>> guest: thank you. stick your welcome. good evening, everyone. my name is jennifer pickle-styran here at the carnegie library and i'm also the third string player that yor are getting tonight because the first and second were not available, and i'm proud that i snuck in a sports analogy. [laughter] i'm also pleased to welcome you to this event tonight, to the local event.t. this is one of many wonderful events brought to you through the partnership with pittsburgh arts and lectures.

the library has been presenting events like this one for many years for broad ranges of audiences. we're always pleased for a very nice positive response to these events and we would invite you to next time bring a friend or two and help us promote these and keep them going. also i want to remind you of the library is open until 8 p.m. so you can head over and get at library card after we had done this evening.ul i would like to recognize classic lines books will be selling the book this evening and selling the "playing throug the whistle" book tonight. s.l. price will be signing the book immediately after the event this evening. as i mentioned before i'm new to working at the library, but one of my first experiences was hearing about stephanie flom. all of this taffeta labrie

speaks highly of her and we have a long-standing relationshipip with her being the director of the pittsburgh lectures and i've never met her until this evening so i had a great pleasure and now i will give you the pleasure iif you will allow me to introduce stephanie flom, she was on you about the remainder of the evening. [applause] s.l. price is super, super nice. you are going to love him. "playing through the whistle, his truly compassionate exploration of field, football and american town is the first book for s.l. price, senior writer for sports illustrated. with more than three dozen cover stories for sports illustrated piece written for "vanity fair," "time" magazine and to the

oxforthe oxfordamerican. assignments have propelled him across the u.s., so we are proud to have been spending so much time in pennsylvania and canada as well as the columbia, argentina, bolivia, cuba where he wrote a book abou the book ad sports, jamaica, kenya, france, pakistan, brazil, australia, greece, japan, and china. he's covered ten the olympic games, two world cups and countless grand slam tennis championships. he's interviewed presidentsnt george w. bush and bill clinton and played barack obama one-on-one and in iowa ymca. the reviews have been mad raving and glowing. whenever he writes about sports, he hits it over the fence and i got to take him to the wall today. npr sports commentator, i pay ty

to read a grocery list its stock price wrote it. usa today, he is one of the finest writers on sports anywhere. he shared that he stumbled and found a microcosm. he didn't just produce great football players, it's where america happened. please give a warm welcome to s.l. price. [applause]te theme >> that was quite the welcome. i don't think that i've ever heard to be described, certainly not in my own home, that way. it's funny because this is, being described as a lecture and

you are here for a historic event because i've never really given anything known as a lecture before except to my kid and they've never listened even though i am paying for theirin food and friends and everything else. if you don't listen, i certainly will understand. first of all, thank you for coming. this is a subject that is incredibly and awfully important to me. i think aliquippa is a special area and if anybody from aliquippa specifically they understand what i'm talking about. last friday, bill clinton became the fourth u.s. president to visit aliquippa, by my count. although i think that barack obama did spend some time getting some ice cream during the campaign.

but in the bounds of aliquippa there's only a few presidents have visited. jfk in 1962. two days later he got the news that the entire cuban missile crisis began in i'm not sayingng there was any coincidence, but then jimmy carter came and gave a town hall and george bush als. visited.k that i think it's significant that bill clinton visited and i will get to that in a second. aliquippa played for the first time since 1977. and it is noteworthy to me because aliquippa relationship is interesting. people now that tony is from the

hopewell school district and they would love to claim him as their own. in some ways, they showed. the two things happening what i mean by that is this is a count of 9500 people at this point ann getting smaller. at its peak, it was only 27,000, 28,000, maybe 30. the census may be missing some people. but it wasn't by any means a large city. and yet there is something i think the presence of those presidents is testament to this incredibly special. i especially went in the fall of

2010. an editor at sports illustrated who i believe his grandfather worked with the union in aliquippa. he said that they are producing incredible football players and the town is clearly dealing with the forces of the mill shutting down and got 25 years previous previously, sorry got 15 years previously.go up so i went and wrote what is essentially the longest piece i've ever written for sports illustrated. i have been there for 22 years and it was 10,000 birds. it was a specific story about aliquippa producing great football players which we knowow them at this point.

sean gilbert and a slew of division i players and athletes gene in general. it was a limited story and that it was about football in the face of great difficulty and great pain and triumph. it was a pretty graphic story, and some people didn't like it because it may be went into the paint to match, but the peoplele thanked me and wanted with her story told because they wanted you to understand what it took to make it out and triumph in aliquippa. i think anybody that comes from their, you wouldn't understand.

