{"id":175146,"date":"2026-04-24T19:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/175146\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T19:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:16:10","slug":"for-some-the-draft-in-pittsburgh-was-a-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/175146\/","title":{"rendered":"For Some, The Draft in Pittsburgh Was a Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

ALICE DOYLE WITH HER DAUGHTERS, KAREN AND PAMELA, AT PPG PLACE. PHOTO BY ERIN YUDT<\/p>\n

Before visitors could take in one of Pittsburgh\u2019s best views, incline operator John Yecko first had to get them up the hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Duquesne Incline on Thursday,\u00a0Yecko\u00a0moved between the controls; one activates the door, another\u00a0opens and closes the car. A\u00a0different control\u00a0sends the\u00a0funicular\u00a0up and down\u00a0Mount\u00a0Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Green is good,\u00a0he\u00a0says. Red is not. And just in case\u00a0the unexpected happens, there is an emergency brake, a backup emergency\u00a0brake\u00a0and backup diesel power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have triple redundancy in the system,\u201d\u00a0Yecko\u00a0says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

DUQUESNE INCLINE OPERATOR JOHN YECKO. PHOTO BY ERIN YUDT<\/p>\n

That system was\u00a0extra\u00a0busy\u00a0on Thursday\u00a0as NFL Draft visitors made their way through Pittsburgh, many of them seeing the city not just as a host site, but as a place they once called home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For one Los Angeles-based family, the Draft lined up with a family reunion. While they already had roots in Pittsburgh, the Draft just gave the trip a little extra energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe coordinated it to coincide with the\u00a0Draft,\u201d\u00a0Alice Doyle says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

The family stayed near the North Shore and Mount Washington, rode the incline, and took in a city that felt very different from Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh, they\u00a0noted, still\u00a0has\u00a0something L.A. does not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big city with a small-town feel,\u201d\u00a0says Karen Doyle,\u00a0Alice\u00a0Doyle\u2019s daughter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a common refrain from visitors throughout the city over the weekend: big event, small-town feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

BROTHERS ARCHIE AND GUY JACKSON WITH THEIR COUSINS, SHIRLEY AND ROBERT HARRISON IN MARKET SQUARE. PHOTO BY ERIN YUDT.<\/p>\n

For Archie Jackson, the trip was about football, family and coming home. Jackson grew up in the Hill District but has lived in Atlanta for 30 years. He says his family has been planning a trip to Pittsburgh for the Draft for about six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re from Pittsburgh,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cIt\u2019s a one-time event.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson attended the Draft with his brothers and cousins, some of whom have since moved to Florida, Atlanta and Ohio. His family also spent time with his mother, who is in her 90s and still lives in the Hill District.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson says\u00a0he returns to Pittsburgh about twice a year, but this visit felt different.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to come back home,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

PHOTO BY ERIN YUDT<\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s cousin, Florida resident Robert Harrison, called the Draft a \u201cbucket list\u201d trip. For his family, football has long been a reason to gather. Even when the family attends Steelers games in Florida, Harrison says Pittsburgh fans make it feel familiar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey travel everywhere,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trip was also a reminder of how Pittsburgh looks to people who left, return, and who measure the city against how they remember it. For Jackson, the area felt safe and sound \u2014 especially compared to the city he left during the collapse of the region\u2019s steel industry decades ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I left [Pittsburgh] in 1983, Market Square, the city, didn\u2019t feel like this\u2026happy and full of life,\u201d Jackson says. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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

PHOTO BY ERIN YUDT<\/p>\n

At\u00a0the incline,\u00a0Yecko\u00a0had his own view: visitors coming and going, cars filling and emptying,\u00a0and\u00a0Pittsburgh\u00a0from above.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From where he stood,\u00a0the\u00a0Draft was good for\u00a0visitors and the daily commuters.\u00a0And if the NFL ever wants to come back\u00a0to the city?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yecko\u00a0said\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0be happy to see Pittsburgh host it again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[The NFL Draft]\u00a0is reminding\u00a0locals to take the inclines, to take public transit,\u201d\u00a0Yecko\u00a0says. \u201cThe Draft is highlighting\u00a0all of\u00a0our public services and reminding people to\u00a0use what service is around them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Erin Yudt is a reporter\u00a0with\u00a0the Pittsburgh Media Partnership Newsroom, part of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. She most recently was a multimedia content producer and digital reporter at WKBN in Youngstown and is a graduate of Point Park University. Reach her at\u00a0erin.yudt@pointpark.edu<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

PMP Director Kim Palmero contributed to this\u00a0report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The PMP Newsroom is a regional news service that focuses on government and enterprise reporting in southwestern Pennsylvania. Find out more information on foundation and corporate funders\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALICE DOYLE WITH HER DAUGHTERS, KAREN AND PAMELA, AT PPG PLACE. PHOTO BY ERIN YUDT Before visitors could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-175146","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\/175146","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=175146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}