Pittsburgh Memories of the 2,000,000 who moved

My goodness:  Isaly's Illustrated!
 
http://pitteats.blogspot.com/2011/11/isalys.html#links
 
Thanks for the Pitteats site, gostillerz!

Sells & ships Isaly's and Lemon Blennd products:
 
http://www.pennmac.com/page/410/pittsburgh-gifts-apparel-italian-food-importers

MetroplexJim


gostillerz,

Some questions about the present state of affairs in Beaver Falls:
1)  Do the the Christmas lights on 7th. Avenue (Rt. 18) still remain up all year?
2)  Any statues of Joe Namath (or other evidence that he is a native son)?
3)  Is Art's Pizza still in business?
4)  Does Geneva College now permit dancing? 

1) No, they put them up last week
2) A relative who sells insurance has a billboard, but that's it. Joe was at a BF game 2 months ago though.
3) Never heard of Art's, so I'm guessing no
4) Geneva never permits anything, ever
 
Here's what's been up in the past 5 years:
Kelly's hardware is closing
Corner Tavern still has no stools at the bar
Penn Beverage moved to 8th Ave
They re-did 18 up by Geneva, no more crazy bend
 
And that's about it.
 

Another question:
Is WPIAL Football still as strong as it used to be?
I taught HS in Butler when Terry Hanratty played there (1964)
WPIAL was THE best HS football in the Nation!

Foodbme


Another question:
Is WPIAL Football still as strong as it used to be?
I taught HS in Butler when Terry Hanratty played there (1964)
WPIAL was THE best HS football in the Nation!

No kidding:  look at just some of of the QB's that came out of the WPIAL:  Unitas, Namath, Montana, Kelly, Marino ...
 
After being a two-time first string All-American at Notre Dame and a Time Magazine cover, Hanratty never lived up to his vast potential.  For some reason he looked every day of 45 when he was 28.  At least the Saul brothers did well.
 
And how many more SB's would the Steelers have won had they not passed on Marino in favor of ill-fated Gabe "Senor Sack" Rivera?  The Rivera pick ranks "down there" with Ferguson and Leftwich and not signing Unitas. 
 
What did you teach?  Did you hang around long enough to teach Rick Santorum?  Maybe he went to parochial school.

WPIAL is still going strong.  Rochester went to the semi-finals but lost to Clarion, which is kind of unfair, as Clarion should really be Class AA, not Class A like Rochester. 

MetroplexJim

Foodbme


Another question:
Is WPIAL Football still as strong as it used to be?
I taught HS in Butler when Terry Hanratty played there (1964)
WPIAL was THE best HS football in the Nation!

No kidding:  look at just some of of the QB's that came out of the WPIAL:  Unitas, Namath, Montana, Kelly, Marino ...
After being a two-time first string All-American at Notre Dame and a Time Magazine cover, Hanratty never lived up to his vast potential.  For some reason he looked every day of 45 when he was 28.  At least the Saul brothers did well.
And how many more SB's would the Steelers have won had they not passed on Marino in favor of ill-fated Gabe "Senor Sack" Rivera?  The Rivera pick ranks "down there" with Ferguson and Leftwich and not signing Unitas. 
What did you teach?  Did you hang around long enough to teach Rick Santorum?  Maybe he went to parochial school.

I know the storied history of the WPIAL; I was asking about the current and most recent years to see if it still lives up to it's Stellar Reputation. Since the whole area has been in a general decline, was curious if it affected HS Football.
Forgot about the Saul Brothers! There were some mean dudes!
The Saul brothers, were born and raised in Butler. Bill played linebacker for the Colts, Steelers, Saints and Lions; Richard played for the Los Angeles Rams; and Ronald played for the Washington Redskins. They played during the 60's and 70's. If you wanted to clone the perfect linebacker, you'd use thier genes!
Hanratty looked 35 years old when he was in high school! He reached his peak at ND. You're right, failed miserably as a Pro.
I taught American History and coached the Debate Team. I didn't even know how to spell debate but it paid an extra $500.00 so I took it! At the time, Butler was the best paying school district in PA. I made $4600.00 a year! Got tired of eating hot dogs and kool aid and went into sales with Sears after 1 year.

Foodbme


In times like these----Isn't it a wonderful thing to have an outlet like this that allows us to think and post comments that bring a smile to our faces and a nice feeling to our hearts. Thanx Metrojim! The sad thing is our kids and grandkids will probably not enjoy the same joy. BE SURE TO TELL YOUR GRANDKIDS ABOUT THE BEST TIME TO BE ALIVE IN AMERICA!

You wrote this three years ago and your words are even more true today.
 
As an economist I look at life through an unusual lens. 
 
Sitting in the bars of my Pittsburgh youth I saw the elegant beauty of free men transacting freely in a mutually beneficial manner that enriched the lives of all.  The barkeep was performing a valuable service.  Some patrons had produced the steel that supported the stools, another had brewed the beer from wheat and barley grown by another...  the bricks, steel, glass, paint, beer, etc. were all made locally.  Coal mined from beneath us fired the furnace and Perry Como and Bobby Vinton played on the jukebox ... 
 
Contrast that "scene" with the Georgetown and K St. bars of my adulthood.  Everything there was imported from the "real world".  There were no producers present, only incredibly self-absorbed "Washingtonians" who felt compelled to "share" incessantly their petty successes in acquiring "power" and otherwise to confuse success with vile schadenfruede for the plight of the masses made to kow-tow to their regulatory whims.
 
