Category: College

Suzie still feels the Olympic spirit

By Jim O’Brien, Columnnist, Pittsburgh Business Times

Few Pittsburghers could appreciate the 2012 Summer Olympic Games as much as Suzie McConnell-Serio, the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Duquesne University.

         McConnell-Serio was a member of the gold medal-winning women’s basketball team at the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea in 1988 and the bronze medal-winning team in Barcelona, Spain in 1992.  She won a gold medal in the 1991 World University Games.

         “I remember living in the Olympic Village, meeting all the athletes from around the world, learning different cultures. I remember the competition, the awards ceremonies. You’ll never forget it,” she said. 

         “Every chance I got during an especially busy period for me (with recruiting, camps and practice for a pre-season tour of Canada), I watched the Olympic Games on TV with my family,” she said with a gleam in her blue eyes.  “I love the Olympic Games.  When I’m in my family room I can cheer and root for them, agonize for them and feel their excitement and their pain.  I know what it feels like.

         “I won gold and I won the bronze; I know the disappointment of not living up to expectations.”

         There are many stories about athletes who overcame obstacles to succeed.  Suzie’s story is a good one because she is 5-feet 4-inches, and was often told she was too small.

         She has modeled herself after the many coaches she has had from grade school, high school, college, international teams, Olympic teams and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) teams. 

         She is in her sixth season as the head coach of a continually improving Duquesne team and, at 46, is still as spunky and determined to win as when she was the only girl on the 4^th and 5^th grade teams at Brookline’s Our Lady of Loreto Grade School.

         Her coach then, Dan Kail, whom she still credits for her early development, predicted that someday she’d be playing for the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team.

         Susie and her husband Pete Serio, who also grew up in Brookline, have four children: Peter (21), Jordan (17), Mandy (15) and Madison (14).  Young Pete is in his fourth year of the pharmacy program at Duquesne, and the three girls are on the basketball team at Upper St. Clair High.

         Suzie credits her parents, Tom and Sue, for her work ethic.  “They always told me to stay busy,” she said.  “They taught me how to treat people.”

         Basketball is in the family DNA.  Her brothers Tom and Tim have been coaches, and her sisters Kathy and Maureen played basketball, and Kathy is coaching in the WNBA. She has two other sisters, Patty and Eileen, and a brother Michael.

         Tim, a successful coach at Chartiers Valley High, says of Suzie, “The one thing that sets her apart is her determination.”

         When Suzie went to Penn State University (1985-88) she became the school’s first All-American in women’s basketball.  She majored in elementary education.

         After her first Olympic Games experience, she was invited by Fran Mannion to be the coach of the girls’ basketball team at Oakland Catholic.  She took over the program in 1990-91 and won her first of three Class AAAA State Championships in 1993.  In 13 years, McConnell-Serio averaged over 24 wins a season. 

         She blushed when asked how much money she was paid to coach at Oakland Catholic.  “I was paid $4,000 a year,” she said.  So Suzie has paid her dues.  Sometimes you have to start for little compensation.

         Her husband Pete made sacrifices, too.  He had to give up his job as a physical education teacher and basketball coach when his wife, after a six-year layoff from playing basketball came back to star as a player and then a coach in the WNBA.  In 2004, she was named WNBA Coach of the Year with the Minnesota Lynx.

         “It’s easier now because the kids are more self-sufficient,” she said, “but I couldn’t have done this without Pete’s help.  He held everything together for us.  I was expecting our first child in 1990, and I had all four of my kids between 1991 and 1997, so we had a real juggling act.  The kids have been great from the start.”

         Pete Serio said, “Her kids have been the No. 1 priority in her life.”

         Suzie still has the Olympic spirit.  She is living proof that all things are possible if you have a positive attitude, truly believe in yourself, and are willing to work hard and make the personal sacrifices necessary to realize one’s aspirations.

          Jim O’Brien has written 20 books in his “Pittsburgh Proud” series.  His e-mail address is jimmyo64@gmail.com and website is: www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

Pat Cavanaugh:

First, can you let readers know about Crons – how the idea got started and how the business has grown over the past few years?

The Crons Brand is a mentality performance brand that focuses on the mentality part of performance. Crons stands for “Come Ready or Never Start” and it’s about outworking the competition, proving people wrong, practice and preparation.

