Baron Batch came to Pittsburgh as the Steelers’ seventh-round pick in the NFL’s 2011 draft out of Texas Tech University, where he was the school’s eighth-ranked, all-time rushing leader and where he led the team in rushing his senior year with 816 yards on 177 carries. In retrospect, it seems that football would turn out to be only a means for Batch to find his
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There is no such thing as luck. It’s a fancy name for being always at our duty, and so sure to be ready when good time comes. ~Edward George Bulwer-Lytton Pittsburgh’s past is replete with colorful characters, spectacular sportsmen, and stellar geniuses, but George E. Smith was all three. Smith, known as Pittsburgh Phil, was the greatest plunger of his time, possibly ever. No, he was
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Very few people throughout history have had the title “emperor” bestowed upon them. There’s the Roman heads of state, Napoleon, and Chuck Noll. Although not a leader of a country, the late Steelers coach headed the Steelers nation and led his team to four Super Bowl victories, more than any other coach in NFL history. He held that title solely until 2015 when Patriots Coach
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Caustic, vulgar, outrageous, funny, charming, honest, insightful, successful, tragic, Sharon Needles could be described by any of those terms–and she could also be called a Pittsburgher. You may not be aware of it, but Pittsburgh is home to one of the most famous drag queens in the world: Sharon Needles. For a person who admits that she doesn’t feel welcome most anywhere, Needles is comfortable
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An Unlikely Mayor Jewish, a septuagenarian, and a woman without a college education, Sophie Masloff was a mayor unlike any other Pittsburgh had seen before. While she may have been unlike any other mayor, she was quintessentially Pittsburgh. Her life embodied many of the things that define Pittsburgh and those who live here, making her one of the city’s most colorful, most memorable, and one
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When Susan Gregg Koger was in high school, she had no clue that her penchant for vintage clothing would lead to founding one of the nation’s fastest growing retailers. The Florida native came to Pittsburgh in 2002 along with her then boyfriend Eric Koger (now her husband) to attend Carnegie Mellon University. The Floridians’ need for warm winter clothing led them to thrift stores, where
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An adage advises to “bloom where you are planted.” In the case of Randy Gilson, he not only bloomed but also painted, created, and transformed a drab, depressing neighborhood on Pittsburgh’s North Side into a whimsical wonderland known as Randyland. A little over 30 years ago, Gilson, 59, rented an apartment in the Mexican War Streets on the North Side. Gilson, who is a waiter,
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When Diana Napper makes a promise, she keeps it. In 1990, her best friend Carol Jo Weiss Friedman lost her battle with breast cancer. Before Carol Jo succumbed to the disease, Diana promised her that she would pursue a lifelong dream of designing jewelry and opening a jewelry store, selling her designs that would fund a hospice in Carol Jo’s name. Diana honored that promise
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In 1994, Diana Napper founded The Glimmer of Hope, a nonprofit dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer. She began this foundation to honor a promise she made to her friend Carol Jo Weiss Friedman before she lost her battle with breast cancer. Initially, Diana had designed a small piece of jewelry, a Swarovksi teardrop pin capped with a pearl to symbolize hope over
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If Pittsburgh were to have a royal family, it would have to be the Hillmans. But unlike Queen Elizabeth, who is a benign figurehead presiding over ribbon-cuttings, the late Elsie Hillman donned a headband instead of a crown and went into the trenches to make a difference in the world. A Sense of Service is Instilled in Hillman Elsie Hilliard Hillman spent decades getting her
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