Playing Through the Whistle: The story of steel, football and American town Aliquippa

Quote:Once the steel mill closed, the only source of pride in Aliquippa, Pa., was high school football.
But could even star players survive the town’s descent into drugs and crime?

I haven't had time to read the whole thing yet, but what I've read so far is very informative.

Aliquippa is an absolutely amazing place. You have to see it to believe it. It is the size of a postage stamp and to say it is depressed is like saying Kim Kardashian might like some attention.

And yet, despite being so small and so poor it has just turned out player after player after player for decades. We're talking about guys like Mike Ditka, Sean Gilbert, Darrelle Revis, even Tony Dorsett (though Dorsett went to Hopewell High School).

That is crazy and it's as impressive as any little football town in the country. I can absolutely see why Sports Illustrated would do a story on Aliquippa because it is an incredible place. They have played way above their class (by population) for years now and they just keep winning anyway because they have better players than schools with teams that have two and three times as many players.

Clairton is another remarkable place. It is very similar to Aliquippa in both good and bad ways but it's on the other side of the city of Pittsburgh. I think of those two communities as the top two high school football programs in Western Pennsylvania. That is saying a lot because there are a lot of great programs here.

My Dad, brother and brother in law worked in the steel mill at Clairton.

I worked in the rolling mills during the summers during college in the late Seventies.

Clairton has seen rough times since then but its football program is first rate.

Typical of the Rust Belt. The Unions ruined a good thing.

It is a great story of a town still surviving on something.

Thanks for sharing.

(10-01-2016 11:28 AM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  Typical of the Rust Belt. The Unions ruined a good thing.

It is a great story of a town still surviving on something.

Thanks for sharing.

U.S. Steel failed to invest in modern steel mills. That was the problem, not unions.

In 1978 when I worked in the 21" rolling mill, we were using late 19th to early 20th Century technology.

We couldn't compete with the new German and Japanese steel mills. U.S. Steel was busy buying Marathon Oil and changing its name to USX.

The Chairman was quoted "We are in the business of making money, not making steel."

Speaking of Clairton and Aliquippa, they meet on the football field this Friday. The game sold out this past Wednesday and will be televised. It's going to be a special night for Western PA.

Let's leave the politics out of this one. I've seen the devastation first hand. Just lost another childhood friend yesterday.

Aliquippa in a nutshell...http://www.post-gazette.com/local/west/2...1610040153

(10-02-2016 12:26 AM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  Speaking of Clairton and Aliquippa, they meet on the football field this Friday. The game sold out this past Wednesday and will be televised. It's going to be a special night for Western PA.

Clairton 52
Aliquippa 16

(10-09-2016 09:34 AM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(10-02-2016 12:26 AM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  Speaking of Clairton and Aliquippa, they meet on the football field this Friday. The game sold out this past Wednesday and will be televised. It's going to be a special night for Western PA.

Clairton 52
Aliquippa 16

Wow, close game... then they kicked off!

That region is the location that Esquire filmed the spin-off of their Friday Night Tykes. Pretty much the same story, just at a lower level of football.