We have four divisions of the brand: Team Sports, Retail, Nutritional Products and our Goal Setting programs.

What lessons and experiences as a player helped influence the way you approach your business?

Most importantly, defining roles of each person on the team and making sure everyone knows how each role contributes to the success of the team. Dealing with the ups and downs of sports clearly has allowed me the experience to be more even keeled through the success and adversity opportunities in the business world. 

You received scholarships to play for mid-major colleges to play for them, but turned them all down to play for Pitt as a walk-on. What drove that decision and were you at all concerned about it not working out?

I was motivated to play against the best and to strive toward my ultimate athletic goal of playing professional sports. I felt and was confident that if I had the opportunity at Pitt, I would be able to hold my own and be successful.

It proved to be the right decision for me. Pitt’s a great institution with a strong athletic heritage.

You were named team captain for two straight years. How was the decision made to do so and what do you think drove that decision?

Team captains were selected by the players which was even more rewarding. Players don’t need coaches or anyone else to know who they can count on to come through especially in crunch time…players know that on every team.

Who were some of the biggest characters on those Pitt teams you played for and what made them so? Any examples?

There were many. Jerome Lane was probably the most athletic guy I played with. He once blocked Brian Shorter’s shot and Brian against the backboard in a scrimmage one summer. It was unbelievable…not as much as Jerome breaking the backboard but it has always stuck with me.

Demetreus Gore, Curtis Aiken, Charles Smith, they all are great guys…characters but great guys. I always said that Charles Smith is so tight with his money I think he still has his First Communion money.

Who helped you most as a player – both on and off the court?

My Dad – he was outstanding in identifying areas to improve and then developing drills to make those strengths. His mental insight was invaluable with my time at Pitt.

Both of those Pitt teams you captained were top 10 teams. What made those teams so special?

Each year I was at Pitt was special. My freshman year Pitt had not won big in a while so it was the year the expectations met the results in terms of wins and losses…and from that point we developed such a high standard for Pitt Basketball it really helped take the program to the next level.

Despite the high rankings – the team did struggled in the NCAA Tournament to realize the expectations some had for it. What do you think was behind those struggles?

At the end of the day, we did not take care of the little things and in tournament time, those things will eventually catch up with you.

So many times you see in the tournament, talent doesn’t always win but who executes better.

Do you see your squads as having laid the foundation for the success Pitt has had since? How so?

Well, there were numerous previous Pitt teams who had won 20+ games over the years. I always felt a sense of responsibility to get Pitt back to its best years and then take it to a new level. I think all the guys on the teams I played with were so competitive they hated to lose and that helped carry us for the most part to many more wins than losses. 

Tell us about your experiences in professional basketball. Who did you try out with and what were the takeaways from your experience with NBA teams? 

After Pitt, Doug Moe with the Nuggets gave me an opportunity to workout as a free agent. Jerome Lane helped get that set-up because he believed I could play and he really went to bat for me with the coaches. I’ll always be thankful for Jerome for that.

Then, I went to Calgary in the world league for a spring. After that, the 76er’s picked me up to play with them in the NBA summer league and I played a game against the Timberwolves and then the Orlando Magic gave me a chance to join their team during pre-camp workouts when Brian Hill was the coach.

Again, Scott Skiles was another guy who went to the coaches for me but they ended up going with a guard who had been in the league. Although, I had a handful of offers to play overseas, I turned them down.

What do you make of the job Dixon has done as coach – and what do you think have been the causes of the struggles this season?

I said from the beginning when people weren’t sure of Jamie I had a good feeling about him and he’s done a remarkable job…not just int wins and losses but in his approach to the program, players and the university. He’s a model coach and even though I joke he took Orlando Antigua from me, I still like him.

I haven’t seen enough of the team to really comment on this year’s challenges but I’m confident Jamie will get it turned around next season.

What are your best memories of your time at Pitt, and why?

One of my favorite memories is winning our first Big East Tournament game my freshman year…it helped open up the door to set higher expectations in New York. I always look back and smile my sophomore year going into Syracuse the last game of the season for winner take all where we won the Big East Championship in front of 32,000+ people. It was a great team effort. 

Any last thoughts for readers?