what i mean by that is anybody who grew up in aliquippa and left it never leaves it behind. you can't get away from it. it had its hooks in me and i didn't even grow up there. there was something in this place, something special that i don't quite understand. it's not just thoughtful. it's winning four academy awards, grammy awards. it's grubbing up next to joese whose son went on to win four academy awards for the lord of the rings and avatar. as james frankif this james frat black president of the ncaa and jesse who grew up down thedown t street and became a surgeon

general under richard nixon and was fired for his opposition to the tobacco industry. it was, forgive me for this cod' it be i'm falling in love -- does anybody know that song?g? [laughter] doctor steals, thank you for coming. and i can't tell you what an honor it was for me because in many ways, his experience told me how special because first of all, he was incredibly honest to me when we spoke about his experience. the [laughter]so

what i thought was amazing is in doing my research, i'm finding ali am findingall these other pe from w aliquippa. then if you were excited about the world series last night, i spoke to the manager of the's indians last night and when i called she said no, everyone says i'm from new-but i'm not, i am from aliquippa. there was a pride of place that continues. of that idea of greatness rising out of the tragedy and out of pain is something that is appealing to any human being but as a writer it' it's cold and it happenegold and ithappened on td

also to me the story stuck withr me because he was teaching in the school system at a time of the great racial told and i'm not sure if you've told me this but i stumbled upon a story where he wrote a letter to the paper because he was accused wrongfully of starting some race and fighting for taking some students to a movie called halls of anger. he wasn't the person responsible but he defended himself there. and meanwhile at a certain time when the tension was at its his height, he worked, they both studied music and the ability to under the great. but could it be i'm falling in love, which is about -- happy

anniversary. congratulations. you should be up here. [applause] that to me was something about aliquippa, the former basketbald player. the family coming from down c south is a tough one. his mother saw some very tough things and he was emblematic of many that had come up with the great migration in the 20s and 30s. but even at its toughest time when the was doing special things. you can't resist a story like that. there were many towns in

pennsylvania that produced greae athletes and this book is not about just athletes and i know that many towns in western pennsylvania had labor troubles into trouble with management and certainly after the mills shut down. but to me it is representative of the extreme of what has hit western pennsylvania and i would argue the forces that are cut loose in western pennsylvania in the mid-80s when an entire crowd of tough intelligence vital working-class were cut out of having a foothold in the american dream into those forces still were not ever properlyt ha addressed. i think in this town what has happened is important.hen i so when i see represented in the

extreme. part of wha that was your family comes over and you will want to gathetogether with the family ae community to recognize but they forced that partially because there was hope of keeping people divided into stopping the union organizations.s. j. am though what is a tactic of division obviously the african-americans that came up from the south got the worst jobs and the lower salaries and chance of advance.mo

there would be more resentment. infamously there is tension everywhere but the police forcee there kidnapped george for passing out the union cards and having been sen them send to ane asylum and then the wife of the governor rode into town andnoune denounced and broke the

stranglehold and was certified before the court including one of the men so even than there was a great representation. the crack epidemic hit aliquippa. it's all over america as we know but they hate aliquippa like a typhoon. things happened in aliquippa in

broad extreme strokes. that remains a mystery to me that thandat the very least i wo say how and what happened but i don't know how they produce so many football players even more than the norm in western pennsylvania. why so many dramatic things tha forced the cultural forces that have worked their way through the rest of the culture in such an extreme way in aliquippa. today he is the first african-american mayor and aliquippa history and again, football is a through line through all of this. it is not just a place of community togetherness, and expression of pride but it is a

thread that is unavoidable and doesn't just belong at the pit. they were motivated to run for office and take office. it's been am an extraordinary combination of elements thatve have made aliquippa what it is. i will get letters every once in a while one note from other parts in western pennsylvania. there were two things that

worked there were so many names that makes life easy for a writer because there were names people don't know. there was something about this town it wasn't just a place that produced football that it happened over and over again and continues to do so. like i said, it was a place that

had great racial trouble in the early 70s starting to the early 60s when there was a lack of basically black cheerleaders in the school but it really hit a head and was not unique in the county where the nation at large. but i want to take you back to a couple things because i can't tell you how much you are dealing with a writer. not very good at speaking, and it's not my training so i just want to read a little bit about a great man. this

this guy is making me her dissents. -- so jus so, so everybody else knows mike. he was little mike and his dad was big mike. he felt better in a world of rules and was caught to be breaking the rules anyway takinf meetings and return served as an altar boy and she stole the christmas tree off at library. they found out the belt came o out. garbage cans turned over come g

the kids class is broken and he always found out. nearly burned the woods down. i stole a pack of cigarettes and we were in a cement cul-de-sac. it strikes when you were 7-years-old and so there goes the words. finally they did get it out so my dad is sitting there having dinner. charlotte is a great character as well. that was it. i don't want. i was the worst one i ever got. i don't think i smoked a cigarette since. she paused, but i do smoke cigars. mayhem mixed into the perimeters is sports. it's a perfect fit.

