Famous Pittsburghers Recall Their Pasts In 'Growing Up Yinzer'

PITTSBURGH, PA — Call someone a yinzer and you've paid them a compliment. You're telling them you respect the fact that they wear Steelers gear, that they consider culinary nirvana to be a trip to Eat'n Park and that they always will consider Pittsburgh home no matter where life's travels take them.

Two years ago, Dick Roberts decided to talk to dozens of people, well-known both locally and nationally, about the impact of being raised under the yinzer flag had on them. The result is the just-published book, "Growing Up Yinzer: Memories of Pittsburghers."

"I thought to myself, 'How do you tell a Pittsburgh story?'" Roberts, 69, a Pittsburgh public relations executive, told Patch. "I thought the story could best be told by the people who grew up here, to compile a collection of first-person stories from favorite Pittsburghers whose Pittsburgh values and traditions helped them become the people they are."

Among the 51 people he interviewed for the book, now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and local booksellers:

• Broadcasting: Bob Pompeani, Jim Krenn, Larry Richert, Lynne Hayes-Freeland, Rick Sebak and Patrice King Brown.

• Politics: Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy and David Morehouse, a member of former President Bill Clinton's administration who now is a Pittsburgh Steelers executive vice president.

• Sports: NFL Hall-of-Famers Bill Cowher, Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett and Joe Namath; University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari.

• Business: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Bill Strickland, former President and CEO of the non-profit Manchester Bidwell Corporation and Rich Engler, who helped bring some of the nation's top musical acts to the city as a concert promoter.

Roberts said that readers of the book likely will be surprised at some of the heretofore untold stories of those interviewed.

"Jeff Goldblum goes into great detail how he became obsessed with being an actor to the point he details his first show in fifth grade at the Chatham summer arts camp," Roberts said. "He recalls what he wore on stage, how the audience reacted to him and what his parents said about his performance."

Most of the people Roberts contacted enthusiastically responded his requests for interviews, which often went on longer than planned.

"I told them I needed 15-2o minutes of their time and they all stayed way longer than that," he said.

Roberts believes he knows why.

"They had an extended period of time in which they could talk about Pittsburgh. How often do they get a chance to do that?" he said. "They embraced the opportunity to articulate their experiences."