Tube City Almanac

February 27, 2008

Bye Now

Category: Wild World of Sports, Radio Geekery || By

Whatever else Myron Cope was, he was a gentleman.

A little more than five years ago, I interviewed him for my day job, and while I had him on the phone, I profiled him for Pittsburgh Radio & TV Online. His publicist promised me only 15 minutes. Cope gave me an hour.

A few weeks later, I got the attached note. He valued my opinion? Yoi.

I found out I wasn't alone; Cope wrote thank-you notes to nearly everyone. That's the kind of guy he was.

If you ever listened to his nightly talk show, you know how generous and gentlemanly he could be with callers. A certain talk show host on the station where Cope used to work liked to deride him. That guy's not fit to carry Cope's microphone.

Forgotten amidst all of Cope's catchphrases and the outlandish videos he made for WTAE-TV was the fact that he also was a graceful writer. All of his books (except his autobiography) are out of print, but they're worth seeking out at used bookstores or the library.

Carnegie Library in McKeesport doesn't seem to have any of them, but I'll bet they could request them.

(You'd better hurry. I just checked, and most of the copies have "holds" placed on them.)

This morning, I wrote an obituary of Cope for PBRTV, but all you really need to know is this: In a field filled with many frauds and phonies, he was real.

And in a business cluttered with imitators, he stood out as a true original.

Bye now, Myron.






Your Comments are Welcome!

I’d frame that.

It’s great that he had that stationary. Does anyone do that anymore? I know when I was a kid I found a bunch of notepads that read “From the desk of Jack Potts” in my dad’s desk. (My dad is almost 75, just a few years younger than Myron.)
Jonathan Potts (URL) - February 28, 2008



Thank you for sharing your remembrence of Myron Cope. I anticipate reading many more contributions about his kindness and genuine warmth towards his friends. He treated everyone as his friend – not as a fan or a customer. I will have a “toddy” and raise my glass to a true Pittsburgh icon, Myron Cope, on—-sports !
Donn Nemchick - February 28, 2008



I am so glad that you wrote such a well-written and comprehensive obituary as a fitting tribute to a man who was SO MUCH MORE than just “the man behind the Terrible Towel” as he noted he was likely to be rememberd. Until I read your column and the highly informative peice in the P-G (by Genen Collier?) yesterday, I simply knew that Myron Cope had been a sportswriter for papers and magazines prior to becoming such a radio & TV presence. I really had no idea that he was such a gifted writer who was so well and widely recognized for his writings. I didn’t get the chance to be a reader of his columns back in the 60s, but it is easy see that he had many more talents than his quirky catchphrases and humourous antics might belie. RIP, you will be missed.
Bulldog - February 28, 2008



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