Category: Sports

Jim O’Brien: Suzie still feels the Olympic spirit

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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 4th and 5th 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

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John Balawejder on the Pittsburgh Hockey Expo

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John Balawejder on the Pittsburgh Hockey Expo:

First, can you tell us a bit about the expo. How the idea began and who runs the expo itself?

The idea began three years ago. Myself and some fellow collectors of Penguins game worn/used items got together and thought it would be fun to put on a free expo for the public.  Joe Tomon of J & J Distributing and John Balawejder from Double Deke Hockey are the ones who run the expo. 

If people have items they’d like to sell at the expo, how can they go about doing so?

We have a few dealer tables available for $75 a piece or two for $100. But fans can bring in rare/unusual pieces of memorabilia to sell to collectors/dealers as well.
 
How involved – if at all – is the Penguins organization and it’s affiliates – and how are they involved?

The Penguins sell the game worn jerseys and sticks to us but are not involved in any other way.
 
What are the big reasons why fans should come to the expo – and is this only for those interested in selling or purchasing a piece of Penguins history, or are there reasons for the non-buyer/non-seller to attend?

If you are a hockey fan in Pittsburgh, this is a can’t miss event.

First, its free. Second, its like walking into the NHL Hall of Fame, but there only being Penguins stuff. Third, you can actually touch/try on pieces of Penguins history from your favorite players. So you can walk in, not spend a dime, and have an amazing time, or you can walk out with a prize piece for your personal collection.

Card and autograph collectors, there will be items for you as well.
 
This year Phil Bourque is in attendance. What is Phil’s role and how can fans meet him?

Phil is good friends with one of our collectors. He is a special guest who will be signing autographs and hanging out with the fans.

Any other former players/personalities fans should look for at the expo? What others have attended in prior years?

This is the first year that we have had a special guest. But with it being so close to the arena on a game day, you never know who will stop in.
 
Have you seen representatives from sports history museums like the The History Center and Sports Museum come to the event to acquire items?

We have had some major auction houses come in to acquire items from collectors, but have not had anyone from the museums.  A lot of what you will see if Hall of Fame worthy items.
 
What are some of the more unique pieces of Penguins history you’ve seen sold through the years – and what are some of the more unique items being sold this year?

Because it is a first come first serve event, we don’t reveal any of the items in advance. This keeps people from getting really upset that they missed out on a piece. All we can say is, get in line early.  As far as in the past, most collectors hold onto their prized items, but here are a few of the amazing pieces of Penguins history you will see at the Expo:

Mario Lemieuxs game worn jersey vs NJ when he scored five goals five different ways
Mario Lemieuxs rookie NHL contract
Michel Briere’s photomatched game worn glove
Sidney Crosbys rookie game worn jersey
Tons of jerseys and game used items from all 3 Stanley Cup Seasons
Game Worn Jerseys from every season of the Penguins
 
What else should readers know about the event?

It takes place Saturday Sept 22nd 9am-4pm at the Epiphany Church Hall located right next to the Consol Energy Centers lower entrance at 184 Washington Place.

Doors open at 9am but get there early for best selection. Phil Bourque will be signing autographs from 10:30am – noon(subject to change without notice).

The equipment sale also starts at 9am. There will be game used sticks, jerseys, helmets, gloves, skates, and pants, many never being available for sale before.
 
Any last thoughts for readers?

If you like Pittsburgh Hockey, then the 3rd Annual Pittsburgh Hockey Expo is a can’t miss event!

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Jim O’brien: Munhall’s Jack Butler knows how to say “Thank you”

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Jim O’brien: Munhall’s Jack Butler knows how to say “Thank you”

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

Jack Butler was the best speaker of the six former National Football League players who were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past Saturday evening in Canton, Ohio.

         Butler was at the microphone in Fawcett Stadium for exactly 3 minutes and 55 seconds.  That contrasts with the final speaker on the program, Curtis Martin, who spoke for 27 minutes.  It took three hours to induct six players.  That’s overkill.

         Butler said “thank you” or some form of that phrase nine times in that span.  He said he was thankful, grateful, honored, humbled, happy and proud.  What more is there to say?

         Hey, he’s 84 years old and moving as fast as he can on two bad wheels.  He said he was “thankful to God.”  He concluded his reflections by saying, “Heck, I’m thankful to be here.  I thank you all.”

         Butler was midway through his nine-year (1951-1959) playing career for the Steelers when Britain’s Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile for the first time – that was on May 6, 1954 – and the Oxford student completed the distance in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.

         So Butler broke Bannister’s record on Saturday night by a few seconds.

         Martin, who came out of Hazelwood and Taylor Allderdice High School and the University of Pittsburgh, told some harrowing tales about an alcoholic father who beat his mother, giving her black eyes, burning her in hot water in a bath tub, setting her hair on fire with a lighter, and putting lit cigarettes out on her legs.

         It might make for an interesting magazine story, or for a book, but not for a Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

         In short, rather in long, Martin told his life story, way too personally as some saw it.  Martin received rave reviews in some publications for his honest account of a dysfunctional family, but drew some strong criticism in social media.  Some observers said it was “the worst speech in Hall of Fame history.”

         Martin went into too much detail or TMI, as my daughter Rebecca says when I do the same.  TMI is for Too Much Information.  I felt the same way when I read “West on West,” Jerry West’s life story, when he revealed so many ugly details about his dad and his upbringing in backwoods West Virginia.

         It’s a good thing Martin spoke last and not first.  Butler was second on the program and he might have packed his bags and gone back home to Munhall if he had to sit through Martin’s marathon talk before it was his turn to speak.

         Butler thanked his wife and his eight children, but he didn’t mention them all by name, thinking that he’d go over his allotted five-minute acceptance speech.  That’s how long Hall of Fame officials ask you to speak.

         I recall that Butler was the best speaker, even though he started out by saying “I’m not much of a speaker,” at a dinner to honor his teammate Fran Rogel of North Braddock.

         That dinner lasted from 6 o’clock to just after midnight at the Churchill Country Club and Butler told a buddy “some of those speakers killed it by talking too long.”

         Butler has always been a man of few words.  He probably spoke longer than former Pirates’ star Bill Mazeroski did the day he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but both were well received because they are “so damn real,” as Steve Blass once said of Maz.  They are down to earth and uncomfortable in the spotlight, and that’s part of their appeal to Pittsburgh sports fans.

         I don’t think the induction ceremony of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is an appropriate place to put out your family’s dirty laundry.

         I have been guilty of staying too long at the mike at the Sports Night Dinner at the Thompson Club in West Mifflin, and I have learned my lesson in that regard.  Nowadays, I make sure I know how long I’m expected to speak and keep a close eye on my wristwatch to make sure I don’t go into overtime.

         I remember going to a football banquet in Belle Vernon in the mid-80s when I was to be the featured speaker.  I got there a half hour early, as is my custom, to meet people and pick up some items I could use in my talk to localize my remarks.  The dinner started at 6 p.m.  By 10 p.m. I still had not been called to the podium.

         A long-time assistant soccer coach was given a surprise award upon his retirement.  He said, “I don’t have a script,” before he went into a 24-minute ramble.  Midway through his remarks, I told the head football coach who was sitting next to me, “Get him a script!”

         When I got up to speak I had to remind those in attendance of why we were there.

         I was happy to see Butler and Martin get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  I knew Chris Doleman, one of the other inductees, from our days at Pitt.  He was about to start his junior season (1983) when I was hired to be the assistant athletic director for public relations at Pitt.

         I remember Doleman got hurt in the first game of his senior year (1984), a season-opener at Pitt Stadium against BYU, and missed most of the season.  He was one of several players who were in the doghouse with Coach Foge Fazio.  The Panthers lost to BYU 20-14. That setback in the first game set the tone for the rest of the schedule and the Panthers finished with a 3-7-1 record.

