“Where did you get those Steeler gloves?”
The man’s voice came to me from the edges of a crowd of people, of which I was a part. I was at the intersection of East 10th Street and Bellefontaine, where a historic marker was being unveiled commemorating Wes Montgomery, the legendary jazz guitarist from Indianapolis. I had watched the documentary “Wes Bound” on TV and having learned of the marker from several sources, wanted to attend the event. I turned toward the voice and to the smiling man replied, “At the Yinzer Shop on the South side of Pittsburgh.”
Wednesday, March 6th was a crisp day; I was wearing the gloves so that my picture-taking at the event would be more comfortable. The black and yellow gloves depict the Pittsburgh Steeler football team’s logo, the yellow, red, and blue stars (that originally came from the logo of the U.S. Steel corporation,) and when I combine them with my hooded Steeler sweatshirt or one of my many Steeler T-shirts, Indianapolis natives notice. I told the inquiring man that I grew up in Pittsburgh, mostly in the Hill District. He asked me what high school I had attended, and when I told him Schenley High, he smiled, and said that he had competed against my school, and remembered Ken Durrett, an all-star basketball player. I asked the man’s name, and Gene Huey told me that he went to high school at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. I then broke out a bit of braggadocio, saying that I also knew Frances Peay, a first -round draft pick of the New York Giants in 1966 who, after 9 years in the National Football League and a stint as the head coach of Northwestern University, came to the Colts in 1992. (See “Fear Of Franny: A Football Story,” Weekly View, reprinted September 9, 2021.) Gene smiled, and quietly told me that he had been a running back coach for the Colts, and not for the first time, I wished that I could have spoken to Steve Nicewanger, our former sports columnist. He knew every member of the Colts, from front office to defensive line, and he would have given me guidance and cautioned me against bragging about whom I knew when I had done nothing but watch.
Gene Huey came to the Colts from Ohio State in 1992, having coached at other colleges, including his alma mater, Wyoming. He had been drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969 and also played for the San Diego Chargers. Huey was a Colts assistant coach for 19 years, coaching the running backs for 304 games. I didn’t bother to mention my classmate Larry Brown, an all-star running back and former NFL MVP.
My brief conversation with Gene, sparked by my Steeler gear, was ironic considering one of the things that inspired my attendance at the Wes Montgomery historic marker event. In the documentary “Wes Bound,” one of the people interviewed was jazz guitarist George Benson. And “Georgie,” as we called him in the early 1960s, was famous on the Hill District, playing in many of the clubs. In later years, Benson’s mother was a good friend to my own, and Erma (Benson) Collier would often call to check on my mother as she lay dying.
I’m glad that a flash of Steeler black and yellow caught the eye of a fellow Pennsylvanian; meeting Gene and hearing Steve Weakley playing “How Insensitive” on his guitar, using the thumb technique that Wes made famous, was like getting a note from home.
cjon3acd@att.net