Museum Highlights Region's Love Affair With Sports
By Scott Koskoski

If you're in doubt as to whether the City of Champions is stuck in a major-league championship drought, consider this sobering scenario:

Today's 35 year-old Pittsburgh sports fan was trading college cap and gown for workplace parking pass when the Penguins last claimed the NHL's Stanley Cup (1992). That same fan was convinced girls had 'cooties' during the Pirates' and Steelers' most recent championship drives (both 1979). Training wheels were the transportation mode of choice during this fan's last witness to a Pitt football title (Jan. 1, 1977).

And don't even ponder our fan's availability for the last area college basketball team's national crown; 'Dudey' Moore's 1954-55 Duquesne Dukes won NIT Tournament gold when our fan's father was a pre-teen.

Homestead Grays? Pittsburgh Hornets? Morningside Bulldogs? All renowned squads, but alas, our fan is engaged in some serious head-scratching.

Enter the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, now entering its final stages of construction at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh's Strip District. The museum, like the History Center, will be affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

Spread throughout 20,000 square feet of the History Center's new five-story addition, the Sports Museum will house the thrilling sagas of hometown heroes, the equipment they used and the trophies, medals and rings they won.

In short, 'we will bring history and glory to life,' said Anne Madarasz, the new Sports Museum's curator.

When the Sports Museum has its grand-opening on November 13, it will mark the culmination of nearly eight years' work and $27.5 million in fundraising.

'The visitor who thinks they know everything about Pittsburgh sports walking in will learn a lot,' Madarasz said. 'First, this is an exhibit of all Western Pennsylvania sports, not simply Pittsburgh.'

Never fear, black-and-gold fanatics - the Sports Museum promises plenty of Steelers, Pirates and Penguins to go around. In the span of one afternoon, visitors can join Franco's 'Italian Army,' Arnie's 'Army,' Mario's line and the Pirates' 'Family.'

'We will also display a range of history, from early 19th-century baseball roots to today's Ultimate Frisbee innovators,' Madarasz said.

'The museum is not designed to feel like a hall of fame,' continued the curator. 'Those recognize individual achievement. Instead, the Sports Museum is charged with teaching the role of sports in Pittsburgh's growth and history.'

For example, did you know that, in 1941, five of the eight national champion women's boxers called Pittsburgh home?

Or that the 1950 World Outdoor Powerboat Championship wound its way through town via our three rivers?

Or that the dominating philosophy when building Oakmont Country Club was that 'no bad shot should go unpunished?'

Well, some area golfers might know that oneÉbut the Sports Museum will deliver the sentiment to all with a miniature golf-style replica of an Oakmont par 4.

All told, over 70 interactive exhibits and 25 multimedia programs will compliment the hundreds of artifacts the museum has collected.

'We have so much unbelievably cool stuff, it's incredible,' added Madarasz, mildly hinting that the only way to find out for sure is to start toward the Strip. 'Fans and history buffs alike will be impressed, since they want to see the Ôreal thing.' We worked very hard to make everything authentic.'

It may be one thing to talk about the Pittsburgh Hornets, says Bob Grove, a member of the museum's Champions Committee, 'but show a nine year-old a Hornets' uniform, and he'll take that image with him when he leaves. It makes the history that much more real.'

Bringing sports history to true life in Pittsburgh, both literally and figuratively, has been the three-year challenge of the appropriately-named Champions Committee, headed by former Steelers' great Franco Harris. The 85-member committee includes current and past athletes, journalists, team representatives, politicos and historians. No less than Chip Ganassi, Arnold Palmer and Suzie McConnell-Serio are Harris' co-chairsÉ and don't forget Mario, Maz and Musial.

'Franco has done much, much more than simply lend his name to this effort,' Grove said. 'His enthusiasm for the (Sports Museum) has certainly rubbed off on his committee members. Under Franco's leadership, nobody said Ôthis can't be done.''

Artifacts aside, it takes some serious dollars and cents to lay some serious bricks and mortar. Heading the $27.5 million campaign is Rob DeOrio, the History Center's director of development. The Sports Museum itself runs a $23 million tab, while DeOrio wants to raise $4 million for an endowment. Roughly $9 million of the fundraising total came from state coffers.

'We're much further ahead than I thought we'd be,' said DeOrio as the campaign crossed the $25 million plateau. 'This project has been a long time in coming, and visitors should expect a comprehensive look at the total western Pennsylvania sports scene.'

Will the museum convert black-and-gold indifferents into passionate Pittsburgh sports lovers? No less than Madarasz, a proud Philadelphia native, calls her latest project 'a dream come true.'

'We're very lucky to have this museum in the City of Champions,' she said.

On November 13, expect many visitors to say the same.