         There was a lot of talent on that team.  When the Panthers finished 5-5-1 the following season, Fazio was fired as the head coach.  I thought he deserved another year, just as I thought Dave Wannstedt should have been given another year.  Both had recruited the talent to turn out a winner.

         I recall being in the press box in Martin’s junior season (1993) at Pitt when he ran for over 200 yards against a tough Texas team.  There were two Steelers’ scouts in the press box that day.  Martin did suffer some injuries at Pitt that limited his playing time.  That’s why he lasted till the third round in the NFL draft before the New England Patriots, coached by Bill Parcells, took him in the draft.

         I ran into Martin’s mother a few times when I was signing books at Ross Park Mall.  She’d be wearing a New England Patriots’ jacket and she’d make sure you knew she was Curtis Martin’s mother.  I got a kick out of her brassiness.  She seemed like a strong woman, happy and proud of her son’s achievements.

         She told me stories about her son.  She never shared any stories about her husband.

         I was no longer on the Steelers’ beat when Dermontti Dawson came along in 1988.  But he seemed like a good guy, and he was definitely a great center, following in the tradition of Mike Webster, Ray Mansfield and Bill Walsh as outstanding Steelers’ centers.

         This is the second time that Pitt has had two former players inducted into the Hall of Fame on the same day.  Russ Grimm and Rickey Jackson were inducted in the Class of 2010.

         Doleman commented in Canton that this could help Pitt in its recruiting efforts.  He mentioned the problems in the Penn State program, with players abandoning ship at State College in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky Scandal and NCAA penalties.

         He said that Pitt should get some of its Hall of Fame football players, and other alumni, to convince some of the Penn State players that Pitt would be the perfect place for them if they are considering transferring to another school.

         Doleman’s idea sounds good, but it would be illegal and might draw NCAA penalties to the Pitt program.  Todd Graham advanced some similar ideas when he became the head coach at Pitt.   He wanted Bill Fralic and Tony Dorsett to do that.  You would think a head coach in college would know the rules better than that.  Former players and alumni are not permitted to talk to prospects about coming to any college.

         I have been asked many times in recent weeks what I thought about the NCAA penalties against Penn State.

         At first, I wrongly thought that the NCAA should not have anything to say about this scandal since Penn State broke no rules in its conduct of its football program.  But I guess Todd Graham is not the only one who doesn’t know what the NCAA can and cannot do.

         I think Penn State officials were so eager to not draw a four-year “death penalty” that they accepted the terms of this penalty.  But I thought the NCAA went too far.

         I think it was ridiculous and uncalled for to strip Penn State of so many victories in recent years.  They didn’t want Joe Paterno to remain the winningest college football coach in Division I so they cut back on his victory total.

         Hey, Joe Paterno didn’t win those games.  The football team did, and it’s not fair to those players and those students and alumni who were part of the program to penalize them in such a manner.

         I thought it was okay to ban the team from post-season bowl games for four years, and to reduce their scholarships by five each year.  The new coach, Bill O’Brien, was most upset by the decision to permit present Penn State football players to transfer to another school without having to sit out a season.

         Coaches always react to such things on a personal level.  This was the one aspect of the penalty that was going to make O’Brien’s job more challenging.  I am sure he didn’t buy into such a situation when he left the New England Patriots in favor of Penn State.

         I think things will work out fine for Penn State.  O’Brien is right to say Penn State is still an outstanding academic institution and there aren’t any bowl games you can go to and have 110,000 people in the stands as they have at Beaver Stadium.

         I think Penn State will attract a certain kind of kid who wants to help turn things around in the program.  Penn State still has one of the greatest environments any kid could ask for to play college football.  Some of the great prospects will go elsewhere because they want to play in bowl games.

         I think Penn State will appeal to the best kind of kids.

         I have to take O’Brien to task for saying that because of his prior experience as a pro football coach that he can better ready players to move to the next level.  Dave Wannstedt used to say that when he was the head coach at Pitt.

         I don’t think O’Brien’s job is to prepare players for the pros.  How many kids are we talking about here?  Few make it to the pro level.  His job, and Wannstedt’s job, is to develop a clean and proud college football program, to turn out winning teams.

         Joe Paterno set the bar high in that respect.  Paterno made a mistake in judgment when he didn’t see to it that Jerry Sandusky was fired and forced to leave the State College campus.  I have friends, including Franco Harris, who disagree about this, and remain firm in their belief that Paterno did what was required of him.

         Joe Paterno is dead.  Taking his victories away doesn’t punish him.  It punishes people who had nothing to do with the Jerry Sandusky Scandal.  I am a proud Pitt man, but I feel sorry for Penn State people who truly cared about the school’s football team and athletic program, and have been hurt by all this.

          Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien can be reached at jimmyo64@gmail.com

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Jim O’Brien: From Hazelwood to London still long jump for Douglas

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Jim O’Brien: From Hazelwood to London still long jump for Douglas

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

Herb Douglas Jr. is a boyhood hero who has stood the test of time.  As a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Douglas won a bronze medal in the long jump in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games in London, and parlayed his celebrity status in sports into a successful business career.

He lives in Philadelphia, but he has maintained his boyhood home in Hazelwood and stays there when he returns to coordinate special recognition programs for track & field and African-American athletes at his alma mater.  He has served on the board of trustees at the University of Pittsburgh and now enjoys emeritus status.  He is in the Taylor Allderdice High School Hall of Fame.

“He’s a good friend and counselor,” said Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.  “Herb has always been a point of pride for the University of Pittsburgh, and leads us in so many ways.”

Douglas is departing Philadelphia on Thursday, July 27 for a week-long stay in London during the Olympic Games with several of his teammates from the 1948 USA Olympic team.  At 90, he is the oldest surviving Olympic track & field medalist, and will serve as an ambassador for the University of Pittsburgh.

He returned to Pittsburgh last month to place his memorabilia in a time capsule on a wall where many prominent Pittsburghers are honored at the Heinz History Center. Douglas has been cited as a “History Maker” at the Senator John Heinz History Center, is hailed in the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum and he celebrated his 85th and 90th birthdays at gala events there that were attended by Olympians and sports celebrities, as well as family and close friends.

“Herb Douglas has a special place in so many respects here at the Heinz History Center,” said Andy Masisch, the president and CEO of the center in the city’s Strip District.  Douglas has become a good friend of Franco Harris.  “He’s taught me a lot about our history,” said Harris, who chairs the Champions Committee there.

Douglas spoke over the telephone from his apartment in Philadelphia earlier this month, and a sense of excitement and anticipation resonated in his usually steady voice.

“There was a photographer here yesterday from The New York Daily News who took a picture of me and my Olympic medal,” declared Douglas.  “That’s the first time, strangely enough, that has happened.  I needed that, too, to pass along.

“I feel good about all of this, everything.  It was 64 years ago that I won that medal, but it stays with me. I was a person who used the Olympics to open up business opportunities.”

He says he was inspired by the gold medal efforts of Jesse Owens and John Woodruff and what African-American athletes achieved in the 1936 Olympic Games.  “We didn’t have role models before that,” said Douglas.

In 1950, Douglas became a sales representative and district manager in Milwaukee for Pabst Blue Ribbon.  In 1963, he left Pabst to join Schieffelin & Company, importers of such premium brands as Hennessy Cognac, Moet and Chandon Champagnes.

Douglas was credited for boosting sales in urban communities, and for promoting minority hiring in his company.  He was named a vice-president of special markets in Milwaukee in 1968, and a vice-president of urban market development in 1984.  He worked for the company, now known as Moet & Hennessy for 30 years, 24 years as an employee and six more years as a consultant.  He formally retired in 1987.

