With the spring game over and, thankfully, no spring injuries, the next game is a huge local, regional and national game for n a rivalry started in 1895, namely The 105th Backyard Brawl.
Already get hyped as a must-see game in football’s 1st week, the history of this game is awesome.
Here are a few excerpts from an interview-based article from before the 2007 Brawl with Pitt legend Beano Cook and WVU legend Domenick “Mickey” Furfari. Furfari was a West Virginia man. He worked with famed announcer Jack Fleming on the school newspaper. He became such a staple that this long-retired Morgantown Dominion-Post sports editor covered Mountaineers athletics for several state newspapers for over 60 years. He is a member of the Mountaineers athletic hall of fame.
“When I was at Pitt," Cook added of a time when the Panthers held a 36-11-1 advantage, "West Virginia was just a game on the schedule." Penn State was the in-state rival, though somehow 21st-century Penn State map makers redrew the lines and turned themselves into a Midwestern-based league member and Pitt into foreign territory. Cook continued, "But at West Virginia, Pitt was always a big thing."
"West Virginia would bring 15,000, 20,000 fans. They wanted to come to Pitt.
"I tell you, The Pittsburgh Press circulation department used to root for West Virginia, because if West Virginia beat Pitt, on Sunday they sold 20,000 extra papers."
Ah, the good old days ... .
The voice: Jack Fleming
Steelers Nation fondly remembers Jack Fleming as the radio soundtrack to a golden era. The thing was he loathed neighboring Pitt.
He was the College Football Hall of Fame voice of the Mountaineers, and his gruff delivery, recognized for generations from panhandle to panhandle, was born to hate all things Panther.
Cook picked up the story while he and Furfari were recalling particularly sarcastic press notes that Cook authored for one Pitt-West Virginia tussle. ("You should have seen some of the releases he wrote," Furfari said with a chortle.) This particular time,
Cook penned something about Mountaineers fans getting to drive north on two-lane paved roads, so they didn't have to resort to their habitual single-file motoring. "Uh," Cook grunted, "Jack Fleming got furious.
"Jack Fleming's house was above the old stadium," Cook continued. "He told me, when he was a child, Pitt would come out on the field, and he would sit on his mother's lap. His mother would point down at them. And his mother would say, 'Son, that's Pitt. You hate Pitt now. You hate Pitt tomorrow. You hate Pitt until the day you die. After that, you will hate Pitt for eternity.' "
Funeral
After an upset over 7th-ranked and likely Sugar Bowl-bound WVU in 1955:
…reporter-editor Bill Evans from Fairmont, W.Va., about the line of Mountaineers fans motoring back home: "The longest funeral procession in the history of mankind."
The Biggest Comeback
Mountaineers took a 35-8 lead on Pitt by the 1970 halftime. Pitt rallied to win, 36-35. It remains the comeback of the Brawl ages.
In the end, angry West Virginia fans shoved their way to the visiting locker-room door, looking for coach Bobby Bowden.
"They were yelling, 'Bobby, come out. Bobby, come out,' " Furfari said. "But he wouldn't come out. They wanted to ... " "Kill him," Cook finished.
Get Out!
In 1994, Mountaineers coach Don Nehlen so desperately wanted out of Pittsburgh, he accidentally left behind the three stars who helped him win the game: quarterback Chad Johnston, plus receivers Zach Abraham and Rashaan Vanterpool.
Here’s entire article: https://old.post-gazette.com/pg/07329/836562-144.stm
What’s your favorite story or memory?
Already get hyped as a must-see game in football’s 1st week, the history of this game is awesome.
Here are a few excerpts from an interview-based article from before the 2007 Brawl with Pitt legend Beano Cook and WVU legend Domenick “Mickey” Furfari. Furfari was a West Virginia man. He worked with famed announcer Jack Fleming on the school newspaper. He became such a staple that this long-retired Morgantown Dominion-Post sports editor covered Mountaineers athletics for several state newspapers for over 60 years. He is a member of the Mountaineers athletic hall of fame.
“When I was at Pitt," Cook added of a time when the Panthers held a 36-11-1 advantage, "West Virginia was just a game on the schedule." Penn State was the in-state rival, though somehow 21st-century Penn State map makers redrew the lines and turned themselves into a Midwestern-based league member and Pitt into foreign territory. Cook continued, "But at West Virginia, Pitt was always a big thing."
"West Virginia would bring 15,000, 20,000 fans. They wanted to come to Pitt.
"I tell you, The Pittsburgh Press circulation department used to root for West Virginia, because if West Virginia beat Pitt, on Sunday they sold 20,000 extra papers."
Ah, the good old days ... .
The voice: Jack Fleming
Steelers Nation fondly remembers Jack Fleming as the radio soundtrack to a golden era. The thing was he loathed neighboring Pitt.
He was the College Football Hall of Fame voice of the Mountaineers, and his gruff delivery, recognized for generations from panhandle to panhandle, was born to hate all things Panther.
Cook picked up the story while he and Furfari were recalling particularly sarcastic press notes that Cook authored for one Pitt-West Virginia tussle. ("You should have seen some of the releases he wrote," Furfari said with a chortle.) This particular time,
Cook penned something about Mountaineers fans getting to drive north on two-lane paved roads, so they didn't have to resort to their habitual single-file motoring. "Uh," Cook grunted, "Jack Fleming got furious.
"Jack Fleming's house was above the old stadium," Cook continued. "He told me, when he was a child, Pitt would come out on the field, and he would sit on his mother's lap. His mother would point down at them. And his mother would say, 'Son, that's Pitt. You hate Pitt now. You hate Pitt tomorrow. You hate Pitt until the day you die. After that, you will hate Pitt for eternity.' "
Funeral
After an upset over 7th-ranked and likely Sugar Bowl-bound WVU in 1955:
…reporter-editor Bill Evans from Fairmont, W.Va., about the line of Mountaineers fans motoring back home: "The longest funeral procession in the history of mankind."
The Biggest Comeback
Mountaineers took a 35-8 lead on Pitt by the 1970 halftime. Pitt rallied to win, 36-35. It remains the comeback of the Brawl ages.
In the end, angry West Virginia fans shoved their way to the visiting locker-room door, looking for coach Bobby Bowden.
"They were yelling, 'Bobby, come out. Bobby, come out,' " Furfari said. "But he wouldn't come out. They wanted to ... " "Kill him," Cook finished.
Get Out!
In 1994, Mountaineers coach Don Nehlen so desperately wanted out of Pittsburgh, he accidentally left behind the three stars who helped him win the game: quarterback Chad Johnston, plus receivers Zach Abraham and Rashaan Vanterpool.
Here’s entire article: https://old.post-gazette.com/pg/07329/836562-144.stm
What’s your favorite story or memory?
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