Look for our Crons uniforms on UNC-Asheville as they play at 3:10 PM Thursday vs. Syracuse.

 

Jim O’Brien: We can learn so much from Joe Paterno’s words                          

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

Joe Paterno always liked being Joe Paterno.  He played the part so well.  It’s like the way Mike Ditka plays the part of Mike Ditka.    Once they were so serious and then, as they got older and wiser, they learned to smile and poke fun at themselves and the image they projected.  Paterno had his disheveled part down to perfection.

         Paterno started playing the part of Joe Paterno the way Peter Falk played the part of Colombo, the way Redd Foxx played the part of Fred Sanford in Sanford and Son.  When it was his turn to speak at an awards dinner or some kind of testimonial, Paterno was never slick.  He always appeared to be, like his hair, in complete disarray.

         He could be dead serious and still smile at what he said.  There was a gleam behind those thick eyeglasses.  There was a light in the attic. 

         Paterno liked to pontificate.  I have been accused of doing the same.  Maybe that’s why Paterno appealed to me.  I paid attention when Paterno spoke, and I always came away with a few gems, something to think about, some thing to try and do.  For most of his 85 years, Paterno placed the bar high and expected us all to reach for the sky.

         I saw Paterno’s picture on the front page of both the Sunday daily newspapers, and read that he was growing weak, and that he wanted his family to be with him to say goodbye, that his doctors weren’t optimistic.  But I didn’t know that he had died when I went out to Robert Morris University in the early afternoon on Sunday to see a high school basketball classic and to participate in a Hall of Fame induction ceremony conducted by the Pittsburgh Basketball Club.

         I was in good company, getting honored with some outstanding coaches, former players, sportswriters and contributors to the game.  It was Jerry Conboy, who had coached with distinction at South Hills Catholic High School and Point Park College, when those schools were known by those names, who told me that Joe Paterno had died that morning.

         My heart ached to hear that, though I knew it was coming.  I knew it was coming from the moment the Penn State hierarchy fired him as the head football coach at State College, and when they piled it on with more hasty decisions and punishments, and when the word got out that he had lung cancer, and had fallen and broken some bones at his home on the campus.

         Joe Paterno never wanted to quit coaching because he feared that he would die if he didn’t have something meaningful to do.  His friend Bear Bryant had died soon after he retired as the football coach at Alabama.  That’s why Paterno wouldn’t step aside, even when it was time to do so.

         I recall being with Jimmy Cannon, the great New York sportswriter, when he was covering a fight in his early 60s.  A writer from England approached him and asked, “Jimmy, when are you going to retire and rest on your laurels?”

         Cannon was outraged.  “Maybe I don’t have as many laurels as you do,” he responded with a snarl.

         Cannon roared at me.  “Who the hell is that hump?”

         Joe Paterno might have died on Sunday simply because he had gotten old and frail.  My father-in-law, Harvey Churchman, died when he was 85.  I’d sign a warranty right now if someone could guarantee that I’d live till I was 85.  But it hurt to hear the news just the same.

         Randy Cosgrove, the athletic director at Ambridge High School, was doing the public announcing task at RMU on Sunday and before one of one of the games he asked the audience to stand and observe a moment of silence in memory of Joe Paterno.

         Then a man named Joe Tucci sang “God Bless America.”  Joe Paterno always enjoyed hearing that song, and singing along with it.

         I believe I will always remember that setting and that solemn salute when Joe Paterno’s name comes up in the conversation.    

         On Sunday night, after watching the National Football League’s championship games, I went to my files and pulled out the Joe Paterno folder, filled with newspaper and magazine clippings, yellow legal pads with interview notes scrawled from top to bottom, and I pulled out some books I had on Joe Paterno.

         The team that should have won lost in both NFL contests, and I thought about how Paterno probably would have been watching those games if he had been alive and well.  Life is often about difficult losses.

         I think there are at least 18 books about Paterno and others in the works at this time.  There’s one in the works that will deal with the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal that ripped apart the University in recent months.  Joe Paterno was one of those at Penn State who did not deal with that issue properly, trying to sweep it under the carpet so the Penn State image as a school and football program would not suffer any setbacks.

         The cover-up, as in so many situations, ended up worsening the situation.  Joe Paterno became one of its victims.