He is reputed to be among the first African-American athletes, along with Jackie Robinson and Joe Black of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to use sports as a springboard for success as vice-presidents for national concerns.

Douglas met President Barack Obama in Denver this year.  “He put his arm around me and said, ‘I stand on your shoulders.’  He said he hopes he looks as good as me when he is 90.  I told him he’d look better because he’s better-looking.”

Douglas believes four basics serve anyone well.  His motto has been “analyze, organize, initiate and follow through.”

To which he adds, “Get yourself someone you can trust like a brother, a good finance person, a good business lawyer, and work hard and you have a chance to be a winner.”

Jim O’Brien is the author of “Hometown Heroes” and 20 books in his “Pittsburgh Proud” series.  His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

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Jim O’Brien: Just enjoy the games as they are played

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Jim O’Brien: Just enjoy the games as they are played:

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

This is a great time to be a sports fan in Pittsburgh.

         The Pirates have been playing so well and have created so much excitement in the city over their improved prospects.

         The Steelers opened their training camp at St. VincentCollege at mid-week and many of their fans will be making their annual pilgrimage to Latrobe to get an up-close look at their favorite pro football team.

         The Summer Olympic Games are underway in London and we will be rooting for our U.S.A. competitors in a wide selection of sports.  Since I was 14, back in the Summer Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, I have been a big fan of this international competition.

         Golf fans had to enjoy the British Open – I still call it that – in which the veteran Ernie Els made a great stretch run to overtake Adam Scott to win one of the majors.  I don’t play golf but I love to watch it on TV.  I was also glad that Tiger Woods was in contention nearly all the way.

         Anyone who has a high definition flat screen TV these days has to enjoy the extended coverage of sports in every spectrum.  I even watched the NASCAR race in Chicago on Sunday.

         If only they could clean up the mess at PennState sooner than later.  I’m a Pitt man but I root for PennState and I want to see the school resume being the great school it has always been.

         As I was writing this column, the Pirates had just swept a series with the Miami Marlins for a season-high five consecutive victories and were 14 games over .500 with the Chicago Cubs coming to town.  Who saw that coming back in April?

         Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Neal Walker, A.J. Burnett & Co. are the toast of the town.  So many Pirates have stepped up their games.  It would be great if they can continue to win more games than they lose.  I will be happy with a winning team this year.

         I don’t want them to trade off any of their top prospects for a rent-a-player to help them get into the playoffs.  I’d rather see this team grow from within.  I’m a patient man when it comes to the Pirates.  They are missing some pieces, but they have an inspired manager in Clint Hurdle.  He has a heartbeat, unlike his predecessor, and he has endeared himself to Pirates’ fans.  I’m worried that he will wear out his jaw chewing gum so vehemently during the games.

         I was looking forward to attending Wednesday afternoon’s contest with the Cubs at PNCPark, knowing there would be a great crowd, enhanced by the presence of plenty of Chicago visitors.  It promised to be a great afternoon for baseball.

         There’s been a real buzz in the ‘Burgh about these Pirates.  Some of the biggest crowds in PNC history have turned out to see the Pirates in action, and not just for the giveaways and fireworks for a change.  They were there to see the Pirates play baseball.

         Ticket sales for the remainder of the summer have been strong, and anyone looking for the best seats better hurry up and get their orders in because they are going fast.  People are buying up Pirates’ paraphernalia

         I may sound like a coach but I am enjoying each game on its own merits.  Overzealous fans are already talking about the Pirates’ playoff prospects – there’s an extra wild-card slot this year – and even about what the team might do in a World Series.

         People who recognize me as a sportswriter have started to ask me what I think about the Pirates and how far they might go.

         I usually disappoint people when they ask me those kinds of questions, whether we are talking about the Pirates, the Penguins, the Steelers, or one of the Pitt teams.

         For starters, I don’t know what any of these teams are going to do in future games.  I pride myself on knowing the history of these teams, and sports in general. 

         I have been surprised and delighted by the Pirates’ play to date.  Who wouldn’t enjoy what we have seen so far?  But there are serious holes in their lineup, at bat and in the field, and the quality of pitching can turn on a dime.

         I think Pirates’ fans who want to discuss the playoffs and the World Series before July has even ended, with so many games in August and September and even at the beginning of October, are just setting them up for serious disappointment.  It would be nice if they could win their division, but don’t count on it.  There are many games still to be played.  And just because an opposing team has a poorer record does not mean the Pirates will prevail.  That’s baseball; that’s sports.

         Here’s my suggestion: just enjoy the games as they are played, and be enough of a baseball fan to be able to deal with a defeat here and there, because it’s going to happen.  A team that can win five straight can also lose five straight.  Or more.

         The same goes for the Steelers.

         How do I think they will do this year?

         I think they will be a contender.  I think they will be in the mix.  They still have enough key players back to be in the running. The Steelers don’t have to win the Super Bowl to have a great season, at least not in my mind.  They have a first-rate coach in Mike Tomlin and great players showing the way on both sides of the ball in Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu and strong supporting casts, with or without Mike Wallace.

         Like the Pirates, I think they will provide us with some great games, some victories to make our day, and that there will be days they will disappoint us because they did not play well, or they did not win the game.

         The same goes for the Penguins.  Why does the Stanley Cup come into the conversation at the start of every season?  Or already this summer?

         Pittsburgh sports fans are more spoiled than most sports fans because we have enjoyed so much success in sports in this region, more so than most cities in this country.   We have enjoyed more than our share of championships.

         Sports are an outlet, entertainment to take our minds off some of the stories that fill the front pages of our daily newspapers each and every day.  It’s a pastime.

         I’ve been following sports for a long time.  I first got interested in the Olympic Games when I was 14 and became the sports editor of the bi-weekly newspaper in my hometown – The Hazelwood Envoy.     

         The gold medalist in the shot put that summer was named Parry O’Brien from Southern California.  That caught my attention understandably.  I became a big fan of track & field.

         I learned that there was a man in my hometown named Herb Douglas Jr. who had won a bronze medal in the long jump at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.  We later became friends.  Herb celebrated his 90th birthday here in Pittsburgh in mid-March and he is in London for the next seven days, sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh, his alma mater, to witness these Olympic Games.

         I will be especially interested in watching track & field, basketball, swimming and gymnastics.

         I will be rooting for Swin Cash of McKeesport, the oldest player at 32 on our women’s basketball team, to contribute to a gold medal effort.  I recall having lunch with Swin at an Eat’n Park Restaurant on Lyle Boulevard in McKeesport when she was a star player at the University of Connecticut.

         I recall seeing Swin Cash honored at the Heinz History Center and looking so beautiful posing for pictures with the likes of Herb Douglas and the late “Bullet Bill” Dudley, a Steelers’ star in the ‘40s.       

         Swin Cash keeps coming back to McKeesport and lends her presence and her money to help make things better in the projects where she grew up.  There have been killings in her old neighborhood and she knows the families of some of the victims.

         Whether there is violence in McKeesport, or Aurora, Colorado or in so many countries in Europe and Asia and Africa, it makes one realize how lucky we are to have some relief, or an outlet, to have fun with our games, with our sports.

         It’s fun to argue about sports, and to make comparisons and contrasts.  I see where Kobe Bryant is bragging that this edition of the men’s basketball team would beat The Dream Team that represented the U.S.A. when Michael Jordan was the team’s star.

         I go back to that 1960 men’s basketball team that is now overlooked, but had enough great players to beat any team at any time.  You can’t play ten or twelve players at the same time and I think we’d be better off with some lesser talents who recognize that they are role players, and contribute in ways that are more difficult to measure.