anything played with the furry bottomless theory officials announced they stole a ball autographed by the legend to the first candidate to run a home run. they were pitching and after a few blocks they made him switch positions. he chased his brother out of the stadium, jumped the fence, ran him down and crashed him before he got home. it was bad, he said. i never felt like i was doing anything wrong. i knew i jus it just didn't feee way that i felt that i had tunnel vision. i don't know where you get that competitive for but tag,

football and i hated to lose at whatever it was. i expected to win, i never expected to lose. that's why losing was so hard. that was a new attitude for the town and by the time he entered high school he just had their first taste of glory. baseball brought the first crown and basketball teams would compete for the title's. suppose now preeminent and making the team became a badgeol of honor. why, because that is part of what you were and what you werea meant to be, he played a year behind him. why would a guy my size be a starting guard division iii football? i'm not that good because if you work would be embarrassed tot ce

come home. whatever it took him and it took me until my senior year in high school and college that's whatat has to bhad to be done and there many of me out there. you didn't dare him to your family, friends or neighbors if they didn't care if you got your ass kicked. he gave all he had and that's what it took. the kid is tough. that is aliquippa and that is the difference between some of these other schools. it's a big difference. the reason i read that to you is i feel like he did set the tone and he was invented in many ways into that larger than life fury became a hallmark for the star players. they are always fascinating to talk to and larger than life and

just a little bit crazy. this is about jayna. paroli. the future aliquippa postmaster in future historian foreverd pas devoted partisan sports moved to hopewell. that's what you did when given the chance. married for four years and worked for eight was making enough to bleed the life the ever more cramped neighborhoods. it wasn't like his dad's time anymore. come to ellis island, feel like a beast breathing until the day that thethat take you away in a. housing developments all over the farmland surrounding the borough and independence, and hopewell they carved up some space. haven't they had enough excitement? moving to hopewell was for the

promise people fought for inwo world war ii a better life if you could get away from the street, the bars, the casual tensiotension, count the cars oe road on one hand and raised your kids in peace. at least nine other veterans moved to the new development chris mont village to the $13,000 apiece, living room, kitchen, maybe a basement. they would graduate in the same year and all the men drove to the mail coming in from hopewell center or township. vince, the father of the future basketball coach, commuted into aliquippa as a young man to work sweating off 5 pounds every eight or term. he lasted a year of driving later on route 51 with his son to the blazing fire skimming arise and you see that red wine, he would say, i used to work beside thing.

if i stayed, i would have died. the compensation carved out for the union, $24 a day, pensions for 96 enabled steelworkers to put distance between work and home, take a step up the social ladder. aliquippa was a small sample. starting in 1950, the biggest cities began a three-year slide in the population. suburbs meanwhile grew by 60 million. nobody blames them said they couldn't coach. it was natural. you do what is best for you ande your family. still, hopewell was a place to lay your head. downtown was home. amendments to work and the whole family went back for big days like january christmas or the festival weekend of parades and sons of italy, the musical, the club band, bishop of pittsburgh diocese, the home village to so many italian clans. they run on the weekends to visit mom and pops and sunday

night with driving for the weekly dance up on the second floor of the hall area to cost a quarter admission, somebody spun records and it was weak from all the shoe leather andsweat. to talk about aliquippa one more time, in 1964, hopewell had gotten big enough from all the people leaving aliquippa and elsewhere. .. or so from the pit as it's now called and -- so in 1964 which was the year of carl

ashman in aliquippa history, aliquippa played hopewell. they played for something called the steel bold trough-- trophy and he went on pitching, went onto pitch many teams in the major leagues and he was only known as -- i'm trying to get -- and so what happened was that hopewell late aliquippa beat hopewell that night. this is how he put it. before that, good and bad, one pure moment by which to measure, helped take down the toughest guy around. everybody was really surprised that we won, everybody.

