Sports Pitt Redshirt Diaries A Night of Celebration; Dorian Bell will not ...
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I spent the evening at the Petersen Events Center at an event called "Athletics at Pitt: The Forefront of a Century of Change." It was a celebration of the past 100 years of African-American athletes at Pitt and all they accomplished. I will write about some of the highlights but first, let's put something to rest about the current team.
** Former Gateway standout Dorian Bell may indeed leave Ohio State, but there is absolutely zero chance he will end up at Pitt. I was told tonight by several sources that Pitt coach Todd Graham will not even consider taking Bell, who is suspended for next season for unspecified rules violations, or any player who has been in trouble elsewhere. So that should put an end to any speculation about Bell coming to Pitt.
Now, onto tonight's dinner, which was really well done and just an extremely classy event, hosted by NBC's Bob Costas and featuring many of the greatest names in Pitt athletics.
** The list of people in attendance included (but was not limited too): Hugh Green, Larry Fitzgerald, Charles Smith, Curtis Aiken, Cam Saddler, Sam Clancy, Antonio Bryant, Jennifer Bruce-Scott, Kirk Bruce, Julius Page, Adam Walker, Brooke Stewart, Marcedes Walker, Herb Douglas, Bobby Grier, Roger Kingdom, Julius Pegues, Debbie Lewis, Brandin Knight, Billy Knight and the list goes on and on, though one notable absence was DeJuan Blair, who apparently was in Pittsburgh and was expected to come.
Also in attendance were all of Pitt's coaches and athletic administrators, Mark Nordenberg and even former coach Walt Harris, who is really a class act in so many ways.
The night featured a number of speakers and many paid tribute to the first two African-American athletes to graduate from Pitt - Harry Ray Wooten and Hubbard Hollensworth - who graduated in 1911 (hence the "100-year" theme).
There was also film, broken into four eras, which chronicled all of the pioneers among African-American athletes at Pitt (like Grier, who is the first black player to play in the Sugar Bowl) as well as the superstars, like Tony Dorsett and Fitzgerald. The film was narrated by Costas, Fredricka Whitman, Mark May and Jack Whitaker and really hit all of the milestones and all of the significant events (like Pegues becoming the first black basketball player and the late John Woodruff winning a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics) over the past 100 years.
Interestingly there was no mention of Traci Waites, who was the first African-American female women's basketball coach at Pitt (and one of the few African-American women head coaches in school history period) and regardless of how you feel about the job she did, it seemed like a strange omission. I mean, here we are on a night to celebrate 100 years of history and you leave out a woman who was the head coach for five years, did take the team to a postseason once and was the Big East coach of the year once? Obviously her hiring turned out to be one of the bigger blunders of the current administration, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen, nor does it lessen the significance of that hiring, especially within the context of the night.
Obviously, Michael Haywood - the first African-American football coach hired by Pitt - was left out of the discussion and film and seeing as he was only the coach for three weeks, never even coached a practice and barely moved into his office before he was fired, well, that's understandable but Waites, for better or worse, was a part of Pitt's history and probably deserved at least a mention.
** One of the best parts of the night was when the athletes from each era was brought up to the stage and Costas had a short Q&A with them. The stories we heard were, as the chancellor said "entertaining and informative but also inspiring" as we heard about the struggles and triumphs of African-American athletes like Herb Douglas, Julius Pegues, Grier and Jimmy Joe Robinson, the school's first African-American football player.
A great story was told by Robinson and it went like this: He was a freshman on campus and he went to eat with some of his teammates - all white players - and they went to a spot in Oakland and sat down to eat but couldn't get served. And when they asked the waitress why she pointed to Robinson and said "we can't serve him."
Now think about that -- a football player, in Oakland, on Pitt's campus, being turned away because of the color of his skin. It almost seems like fiction as it is almost unfathomable today but the bottom line is that was how the world was.
I actually had a chance to talk to some of Pitt's current players about the evening (it was a really nice touch to have them working the event and serving as "escorts" for some of the honored guests. It was important for them to have an opportunity to talk to some of the trailblazers and hear about their struggles as it made them appreciate what they have as African-American student-athletes these days.
I think Cam Saddler said it best when he said listening to the stories from guys like Grier and Robinson gave him a deeper understanding of what African-Americans in this country had to go through to make it possible for athletes of this generation to do all the things they do these days.
"It is crazy what these guys went through," Saddler said, "it almost seems like there is no way that stuff could have happened. But it all did and these guys lived it. I think that's what makes an event like this so powerful for young black athletes like myself. I mean, I'm only 20 years old so I've never experienced anything like that, but I know that it happened and those guys who lived it paved the way for guys like me."
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written by Joe D, May 11, 2011 - 07:03 AM
he is not one of Pitts greatest athletes... not even a starter... he can't shine the shoes to those others you listed.
to put his name next to the likes of Fitz, Green, Knight, etc... is laughable!!!
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written by csf, May 11, 2011 - 07:25 AM
His comments were very pertinent
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written by Joe D, May 11, 2011 - 07:38 AM
To list Cam Saddler alongside the who's who of Pitt ahtletics that were in attendance is laughable.
Read again what I said!!!
Perhaps the "better" black Pitt football players shun Zeise as he threw the best black football player (Baldwin) under the bus repeatedly... so Cam (the benchwarmer) is the only one who will speak to Zeise.