         Our 1960 team included Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Walt Bellamy and Jerry Lucas – who are all in the Basketball Hall of Fame – and such other stars as Terry Dischinger, Bob Boozer, Darrell Imhoff and Adam Smith.  They went 8-0 and outscored their opponents by 42.4 points per game. 

         Pirates’ broadcaster Steve Blass has been reminding us during each game of what fun it is to be at PNCPark these days.  The Pirates and their fans have suffered through 19 straight losing seasons, the most of any team in professional sports, and that’s why this is so sweet.

         I hear the Pirates’ broadcasters using phrases such as “can of corn” to describe a pop fly in the outfield, and it brings Bob Prince to mind.  Prince used that phrase when he was “the voice of the Pirates,” and it brings back memories of better days at the ballpark.

           I think it’s unrealistic to expect our teams to come out on top all the time.  It doesn’t work that way.

         Save your prayers for the real problems in the world or in your neighborhood, and simply root for the home teams to prevail.  Don’t damn them when they don’t play up to your expectations.

         Just enjoy the games.

          Sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien has a series of “Pittsburgh Proud” books at area bookstores.  His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

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Neil Stratton, President, Inside the League, NFL/CFL Consulting

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Neil Stratton, President, Inside the League, NFL/CFL Consulting

First, can you let readers know how you got started as a consultant for college and pro football and how you started Inside the League?

In the late 90’s, I had a buddy who wanted to be the next Mel Kiper Jr. We started a print draft publication in the time when the Internet was just starting to explode, and it lasted about four years. At about Year three, it was easy to see there was too much competition out there to make money with the business model, so I had started looking around for Plan B. At the Senior Bowl one year, I started to meet agents who made it clear there was no publication specifically for them. At the time, there were about 1,500 agents registered by the NFLPA (there are around half that now due to a rule change instituted about eight years ago). It looked like a ready-made, easy-to-reach market.

At any rate, when I launched ITL, it was half about draft evaluation (mock drafts, rankings, etc.), and half about the industry and the stuff it has become today. However, after I returned from my stint as Executive Director of the ’08 Hula Bowl and relaunched ITL, my wife urged me to make it unique and just focus on the things no one else was doing, which was the football business, insider-type stuff. It was the right move.

How has having played football in college (U.S. Naval Academy in ’88) helped you in this role as a consultant?

I think anyone could do what I do if they are willing to take a chance and work hard, regardless of whether they played college football. However, I will say that it gives me credibility when I meet a coach, player, agent, or anyone in the industry and I can tell them that I know what it’s like to be a player, even if it was a LONG time ago, and I was far from a star. The blood, sweat and tears that every player sheds from the bonds that link people in this industry, and what gives it the camaraderie that glues people to this business and to each other.

In working with agents, what have you found to be the key attributes that make up a top-tier agent?

Persistence, plain and simple. And money, of course. You HAVE to have resources given how the business model has changed so drastically in the last 5-7 years. That’s where I feel ITL gives its clients an edge – we are out there actively trying to help our clients make good business decisions and spend their money wisely, while simultaneously bringing them discounts on hotel stays, training, or whatever. And we’re always, always accessible.

But at the end of the day, I always tell my clients that if you’re not willing to get the door slammed in your face or the phone slammed on you, or if you’re not willing to stand outside the locker room in the rain to get five minutes with a player, or you’re not willing to drive four or five hours one way to make a contact some night when you have to be up at 7 a.m. the next day, then you should think long and hard about being in this business. You’ll have to pay your dues, just like in any other business, even if you’ve been very successful in another line of work. There’s a misperception that the NFLPA helps its licensed contract advisors by providing them contact info, tips, information, discounts or whatever. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s Dodge City out there.

What are the biggest misperceptions you find players have when entering the NFL as rookies?

There are several, so I’m going to approach this question during the period between the end of college play and the draft.

The biggest and most recent one is that once your eligibility is over, and it’s time to focus on the draft, you deserve expert-level combine training along with a stipend, signing bonus or some other form of subsidy from your agent. There is an incredible sense of entitlement that has been bred among college players in the last 3-4 years. If you’re not rated in the top 100 for a draft – in other words, expected to go in the first three rounds – good representation and good entitlements become an either/or proposition; it’s hard to find both if you’re a late-rounder.

The other is that all players who start for some period of time at a Division I school are entitled to a 3-4 year NFL career. Playing in college, even playing well, offers absolutely no guarantees. No one deserves anything, and the NFL doesn’t award camp invites based on what someone wrote on the Internet. There is no guaranteed happy ending. That’s why, though it’s a cliché, education and getting a degree are critical. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than seeing players hanging around some indoor league into their late 20s/early 30s.

The third is that if you don’t make the NFL, it’s somebody’s fault, and most likely your agent’s. There are literally thousands of players each year that are very, very good college players, but that doesn’t make you an NFL player, or even an NFL prospect. Sometimes, you just aren’t good enough. There’s no shame in that. I know it’s never easy to let go of a dream, but sometimes part of being a grownup is knowing when it’s time to move on.

What are the most common mistakes you see agents make with clients and the teams they negotiate with, and how do you help them overcome those mistakes?

The first that many agents make is that once you sign a player, he’ll automatically get invited to an all-star game, then he’ll automatically get evaluated in March by an NFL scout, and if he’s not drafted, he’ll automatically get a camp invite.

If you’re an agent, there’s no time for waiting. You have to be spring-loaded at all times and take nothing for granted. Once you get him signed, start finding out how he can get into an all-star game and who you need to talk to on his behalf, especially if he’s a guy who’s on the bubble to get drafted. You should even start cultivating game contacts as soon as you get certified.

Once that’s resolved, find out about pro days. I usually advise my clients that if they are considering signing a player from a small school and don’t know if they will have a pro day or not, don’t sign them. Bottom line, if you don’t work out for a scout who gets your 40 time, etc., it’s almost like you don’t exist. Schools can no longer just take for granted that they will have a well-attended pro day, and many, many schools that are not Division I-A don’t get scouts to come to their workouts (and some don’t even schedule one). Trying to get a small-school kid into a Division I-A workout is a serious uphill battle anymore. Schools are wary of giving a player from another school a chance at a job one of their players might otherwise fill. Finally, as they go through the spring, they should be cultivating scouts (we maintain a list of who to contact and how on our site) because sometimes those relationships wind up making the difference on getting a kid into a camp. They need to leverage those relationships when it comes time to get kids into camps.

With so much discussion on how players handle their post-NFL careers and lives and the difficulties they have in doing so at times, how do you work with your clients to ensure players have a healthy mindset entering their post-NFL years, and how do you go about doing so?

It’s tricky. Earlier this year, I approached a financial planner who’d been a longtime client and asked him if it would serve his clients if I put together a kind of post-career seminar to give players tips on how to succeed. He basically said it was no use, because it’s so hard to get players to understand how fragile their careers are, and either they get it or they don’t. It’s kind of the nature of the business. You better believe you’re invincible or pretty soon you won’t have the edge, the confidence, the attitude that you need. Start talking about the end, and pretty soon it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Obviously, at the end of the day, the answer is education, but you can talk all you want; if people don’t want to listen, it won’t matter. I don’t mean to sound fatalistic about things, but addressing this issue is something I’m always thinking about, and I still have no answers. The NFL has developed several seminars and programs to answer this question, and for the most part, they are under-attended.

How do you go about helping players selecting the right marketing/endorsement opportunities? How do you know when the fit is right?

