{"id":168814,"date":"2026-04-17T19:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/168814\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T19:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:48:22","slug":"welcome-to-pittsburgh-the-real-home-of-pro-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/168814\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Pittsburgh \u2014 The ‘Real’ Home of Pro Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Acrisure<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY DAVE DICELLO<\/p>\n

The sign that greets patrons immediately upon entry into the Touchdown Club<\/a>, a long-standing\u00a0 bar and restaurant just a two-minute drive from Saint Vincent College, the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 training camp, is impossible to miss \u2014 and delivers much more of a declaration than it does a humble brag. \u201cBirthplace of Professional Football, Latrobe, Pa. 1895\u201d<\/p>\n

Alas, it\u2019s inaccurate.<\/p>\n

According to research conducted after the Pro Football Hall of Fame was opened in Canton, Ohio in 1963, it was discovered the first player to be paid for his services was William \u201cPudge\u201d Heffelfinger, who received $500 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Sports Club on Nov. 12, 1892.<\/p>\n

The game was played, as the Steelers\u2019 Hall of Honor details, at Recreation Park in what was then known as Allegheny City, Pa., not far from where Acrisure Stadium sits today on what is now Pittsburgh\u2019s North Shore.<\/p>\n

Heffelfinger\u2019s ground-breaking compensation was verified via the discovery of an Allegheny Athletic Association expense sheet confirming a \u201cgame performance bonus to W. Heffelfingfer for playing (cash) $500.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document is now recognized as \u201cpro football\u2019s birth certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hefelfinger<\/a><\/p>\n

PUDGE HEFELFINGER: PHOTO ADOBE STOCK<\/p>\n

Earlier pro football historians, according to the Hall of Fame, had previously agreed a 16-year-old quarterback from Indiana College, John Brallier, had been given $10 and \u201ccakes\u201d (expenses) to play for Latrobe against Jeanette on Sept. 3, 1895.<\/p>\n

That remains the story in Westmoreland County, and the Touchdown Club is sticking to it. When you have Application for Membership cards on display once filled out by the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Jack Ham, Chuck Noll, Myron Cope and Fred Rogers \u2014 who had nothing to do with pro football but still, Mister Rogers! \u2014 maybe you still have some semblance of an argument.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not up for debate, however, is how deeply professional football is woven into Western Pennsylvania\u2019s DNA. It\u2019s beyond a pastime or a passion. It\u2019s part of the fabric of communities large (Pittsburgh) and small (Latrobe and countless others like it) that make up a region obsessed with professional football.<\/p>\n

Which means the NFL Draft is finally coming home \u2014 even if, out of respect and reverence, it should be returning to multiple addresses.<\/p>\n

In honor of the 2026 event, here are a few pro-football stories from a handful of Western Pennsylvanians who grew up with the game and eventually found a way to make it, as Noll might have put it, their \u201clife\u2019s work\u201d in one form or another.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a><\/p>\n

THREE RIVERS STADIUM PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK<\/p>\n

Cigars and Bourbon<\/p>\n

Matt Raich\u2019s family had Steelers season tickets when he was growing up in Monaca in the 1970s and 1980s, so he remembers well the sights, sounds and sensations of Three Rivers Stadium, particularly how the first-level seats (which shifted from baseball to football configuration in the multi-purpose facility) used to shake when the crowd jumped up and down, which happened often in those days.<\/p>\n

Raich also remembers the smells.<\/p>\n

\u201cCigars and bourbon,\u201d he recollects. \u201cIt was just so different coming from a small town, going to Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up in those days also included trips to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for Steelers training camp. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget watching those guys lift weights under a tarp,\u201d Raich says. \u201cSome of those trees are still there. I have photos of me with Jack Lambert and Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw. \u201cIt was a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raich also remembers wearing a \u201cOne For The Thumb\u201d T-shirt in the \u201980s. The slogan was popularized amid the Steelers\u2019 quest for a fifth Super Bowl championship, and a fifth Super Bowl ring to go with those previously won at the conclusion of the 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979 seasons. When the organization finally captured its fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy in 2005, Raich helped to secure it \u2014 serving as the team\u2019s offensive quality control coach.<\/p>\n

