Texas’s Frisco Mike McCarthy’s speech brings back memories of Pittsburgh one after another.
The Dallas Cowboys coach claimed, speaking of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame outfielder, “Roberto Clemente, that was the first guy I think I had on my wall as a young kid in the late sixties,” earlier this week at his office at The Star. “He dominated in the ’60s and the early ’70s in baseball.”
When he talks about the Pitt college football games, it’s as though he can still picture running back Tony Dors-itt (who wasn’t even Tony Dors-ett until he joined the Cowboys) scoring a score.
“My father would constantly say, ‘Hey, listen up, keep your eyes open.'” He will shatter one. One is going to break at thirty-three.” stated McCarthy. “It was just a matter of when, not if.”
It was time to watch the Steelers after cleaning up his father’s pub and going to mass every Sunday.
McCarthy said, “I could name the whole defense [from then] probably still today,” and he does.
McCarthy still calls Pittsburgh home, even though he hasn’t lived there since 1992. It always will be. Even now, he speaks as though he was raised in Greenfield, a small town a short distance from dahn-town.
This week, McCarthy goes home for the first time as coach of the Cowboys (2-2) to take on the Steelers (3-1), who still play in the same area where the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers meet. Three Rivers Stadium is no more. The current home of the Steelers is Acrisure Stadium.
Joe and Ellen McCarthy, McCarthy’s parents, still reside there, close to the Greenfield Avenue houses where they raised their five children. They are now standing next to Ellen and Kellie McCarthy, the sisters, on a bluff. Colleen also resides close by. Along with other friends and relatives, they will all be present for the game on Sunday. McCarthy got the Rooney family to help him get a suite.
“Between our people and their people, we were able to get what we needed,” McCarthy stated.
His first visit on Saturday night will be to his younger brother Joe’s mausoleum at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, where he is buried following his death in 2015. After that, he’ll make his way to his parents’ place to spend time with them.
Mike’s sister Kellie McCaffrey, senior director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, stated, “It’s always a special opportunity.” “We’re always grateful to see him, even though it’s quite emotional because he has been in the NFL for 30 years. We are ecstatic to assist him and his staff, and I know he is intent on the task at hand.”
McCarthy would prefer that the Cowboys remain near Pittsburgh’s downtown rather than near the airport.
“I’ll take the scenic route to the house because it’s always cool to ride through the neighborhood,” said McCarthy.
His mother will prepare a feast in addition to some pizza from his favorite restaurant, Aiello’s.
Kellie remarked, “My mom is a great cook. She pretty much sets the menu.” Whatever she produces, he will be satisfied.”
2009 saw McCarthy make his NFL coaching comeback with the Green Bay Packers. Given that it was the first game back home following Joe’s passing, the subsequent return home in 2017 was very difficult. The final score of the two games was four points for the Packers. McCarthy has actually faced the Steelers on several occasions throughout the regular season, and he has never come away with a victory over them.
He can still gloat about his hometown team, though. Later, more on that.
“I am quite happy to have grown up in Pittsburgh. Growing up there in the city couldn’t have been much better, in my opinion, for the generation I was raised in, McCarthy remarked. Greenfield is the name of our neighborhood. We are among the first communities to emerge from Pittsburgh’s downtown. On a Saturday morning, you can take the 56E and go running through Pittsburgh’s downtown. Your folks didn’t even know you were out of the neighborhood, as long as you’re ready for dinner. Just a ton of amazing moments.”
McCarthy described his early years as “busting at the seams” in the steel mills. Kids crowded the neighborhoods. The children from Greenfield Avenue would engage in games with those from Exeter Street, Loretto Road, and other nearby communities.
They would occasionally visit Pitt Stadium and take a football from the locker room. On the same field where their favorite athletes played, they would play pickup games. After being escorted out by the grounds workers, they planned to attend Carnegie Mellon University.
McCarthy said, “No one was on them fields.”
The pool at Magee Park opened at ten in the morning during the summer. A pair of baseball fields. Two basketball courts. They had a busy schedule all the time. His house was only a short ten-block walk or sprint away.
“Then you went home for lunch, went back down, went home for dinner, went back down, and then you had to be home when the streetlights came on,” said McCarthy. “However, you would ask to stay out longer after you realized that the majority of the fun began after the streetlights turned on. However, I can vividly recall playing basketball outside till one in the morning during my high school years because the cops were concerned about people running around.
“Looking back on it, it was like having your own country club.”
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