Pittsburgh is a city rich in history, perhaps best known as the industrial hub for steel production, but it is also a city with deep roots of personal achievement. From Andrew Carnegie and his important role in putting the "Steel City" on the map to beloved Fred Rogers, renowned early childhood educator, creator, and television host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, countless individuals have made a lasting impact on the community and the nation. Those featured in Legendary Locals of Pittsburgh have played vital roles in the medical field, such as Dr. Kenneth L. Garver, and served as quiet heroes, like Norman and Margaret Samways, Edith Balas, and Harold McKamish--all of whom have contributed to Pittsburgh's unique identity through public service, business, education, and volunteerism. And chances are, readers just might know more than a few of the wide variety of people profiled who have left an indelible mark on a city they loved.

This spellbinding chapter in American history unfolds in a lively historic narrative, punctuated with rich, original illustrations. Join a headstrong young George Washington and British General John Forbes as they carve a trail through the Pennsylvania wilderness, capture Fort Duquesne and help set the stage for the birth of a nation.

From the 1905 opening of the wildly popular, eponymous Nickelodeon in the city's downtown to the outgrowth of nickel theaters in nearly all of its neighborhoods, Pittsburgh proved to be perfect for the movies. Nickelodeon City profiles the major promoters in Pittsburgh, as well as ordinary theater owners, suppliers, and patrons. Aronson examines early film promotion, distribution, and exhibition, and reveals the beginnings of state censorship and the lobbying and manipulation attempted by members of the movie trade.

Drawn from personal interviews with the players themselves, a chronicle of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, who won an unprecedented and unmatched four Super Bowls in six years.

Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls and presided over one of the greatest football dynasties in history, the Pittsburgh Steelers of the '70s. Later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his achievements as a competitor and a coach are the stuff of legend. But Noll always remained an intensely private and introspective man, never revealing much of himself as a person or as a coach, not even to the players and fans who revered him. Chuck Noll did not need a dramatic public profile to be the catalyst for one of the greatest transformations in sports history. In the nearly four decades before he was hired, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the least successful team in professional football, never winning so much as a division title. After Noll's arrival, his quiet but steely leadership quickly remolded the team into the most accomplished in the history of professional football. And what he built endured well beyond his time with the Steelers—who have remained one of America's great NFL teams, accumulating a total of six Super Bowls, eight AFC championships, and dozens of division titles and playoff berths. In this penetrating biography, based on deep research and hundreds of interviews, Michael MacCambridge takes the measure of the man, painting an intimate portrait of one of the most important figures in American football history. He traces Noll's journey from a Depression-era childhood in Cleveland, where he first played the game in a fully integrated neighborhood league led by an African-American coach and then seriously pursued the sport through high school and college. Eventually, Noll played both defensive and offensive positions professionally for the Browns, before discovering that his true calling was coaching. MacCambridge reveals that Noll secretly struggled with and overcame epilepsy to build the career that earned him his place as "the Emperor" of Pittsburgh during the Steelers' dynastic run in the 1970s, while in his final years, he battled Alzheimer's in the shelter of his caring and protective family. Noll's impact went well beyond one football team. When he arrived, the city of steel was facing a deep crisis, as the dramatic decline of Pittsburgh's lifeblood industry traumatized an entire generation. "Losing," Noll said on his first day on the job, "has nothing to do with geography." Through his calm, confident leadership of the Steelers and the success they achieved, the people of Pittsburgh came to believe that winning was possible, and their recovery of confidence owed a lot to the Steeler's new coach. The famous urban renaissance that followed can only be understood by grasping what Noll and his team meant to the people of the city. The man Pittsburghers could never fully know helped them see themselves better. Chuck Noll: His Life's Work tells the story of a private man in a very public job. It explores the family ties that built his character, the challenges that defined his course, and the love story that shaped his life. By understanding the man himself, we can at last clearly see Noll's profound influence on the city, players, coaches, and game he loved. They are all, in a real sense, heirs to the football team Chuck Noll built.

Located at the base of the rolling hills of the Laurel Highlands, Latrobe is best known as the birthplace of children's television pioneer Fred Rogers and golf legend Arnold Palmer. It is the home of Rolling Rock Beer, Pittsburgh Steelers training camp, and St. Vincent College. Latrobe has also been recognized for many famous firsts, like the first banana split, first all-professional football team, first Benedictine monastery in the United States, first nonstop airmail pickup, and first female nuclear scientist at Westinghouse Electric Company. It is a community of individuals who collectively exemplify the strong, hardworking culture of Western Pennsylvania--people like Oliver Barnes, a railroad engineer and Latrobe's founder; Philip Mowry McKenna, innovator in the machining of steel and father of "Kennametal" tools; Joseph E. Greubel, who transformed his family's ice cream-centered dairy stores into the thriving Valley Dairy Restaurants; Dr. Sara Carr McComb, a "legendary" librarian; and Robert Mendler, a Holocaust survivor who spent his life educating young people to respect one other. Legendary Locals of Latrobe celebrates these and nearly 200 other noteworthy figures and groups who have shaped and continue to shape the community.

Summer afternoons at Forbes Field, playoff Sundays with the Steelers, winter nights at the Igloo cheering for Mario and the Penguins: Pittsburgh Sports captures all that and more. With stories from sports fans, historians, and former athletes, Pittsburgh Sports mixes personal experiences with team histories to capture the full range of what it means to be a sports fan—in Pittsburgh, or, by extension, anywhere. A book that can be read cover-to-cover, or in bits and pieces, Pittsburgh Sports includes chapters on the ill-fated Pittsburgh Pipers, who won the American Basketball Association’s first championship, then folded four years later; the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays, perennial Negro League powerhouses; Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and other legends of western Pennsylvania high school football; boxing’s illustrious past in the Iron City; football reminiscences by a former Steelers punter; and the ups and downs of the Pittsburgh Pirates.