He spent this past season as a senior assistant\/defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts, Raich\u2019s 20th NFL campaign in a coaching career that has also included NFL stints with the Cardinals, Lions and Bengals as well as stops at Westminster (his alma mater), Robert Morris, Duquesne and Glenville State (in Glenville, W. Va). He\u2019s even had turns with teams in Germany and in the XFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it all started with me, my grandfathers on both sides \u2014 they just taught me about having pride and working hard,\u201d Raich, 55, says. \u201cOne worked at Crucible Steel in Midland. The other one was at P&LE Railroad in Beaver Falls and Pittsburgh. And I think that whole area, with all the blue collar and people working with their hands, embedded in me, \u2018I gotta work hard and give my best effort.\u2019 \u201cIt\u2019s how I got into the NFL, and I surely believe it\u2019s definitely how I\u2019m staying in it. You gotta work hard \u2014 and it is a hard job, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

She Swore at Him in Croatian<\/p>\n

Mark Gorscak, who spent almost three decades as a scout for the Steelers, has a recognizable face (if not an unforgettable name), thanks to the many years he spent in command of the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. The annual evaluation of top prospects for an upcoming draft is broadcast nationally on the NFL Network and devoured by those who have a particularly acute obsession with the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will stop me and say, \u2018You\u2019re the guy from the 40-yard dash, aren\u2019t you?\u2019\u201d Gorscak says.<\/p>\n

Sometimes they ask for pictures, Gorscak, 68, adds. He also gained a significant measure of after-the-fact acclaim as Joe Montana\u2019s center at Ringgold High School in the early 1970s. Montana would go on to Notre Dame \u2014 and eventually a Hall of Fame career quarterbacking the San Francisco 49ers \u2014 but was more focused at the time on potentially playing basketball at North Carolina State, Gorscak remembers; there were also other, more immediate, concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were just worried about getting a prom date back then,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Still, an appreciation of and a fascination with the NFL had been ingrained in Gorscak by his steelworker father while growing up in Donora.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made me swallow the Kool-Aid,\u201d Gorscak says, \u201c[with] stories growing up about my dad and my uncle Pete going to Forbes Field and Pitt Stadium to see the Steelers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorscak\u2019s job at the time was to make sure the TV in his grandmother\u2019s house next door was set to the proper channel on game day.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe called Terry Bradshaw \u2018Brady,\u2019\u201d Gorscak says. \u201cShe swore at him in Croatian \u2026 It was just a way of life in our house, football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorscak parlayed a coaching career \u2014 specifically a position as the administrative coordinator,\u00a0 recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach at Weber State \u2014 into a job as a scout. Now, in the wake of a 28-year run with the Steelers, it\u2019s Gorscak telling the stories for the benefit of future generations, as his father and uncle once did. Just prior to Christmas 1995, Gorscak attended his first Steelers game on the sidelines, having spent much of the season on the road evaluating talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a sideline pass,\u201d Gorscak recounts. \u201cNeil O\u2019Donnell was the quarterback. And I remember them coming to the sideline, they had stunk it up on offense. And Ron Erhardt was the offensive coordinator, and he had everyone around him sitting down and he was in the middle, and he was going to go over it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he was just about ready and [linebacker] Greg Lloyd got in the middle and he said, \u2018If you [expletives] don\u2019t start scoring and keeping the defense off the field, I\u2019m going to kick everyone\u2019s ass.\u2019 And he looked at Neil O\u2019Donnell and he said, \u2018And I\u2019m starting with you first, Neil.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard that and I went, \u2018Holy [expletive], welcome to pro football.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"5<\/a><\/p>\n

