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GOODBYE MYRON
By Rich Briggs
February 29, 2008
Two eras have come to an end for the Pittsburgh Steelers and for the Pittsburgh region. It was learned on Wednesday that former Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope, 79, had passed away from several health complications and issues while he was in a Mount Lebanon nursing home.
Cope was a Steelers broadcaster from 1970 – 2004, having missed the Steelers latest Super Bowl run by one year after learning that he was starting to decline in his delivery from his dear friend, Joe Gordon, who was a Steelers publicist during the glory years. Cope had coined such phrases as “Yoi!, Double Yoi!, Triple Yoi!, Garganzola Hhm Hah! Cleve Brownies, the Bungles, and of course Emperor Chaz.”
Cope was a writer for Sports Illustrated and other publications when he was hired by the Steelers at the age of 40. He also wrote five books during his career. He also had a radio show for 22 years on the former WTAE-AM 1250 long before it became WEAE Radio ESPN 1250. He also did commentaries on WTAE-TV sports segments and finished his commentaries with his signature phrase, “This is Myron Cope on sports!”
He was one of the most beloved figures in this region for as long as anyone knew who he was. Sometimes his statements may have ruffled the feathers of opposing players until they saw him in physical stature (he was 5’ 4”) and then they would laugh and give him a hug, expressing no hard feelings.
Of course, Cope is most famous for creating and developing the Terrible Towel, which came into existence in1975 during the Steelers second Super Bowl run when he encouraged the fans to bring a yellow or black dish towel to games and wave them profusely to get the home team energized and to place on a hex on the visitors. A legend was born and is in use to this day. Cope sold the rights to the Towel in 1996 to the Allegheny Valley School, an institute for the mentally and physically challenged.
Myron Cope is a Pittsburgh institution and he will be sorely missed.
Guard Alan Faneca has spent his last days as a Pittsburgh Steeler and will be entertaining offers by the time you get this week’s edition. While the team was hoping to restart contract talks with Faneca, those talks died down when both sides could not come close to an agreement.
Those teams that could be expressing interest in Faneca when he becomes an unrestricted free agent are Arizona, Chicago, and Green Bay. Arizona seems like an obvious destination due to his relationship with Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt and Offensive Line coach Russ Grimm. Faneca was very vocal in his wish for either one of these two to become the Steelers Head Coach when Bill Cowher resigned.
Chicago may be the dark horse candidate to land Faneca, yet he may still end up there to held shore up protection for Rex Grossman. Green Bay would be the next logical choice as to protect Brett Favre’s blind side. Losing Faneca is a significant blow to the Steelers, but one in which both parties must learn to move on from and get prepared for the next season. It is going to be interesting to see how the Steelers fill the hole left by his departure, as they have put the transition tag on Max Starks and they will be looking to solidify the line across the board. We wish Alan Faneca the best as he moves on and thank him for 10 great years in Pittsburgh.
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