The basketball talent coming out of Pittsburgh didn't have the same staying power.
After the steel mills closed, the city's population declined, and by the mid-1980s the flow of college applicants had slowed slightly. As there have been since the days of Cumberland Posey, there are fewer places for city kids to play, but there are also fewer places for suburban players to test themselves.
And therein lies the temptation for the Steelers.
Dambro, who was LeBron James' first high school coach, said that at Ohio State, good athletes will play basketball first and football second. In Western Pennsylvania, it's often about football first and second. He has three players on his team from the Pittsburgh area, one of whom is on scholarship. The University of Pittsburgh has two fellow walk-ons from his hometown.
Late Tuesday afternoon, 17-year-old Jaydan Brown was at the Ammon Community Recreation Center, home of the Hill District's 56-year-old Ozanam basketball program. Upstairs, university students in ties and sport coats taught math to elementary school students and helped build helicopter models. Food was served and balls were bounced on the basketball court.
Darrell Porter is currently running the program.
Porter is a towering figure with an approachable presence who greets everyone by name. He was scouted at Pitt by Calipari, then a young assistant, and was preparing to play in a game when he completed one of college basketball's most enduring highlights, a dunk that ripped off the backboard off Jerome Lane in 1988. missed.
Porter, who later coached at Duquesne, pointed to a banner hanging above the court and told the young men a story of ambition and caution. These include local legends Maurice Lucas, Sam Clancy, DeJuan Blair, Kenny Durrett, Clay and himself.
There's a little more room, he tells them.
“Basketball is neglected here,” said Brown, a senior at Central Catholic High School, but he believes that won't stop him from adding another chapter to the city's basketball history.