even the guys on our team were surprise that had we won because we thought they were tougher than that really. who didn't and, indeed, there has been no greater upset announced the following monday. it had been 25 years ashley declared since he had been so stunned by a loss. aluiquippa fans sat silent waiting for the next miracle, the times went on. their expressions would not exchange if the earth had opened up and some would have welcomed >> >> they have a strange relationship because there have then many efforts in recent years with the school

district but the population is getting smaller. so even though it is their brother as many of them have these routes so let me tell you about tony dorsett.tually so o eventually went dr. steele was there and fulfil on terrible times. and all what does it was

because of racial problems in the schools that are devastating so the tables had completely turned in 1964 the vikings were the up power if anything accounts for the persistence of the counter factual query what is the tony dorsett played with them? dismiss his day dismissed the entertainment of this notion that no previous dorsett ever went to that high-school the boundary went right through him is kitchen in the mount vernon housing project.ing from away from one school to the other is sen honored tradition and for example, growing up in the '70s and

the neighbor had told done him. and the high-school enrolled only a handful in the '60s member again felt the effect of busing and for that to mile walk growing up living the life caused his older brothers were part of the game drinking beer andnd hustling when they tried to stir trouble in with that deciding h. dorsett was not even allowed to play with hazing rules. and then to be there for the taking but in the spraying of 70 he was the ninth

grader walking through those happy halls and even as his mother took no chances that day had passed in 72 you did not want to go there it was a terrible place to go to school. a and a football player with talent was looking to get out and i almost had to do the same thing he said it was a struggle even though it was my home the chance to i win a ballgame placebo through nine so many today talk tony dorsett up as a near riot to one that got away. he was finishing up his career and 40 years later

the of memory instils stains no doubt we need -- but have happened if he was in charges. of iowa have never let him play i would have got his ass. please to take their players i got the job i never lost a player to hopewell and again. and so this is my last bits on hopewell.ippa. teaching creative writing keeping an eye on frank morocco. football knowledge wasas secondary deadline year after this school boardhe footb handed him the football program to elsewhere in america that was the point

this was the desperate actct in a desperate town. facing $12 million of bond debt in the ever shrinking tax base. qualifying for free lunches 300 vs bushel education people and 65 percent were 6 black.d to b they had to be closed because the money was available for repairs. and they all floated away answered. everybody assumed that those white voters trying to insure that they would never date a black boy. in standing now in 2001 whatco makes you better than me?akes yb they left so they wouldn't have to have their kids there. today

in today's that feeling has left me.s >> but you still have something that they thought they were better than us. but that crime about mayhem the only sure thing was the talent to make shirts thathe was the most visible way that the town worth t investing in and fighting for.. day needed to stand firm against any threat to the most visible asset. that was 1997 last time they played until the other night at the pit. and all of this just goes to show that it is not just a

small town and to meet there is a lot of american history and essentially that is important to this day and sometimes it is just the game sometimes it isn't. i would argue that is always almost floated -- loaded. that is it for me nobody else wants to hear re-read. i will take questions. [applause]t lisa >> we have bad microphone here.

-- a microphone and be will report -- repeat the question. >> and why are there no photographs in the book? puff laugh. >> to tell you the truth think it was financial i don't really know that i would have to pay for the photographs and gather them to tell you the truth with our deadline we were running up against that maybe it was many bet there was something that they said they think it is better there is not

photographs but you are not the first one to ask that that has been a criticism of the book and i understand that. >> so one of the students this afternoon wanted to ask you about the pit so can you visually e describe that? it sounds like a special place. >> it was a stadium built937 1937 in a when year's base of stadium building an astonishing number were put up so quickly you are so amazed how slow u infrastructure takes today but it is clearly in need of repair and of very tough place to come into not just because they're so intimidating as a team and a town because the reputation

precedes said the it is known then as uh dentin as cramped and more waste in the side of the stadium. so yes the stadium is wedgede sr and did is gorgeous.ody ha but everybody has their favorite place. >> really isn't a question that reminds me of a song written of the folks songwriter.

>> your rendition was better learn than mine. >> is funny because starting not that this incredibly brutal actually wear the enough and started to build a utopia for the steel worker because things gotau out of control they would really clamp down in a vicious way the post-world war two i cannot tell you how many people speak lovingly about thehe relationship after wordswa after world war ii and basically said a far more paternalistic and a partner in the town.

