Sports History
Opening Day
By Anne Madarasz

Thousands will gather in PNC Park this month in the rite of spring known as baseball's opening day. But even more will likely line the banks of the region's rivers, lakes, and streams on April 18th, the opening day for trout fishing season.

Fishing, now largely a sport, began as a vital food gathering activity. Archeological evidence from the Meadowcroft Rockshelter, located south of Pittsburgh in Avella, Washington County, documents fish and shellfish as key components of native peoples' diets 10,000 years ago. A mollusk shell, still embedded at the site, comes from a species found only in the Ohio River, located miles away; proving that even the earliest peoples of our region liked their fish to go! Bone fish hooks and tiny fragments of net demonstrate that freshwater fishing has been a part of our culture for thousands of years.

As people transitioned from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the growing of domesticated foods, they settled in villages, with less need to travel in search of wild foods. Fish remained an important part of the diet, but fishing for fun or sport also became a way to test and demonstrate one's life skills. In 1809, Joshua Gilpin remarked on the abundance of opportunity provided by a Laurel Mountain retreat, "the forest and stream… abound with every thing that can render it the favorite spot for a Sportsman to repose. The streams are full of fine trout…"

Three years later a Pittsburgh newspaper reported on a large sunfish caught in the Allegheny and placed in a pond for the "angling fraternity" to inspect. Travelers to and through the region sought out areas known for fine fishing and hunting and gradually an industry dedicated to providing equipment, guides, and lodging for recreational outdoor sports grew. The official regulation of that sport and the gathering of data and statistics also began - now competitors could do more than boast about their prowess at the local tavern, they could achieve and record their championship status.

The region began to produce athletes who excelled in the sports of field and stream. One, Greensburg native Herb Ratner, became the world's top amateur angler in both freshwater and saltwater. Ratner grew up fishing in the waters of Western Pennsylvania. Yearly family trips to Fort Lauderdale also exposed him to ocean angling. In 1982, in Key West, he used light tackle for the first time and his pursuit of record setting fish began. On January 24th of that year he caught a 98-pound cobia on 12-pound line, his first International Game Fish Association world record. Many more would follow - a number of them set close to home. By 1997, he became the first to ever hold 50 angling world records. Just two years later, he became the first individual to hold 100 world records. By the time he retired in 2006, Ratner had added 81 more to his IGFA totals. They included fish caught in public streams near his home, often fishing from shore, as he preferred to do. Ratner, like the others who will line the banks on opening day, carries on the long tradition of outdoor sport in the region.

Anne Madarasz is Director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the Heinz History Center which features the story of Herb Ratner.