LATASHA WILSON BATCH AND CHARLIE BATCH. PHOTO BY ELLIOTT CRAMER PHOTOGRAPHY<\/p>\n

My Name\u2019s Dan<\/p>\n

It\u2019s often said in the NFL that game knows game. And it\u2019s an absolute fact that Pittsburgh knows Pittsburgh. Homestead\u2019s Charlie Batch cited an interaction during his playing days as a quarterback in Detroit with then-Chicago Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt, a Baldwin native and a Pitt alum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was familiar with Dave Wannstedt,\u201d Batch says. \u201cI\u2019m running into him during pregame and he\u2019s like, \u2018I had to alert my guys, we know what type of player you are. You\u2019re from Pittsburgh.\u2019 \u201cAnd then I\u2019m listening to his accent, and we just started talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batch worked his way up from Steel Valley High School to Eastern Michigan University to the Lions, where, in his second NFL season, he crossed paths with another Pitt product. It was August 1999 in Miami \u2014 Dan Marino\u2019s final season with the Dolphins. Defensive end Jason Taylor, who attended Woodland Hills High School, also was on the Miami roster. Like Marino, he was on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Batch had gone to elementary school with Taylor.<\/p>\n

Marino was a quarterback, a legend and \u201cmy idol growing up,\u201d Batch says. \u201cI get there and I\u2019m trying to prep myself \u2026 on how to introduce myself to him because I don\u2019t know if this dude\u2019s gonna know me,\u201d Batch explains. \u201cI literally walk up to him and I say, \u2018Nice to meet you, my name\u2019s Dan.\u2019 And he looks at me like, \u2018What the [expletive] did you just say?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, my name\u2019s Dan.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so flustered I didn\u2019t introduce myself as Charlie. I introduced myself as Dan Marino \u2014 because I was that dude as I was growing up, that\u2019s who I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years later Batch, 51, and Marino have become \u201cvery good friends,\u201d Batch says. \u201cEvery year at the Super Bowl we take a picture. [It\u2019s the] Pittsburgh connection \u2026 Probably about 10 years ago, he ended up signing a jersey for me. My wife surprised me by reaching out to him and getting it autographed. He signed it and personalized it to me. I was like a kid in a candy store, \u2018Damn, my idol actually signed a jersey for me and put my name on it.\u2019 It\u2019s in my basement, and it\u2019s hanging up and it\u2019s one that I truly treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Batch treasures most of all from his 14 NFL seasons with the Lions and the Steelers are the relationships forged and the bonds established, not just with the legends of the league but with teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat camaraderie that you have, the principles that are instilled \u2014 trust, loyalty, teamwork, ultimately you build a lot of different things,\u201d Batch says. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than people from all different walks of life all coming together for one common goal, and when you do that, that is beautiful. Regardless of what color you are, what religion you are, everyone\u2019s coming together. Eventually you stay together long enough that you become family.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou build relationships with players and you build relationships with their families that cannot be taken for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Acrisure<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY FEIXU CHEN\/ NEXT GENERATION NEWSROOM<\/p>\n

You Eat What You Earn<\/p>\n

Uniontown\u2019s Gene Steratore made it from Laurel High School to Kent State University \u2014 then to Edinboro University and eventually to the Super Bowl. He spent 15 years as an NFL official, including 12 as a referee, before working his final game in Super Bowl LII. After traveling the NFL for a decade and a half, he knows there\u2019s no place like home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might be a little bit biased but I will tell you, as a referee in the NFL, coming down the parkway and crossing that bridge \u2026 on a Sunday morning is definitely one of the top ways to be introduced to a stadium in the NFL, especially when you know you\u2019re participating,\u201d he says. \u201cYou felt like you were going to the coliseum. Tailgates, flags \u2014 Pittsburgh is one of those \u2018boom, here we are\u2019 places, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a time when Steratore wanted to be a quarterback. Officiating, as it turns out, was the family business. (So is Steratore Sanitary Supply in Washington, Pa., but the stories aren\u2019t as good). Steratore\u2019s father, Gene Sr., worked over 30 years as an NCAA Division I football and basketball official. His brother, Tony, put in 20 years in the NFL as a back judge, including two Super Bowls.<\/p>\n