whiff little siberia of union organizers and the 30's. even for people that experience that and that is striking to me.inst a >> then then day decided to go as a single class a school and decided to move up at 3a to compete for scheduling reasons but that is three dozen boys in the

senior class.ce but since january the team has then ravaged in a brutal way. maybe suffering from a recurrence of leukemia and going on as we speak. with the 2003 championship team this 73 a player killed , his body found on the side of the road. this is a two-time purple heart recipient twice for his service in an iraq. another player committed suicide at some point in the summer and then two were

arrested for their involvement in a murder. in the meanwhile the team is eight / two seeded number one employee in the playoffs. and frankly it is astonishing may be a case of misplaced priorities. but the fact they are keeping on his remarkable. is a tribute and there is almost 20 that are there who volunteer and day demand a standard and then they say

get them next time instead the use that. [laughter] a dent in it is not just your data your cousin in then notorious for hazing loki's really plexus is all you got clacks is an astonishing place. i keep thinking they will stop producing the division one player every year. thi and i really thought this year but i thought with all

the heads of the field that they had gone up in class they had a harder time distilled number one. i am wrong again.hink it's gonew >> 18 cad has gone down the certainly the stadium and use certainly have the cadresett for what has been set up at the pit. but the interest of the ball remains of the attendance of the games and not very big you look down. and then you look at those

different kids 40 kids and each team with a waitingng list. thin with that intense interest does not equate to attendance every week but they played trannine index back to big contingency. >> to questions.d in your book is mentioned about the nba legend. >> the beginning of the book >> as somebody told me. >> yes. that he played basketball in the 30's and where they to grew up through 13 and after

his great senior season waset pest off after a football game punch stable and broke his hand.me but what he said to me was that at 13 he was better than everybody.was better and then shooting the hell out of the of all. >> my father told the stories playing against them and he was against the>> federal area.player. >> did you beat barack obama >> there is this. >> qsr last of them uh kids

today because all they care about i have not played a long time. [laughter] that i certainly realize that i will ride a column just before he won iowa andhe became barack obama. and by the way he almost never plays on a one-off and in between talking to them it is unbelievable that i realized that you can learn about somebody by playing basketball and how do they

act? but i realized i cannot stop the game and every point to write down what happened laugh laugh so what do i do? so i semite 13 you will fill this sandler and county use the camera that we found in the closet.t. he came with me to iowa. i have not played in a while so i said film this but don't pay attention to be.u keep the camera on obama the whole time. so before the whole game he is warming up.

and i know this and then the basket were that says no dunking in that is not the problem but then he comes along but unlike me when he came to his side but this is the time that he flips the camera. he has a view of the obama and he says what kind of game does he have? and my son gives me a. like everything we have

talked about. >> and toots tomahawk at one point you could be shot for doing that but at one point t he was at the top of the key he hit that that line actually just sprung up and i said did you hear what i said? is an idea think that i get that quick. >> but it was not just like an smoothes he was sizing meme up so my son got the best

moment. he is incredibly nice but people don't normally see the killer and he is as well i y >> by heather not played in a long time. [laughter] >> i lost both games. but it was not pretty but it is better if you lose when you going to say i am glaxo there is the element so i figured nephew back me down so i did backing down and it was a closer game. >> i am from there but i

thought this and the rest of the world recognize this? >> but you mentioned my own goal lead of the biggest fans ever the best football coach ever the answer may be there is a divine intervention. the influence hasn't faded. >> also what the family had it paper heart very bad heart trouble when his daughter died of heart trouble what the age of 32 so outwardly and incredibly tough his second successor was playing a football game

and was smashed into hist face and broke his nose and carl went up to him to give them the kiss and get back in the game.ctuall he action that he was a little too hard that way but this time has gone on he said idol pinky care about the players as much as it would have liked but there is a lot of people and others and then there respect them for that. >>. >> and to give condolences

to my mom. eighty-seven years old so flu are these girls? maybe my mom is slipping a little bit because he keeps it the same. >> key is incredible treasure as a walking history book especially with the older generation he was very helpful to me so close

as h. connection that is here? have a >> find fame other as a special place.you yes in this special but does every betty believe there is something unique and special ? >>agree. >> again by the way that was

of a home game. you were at the game? >> with my boyfriend. [laughter] >> my boyfriend was chuck delaney quick. >> he ran over him and onlyn completed three passes inn the game and his father taught at the high-school. >> i a speak for everyone and we owe a debt of gratitude. [applause]

>> and also coming from such a remarkable town. is this for good and bad it is not the fantasy world but it is absolutely human and vital. >> formal line to go all the doriden turn left. if you need to buy your book we canseco view one negative

we can sell you to or five.

. >> saw many prisons were bursting at the seams because of policing in a of inner-city is across the nation and in your city buffalo rochester and attic the bush is filled with 2400 minnesota overwhelmingly black and porter began and the conditions were horrendous one roll of toilet paper to last month to quarts of water to do everything washed, clean yourself medical care so bad that prisoners renato need dying that were disfigured from lack of care.