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written by ndhoops, May 11, 2011 - 08:06 AM
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written by Emeritus203, May 11, 2011 - 10:24 AM
All Paul said was "Cam Saddler said it best..." when talking about the experiences that he heard they went through. In no way was he comparing Cam to those athletes
Mark Nordenberg was there and he can't even tie his sneakers, should his name have been mentioned?
The efforts that you make to either degrade the WPIAL, current student athletes or anyone else on your agenda is laughable.
I have said that I agree with some of your athletic assessments in previous posts, but now I believe that you just like to see your name by a post on the blog regardless of its value
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written by Joe D, May 11, 2011 - 11:27 AM
My point being including Cam "benchwarmer" Saddler along with the Who's Who of attendees.
His comments of today versus yesteryear were perfectly fine although I think a starter should have been interviewed.. ie. Graham, Lindsey.
Below is what is laughable.. including Saddlers name as attendee alongside the great ones.
** The list of people in attendance included (but was not limited too): Hugh Green, Larry Fitzgerald, Charles Smith, Curtis Aiken, Cam Saddler, Sam Clancy, Antonio Bryant, Jennifer Bruce-Scott, Kirk Bruce, Julius Page, Adam Walker, Brooke Stewart, Marcedes Walker, Herb Douglas, Bobby Grier, Roger Kingdom, Julius Pegues, Debbie Lewis, Brandin Knight, Billy Knight and the list goes on and on, though one notable absence was DeJuan Blair, who apparently was in Pittsburgh and was expected to come.
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written by Joe D, May 11, 2011 - 11:31 AM
in the same breath with Cam "benchwarmer" Saddler is ridiculous.
Who cares Cam attended... he can't hold a candle to those superstars I just listed.
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written by Emeritus203, May 11, 2011 - 11:59 AM
Your post at 11:27am and 11:31am say the exact same thing without anyone commenting in between those posts.
Are you trying to reach a quota of posts per day?
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written by Joe D, May 11, 2011 - 12:05 PM
no, had to do with security code... didn't take, so I hit stop and reentered code... then all of a sudden, it posted twice.
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written by Joe D, May 11, 2011 - 12:31 PM
Really, is the type of student athlete Pitt and Zeise are touting.
After reading this, Cam is lowlife.
Some of his posts...
@T_Urban89 we bust y'all asses (nohomo)
@leegreen3 you need to stop wit that ish man go sit on the house fugg u do that for
@ASukay damn wat u don't fuggwit me smh
That's a grown ass man
http://twitter.com/#!/Csaddler5
Like I said... mentioing Cam "benchwarmer" saddler next to greats is a disgrace.
This Cam is trash!!
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written by jethro, May 11, 2011 - 01:57 PM
Why channel so much negativity into a throw-away list of names? Take a look in the mirror and realize why your posts are consistently marked down by others. But I imagine that is a source of pride for you.
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written by p_zeise, May 11, 2011 - 05:25 PM
Please remember - posts which include references to male genitals and other in appropriate language, posts which include personal attacks against student-athletes -- even if you spell said student-athletes name wrong -- and posts which include links to other newspapers in town will disappear.
If you don't think Cam Saddler - or this other guy Cam Sandler or even Adam Sandler - is a good football player, you can accomplish saying this without calling him a twit or using any other personal insult like that.
Thanks for reading the Post-Gazette,
Regards,
Paul
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written by Joe D, May 11, 2011 - 05:42 PM
Those were the "twit's"... tweets... I just copy and paste...
But this bozo was your interview!!!
Wakeup...
Find a better football player to represent Pitt football.
And yes, I did email Coach Graham regarding the "twit's" tweets.
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written by originalether, May 12, 2011 - 08:42 AM
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written by mark, May 12, 2011 - 09:18 AM
Hate to change the subject on such an interesting conversation, but I was surprised to read that TG would not want Dorian Bell as a transfer. Figured that the coach’s past comments about “character” were just bull and he would take anyone that he thought would help his team. I’ll have to give him credit if he sticks to his guns on this matter.
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written by originalether, May 12, 2011 - 10:10 AM
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written by Joe D, May 12, 2011 - 09:17 PM
Saddler just tweeted he can't go to the Greek festival on the north side to buy a gyro because he is black...
nice Zeise... you picked the right person for your article and the face of Pitt football.
The PG sports department is excellent except for you! You are clueless.
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written by Joe D, May 12, 2011 - 09:21 PM
@emmalynn13 gyro from where i want a good one
@csaddler5 Greek festival in the north side ! Come!!
@emmalynn13 I can't I'm black
Nice Zeise... why don't you write an article about it... like you did Baldwin and threw him under the buss all season... yet he still became a 1st round pick. So much for your knowledge of football.
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written by p_zeise, May 13, 2011 - 12:53 AM
And how does interviewing Cam Saddler, who happened to be working the event and did have some good observations, make him the "face of the program"?
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written by Garyz1954, May 16, 2011 - 10:25 PM
Its about time that you have addressed Joe D's boorish behavior on this blog. He has continually demeaned coaches, athletes and high school players without response from you up until now. His comments border on insanity. I am all for freedom of speech however this man crosses the line and he makes participation on this blog something that I will no longer wish to continue if I have to read his same lame comments over and over again.
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he is not one of Pitts greatest athletes... not even a starter... he can't shine the shoes to those others you listed.
to put his name next to the likes of Fitz, Green, Knight, etc... is laughable!!!