The difficulty here is in realizing how few marketing opportunities there are for NFL players. Because players are hidden behind a facemask, getting these dollars isn’t easy, and if you don’t score touchdowns (i.e., QB, wide receiver, running back), it becomes even harder to get marketing dollars. Agents are always being asked why they can’t get marketing opportunities, and the truth is that for more players, these chances are rare beyond the occasional appearance at a trading card show, or chance to get a free car lease from a local dealership in return for tickets and an appearance in a newspaper ad. If you’re rated in the top 100 players in a draft class, you’ll have no problem getting an apparel/shoe deal, trading card deal and maybe an autograph signing in your college town, but after that you really have to prove yourself to get anything significant once you’re a veteran. If you really get established in a city, and your team has success, you may be able to land a weekly radio gig or whatever. But beyond that, the general rule is that you should take whatever you can get, because opportunities are rare.

You work with combine preparation specialists. How would you address concerns that the combine rather than a player’s on-field play is becoming too important in a player’s pre-draft evaluation, and is there concern that the pre-combine preparation can help give a “false read” on a player’s ability?

Everyone loves to talk about the workout warriors in the mid-00s that were overdrafted due to their triangle numbers, the Mitch Marrows of the world and the Mike Mamulas, but that’s because the NFL allows that to happen. There’s a good argument to be made that the combine prep industry creates athletes, not football players, but you have to understand that the trend in scouting departments is to ask your area scouts to bring back facts only, and the real evaluation will be made by a handful of top executives at the team headquarters. This is done, partly, so teams can contain the costs of their scouting departments by paying low-level guys pennies. At any rate, when you become that dependent on facts, on measurables, it’s only natural that these numbers would rise in significance.

I remember Charley Casserly used to tell players at the Shrine Game in the early 00’s that 80 percent of their draft ‘grade’ was complete when they walked off the field after their last college game, then 10 percent was the all-star game and 10 percent was their pro day/combine. I wonder if all teams subscribe to that formula anymore. So measurables have become bigger, and therefore combine prep specialists have become more important. You combat that by stressing that film study has to be the deciding factor, and making sure every scout knows that, and by trusting your scouts’ opinions.

One thing that has really become true the last few years is that there’s a ‘lottery’ mentality when it comes to the sixth and seventh round for many teams. They consider these picks as less meaningful, so they roll the dice on players who blow up their respective pro days, gambling that if the kid is a great pure athlete he can be made into a good football player. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s part of what makes the NFL draft so fascinating. When you find a kid 6-6, 360 with magic feet, it matters less that he couldn’t stay on the field due to injuries, or had off-field issues, or just doesn’t like football.

From your perspective, what are some of the biggest misperceptions fans have of the role of agents in sports? How do you dispel those?

It’s a myth fed by many – but not all – coaches and schools that all agents are evil. SOME agents are evil, but not all. Not by a long shot. Also, I’m going to say something that’s not popular but still true: if most elite student-athletes didn’t have their hands out, there would be fewer agents around that would put something in them. If you’re a highly rated player, you have a set of expectations that allows these unscrupulous agents to operate. These players are kids, and they make mistakes, and I get that, but there’s still good and evil out there, and many of these young men are very skilled at taking advantage of people.

The other thing to understand is that the rank-and-file fan has no idea how agents and agencies work, and how that side of the business works, and couldn’t care less, anyway, so it’s really easy to paint with a wide brush. I understand that; part of what makes my job so addictive is that I’ve been doing this for a decade and I still learn stuff all the time. I know a lot of people want to believe in the purity of athletics, especially at the college level, but it’s hard to call anyone playing Division I-A college football an amateur, because they’re getting some kind of inducement to play. A scholarship isn’t the same as a wad of cash handed to someone under the table, and I get that, but these guys aren’t playing strictly for the love of the game. Every college athlete I’ve ever been around harbored NFL dreams, and there’s nothing wrong with that. By and large, agents just provide a means for achieving that dream.

With more and more of players’ personal lives – especially legal issues – becoming public, how do you help prepare players to protect themselves from these situations and has that become a bigger part of your player preparation?

It’s hard to impress upon a young man how the Internet, and social media, are forever, but it’s something most agents try to do anyway. You read the Twitter posts of some players, and it almost makes you cringe. It’s the same for the voice mail answers they leave on their phones, and a number of other things. There are so many places where a young man’s throwaway line, post made in frustration, impulse action, or whatever else becomes what everyone judges you by, so as an agent you have to be proactive and try to choose clients who understand that. The truly elite athletes can do whatever they want to, and I guess that will always be true, but if you are a bubble NFL roster type, you just can’t do that. Unfortunately, I think that’s something that’s going to be learned through trial and error more than education. Some young men are going to have to really mess up, and on a national scale, for some athletes to finally get it, and that’s a shame.

Have you worked with any Steelers/Steelers front office personnel – directly or indirectly? If so, how does the team go about it’s negotiations and how are the different from other teams?

I haven’t had a lot of dealings with them. The one thing I will say is that they have had rare success in melding the coaching staff and front office into one mind when it comes to evaluation. Given how the Steelers handle things, rarely handing out big contracts and relying on the draft to replenish its roster regularly, you have to hand it to them for how seamlessly they’ve been able to do it year after year, especially after the exit of one of the most successful head coaches of the 00s. Tomlin and Colbert deserve a lot of credit not just for their success, but for their willingness to work together. No Jerry-Jimmy kinds of blowups. That’s unique.

Any last thoughts for readers?

If you don’t already read Bo Marchionte at www.college2pro.com, you’re making a big mistake. He regularly covers the Steelers, and it’s amazing what kind of a work ethic he has. He will run through walls to do a good job. He also interviews nearly every player leading into the draft every spring, and it’s incredible all the names he compiles. Check him out. He’s going to do big things.

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O’Brien on 50th anniversary of U.S. Open at Oakmont

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O’Brien on 50th anniversary of U.S. Open at Oakmont

TV documentary recalls 1962 U.S. Open

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

The 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont is still considered one of the greatest upsets in pro golf history. A first-year pro from Columbus, Ohio named Jack Nicklaus came here and knocked off Arnold Palmer in a playoff. Palmer was called “The King” at the time. Palmer was in the prime of his career, and he was playing on a familiar course just 40 miles from his home in Latrobe.

The crowd was for him all the way, and Palmer and Nicklaus went head-to-head as a pairing in the first two rounds and then again in the fourth round and the playoff round. Arnie’s Army was marching strong each day and taunting the young blond branded “The Bear” as he made his way around the famed and respected course.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of that great event and the USGA has produced an hour-long TV documentary that will precede this year’s final round of the U.S. Open on NBC-TV. It will be aired at 2 p.m. on Father’s Day on WPXI-TV.

This year’s U.S. Open is being played at another storied venue, Oakland Hills Country Club outside San Francisco, but the documentary will make it a must double header for all serious golf enthusiasts.

I had forgotten I had worked the U.S. Open at Oakmont, and clearly enjoyed one of the best viewpoints of the action all week long. I was sitting on the edge of the greens at most of the holes, writing caption information for photographs taken by a staff photographer for The Pittsburgh Press.

I never included this event in the Top Ten of the most important sports events I have personally witnessed and written about until I took a telephone call in February from George Roy of Flagstaff Films in New York City.

“When you were in high school,” he began, “did you by chance get out to the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 1962?”

I said that was the summer after my sophomore year at the University of Pittsburgh and that I had a position as a summer intern on the city-side news staff at The Press. I explained exactly what my assignment was that day and how rowdy the crowd had been while cheering for Palmer, the hometown favorite, against the young brash upstart from Ohio, a first-year pro named Jack Nicklaus.

I said the crowd cheered for Arnie and insulted Jack regularly, calling him “Ohio Fats” and “Fat Boy,” and actually stomping on the ground when Nicklaus was attempting a putt. Even Steelers’ fans didn’t behave that badly back in those days.

