Local Boy Makes good- From The Pittsburgh Trib-
While attending an inauguration gala for Ronald Reagan in January 1981, Steve Russell noticed baseball legend and fellow Western Pennsylvanian Stan Musial walking unattended and unnoticed.
"Nobody was bothering him," recalled Russell, whose dad, Jimmy, was a big league ballplayer and close friend of Musial's. "I could tell people around him didn't know who he was."
Musial certainly could draw a crowd, especially in St. Louis, where he played 22 years for the Cardinals and established himself as a first-ballot Hall of Famer and beloved figure. But at more distant venues, such as a fancy party in Washington, he was just another guy in a suit.
"He didn't have that aura about him because he played in the West," said Russell, the Belle Vernon School District superintendent and general chairman of the Mid-Mon Valley Hall of Fame. "And St. Louis was the West then. He was just kind of constant. He was there. He was dependable."
He was Stan the Man, as modest in size -- 6 feet, 180 pounds -- as in temperament; yet, a towering figure nevertheless. Accordingly, Musial today is back in the nation's capital with Lil, his wife of nearly 71 years, to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He will be joined at the White House by, among others, former President George H.W. Bush, basketball great Bill Russell and cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma.
Not bad for a kid from Donora.
Read more:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_722905.html#ixzz1E2DRXOhS
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