When did you become a Pitt fan?

[ncyajleel]

All this talk about attendance and how to get more people to become fans got me to wonder why people became Pitt fans.

Did you attend Pitt? Did you see Pitt or a certain Pitt player play and that started it? Was it a certain game that started it? Was it because your mom, dad, or both were fans?

I became a fan in 1976 when I moved from Pennsylvania to the state of Indiana. I was homesick, missed my family and friends and when Pitt played Notre Dame that year, it just made me feel like I was home and from that point I was a huge fan.

 

[JHud986]

1968, 10th grade in high school (Portage, Pa)
Sick of all the ups, talk and always wanted the underdog to win.

 

[Best seats]

1975

 

[Joe Magarac]

September, 1971
Freshman year.

 

[ncyajleel]

What happened in 1975 that made you a fan? Dorsett vs Notre Dame?

1975

 

[ncyajleel]

Portage? That sounds familiar. Is that near Cambria Heights? If so, I know your pain. I went to Cambria Heights for five years and EVERYONE was a Penn State fan. It was pure torture.

1968, 10th grade in high school (Portage, Pa)
Sick of all the ups, talk and always wanted the underdog to win.

 

[President Stache]

Well, obviously, like most, I didnt become a fan until they started singing 'Sweet Caroline' after the third quarter

 

[Pitt79]

Well, obviously, like most, I didnt become a fan until they started singing 'Sweet Caroline' after the third quarter

It was the creation of the Dinocat that clinched it for me!

 

[Revenge Of The Noise]

Bubble Boy.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

'68

Marching behind the cadets to Oakland from the train station with my gramps. We got beat but I was hooked.

 

[Revenge Of The Noise]

Actually for the 10 year old me, the exploits of Hugh Green and the SI cover he was on with the snarling Panther were what hooked me

 

[jtv5006]

i grew up watching PSU. I am a PSU Alum with a total of 7 years. And 1 day i woke up and was a PITT guy. I tell people that i found Jesus. I was leaving PSU game to go home and watch pitt. Really can't explain it. I guess i was sick of the delusional fans. haha I even have a PITT Alum nursing shirt since I'm sure as hell not gonna wear a nitter one

 

[Ronnyp91]

March 4th, 1991, the day I came into this world.

 

[Nova 66-64]

The day Tyler Palko was F-Bombing after the Notre Dame game. I loved the passion he had. Since then two of my children received a great education at Pitt.

 

[ncyajleel]

Well welcome to the other side.

i grew up watching PSU. I am a PSU Alum with a total of 7 years. And 1 day i woke up and was a PITT guy. I tell people that i found Jesus. I was leaving PSU game to go home and watch pitt. Really can't explain it. I guess i was sick of the delusional fans. haha I even have a PITT Alum nursing shirt since I'm sure as hell not gonna wear a nitter one

 

[ncyajleel]

My favorite SI cover of all. Its hanging on my game room wall! Baddest cat in the land!

Actually for the 10 year old me, the exploits of Hugh Green and the SI cover he was on with the snarling Panther were what hooked me

 

[Pitt79]

The day Tyler Palko was F-Bombing after the Notre Dame game. I loved the passion he had. Since then two of my children received a great education at Pitt.

Was a defining moment in my life! I was pissed at the TV announcer "apologizing" for "Tyler's comments in the heat of the moment" I actually LIVE to hear the real, uncut stuff.

 

[ThePanthers]

Probably around 1985 or 1986. I was 7 or so. My dad would bring us down to some games for something to do. I remember sitting in the bleachers at old Pitt stadium.

I think that is when I started liking sports in general (steelers, Pirates, Pens, Pitt).

Then going to Pitt and graduating there sealed the deal. But was a fan long before that.

I got my kids on the right track now.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

This thread should be posted to the sticky threads. Thank you OP

 

[Turdferg717]

1976. I was 8 years old in the Harrisburg area. Everyone around me were UPS fans. I guess that was the first sign that I was a contrarian.

 

[President Stache]

Actually same here, I was just a Pittsburgh sports fan in general, so I had no ties to Pitt at all, father didnt really care for football. I just liked all Pittsburgh sports teams growing up, and naturally despised the rivals (Browns/ Ravens, Braves, pennstate, Flyers)

 

[ncyajleel]

I was reading the other thread about attendance and people were posting how to get more people as fans. Got me wondering how we all became fans.

What is weird is so far only a couple of us became fans when they were at their greatest, 1975-1982.

This thread should be post to the sticky threads. Thank you OP

 

[Piranha]

The day I was born Mofo. I root for the hometown teams.

 

[ncyajleel]

Just got back home from the military and saw that, thought I was going to puke!

It was the creation of the Dinocat that clinched it for me!

 

[pittdan77]

My dad used to get tickets from a neighbor that was a golden panther. Late seventy's or so?

Never forget me and a couple other Pittsburgh guys sitting in the student section at Beaver Stadium (we were students at Penn State) rooting for Pitt. Not sure we would have made it out alive had PSU not come back late and won.