         Some of my best friends feel that Paterno did what he had to do, but I don’t agree with that.  Joe Paterno was one of the most powerful people on the campus and I think he didn’t do enough.

         It points up how one can lead an exemplary life and make one wrong choice, one wrong step, and smear a lifetime of good works.  It only takes one bad moment to mess up a life well lived.

         When I worked as the assistant athletic director for public relations at Pitt in the mid-80s, I had a wise secretary named Bea Schwartz.  She was something else.  But she was smart.  And funny.

         “If someone steals your Cadillac,” she once told me she had told one of her sons, “you can replace it.  But if someone steals your reputation you can never get it back.”

         He was called Joe Pa and he was called St. Joseph.  He was a practicing Roman Catholic and Paterno took pride in his religious bearing and upbringing.  He preached that they were doing it right at Penn State.

         In the book, For The Glory: College Football Dreams and Realities Inside Paterno’s Program, written by an old friend, Ken Denlinger, I read where Paterno and his staff used to reassure parents of prospects by saying “You can trust us with your son.”

         When I read that, and saw references to Jerry Sandusky, the man who coached the linebackers and was regarded as a defensive genius in the college ranks, it took on a whole new meaning from the way it was written back in 1994.  Who knew that Sandusky could not be trusted with anyone’s sons?

         There is a Penn State Hall of Fame on the campus and there is a framed letter that was sent to Paterno by President Gerald Ford, who had played football with distinction at the University of Michigan in his heyday.

         Ford’s letter had this line: “It thrills me to see how everyone loves and respects you.”

         That’s the life Joe Paterno enjoyed at Penn State.  When that was gone, I don’t think he wanted to be around anymore.

         When I was reading through all my Paterno stuff on Sunday night I came upon some quotations that had been culled from his lifetime of trying to teach us how to live.

         They are worth repeating.  Like Chuck Noll and so many of the coaches I’ve known, including those who were honored at Robert Morris University on Sunday, the best ones saw themselves as teachers.

         “Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger but it won’t taste good,” Paterno once said.

         Here’s a sampling of some of his sayings that apply to so many situations we encounter in our daily lives:

         “Publicity is like poison.  It doesn’t hurt you unless you swallow it.”

                                  *            *          *

           For salesmen: “You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others.  That’s the mark of a true professional.”

                                  *             *          *

          “Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart and mind, confidence is the key to all locks.”

                                   *              *          *

           Talking about those bland Penn State football uniforms: “It’s the name on the front of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the back.”  So there were no names on the back of Penn State uniforms.

                                   *              *           *

             “Believe always down in your heart that you’re destined to do great things.”

                                   *               *            *

             Here’s one that really strikes home in the wake of what has gone down at Penn State in recent months: “The minute you think you’ve got it made, disaster is just around the corner.”

                                   *               *             *

Here’s one that explains why Paterno was lost when he was no longer held in such high esteem: “Losing a game is heart-breaking, losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.”

                                   *               *             *

         Here’s one that the Pitt basketball team should hear: “You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you’ll lose, and the losing becomes a habit.”

                                    *               *             *

         “Set your sights high, the higher the better.  Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future, but right now.”

                                  *               *              *

          “I still haven’t gotten that little something out of my system that I’m still not a little kid going to a football game.  I’m excited.”

                                    *               *               *

            “A mistake is always forgivable, rarely excusable and always unacceptable.”

                                  *                *               *

           A man who met Jerry Conboy for the first time asked him if he missed coaching.  Conboy, who is nearly as old as Paterno, didn’t hesitate in his answer.  “Yes, I do.  I’d go out on the court right now and show these kids how to do it, how to play basketball the right way.  I don’t think you ever lose the desire to coach and teach.”

         Keep some of Paterno’s sayings in your night stand and refer to them once in a while.  If you adhere to them you will sleep better.

 

         Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien has written about Joe Paterno and other local sports legends in his Pittsburgh Proud sports book series.  His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

O’Brien:

This was in a grand French ballroom below floor level in a magnificent brownstone building on the city’s North Side.

         There were about 150 people filling the room at a fund-raiser to sponsor disadvantaged kids to attend a summer football camp featuring the Steelers’ star center Maurkice Pouncey and his pals on the team’s offensive line.