Palmer apologized to Nicklaus at one point for the way his fans were behaving. Woody Hayes, the feisty football coach at The Ohio State University, where Nicklaus had first gained attention on the golf course, was following Nicklaus in the company of Charlie Nicklaus, the father of the young blond golfer. Charlie Nicklaus owned and operated a drug store in Columbus that Hayes had frequented on a regular basis.

Woody and Charlie got into a few verbal confrontations with the crowd over the way they were trying to distract Jack Nicklaus. Hayes was known for having a fiery temper and eventually lost his job at Ohio State for assaulting an opposing player in a sideline skirmish. You wouldn’t want to mess with Woody Hayes, or Charlie Nicklaus.

Some reports on that event, particularly one by an old friend on the sports beat, Jerry Izenberg of The Newark Star-Ledger, indicated that one could actually feel the ground around the green quake when the members of Arnie’s Army started marching in step, stomping on the ground when Nicklaus was putting.
I don’t know about that, but Nicklaus insisted afterward that he was not aware that the crowd was a bit unruly. He was too focused on his golf game to notice.

Once George Roy realized I had been a witness to what went on that week at Oakmont, he scheduled a visit to our home in Upper St. Clair. That’s why there were two television trucks in our driveway the morning of February 28, 2012.

Roy had told me I was a good story-teller. His company Flagstaff Films produced sports documentaries for network and cable television stations. He was working on such a documentary about the 1962 U.S. Open that will be shown on NBC befpre the final round on June 17, at 2 or 3 p.m.

Roy used to run a similar TV documentary filming company called Black Canyon and I was interviewed and appeared in a documentary called “Pistol Pete” The Life and Times of Pete Maravich,” and another one about Roberto Clemente. The Maravich piece won an Emmy Award. Roy’s company has won six Emmy Awards and several other distinctions through the years. I got ample air time on both of the documentaries about Maravich and Clemente, I am proud to report.

I recalled how author Shelby Foote was featured so often in a documentary about the Civil War that was done by award-winning Ken Burns. “I want to be your Shelby Foote,” I told Roy and did my homework on the 1962 U.S. Open prior to his visit to my home in Upper St. Clair.

Roy called me a few weeks later, after his camera crew has recorded a return to Oakmont by Palmer and Nicklaus to reminisce about their meeting 50 years earlier. “I think you will be pleased with what we’ve turned out,” he said. “You made the cut. You’re in it for sure.”

I will explain how I was able to have one of the most up-close views possible at the 1962 U.S. Open. I was working that summer as an intern at The Pittsburgh Press. I had been awarded a Wall Street Journal Scholarship of $500 in addition to the pay I drew working on the city-side or news side of Pittsburgh’s leading daily at the time.

It was a wonderful internship and that summer proved to be very important in shaping my career. Each week I would shadow a different established reporter on his or her beat. One week I’d be at City Hall, the next week in the local judicial courts or police station, the labor beat, the real estate beat, you name it. At the city morgue, I even witnessed an autopsy of a woman who’d been found murdered in the streets. Her body was badly bruised with purple splotches everywhere. I was given an opportunity to write columns and they appeared above and below some nationally syndicated columnists such as Robert Ruark, Bishop Fulton J. Sheehan and Jim Bishop and local writers such as Gilbert Love and Barbara Cloud. I wrote a front-page story about a riot at Western Penitentiary for a full week.

I hit it off well with the editor, John Troan, and the managing editor, Leo Koeberlein, and they invited me to return the following summer. I chose to go to Philadelphia instead to have a summer internship at The Philadelphia Bulletin. I wanted to be with the sportswriters in Philadelphia, among the best in the country. It turned out to be a big mistake. I worked the overnight shift and I seldom got to write any stories. I came home early that summer. I was wasting my time in Philly.

That summer I worked at The Press was also when I started frequenting Dante’s, a saloon/restaurant on the border of Brentwood and Whitehall where all the top sports writers and broadcasters as well as some of the outstanding Steelers, future Hall of Fame players such as Bobby Layne and Ernie Stautner, were among the regulars. I wanted to be around the writers. I wanted to hear their stories, learn from them, show them my stuff, and seek their advice and approval.

The media cast at Dante’s regularly included Myron Cope, Pat Livingston, Bob Drum, Doc Giffin, Tom Bender, Ed Conway, Dave Kelly, Tom Hritz and a supporting cast of characters from the South Hills, namely Jim “Buff” Boston, who became the traveling secretary for the Steelers in the ‘70s, and a fellow named “Funny Sam” that I never thought was that funny and a dentist with bad teeth.

That 1962 summer was a great summer. I knew, for sure, I wanted to be a sportswriter. I was just 19, soon to be 20, but still too young to be in any bars, but I was eager to make my mark.

One day at The Press, I overheard some of the bosses discussing plans for coverage of the upcoming U.S. Open. They were talking about who was going to do what, and they were going to send some reporters from city-side as well as the usual sportswriters to cover the event. When they stated talking about the photographers, I stepped forward and volunteered to go out to Oakmont and write photo captions.

I was assigned to tag along with Al Hermann Jr. When I came back to The Press in 1979, after working a year in Miami and nine years in New York, I teamed up with that same Al Hermann Jr. in covering the Pittsburgh Steelers. John Troan and Leo Koeberlein were still in charge of the paper and they were the ones who brought me back to town. They forgave me for not returning for a second summer as an intern in 1963.

They told me that I was going to be the next sports editor of The Press, and succeed Pat Livingston in that post. They didn’t tell me they were going to retire before that would happen.
But that’s water over the damn. I still enjoyed my days at The Pittsburgh Press.

Nicklaus had just joined the pro tour after many successes as an amateur at The Ohio State University. I have watched Nicklaus on TV when he has hosted his annual golf tour outing at Muirfield in Dublin, Ohio. It turns out he liked the layout at Oakmont so much that he has included some of its features in his own course, including those famous furrowed sand traps when he designed and later reconfigured some of the holes on his own course.

He used the same rakes with the four-inch tines widely separated that he’d seen in the maintenance shacks at Oakmont. Only now they were called “Jack’s Rakes.”

I thought about the first time I saw him at Oakmont. All the top golf writers and some of the leading sports columnists in the country were at Oakmont that summer of 1962 and they hung out in a media room in the basement of the club house. Several of them told stories. One of the ones who held court the most often was Oscar Fraley. He had authored the book The Untouchables, which was turned into a popular TV series that I watched religiously (from 1959 to 1963). So I introduced myself to Oscar Fraley and shadowed him in the clubhouse that week. Bob Drum, the golf writer of The Press who lived in Bethel Park, was a close friend of Palmer and a favorite among the golf writers because he was quite the character.

Oakmont was regarded as a monster of a course, a true test for veterans and downright unfair and unforgiving for rookies. It still has the same status today among the world’s greatest and most challenging golf courses. That’s why they play so many U.S. Opens there.

Its greens were glossy, and it had those infamous furrowed sand bunkers – “the church pews” – that made it different from every other golf course in the country. They have since been eliminated from the course, along with many of its signature trees.

“Go get ‘em, Arnie!” fans were yelling from the outset. There was no question as to who was the hometown favorite. The gathering loved Palmer’s bold, attacking style, his humble low-key manner of responding to questions in the press tent. The way he waved to the gallery, grinning back at them when they shouted his name. Plus, he was from nearby Latrobe. He was a hometown hero, one of their own.
Arnie’s Army marched across the course like troops in field movements during the Civil War.

They played 36 holes on the last day of the tournament in those days. Palmer had 73 in the morning and 71 in the afternoon, and finished in a tie with Nicklaus. I got to see this by taking a position around the fringe of the greens, writing down the names of whomever Al Hermann Jr. captured with his camera. A reporter named Frank Christopher accompanied us on our tour of the course.