 

[pittfanfromNC]

Freshman year 2012 when we upset Virginia tech. This was also the game after Youngstown state debacle.

 

[Big Marty1]

The day I was born

 

[h2p_5150]

2002. My dad took me to see Pitt host Texas A & M at Heinz Field and a young man named Fitzgerald had 100 receiving yards and I instantly became a fan. That game is a microcosm of following Pitt sports. They lost 14-12 because they had two procedure penalties on the extra point from their first TD then missed the 2-point conversion.

 

[Piranha]

2002. My dad took me to see Pitt host Texas A & M at Heinz Field and a young man named Fitzgerald had 100 receiving yards and I instantly became a fan. That game is a microcosm of following Pitt sports. They lost 14-12 because they had two procedure penalties on the extra point from their first TD then missed the 2-point conversion.

Ah yes - the swinging gate fiasco. Tyre Young's career was also wiped out that day.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

I had my sales team at the Quaker steak and lube in Robinson the Friday before this game and the a&am buses where parked up there. We counted 24 buses all painted a&m. Very cool to see and yes they travel well.

2002. My dad took me to see Pitt host Texas A & M at Heinz Field and a young man named Fitzgerald had 100 receiving yards and I instantly became a fan. That game is a microcosm of following Pitt sports. They lost 14-12 because they had two procedure penalties on the extra point from their first TD then missed the 2-point conversion.

 

[upj87]

All this talk about attendance and how to get more people to become fans got me to wonder why people became Pitt fans.

Did you attend Pitt? Did you see Pitt or a certain Pitt player play and that started it? Was it a certain game that started it? Was it because your mom, dad, or both were fans?

I became a fan in 1976 when I moved from Pennsylvania to the state of Indiana. I was homesick, missed my family and friends and when Pitt played Notre Dame that year, it just made me feel like I was home and from that point I was a huge fan.

1975'ish. I was 10 so that is my first recollection. It was because of my father. I lived in Johnstown. For some odd reason my father hated all Pittsburgh professional sports teams. May have been some kind of big town steel town vs small town steel town envy thing, who knows. He hated Arnold Palmer too...craziest thing. But, and this was a big but, he loved Pitt. He loathed Penn State. This stemmed from him being a mill-rat. He always, his entire life, never forgot how Pitt was one of the first Universities in the country to spread out and open a branch outside of Pittsburgh and gave some of the mill-rats a chance at something better in his hometown. Talking 1929 here. So I grow up as a Pitt fan. They win a national championship a month shy of my 12th birthday. As I go through high school they go three straight 1 loss seasons and I have suffered for most of the rest of my adult life with them . My kid is a Freshman in Oakland right now. I live in central PA right now and had a pretty good year with the populace down here.

 

[Pitt79]

What is weird is so far only a couple of us became fans when they were at their greatest, 1975-1982.

I became a fan in the mid '70s, when TD was a freshman. But I went to grad school in '87 and lived in Shadyside for 5 years, that's when I became COMMITTED to Pitt only. In the years from '70-'87 I was MOSTLY a Pitt fan, but if Penn State had a shot at the National Title I'd root for them too. But going to Pitt, living walking distance to Pitt Stadium and Fitzgerald Field house and going to almost every football and basketball game for 5 years it became solid those years from '87-'92.

 

[TempleBAPittMPA]

Even though I went elsewhere for undergrad school (just wanted to get away from home), it began for me in high school when my neighbor (Kelcy Daviston) transferred back home from Arizona State.

 

[palpitt]

All this talk about attendance and how to get more people to become fans got me to wonder why people became Pitt fans.

Did you attend Pitt? Did you see Pitt or a certain Pitt player play and that started it? Was it a certain game that started it? Was it because your mom, dad, or both were fans?

I became a fan in 1976 when I moved from Pennsylvania to the state of Indiana. I was homesick, missed my family and friends and when Pitt played Notre Dame that year, it just made me feel like I was home and from that point I was a huge fan.

June 25, 1943...the day I was born.

 

[runshadyrun]

Oct. 17, 1970 - went with my dad. never went to pitt, season ticket holder now...

 

[Panther Holla]

1975. Shortly after two Nitter alums moved in next door and after a weekend at PSU. I was a HS senior. The sanctimony turned me off forever.

 

[pittmeister]

1973. I'd come home from church on Sunday and watched the Johnny Majors Show on WTAE... I was hooked...

 

[CaPAPITT76]

Was both a Pitt and Psu fan growing up. I live only 20 miles from State Penn (whoops I mean State college) graduated in 1970 went to UPJ. Had to hear all this shiit about ups when I came from college....the dislike of ups kept getting more and more and many years ago turned to pure hate. Anyway it was in the early '60's. When I became a Pitt fan. Attended Pitt from 1970-1976 with a pharmacy degree

 

[melwood]

Ah yes - the swinging gate fiasco. Tyre Young's career was also wiped out that day.

Didn't some gun play shenanigans end his career?

 

[melwood]

June 25, 1943...the day I was born.

YOU'RE MY BOY, BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!