         It was easy to pick Pouncey out of the crowd and I also recognized his linemates Chris Kemoeatu and Marcus Gilbert, as well as linebacker LaMarr Woodley.  There were a few other big men sharing the same tables but I didn’t recognize them.

         About a dozen waiters were strolling through the crowd to offer hors d’oeuvres – beef and chicken on a stick or cheese puffs, cheese and crackers – and there were stations for wine and beer. 

         The party, advertised as “Puttin’ on the Blitz II,” was co-hosted by Pouncey and Russell Livingston, the present of Babb, Inc., an insurance brokerage whose offices are in this landmark building.  DeShea Townsend hosted the party last year.

         I’d been in that building at least a dozen times over the past 30 years, twice signing my books at the firm’s Christmas party, but I had not been there for a few years.  Russell’s father, Ron Livingston, a big Pitt booster and Steelers’ fan, was running the firm back then.

         I had bumped into Russell last two days earlier in late November at The City Game, when Pitt defeated Duquesne at their annual meeting at the Consol Energy Center, and he had invited me to his party.

         I knew about five people at the party and, worse yet as far as I was concerned, that’s about all that knew me.

         Being in the ballroom, which is mostly below street level on Ridge Avenue, brought back some good memories.  I had been told once that the richest people in Pittsburgh often gathered there when William Penn Snyder resided there. He owned the Shenango Furnace Co., and had the Carnegies and Fricks at his gala parties, and the city’s elite danced on that ballroom floor.

         I was also reminded of days when Pitt had one of the best college football teams in the land, when Jackie Sherrill’s teams went 11-1 three straight seasons in the early ‘80s.  They were twice rated the No. 1 college football team in the country during that span.    

         Jimbo Covert came over to greet me and made me feel welcome and comfortable when I entered the ballroom that Friday evening.  He introduced Casey, the oldest of his three children, and a friend or two, and that was an ice-breaker.

         Jimbo Covert, in case you don’t recognize the name right away, was an All-American tackle on Sherrill’s teams and played his last season under Foge Fazio, and was the first round draft choice of the Chicago Bears in 1983.

         That was the draft class famous for producing five outstanding quarterbacks, including Dan Marino of Pitt, the last of the five picked that year.  How good was Covert?  He was the fifth player taken in that draft.  Marino was taken 27^th.

         Covert played eight years for the Bears, including the 1985 season when they won the Super Bowl.  He was the league’s offensive player of the year in 1985 and played in two Pro Bowl games.  He was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the ‘80s.

         He and May were both top-notch students at Pitt, but they got pulled away from their classes after their senior football season for evaluation camps – that’s when teams conducted their own tryouts and not at a combine – and for awards dinners.  They came back to Pitt in later years to earn their degrees.

         Covert’s line coach at Pitt was Joe Moore and his head coach in Chicago was Mike Ditka.  Both were legendary coaches and Covert shared good stories about both of them.

         Now 51, Covert was still the best and brightest lineman in the ballroom last Friday night.  He played at 6-4, 280 pounds.  He looked successful in a dark blue suit, white shirt and blue tie.  He is the president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Transfusion Medicine.

         He told me he’d seen me a week earlier, just before Thanksgiving, signing books in the upper lobby of the U.S. Steel Building.  He said he was rushing to get to a meeting with UPMC officials and didn’t have time to stop.

         Covert came out of Conway, Pennsylvania, a railroad town in Beaver County, and starred at Pitt.  He played on an offensive line at Pitt that was better than the offensive line of the current Steelers.  You can read that sentence again.  I think I got it right.

         Covert was the left tackle on Pitt’s imposing line.  Rob Fada and Paul Dunn shared the left guard position, Russ Grimm was at center, Emil Boures at right guard, and Mark May at right tackle.  All but Dunn played in the pros.  Grimm is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Covert and May are in the College Football Hall of Fame.  Boures lasted six seasons with the Steelers as a versatile lineman.

         Covert and former Steelers’ star defensive back Mel Blount are both being inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame this November at a banquet in Cranberry.  The honors keep coming.

         “I love Mark May and Lou Holtz together on those college football telecasts,” exclaimed Covert.  “They go so well together; they have such great chemistry.”

