then we started to toss people out. When we finally had a list of 500 names, that list began to change. We'd find out that Person X or Person Y wasn't as much a part of Pittsburgh as we originally believed, or we also found out that Person Z was actually born here in Pittsburgh. So the list continued to change over time. PSR: How was the line drawn in terms of their connection to the region? Mendelson: We had three criteria. Obviously the person had to be great. These people had to be either born here, raised here or achieved greatness here. Pistol Pete Maravich was born in Aliquippa but achieved greatness elsewhere, and of course we had people who came here and achieved greatness - like a Franco Harris, for example. The great writer Willa Cather was born in Virginia and raised in Nebraska, but came here to teach English at Allegheny High School and wrote her first fiction here - it was all set in Pittsburgh. She moved away and then wrote her masterpieces, but she was bred here. PSR: One of the things that stood out from the athletic perspective was Pittsburgh's definite place in history within Negro League baseball. Mendelson: That's always been a story that I've loved and I think it's always been an undertold story. The Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords both had players who achieved extraordinary baseball feats under some pretty awful conditions. Pittsburgh is one of a hand full of cities that really cemented the Negro Leagues as a place for the development and the showcasing of talent. PSR: Beyond baseball, Pittsburgh was also at the center of the civil rights movement overall. Mendelson: Pittsburgh was very strong in the civil rights movement. The Pittsburgh Courier, at the time, was one of the two of three most influential African-American newspapers in the country. And Pittsburgh was an important birthplace of many jazz musicians and also one of the most important stops in the jazz world. At the time, there was an enormous flourishing black culture across the board in this city. And that has been underrepresented.
Mendelson: The story I most loved telling from that era was the Gus Greenlee story. And he'll never make the Hall of Fame because he was a gambler, and that's baseball's big no-no, but I think everyone in Pittsburgh should know that story. I love the Herb Douglas story. Herb Douglas is from Hazelwood. He was the second African-American on the Pitt football team at a time when there were no training facilities for anybody, much less a young black man from Hazelwood. But as a teen, Douglas had met Jesse Owens and decided he wanted to go the Olympics, and he trained by running up and down Hazelwood Avenue. Well, if you want to go, and you want to go badly enough, you'll run up and down Hazelwood Avenue until you can win a medal in the Olympics. He went to London in 1948 and came back with an Olympic medal. PSR: What athletes didn't get in that you wanted? Mendelson: The balancing act was always difficult. I had written the Penguins material early, and I wrote about Penguins that I thought contributed significantly to the franchise and the success of the franchise. Players who made their bones as Penguins, as we like to say. And a lot of them were knocked out. Randy Carlyle and Tom Barrasso are two that come to mind that were knocked out. Jack Fleming, the great Steelers announcer, was knocked out. I wanted Mike Lange in the book, but we had a lot of announcers and, again, it was a balancing act. So we all had to do our own self-editing. Negro Leaguer Judy Johnson is another Hall of Famer who didn't get it. John Stallworth is not in. There are four Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers from Pittsburgh. Only one made it in. We just didn't have room for everyone. We had 500 slots. Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred
Did You Know?
Ever-changing List
Three Athletes You Probably Don't Know
PSR's Top 3 Omissions
Most Famous? |
So
as they began to compile a list of the most famous folks with
strong bonds to Pittsburgh, it was no surprise authors Abby Mendelson,
C. Prentice Orr and Tripp Clark had to cut their original list
in half. 
PSR: Is there anyone in this book whose story you were most excited to tell?
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