I have two autographed pictures within my view as I write this.  One is from 1959 and is signed "Bob Clemente"; the other was signed to me with a personal insription by the gentleman who explains the above with elegant logic:
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrg1CArkuNc

 

 

mamaduck43


Kielbasa - - check
Kraut - - check
Yuengling beer - - check
Terrible towel - - check
BTW: I have been able to find chipped ham at one of the WalMart's in my area - - and only one....  The other two have problems - one will not go thin enough, and the other goes way too thin....  I have a clone recipe for Isaly's barbecue sauce somewhere - but for quick and easy, I doctor up a bottle of Kraft....  I can get decent buns here....  And, alas, even though I have found Blend concentrate on line, it isn't the same now....  We used to have a gallon of it mixed up in our freezer all summer long.... 
Here we go, Steelers........  Here we go!!!!!

 
mamaduck43, I've figured out how to get chipped ham at Wegman's here in Wilkes-Barre: I ask for it "Pittsburgh style"! Last time I could almost hear the guy groan to himself, it took 5 minutes for him to shave a pound, and man, it was chipped perfect.
 
 

Just the other day I had the local Wal-Mart chip me some chopped ham.  Down here they call it "crumbling".  It took a while, but she had patience and did it cheerfully.
 
A little butter in the fruing pan and I frizzled it.  YUM!

For all youze expats, here's a place to get your fix of Pittsburgh products, like Islay's BBQ Sauce
http://www.madeinpittsburgh.com/

1964 - A tradition is born...

Little did we know then that the Steelers Defense had also started a new fad: 
The Tebow!
----------------------------
I posted this while "s't-talking" on another thread.  I remember this game where Y.A. Tittle was rendered, bleeding to this position by a vicious, legal hit from Big John Baker in old Pitt Stadium.  Initially, a squeamish editor at the Post Gazette did not allow the publication of the picture.  Later, in its cropped form below, it won a Pulitzer Prize.

 
 

With Baseball season starting, who remembers the Homestead Grays?
http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/teams/Homestead_Grays.html
 

Local lore had Ralph Kiner splashing one into the "Pipes of Pan" fountain and Josh Gibson flying them even farther.
 
And Kiner set a record that will never be broken:  leading the league in HR seven consecutive years. 
 
BTW: Without looking it up, I think Kiner is now 90!  Not bad for a guy who once dated Elizabeth Taylor!

It's just practice... but Alvarez homered today and went 2-3. Starling Marte has hit in 7 consecutive at bats. Karstens threw only 35 pitches in 3 shutout innings.

<<Without looking it up, I think Kiner is now 90!
 
He still sits in once in a while with the The Mets TV announcers on Sports Net NY during Mets games. He actually sounds better now than he did several years ago right after he had a stroke. He's been on the Mets TV team now for 50 years (since Day One!) and counting.

ken8038


<<Without looking it up, I think Kiner is now 90!

He still sits in once in a while with the The Mets TV announcers on Sports Net NY during Mets games. He actually sounds better now than he did several years ago right after he had a stroke. He's been on the Mets TV team now for 50 years (since Day One!) and counting.

Wow.  Good for him!  I have a picture of a two year old "me" in a "Ralph Kiner, Home Run Hero" T-shirt.
 
It was such a shame for him to have to retire just as he was reaching his prime.  Who knows what kind of numbers he would have put up if they had "modern sports medicine" back then.  Or, if the Pirates had someone decent to hit behind him.
 
Even though I was only 5 I remember the day when the Pirates traded him to the Cubs; my mother cried.

Bumping this thread to link to a NY Times article on Ralph Kiner, now celebrating 50 years as a NY Mets announcer. Wednesday was the 50th anniversary of their 1st game. Roger Craig, now 83, was the starting pitcher that day in 1962, he threw out the first pitch on Wednesday. Nice moment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/sports/baseball/ralph-kiner-reflects-on-50-years-as-a-mets-voice.html?ref=todayspaper
 

Kiner set a record that probably will never be broken:  leading his league on HR for seven consecutive years. And he did it without the protection of a strong hitter batting behind him.  Sadly, his career ended in his prime due to a chronic back problem that probably would be a snap for 2012 medicine to "fix".
 
Even though I was only four at the time I vividly remember the Pirates' broadcaster Rosey Rosewell's signature home run call:  "Open the window Aunt Minnie, here she comes!  (Rosewell then breaks a pane of glass on mike and continues...)  She never made it; she never made it".  What wonderful theater of the mind.  Kiner broke a LOT of glass.

MetroplexJim


Kiner set a record that probably will never be broken:  leading his league on HR for seven consecutive years. And he did it without the protection of a strong hitter batting behind him.  Sadly, his career ended in his prime due to a chronic back problem that probably would be a snap for 2012 medicine to "fix".

Even though I was only four at the time I vividly remember the Pirates' broadcaster Rosey Rosewell's signature home run call:  "Open the window Aunt Minnie, here she comes!  (Rosewell then breaks a pane of glass on mike and continues...)  She never made it; she never made it".  What wonderful theater of the mind.  Kiner broke a LOT of glass.

Rosie was followed by his student, Bob Prince. I didn't like Prince as much as Rosie but he was a colorful announcer as well. Started the "Green Weenie" thing where fans would shake a Greenn Weenie at the opposing players. It was the precursor of the "Terrible Towel". Prince's schtick was "We need a bloop and a blast".