Palmer and Nicklaus had an 18-hole playoff on Sunday and Nicklaus carded a 71 and Palmer a 74, and the outcome never seemed to be in question.

Palmer should have won. He was the better golfer at the time, but he did not. He had 11 3-putt greens and Nicklaus carded just one 3-putt green. That was the difference. I still have color photos I took that weekend of some of the top pros, including Palmer, Nickaus, Billy Casper, Gene Littler and Gary Player.
Palmer lost a playoff the following year to Julius Boros in the U.S. Open, and never won an Open again.

Palmer won often enough, however, to retain his position as the premier player in golf. He became a multi-millionaire, the first to fly an airplane of his own, and he showed the way for others to follow.
He won seven Grand Slam titles and the U.S. Amateur title when that was something special. I had an opportunity to visit with him at his workshop at the Latrobe Country Club, to dine with him in the men’s grill at that same club, to interview him at Oakmont a few times. I wasn’t one of the golf writers, but Palmer was always pleasant and generous with his time and thoughts. It helped that I knew Doc Giffin, who came out of Crafton and succeeded Bob Drum as the golf writer at The Press, and then became Palmer’s press agent and right-hand man in 1962.

I always thought that every time I talked to Palmer it was a special occasion, a real treat. I always thought of how much my golfer friends would have liked to have been in our company on those occasions.

In his terrific book, A Good Walk Spoiled, John Feinstein wrote, “No one has ever been loved and revered and worshipped like Arnie. Palmer has been the single most important player in the history of golf.”
Palmer also played during a safer period than Tiger Woods when the players weren’t under the same scrutiny as they are today.

Arnie has always been one of the guys, but he’s never stopped wanting to win.

Palmer hopes he’s gained the respect of the players, young and old, and that his feelings merit their attention.

“I don’t want to be some old man going on about the old days,” he said, “but I still have some strong opinions about the tour and what goes on around the players in the game today.”

But he could tell them about the times he played a round with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and how he and Ike popularized the game of golf in America as well as around the world.

Pittsburgh sports author Jim O’Brien has many good books in his “Pittsburgh Proud” series that would make great gifts on Father’s Day. He can be contacted by e-mail at jimmyo64@gmail.com or at his website www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

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Stephen Austin, Director, NFL Regional Combines

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Stephen Austin:

First, can you let readers know how you got started in the combine business?

I got into it by chance. I was working in DC for an insurance company giving a presentation to employees. I was twenty-eight years old then and two retired football players were in the audience. I didn’t know they were players – they looked athletic but that was all I knew.

Those guys were Frank Grant and Dennis Johnson – former Redskins. After the speech, they asked me to visit with them. They told me they wanted to be agents and needed a business man to help them. Well, my business was not that great and I loved football, so I jumped at the chance.

I worked with them in their agency for a couple of years. In ’84, I decided to try to be an agent on my own. At the same time, the USFL had just come into being. So, I jumped into it. Back then, becoming an agent was easy. There was no certification – you could wake up one day and decide you want to be an agent.

I found I was more of a manager than an agent of the players., I had to make sure they were ready. I found out their workout numbers were not what they told me they were. They all ran 4.4, no matter if they were receivers or linemen (laughing).

I recommended a player to George Young – New York’s GM. The player was a tight end and told me he was 6’5″ and ran a 4.6. Well, it was the biggest mistake and best thing I ever did. The player ran a 5.0 flat and was 6’2″. I got an earful from George and vowed after that that I would never recommend any player until I measured them myself.

So, how did you do so?

The USFL’s San Antonio team called me and said they had twenty guys they wanted me to get together for them to take a look at. Their GM and head coach were coming in. Well, word got out, and by the time they got there we went from twenty to 120. Then, I was in the combine business.

I had an epiphany and wrote down the words “Scout camp”. I had the combine title. What I did was different than others at the time. I introduced pre-registration. Instead of half players and a bunch of drunks guys, I just had football players. We were going to run six combines with a target of 300 players. Well, we ended up with 740 and ran them in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa, Rutgers and Houston.

Twenty years later, the NFL bought me out and hired me.

How did you plan those first regional combines and fund them?

I was an agent then. When it took off I wouldn’t take on new players – I just let my current players retire. My life was the combine. My regional directors were players and clients who were popular in their cities. We needed about ten guys for each combine to get and receive the equipment, to be the eyes and ears of the combine. Then we got Wilson Sporting Goods as our national sponsor which gave us credibility right off the bat.

I was $80,000 in debt then. I went to my banker friend to borrow another $5,000. I told him if he didn’t loan me the $5,000 he’d never see the $80,000. Worst case, I would owe him $85,000….He said ok, and I used every penny to launch those pre-registrations by mail. When we got those $85 checks back, we went from there.

How were the regional combines accepted by the NFL front offices?

We didn’t do more than what was needed. these were qualifiers for the Super Combine. It didn’t mean teams didn’t come and look – but we never advertised them to the general public. This was supposed to be a substantive view of these players and the evaluation process. We didn’t want to make it a function of entertainment or commercialize it. We had no clever awards or prizes. We wanted to be a part of the NFL and to be taken seriously.

The older GM’s and front office people were reluctant to accept us. They were stuck  in their ways. They weren’t fans of technology and I was. We had streaming videos in ’96 before most people had email. The guys who got it then were today’s bosses now.

Do you think the older teams viewed this as cutting into their scouting  edge over some of the poorer teams in the NFL?

That’s a good point. That was a philosophy shared by some teams. Bobby Beathard’s view of scouting was the beat the bushes and find the diamonds-in-the-rough. he and others didn’t want a centralized staging of players. They viewed it more like a treasure hunt, while others wanted it all out i front of everybody.

I took a lot of negative “communication” from clubs not wanting me to stick my nose in their world. It took years for many of them to retire, get fired or lose power. I had to outlast them.

When did you know you succeeded?

The watershed moment was when we launched the first online, searchable database of players. We did it before the NFL Teams would use it and tell us they weren’t, but they didn’t know we were tracking their usage – they had to key in a username and password. I told the GM’s who weren’t using it that they looked at a number of player profiles, and they just let the conversation end (laughing).

Ray Anderson – the Executive VP of the NFL,  was a friend of mine then and still is. As was Tony Dungy, Ozzie Newsome and the players’ union. I became a known person in the NFL.

When NFL Europe shut down and the Arena League went dormant, they needed a player development system. Ray said, “Why reinvent the wheel?” They bought out my combines. Ray stuck his neck out and it went well for everybody.

What would surprise readers most about the combines today?

How quiet they are. There are 250 kids and you can hear a pin drop. We’re highly focused. It’s scientific measurement – we need to be accurate to capture the data on that day. We identify size, speed. quickness, strength and lower-body explosion. We run players through the Indy style drills by position after and film it all. teams can see all the results and footage online the next day.

Now, they can go into the database and, say the need a wide receiver. They can search by position, minimum height and weight, speed …basically create their own player and it will produce a list of only those players that meet or exceed those requirements. Complete with a profile, picture, video, contact information, their agent, coaches, college infomration….everything….

We don’t do drug or Wonderlic tests – those are left for the Super Combine.

How do you select who of all of those players go to the Super Combine?

We start off with 2,500 kids across the regional combines. It’s very structured. After each regional combine the NFL flies in three former NFL scouts. They meet with three of our combine scouts – usually former players who conducted the drills. And one consultant – John Beake – the former GM of wo Super Bowl winning Broncos teams. So there are seven guys, and me.

