“Yoi and double yoi!”
What other reaction could a member of the Steeler nation have to the passing of Myron Cope, our bizarre little general who invented the Terrible Towel and who became an icon to a town almost as large as the team he covered.
Many in our area don’t realize that while Cope made his name in Pittsburgh, it was actually created in Erie.
Out of school Myron Kopelman got his first job for the Erie Times, where an editor shortened his by-line to Myron Cope.
The obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Now website outlines his extraordinary skill as a sports writer, freelancing award winning pieces and signing on as an original member of the staff of Sports Illustrated magazine.
But despite having a face and a voice more suited for the anonymity of the written word, Cope’s fame was to be made on television and radio.
As with many in my business, timing is everything, and Cope hooked up with the Steelers in the early 1970’s just as forty years of losing was giving way to one of American football’s great dynasties.
With a nasally voice tinged with his trademark Jewish accent and a face reminiscent of Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings,” Cope would infuriate rival fans as he cemented his place in Pittsburgh sports history.
“How can I call them the Bungles now that they beat the Steelers?” he would lament.
He was known to smoke cigarettes and have a beer or two during games.
He would yelp and yip, his voice rising in excitement as a play unfolded before his eyes.
He would wave his towel and rejoice in touchdowns.
He would sound inconsolable in loss, his voice echoing the disbelief felt by the rest of us.
He managed the fine line between wearing his heart on his sleeve and covering the game as a journalist.
He was one of us and he helped define us, as much a part of the Pittsburgh landscape as the three rivers or Point Park.
And he always ended it the same way:
Bye now.
So “Bye now” Myron and thanks.
For us, you were as much a part of it as anyone who put on the pads.