         He recalled Joe Moore getting after them at Pitt.  “Some people think the center is the most important position on the offensive line because he has calls to make, adjustments to make, but that’s just not so,” said Covert.  “The tackles are the key guys.

         “Joe Moore used to get Grimm so upset because he’d say, ‘I can get anybody off the street and teach them how to play center.’  Grimm would get mad at Moore.  Joe would tell him all he had to do was lean right or left, and that someone was always helping him block his man.”

         Covert recalled what it was like to play for Ditka in Chicago.  “I liked Mike,” he said.  “You always knew where you stood with him.

         “I remember once (early in the 1987 season) that the players wanted to go on strike to gain free agency.  The Bears were one of the last teams to sign on.  Ditka addressed us one day and he screamed at us, ‘What the hell are you guys thinking?  What the hell would you do – could you do – if you weren’t playing football?”

         Covert chuckled at the memory.  “Can you imagine a coach today telling his players something like that?” said Covert.  “But Mike never worried about being politically correct.  I see him on those game day panels with those other former players.  I know he doesn’t agree with much of what they say, but he just goes along playing the role of Mike Ditka.”

         Covert also offered the opinion that Jack Ham and Andy Russell were superior linebackers to Jack Lambert, but the Steelers’ defensive scheme was set up to keep blockers off Lambert so he could make the tackle. 

         “Buddy Ryan’s defense in Chicago was set up the same way to that our middle linebacker, Mike Singletary, could make the tackles. Don’t get me wrong, though.  Singletary and Lambert were both great players.”

         This fund-raising event was billed as a mixer, but today’s players don’t understand what they’re supposed to do at such an event.  They tend to stick together.  That’s their comfort level.  Mike Tomlin needs to teach them how to mix.

         Like most teenagers, they tend to spend too much time checking their i-pads, Blackberrys and texting family and friends.  So the patrons stood around and stared at the Steelers.  Some were bold enough to approach them, shake hands and get something signed.

These Steelers had no idea, I’d bet, of the special significance or history of the neighborhood they were in.  Ridge Avenue, now the center of the CCAC campus, was once referred to as “millionaires’ row,” when steel magnates lived in all those mansions.

         Horse-drawn carriages used to come in and out of the basement of that brownstone they were in through a cut-away entry in the side and back of the building.  That area has been converted into a party area for tail-gating parties hosted by Babb, Inc. before Steelers’ and Pirates’ games at nearby Heinz Field and PNC Park.  There are murals depicting Pitt football and the Steelers on the interior walls.

         If you left the back door of the building you could walk a block and a half – perhaps seven or eight minutes – and be at the front door of Steelers’ owner Dan Rooney’s residence. 

         Dan and his four brothers grew up in that home on Lincoln Avenue that was shared for years by Art and Kathleen Rooney.  Art Sr. used to walk those sidewalks and talk to neighbors.  Dan had a garage added to the house and cleaned it up a bit with a renovation project when he moved there from Mt.Lebanon about 20 years ago.

         His wife Pat grew up in a humble row house in a large family in the Mexican War Streets about two miles near Allegheny General Hospital.

         Now Pat and Dan spend most of their time in a grand home in Dublin, where Dan serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.  They have attendants assisting Pat with looking after the home.

         I checked out the Rooney residence when I left the party that night.  There were small white light bulbs, maybe two or three strands at best, on a stark leafless tree in the front of the house, decorating the place for the Christmas season.

         I spent the next day at the annual Book Fair at the Heinz History Center, where Art Rooney Jr. was one of over 50 authors signing their books.  He and Roy McHugh teamed up to write a wonderful book about the Rooney clan called Ruanaidh, which is Gaelic for Rooney.

         Someone told me at the signing session that they loved the story about how Art Rooney, on his deathbed, told Dan and Art Jr., “You should have drafted Marino.”

         It’s a good story, but it’s not true, according to Art Jr.  “My dad wasn’t able to talk near the end,” he related.  “But there were many times through the years, at family gatherings, that he’d say to us, ‘You should have drafted Marino.’ ”

 CENTURY III BOOK-SIGNING

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien will be signing his “Pittsburgh Proud” series at Bradley’s Book Outlet at Century III Mall in West Mifflin this Friday, Dec. 9,  from 11 a.m. till 4 p.m.  His books make great Christmas gifts for fans.