Steratore also spent years as a college basketball official, but there was something about his Western Pennsylvania upbringing, particularly the rise of the Steelers in the 1970s (\u201cit was magical,\u201d he says) and what football always stood for that he found compelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a professional football town,\u201d Steratore says of Pittsburgh. \u201cIt\u2019s been the dominant sport forever. I also think the NFL, the sport itself, is a microcosm of the city. It\u2019s blue collar, you eat what you earn. I don\u2019t think there are that many teams remaining that still carry that traditional aura. This is the epitome of it, quite frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

That aura, and that history, might make Pittsburgh the NFL\u2019s ground zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s close,\u201d Steratore says. \u201cIt\u2019s almost sacrilege to say Lambeau Field [in Green Bay] isn\u2019t. But with that said, it\u2019s No. 1 and No. 1A to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steratore, 63, retired from the NFL in 2018. He continues to call the shots as a rules analyst for NFL and college basketball games on CBS TV and also makes weekly appearances throughout the year with the DVE Morning Show on WDVE-FM. His TV gig normally involves monitoring multiple games simultaneously, so it\u2019s hectic.<\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t quite the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to work in Pittsburgh in the winter, same with Green Bay,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that\u2019s part of Pittsburgh\u2019s identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Game Will Survive Without You<\/p>\n

Doug Whaley migrated with his family from Cross Lanes, W. Va., to Upper St. Clair before he entered ninth grade. The seeds that would lead to a future in professional football in general, and scouting in particular, may have already been sown.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad scouted southern West Virginia for [legendary Ohio State head coach] Woody Hayes,\u201d Whaley says. \u201cThey called them bird dogs back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whaley played outside linebacker and running back at Upper St. Clair High School and safety at Pitt, but upon realizing he was \u201ctoo small and too slow\u201d for the next level, he ultimately became a stockbroker. After a year of quotes and figures, he heard about a scouting internship with the Steelers in 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019ll give it a shot,\u201d he thought at the time.<\/p>\n

That led to a scouting position with the Seattle Seahawks and then a return to the Steelers as pro personnel coordinator. Whaley eventually served as the general manager of the Buffalo Bills from 2013-16. During the decade he spent with the Steelers, he worked under general manager Kevin Colbert, a graduate of North Catholic High School and Robert Morris University.<\/p>\n

The presence of guys with Pittsburgh ties in such positions was much more the NFL norm than the exception. Whaley, now the senior vice president of player personnel for the UFL and a football revenue share advisor for Pitt, estimated the number of those in NFL scouting, coaching, personnel or management roles who were either from Western Pennsylvania, had played or coached for the Steelers or played or coached at Pitt to be in the \u201cmid-to-high 60-percent range\u201d when he worked in the league.<\/p>\n

The region was and remains a pipeline for more than just quarterbacks. Perspective, perhaps, has something to do with that. His stretch with the Steelers afforded Whaley the opportunity to work with and learn from legendary scout Bill Nunn, a former sports editor of the Pittsburgh Courier who became a scout for the Steelers and the architect of the \u201cTeam of the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nunn is remembered in the industry today as football\u2019s greatest scout because he found talent the NFL had previously overlooked at historically Black colleges and universities. Nunn, a Westinghouse High School graduate, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing I always remember about Nunn, and it really rings true, now, is what he said about the biggest issue people have when they get to the NFL,\u201d Whaley, 53, recalls. \u201cHe\u2019d always say, \u2018The game was here before you and it\u2019ll be here long after you. A lot of people think the game needs them more than they need the game. You need the game more than the game needs you. The game will survive without you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a dose of Pittsburgh humility appreciated throughout a region that has at least one humble brag coming in advance of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOTO BY DAVE DICELLO The sign that greets patrons immediately upon entry into the Touchdown Club, a long-standing\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-168814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-pittsburgh","9":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","10":"tag-pittsburgh-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}