We all go to a room at a hotel after the combine and discuss each position one at a time. We go around the room and settle on one of  three classifications for every player: A – invited; B – on the bubble; C – rejected.   We present the list for John Beake to sign off on. The “B” players may end up being added later if we have room after all the regionals are done.

If we have more “A” players than we expected, we don;t limit it to 150 invites. We can go to a day two, and we’ve done that.

As the level of play in college improves over the years, how do you redefine what an “A” player is?

The best player in the last group scouted becomes the standard. All the guys in the next combine have to be at that level. The bar changes, but we know what we are looking for. It’s the small things that separate scouts from fans. Fans could probably pick out 90% of these guys to invite to the Super Combine. But scouts know the finer points of the last ten percent.

Ever run one in Pittsburgh?

I did years ago. I planned it too early and it snowed. We were all wondering what we were doing there. I’d like to come back to Pittsburgh but we want the clubs to reach out to us and tell us as we use their facility. We don’t invite ourselves. But you better believe the next time we do it will be indoors!

What’s next on the horizon for you and the regional combines?

It was the general vision of Ray Anderson to start with the regional combine and make sure they were successful first. The next step is to deal with the fact there is more talent than there are spots for on the clubs. You don’t want to waste that talent by sending players home where they lose their skills and real football conditioning. Where their only workouts are at the local gym.

The next step we are looking at is to organize an Academy. If a player is not drafted but is a rock solid guy, he can live and work out and the NFL Academy and will be game ready as clubs suffer injuries during the season and need players. This way they aren’t coming in off the street.

We could have twenty-five to thirty to start with and build to a hundred or so guys. Then you can start a grapefruit league and they can play games against each other and be really game ready. This would begin to supplant NFL Europe. It’d be much less expensive and much more manageable.

We’re also talking about more network broadcasted content – shows like “Undrafted” and “Dream Chaser” may or may not come to pass.

I would also like to resume the clinics we had for players on how to become a scout, how to be a trainer, how to be a coach….There’s a lot of content and things we can spin-off from the combines.

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Pete Gonzalez, Pitt Quarterback, 1993-1997, Steelers Quarterback, 1997-1998

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First, can you tell readers about Blitzx – what the product line is and how it got started? 

The entire purpose of Blitz X Performance Instruments is to provide, Medical Doctors and chiropractors with medical technology that help them assess and treat patients better.  The technology must be able to generate a significant profit for the medical business as well!

We currently offer the Yolo Curve LipoLaser.  This technology allows  a physician to address unwanted fat area on a patient.  Non invasive fat spot reduction!!  Great technology.

Continue reading “Pete Gonzalez, Pitt Quarterback, 1993-1997, Steelers Quarterback, 1997-1998”

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Derek Schooley, RMU Hockey Coach

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Derek Schooley, RMU Hockey Coach:

First, can you let readers know a bit about your coaching career – how you got started in coaching?
 
When I was playing my coach in junior hockey, Frank Serratore always mentioned to me that I would be a good coach as I had a good amount of hockey sense, so I started coaching in the NAHL junior hockey league in Chicago right after my playing career. 

Later that year, I had an opportunity to go to Cornell as a third assistant coach  and then the following year we moved to Colorado Springs where I worked at the Air Force Academy, where I was then able to work for my former junior coach in Frank Serratore.  After five years there as the top assistant, I was fortunate to get the Head Coaching job at RMU. 
 
What coaches and coaching lessons have influenced you most in your career so far, and how so?
 
As I mentioned before, the Head Coach at Air Force, Frank Serratore  has been a major influence in my coaching career.  I learned so much from him about how to treat your assistant coaches, how to be yourself and numerous life lessons that can be applied daily. 

I was working with future leaders in our military and they also taught me so much about work ethic, sacrifice and how to conduct yourself as people away from the ice.  
  
The program has continued to improve over the past few seasons – what do you attribute this to and where do you see the hockey program in the next few years?
 
We have very good people in our program and they have a tremendous work ethic.  They have a desire to continue to improve this program and they have a vested interest in making the program better every year.  We graduate ten seniors this year so our goal will be to continue getting better every year even with a young team. 

We don’t ever want to rebuild.  We want to reload.  
 
You have have 10 seniors graduating this year. How difficult was the last-minute loss to Niagara in the playoffs for you and them especially?
 
This class is the all time winningest class in program over a four-year period.  They are a great group that have experienced numerous highs and lows.  They are great friends and get along so well.  We will miss this group for what they bring in work ethic, determination and character.

We are very proud to call these ten alumni of the program and I know they will be successful in whatever they choose to do.  
  
How do you replace that senior leadership and play next season?
 
It will be a challenge. We will need the returning players to step up and take over this team as leaders.  The returners have been a group that has been behind a great group of leaders.  We will be excited to see some of the younger guys step out of their shadow and embrace a leadership role. 

We are expecting numerous players to take on the leadership of this team that haven’t had the opportunity to be “leaders.”  Everyone who returns has leadership qualities and it is time for them to step up. 
 
How difficult has it been recruiting players to play in the Pittsburgh area and how do you overcome those obstacles?
 
It isn’t that difficult to recruit players to Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh is a wonderful city and a great area to live in.  The city is growing in reputation, and  there is so much to do.  It is becoming a “Hockey Town” and Pittsburgh is a major selling point of our recruiting.  It has the feel of a small town with numerous big city attractions.

We have had numerous Pittsburgh natives play for our program, and we would like to keep this “best” local players at home in Pittsburgh.  The sport is growing here and Robert Morris lets good players have a Division I opportunity (only DI program in Pittsburgh area) while still staying close enough to home that family and supporters can continue to cheer for them. 
  
Do the Pittsburgh Penguins get involved at all in the program? Either way, how has their success helped your program?
 
The Penguins have been great to our program.  We play games at Consol Energy Center with their support.  We are co-hosting the Frozen Four in 2013, and the staff has been great in dealing with this large event. 

 The Penguins are about growing hockey and having them on board with our program is a big benefit.  I can’t thank the Pens enough for everything they have done for us and hockey in the area.  The Lemieux and Crosby eras have had a big effect on local hockey and hopefully someday, we will have the first born and raised RMU alum playing for the Penguins or in the NHL. 
 
Tell readers how important nationally-ranked goalie Brooks Ostergard has been to the program?
 
Brooks has been very good for our program.  He came in as a third goalie walk on and took the starting job as freshman.  He was national player of the week when we swept #1 Miami and has been an all-league goalie. 

He leaves here as the best goalie in program history not only through his stats but through his accomplishments. 
 
What’s the key to taking the next big step for the program?
 
Our goal every year is to get to the NCAA Tournament and we will not rest until we achieve that goal.  We have been close twice (losing in overtime twice in our league championship game). 

We have to continue to work to get then best players here.  We have to get them bigger, stronger and faster.  We have to improve every year. That goal drives our program, and we will continue to work until we get there.     
 
What have been some of your best memories to date as Robert Morris’ head coach, and what makes them so?
 
We have had many big wins against ranked opponents.  We beat #2 Notre Dame, #8 Boston University and swept #1 Miami.  Those are all great memories and they are all signature program wins but my favorite memory was winning our first game as a program in 2004.  We were a group of freshman and a first-year head coach that went on the road to beat an established program.  Nobody was expecting us to win any games that year but to win our first was exciting and put us on the map in our first game.  
  
Any last thoughts for readers?

College hockey is a great game.  It is fast, exciting and competitive. The players “sell out” every game and nothing is left in their tank. Our sport is growing in popularity and attendance wise every year, but I am not sure everyone out there knows that future NHL players are playing at the Island Sports Center daily. 

We have had numerous NHL players play on opposing teams and we have a few alumni that are close to making it on the big stage.  Come out and watch us play–you will be hooked on college hockey and our product.  Go Colonials!

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